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Delaware

Rehoboth Beach with Kids

Rehoboth Beach is a small Atlantic resort town on the Delaware coast, roughly two and a half hours from both Washington and Philadelphia, built around a mile of wooden boardwalk with a compact family fairground halfway along it. The scale is the point: the beach, the rides, the chip shops and most of the rental houses sit inside a walkable grid, so a family can park the car on arrival and leave it there for several days. The state park immediately south adds dunes, a bay-side beach and Second World War observation towers, and a car ferry crosses to New Jersey from the neighbouring town of Lewes. The trade-offs are seasonality and traffic — the town is close to shut outside roughly May to September, the single road in backs up badly on summer weekends, and the Atlantic here is cold until late June and has genuine rip currents outside the lifeguarded hours.

Best for ages
0+
Suggested stay
3–6 days
Best months
May–Sep
Daily budget
€340

Mid-range, family of four

Why Rehoboth Beach works with children

  • A boardwalk with a fairground on it

    Rides are bought as individual tickets rather than a day wristband, so a half-hour visit costs very little and toddlers are not paying for rides they cannot use.

  • Wide, gently shelving sand in the town itself

    The beach runs straight off the boardwalk, so a family can be on sand within a few minutes of the rental door without a drive or a car park.

  • A state park with a calm bay beach as the backup

    Cape Henlopen has a sheltered Delaware Bay side that is shallower and flatter than the ocean, plus dune trails and climbable wartime towers.

  • A car ferry that counts as the outing

    The Cape May–Lewes ferry crosses the mouth of Delaware Bay in about eighty-five minutes and takes foot passengers as well as cars.

  • Delaware charges no sales tax

    The one state-level exception to the usual American rule that the shelf price is not the price — the outlet centres on Route 1 exist because of it.

Where to stay

Best areas in Rehoboth Beach for families

4 areas cover most trips here; the difference is mainly families who want to leave the car parked versus budget stays and bigger rental houses.

  • The boardwalk grid (North and South Rehoboth)

    Best for families who want to leave the car parked

    The dozen or so numbered streets behind the boardwalk hold most of the rental houses and the small hotels. Everything is walkable and everything is louder and more expensive for it, and summer parking is metered or permit-only on almost every street.

  • Dewey Beach

    Best for not most families

    A one-mile strip immediately south, between the ocean and Rehoboth Bay, known primarily as a nightlife town. The bay side is genuinely good for small children and paddleboards, but the bars run late and the rentals are priced and populated accordingly.

  • Lewes

    Best for quieter stays, younger children, bay swimming

    A small historic port six miles north, at the ferry terminal and the state park gate. The Delaware Bay beaches here are calm and shallow rather than surf, the town is a working one rather than a resort, and a drive is needed for the ocean boardwalk.

  • Route 1 corridor (Midway to Lewes)

    Best for budget stays and bigger rental houses

    The highway strip inland carries the outlet centres, the supermarkets and the cheaper motels and developments. Nothing here is walkable and the corridor is where the summer traffic actually sits.

Family hotel picks in Rehoboth Beach

  • Hotel on the boardwalk blocks
    Rehoboth boardwalk / downtownHigher-end

    Hotel on the boardwalk blocks

    Being able to walk from the room to the sand, the rides and dinner is what removes the car from a beach week entirely — which matters more here than usual, because parking in the town is metered or permit-only across almost every street in season.

    • Walking distance to the beach, the boardwalk rides and the restaurants
    • On-site parking included, which the street does not offer
    • Pools at most of the larger properties
    • No driving needed for the whole stay

    Fitting a family in

    Doubles with two queen beds sleeping four are the standard product; genuine two-room suites exist and are a small and expensive subset of the stock.

    Watch out. This is the noisiest part of town on a summer evening, and rooms facing the boardwalk hear it until late. Rates in July and August are at their highest here by a wide margin, minimum-night stays are common at weekends, and most of these properties run on a season and are closed or skeleton-staffed in winter.

