I stumbled across Ocean Grove Beach this summer, and I think it might just be my favorite beach so…read morefar. Now, fair disclaimer: Ocean Grove is very Christian-based. There's a specific tented area with benches on the boardwalk where Christian services are held multiple times a day. You'll also find people on the boardwalk handing out tracts. If that's not your thing, just keep walking--they don't pressure you, and once you're actually on the beach, it all fades into the background. What really stood out to me was how pleasant and peaceful everything felt. Parking is free with lots of street parking available, and you can get from your car to the sand in seconds--which is a huge plus. The scenery is beautiful, bathrooms are clean, and there are food trucks around for when you get hungry. We forgot our umbrella one day and ended up renting one. It was super easy--$16, and you can pay with cash. They let you keep it until 4:45 pm and even come around to collect it for you. Chairs are also available to rent. For beach entry, however, it's cash-free--you scan the QR code and pay online. Overall, I loved the atmosphere here. Everything felt calm, well-kept, and welcoming. I can't wait to return--definitely one of the most peaceful beach experiences I've had.

I have been visiting Ocean Grove beach for over 10 years. It is a well-kept and clean beach with…read moreplenty of free parking. Main Street is a short walk away from the beach where you can shop and eat. There's a great boardwalk for a nice stroll. Hands down, my favorite beach down the jersey shore!

What a FANTASTIC date night with my love in Asbury Park!…read moreLove walking the boardwalk, admiring the art installations, hearing the ocean waves! I alway appreciate the new art installations by Woodwalls Project in Asbury! Came to see the bedazzled heart! See you soon!!

This is one of the first beach and broadwalk that appears along the NJ shoreline after exiting…read morenorth Jersey. Of course that makes it really popular and crowded destination in summer months. There are lots of parking lots and paid street parkings near the broadwalk. The lots are far more expensive than street parking, so better to go early to find one. The beach area is nice. There's a $8 entree fee and they do check for the tickets time to time. Rental chairs and umbrellas are available but super expensive, $35 for an umbrella and $15 for each chair. Lifeguards actively monitor the designated areas. The broadwalk is huge. Plenty of shops, restaurants, restrooms, fun activities and a convention hall reside along it. Inside the convention hall, there are more shops, local artisan market, and restaurants. We spent about 6 hours in the area. I found this beach friendly and safe. The food was decent. Restrooms were well maintained too. Overall a really nice place to go for a beach day, but be prepared to spend some, unless you come fully prepared from home.

This place is a private shower & lounge area. Clean as a whistle. They offer season passes but $10…read moregets you an all day admission to showers, changing rooms, and a much nicer bathroom than what's on the beach. If that wasn't enough they have lockers, shampoo & conditioner, liquid body soap, and hair dryers. Private showers and changing rooms allow you to keep your dignity as you disrobe. To top it all off they have an outdoor, hammock filled lounge area where you can relax after your shower. Free unmetered parking spaces right outside the door. The only thing they don't give you is a towel. It's BYOT. They are not exactly trying to make a huge announcement about it, but this place is a GREAT find. I have a feeling it was created for the convenience of the people who purchased condos in the area. But it's clearly open to the public.

A great beach if you're looking for a place that isn't as busy as Point Pleasant or Seaside…read moreHeights, but has the boardwalk and beach. Even on a weekend when it gets pretty busy, you should be able to find street parking not too far of a walk to the beach and it will be free. In typical jersey fashion, you will still have to buy beach passes though when you get to the water, but I believe you can also pre-purchase them. Even though it can get busy, the beach is clean and I feel people are really respectful of throwing away their trash. The beach draws not just families, but also adults, teens and the college crowd. I'm sure this is due to the fact that it has a little boardwalk area where you can find a ton of varieties of little cute restaurants, snack stands, and shops. If you are lucky and go on a night the Stone Pony has music, you can catch the sounds from the beach or the boardwalk.

I've been coming to Asbury for years but have never sat in the North Beach side. I was missed out…read moreand I really enjoyed my time here. There are bathrooms located close by on the boardwalk. Convention Hall is located right next to North Beach which made it convenient for my coffee run. I'll be returning next season.

