Fronting the open Atlantic, Rehoboth Beach was founded in the 1870s when church groups bought beachfront land, established the town, and extended a railroad line south from Lewes. The highway frontage along Hwy-1 is over-full of franchise food and factory outlet malls, but the heart of town along Rehoboth Avenue is the place to go. With its small but lively Funland Amusement Park, where the rides include bumper cars and a night-time haunted house, and a tidy boardwalk running along the broad beach, Rehoboth has somehow retained a small-town feel despite the many thousands of bureaucrats and power brokers who descend upon the place during the summer, escaping the sweltering heat of Washington, D.C.
The D.C. connection helps explain the town’s profusion of very good (and some very expensive) restaurants. Lining the main drag are casual, kid-friendly places like Dogfish Head (302/226-BREW) at 320 Rehoboth Avenue, which has great food and killer beers in Delaware’s oldest microbrewery. More grown-up palates will be drawn to the gourmet places a block south, where the outrageously kitsch La La Land (302/227-3887) at 22 Wilmington Avenue fills a pair of old beach houses alongside the eclectic, Mediterranean-inspired and unfailingly yummy Espuma (302/227-4199) at 28 Wilmington Avenue. There are also the more mainstream delights of Thrashers French Fries, and sundry beer-and-burger stands along the Boardwalk.
Places to stay include a barrage of B&Bs and motels, like the Beach View ($150; 800/288-5962), on the boardwalk at 6 Wilmington Avenue. There are also weekly cottage rentals and a couple of old-fashioned guesthouses like the Gladstone Inn ($80; 302/227-2641) at 3 Olive Drive, with rocking chairs on a cozy front porch that’s just 20 yards from the beach.
For more detailed information, stop in at the Rehoboth visitors center (302/227-2233 or 800/441-1329), in the old train depot at 501 Rehoboth Avenue.