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  • Beach-house or condo rental a few streets inland
    North Rehoboth / Silver LakeMid-range

    Beach-house or condo rental a few streets inland

    A kitchen, a laundry and a driveway for a fraction of the beachfront rate, still within a five- to ten-minute walk of the sand, which suits families cooking most meals and carrying beach kit rather than eating out twice a day.

    • Full kitchen and washer-dryer
    • Off-street parking, which removes the permit problem
    • Outdoor shower — standard on Delaware beach houses
    • Five to ten minutes on foot to the beach

    Fitting a family in

    Three- and four-bedroom houses sleeping six to eight are the normal size, and are usually cheaper per head than two hotel rooms.

    Watch out. Summer lets run Saturday to Saturday with a fixed changeover, so a short mid-week stay is often not available at any price in July and August. Many of these houses are older and lightly furnished, air conditioning varies in quality, and a beach tag or parking permit is sometimes the tenant's responsibility rather than the owner's.

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  • Inn or motel on the bay side at Lewes
    Lewes / Cape HenlopenMid-range

    Inn or motel on the bay side at Lewes

    Calmer water and a quieter town for families with toddlers, beside the state park gate and the ferry terminal, at rates noticeably below the Rehoboth boardwalk in the same weeks.

    • Delaware Bay beaches that are shallow and near surf-free
    • Minutes from the state park and the Cape May ferry
    • Walkable small-town main street with restaurants
    • Parking included as standard

    Fitting a family in

    Two-queen rooms sleeping four are the norm; family suites are scarce and the larger option is usually a cottage or an apartment rental rather than a hotel room.

    Watch out. There is no boardwalk and no fairground here, so children expecting the Rehoboth beachfront will need driving there and parking once they arrive. Most bay beaches are not lifeguarded, and greenhead flies are worse on this side of the cape in mid-summer than on the ocean.

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Things to do in Rehoboth Beach with kids

  • A wide sandy Atlantic beach backed by dunes and pine woods in Delaware
    City

    Rehoboth Beach Boardwalk and Funland

    Rehoboth Beach

    About a mile of wooden boardwalk along the town beach, with arcades, chip shops and a small family-run amusement park halfway along it. The rides are the gentle end of the fairground scale — a carousel, a small coaster, boats, a haunted mansion — and are paid for with individual tickets rather than a day wristband.

    Ages
    1–12
    Time
    2h
    Adult, from
    €15

    Good to know. The rides carry their own height minimums, most of them low, and a few require an adult to ride alongside a small child. Ticket booths and queues are busiest between about seven and ten in the evening in July and August, when a single ride can take twenty minutes; the same rides are near-empty in the late morning. The park runs on a summer season and is closed for much of the year.

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  • Cape Henlopen State Park
    Nature

    Cape Henlopen State Park

    Rehoboth Beach

    A large dune and pine park at the point where Delaware Bay meets the Atlantic, with an ocean beach, a much calmer bay beach, flat cycling trails and concrete Second World War fire-control towers built to watch for shipping. One tower is open to climb for a view over the whole cape.

    Ages
    0–16
    Time
    4h
    Adult, from
    €10

    Good to know. Entry is charged per vehicle for the day, at a higher rate for cars registered outside Delaware. The observation tower is an internal staircase with no lift, and it is hot and narrow in summer. Biting greenhead flies are at their worst here on still days in July and August, particularly on the bay side and the marsh trails; the ocean beach with a breeze is the escape from them.

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  • Cape May–Lewes Ferry
    WaterBook ahead

    Cape May–Lewes Ferry

    Rehoboth Beach

    A car and passenger ferry across the mouth of Delaware Bay between Lewes and Cape May in New Jersey, taking around eighty-five minutes each way, with open decks, indoor seating and dolphins regularly visible in summer.

    Ages
    0–16
    Time
    5h
    Adult, from
    €25

    Good to know. Vehicle space is reserved and sells out on summer weekends; foot passengers have an easier time but then need transport at the far end, where the terminal sits outside the town. The crossing is open water and can be uncomfortable in wind, and sailings are cancelled in severe weather. Treated as a return day trip it consumes most of a day.

