Assateague Beach

In spite of hurricane damage to beach & parking area, still the Best Place on Earth to relax and watch the waves roll in & out. Parking is severly limited even with extensive cleanup efforts by NPS. Beach area is also limited (very, very small at "P1" parking area). Limited Rest Rooms available on this visit (SEP 2025). Sitting on top of sand dunes along with the seagulls as space is limited and we are all getting along just fine.

This is the best beach “near” Washington /Baltimore area, being about 4 hours away. There is no camping like Assateague side in Maryland (also great but hot as there is no shade at campsites). The town of Chincoteague is nice and still quant and fortunately not way overdone like elsewhere on coast like Ocean City or Outer Banks. Definitely more of a rural/coastal feel. There are plenty of places to stay in town. The park is very nice and beach great with plenty of parking and space, showers, great sand for miles and ocean swimmable with normal big and small Atlantic waves. It never felt crowded. In summer there are even lifeguards. It’s a National Park area and has everything you’d expect from a National Park. In July it was hot so we did 8/9am-noon with toddler and she loved it. There’s also of course the horses. I did two 45 minute hikes on trails around wetland area and another similar forest hike and there wasn’t much to see (no birds) but then again it was 2pm and very hot and muggy. Nonetheless, nice scenery and similar to other areas on mid Atlantic. The lighthouse is nice too. There is also the NASA facility nearby and we saw a bunch of planes doing exercises while driving into town which was cool. You can check Wallops website for real rocket launches. I’m planning to go back again and make it my regular “near” beach vacation. It’s better than all the places from Delaware to Outer Banks I’ve been if like less commercialized.

Looking for a relaxing beach, this place checks that box. Very clean, as a national park should be. There are elaborate porta potties scattered through the parking lot, an air station to refill for those that want to drive on the beach, and plenty of parking. Beach was clean, not a ton of shells like some places have and an easy entry into the water. Definitely bring your own bags, etc to dispose of your trash to help keep the beaches clean. $10 entry fee if you don't have a park pass, but it did appear that if you arrived during "lunch" the booths were unattended allowing people to drive right in. Timing may be everything? 🤷🏼‍♂️ Never saw any horses roaming the beach, but maybe you will be luckier than I was!!

It is a beautiful beach with plenty of space to stretch out and relax. There was ample parking as well as rest rooms available. Unfortunately for us, it was raining off and on, so our visit to the beach was not as long as we had hoped.