Bethany Beach/Fenwick Island, DE, USA
As you exit Dewey Beach and drive south on Route 1, the beach houses get increasingly larger and the air notably quieter. A giant totem pole, depicting a Nanticoke Indian chief, appears before you as you enter Bethany Beach and then it hits you—you’re in beach suburbia. Bethany Beach, ten miles south of Dewey, is the antidote to a Dewey hangover. It’s peaceful. It’s relaxing. Get a bushel of crabs and spread out some newspapers on the deck. There you go, there’s dinner. Fenwick Island, just south of Bethany, has a New England charm and cozy white-tablecloth restaurants in sharp contrast to the party scene just a few miles north of Bethany. The focus in both Bethany and Fenwick is on families and activities are geared towards children. Bring the kids to Salisbury Zoological Park for monkey, bird and otter spotting. Check out 17th, 18th and 19th-century artifacts from shipwrecks at the DiscoverSea Shipwreck Museum on Fenwick Island. Rent a kayak and explore the shoreline of the island and the marshlands that spill in to Little Assawoman Bay.