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  • A wide sandy Atlantic beach backed by dunes and pine woods in Delaware
    City

    Lewes town and the bay beaches

    Rehoboth Beach

    A small colonial-era port six miles north of Rehoboth, with a walkable main street, a canal lined with fishing boats, a maritime museum and Delaware Bay beaches that are shallow, calm and almost surf-free compared with the ocean side.

    Ages
    0–14
    Time
    3h
    Adult, from
    Free

    Good to know. The bay beaches are the practical choice with toddlers, but most are not lifeguarded and the water is murkier than the ocean. Parking in the town centre is metered in season. There is no boardwalk and no fairground here, so it works as a calm half-day rather than a replacement for the Rehoboth beachfront.

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Getting around Rehoboth Beach

Coastal Delaware has no rail at all, so arrival is by car or by the ferry from Cape May. Once in Rehoboth itself, the town is a flat walkable grid and the seasonal Jolly Trolley shuttles between Rehoboth and Dewey Beach, which is the simplest way to avoid moving a car in August. Parking in the town is metered or permit-only through the summer season, enforced hard, and street parking within two blocks of the boardwalk is effectively unavailable on a July weekend — the paid municipal lots are the realistic option. Route 1 is the only road in and out, and on Friday afternoons and Sunday evenings it backs up for miles; travelling mid-week or early in the morning saves more time than any route choice does.

Rehoboth Beach tips for families

  • Health & safety

    Greenhead flies arrive with high summer

    Salt-marsh greenhead flies appear along the Delaware coast in mid-summer, bite hard and are not deterred by ordinary insect repellent. They are worst on still, humid days and on the bay side and marsh trails, and largely absent on a breezy ocean beach. A windy day on the sand is the practical answer; a walk through the dunes at noon in late July is not.

  • Health & safety

    Swim in front of a lifeguard stand, in season

    The Rehoboth and Dewey beaches are patrolled through the summer season only, and rip currents are a real and regular hazard on this coast rather than a theoretical one. Outside the patrolled months and outside patrolled hours the beach is unguarded, which matters most on a warm evening in September when the water still feels like summer.

  • Money & costs

    Budget for parking as a line item

    Seasonal meters and residential permits cover almost the whole town, enforcement is active, and the fines are larger than a day in a municipal lot. Families staying inside the grid generally park once and walk; families staying on Route 1 should plan on a paid lot for every beach day.

  • With kids

    Summer rentals run Saturday to Saturday

    Most beach houses here let by the week with a fixed changeover day through July and August, so a five-night stay is usually not on offer at any price. Shoulder-season weeks in late May, June and September are where short stays, lower rates and a still-warm sea overlap.

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Rehoboth Beach with kids: common questions

Is Rehoboth Beach good for toddlers?
It is one of the easier Atlantic beach towns for very young children, because the sand, the rides and the food are all within a few streets and no driving is needed once the car is parked. The two constraints are the ocean itself, which has surf and rip currents and is only patrolled in season, and mid-summer biting flies. The Delaware Bay beaches at Cape Henlopen and Lewes are the calmer alternative.
When is the sea warm enough to swim?
Late June through September, with August the warmest. May and early June are pleasant on the sand and cold in the water, which is worth knowing before booking a beach week around half term. September often has the best combination of warm water, thinner crowds and lower rental prices.
Do you need a car in Rehoboth Beach?
To get there, yes — there is no rail service to the Delaware coast and the alternative is the ferry from Cape May. Once there, a stay inside the boardwalk grid works entirely on foot, with a seasonal trolley to Dewey Beach. A car is needed for the state park, the outlets and Lewes.
How many days is enough?
Three to six. Three covers the boardwalk, the beach and a day at Cape Henlopen. A full week only makes sense if the plan is genuinely a beach week, because the town's attractions are exhausted well before that.
Is anything open outside the summer?
Much less than families expect. The rides, the patrolled beach and a good share of the restaurants run on a summer season, and the town in February is a quiet residential place with outlet shopping. The state park, the ferry and the town itself stay open year-round.

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