Wow. I LOVE IT HERE. I'm a gal who prefers a more quiet, peaceful beach experience. I spent the…read moreday at Avon By the Sea on a weekday in September and it was perfect. All parking is FREE. Can't complain about that! There's plenty of street parking right in front of the boardwalk as well as residential parking nearby. Since I visited after the summer season ended, I had no problem finding a spot at 12pm. If you're going during the season, I would suggest coming much earlier if you want to get a good spot closer to the beach. During the summer season (Memorial Day through Labor Day), beach badges are required from 9am-5pm on weekdays and 9am-5:30pm on weekends/holidays. It's $13 per person. Children ages 11 and under + active military and their dependents are free of charge. They don't accept credit/debit cards, so remember to bring CASH. The beach is beautiful - clear, blue water and clean, soft sand. The crowd is more mature and family-oriented. They do have a lot of rules (no alcohol/smoking/cannabis/canopies/tents/sound systems), but I don't mind. It's not rowdy here, so you'll have a peaceful experience. There are bathrooms, a playground area for children, and a boardwalk. The boardwalk is small, but charming. There are benches for you to sit, relax, and enjoy the ocean view. There aren't many restaurants, bars, games, or entertainment around. They have a snack/food pavilion, but I'd suggest driving a few miles away to Asbury Park or Long Branch for a better dining and night life scene. Seeeeee yaaaaaaaa at the shore!

Avon-by-the-Sea is perfect if you're looking for a quiet, peaceful beach day. It's way more low-key…read morethan Belmar -- not much going on, mostly retirees and families, which honestly makes it super relaxing. Don't come here expecting to walk to a bunch of restaurants or bars -- it's more of a bring your own vibes kind of place. But they do have a snack shack, bathrooms, and the beach itself is really clean with clear water. Daily entry is $13, and there's lots of street parking, which is rare and amazing for beach towns. If you just want to chill, read, and enjoy the ocean without the crowds, this is the spot

Its $13 per person on my visit and kits under 12 are free. Sand is nice. Water its clear and good…read morefor family. It get deep after 10 meters. There a food shop in the main road grab the barcode and you can order food to get deliver in the beach. Thats nice. Parking its a bit hard to find but if you wait there is aways people leaving. You might wait 20-50 minutes

The beach matched our vibe. My top-tier chum and I managed to secure a super decent Airbnb right on…read morethe border of Ocean Grove and Bradley Beach, which came with badges for Bradley Beach. We already figured out that OG was an older, Christian-centric community but weren't sure about Bradley; didn't care really either way, but figured as a result of the proximity to a more religious town that we weren't exactly about to wander into a hardcore party scene. That was definitely true, but it wasn't oppressive - just chill and stunningly low key for 4th of July Weekend. We wandered onto the beach mid-morning on Saturday (so not the official busiest day of the holidays, but clearly still a big one) and ended up uncharacteristically sticking around until 4ish. From the Ocean Grove border, we decided to come in at the second entrance, thinking it was a little less secluded and didn't involve the surf school. One of the few annoyances of the day was the lifeguard/surf school situation - while the school was in session, you couldn't swim near that area (which is fine/understandable). That boundary was marked by a flag, but people were constantly floating toward it throughout the day and getting whistled at, to the point where we would have just put up buoys or something - it's easy to accidentally drift like that. This has to be one of the top three worst times to go to the beach in terms of crowds, etc. but we were both amazed that the entire time we were there, we easily had at least 10 feet of space between us and the next group of people. Given how early we got there, not surprising to have some acreage, but when it was 2pm and we still did? Wild. My top-tier chum who literally went to the school of hospitality also made a cameo appearance around midday and was pleasantly surprised at the lack of population density as well. There are some rules here, which I imagine helps weed out the riffraff a bit. Full disclosure - I'm bad to the bone, so we did smuggle in some 5% tequila-based canned cocktails, and my other chum brought some "juice" in a Minute Maid container or something. I know. We behaved. And I don't know if it matters to the readers who are raking me over the coals right now, but the juice had very high level, Don Julio quality tequila. Anyway. There was a lifeguard patrolling in an ATV but I never saw anyone really looking into prohibited drinking (we were fairly discrete) but I'm sure that's something you should be looking out for no matter what. A few groups were clearly doing the same thing but honestly, anyone who's taking a nip at a beach like this is not doing it as a precursor to a raging kegger. One rule nitpick - we checked beforehand and the rules online clearly stated no cabanas and yet we saw a bunch of them. This was only annoying because my chum has a great one we didn't bring with us, which would have been an enormous asset. So I guess the lesson is, check the rules ahead of time but if you have the room, bring the cabana just in case everyone else is being naughty too. I didn't really think about it in the moment, but it was also very clean (the gold standard for me is Spring Lake, but it comes at the cost of some super off-the-charts rules that diminish the experience a tad). Each entrance had a person checking badges, and everyone I interacted with was very friendly. I forgot to bring my badge for a quick water trip and the woman at our entrance let me go since I had a memorable shirt (featuring Academy Award-nominated actress Winona Ryder) and was going to be back in a few minutes. Nice of her regardless. One of our favorite beaches to date. I think for me personally, I would just need one or two food stands nearby (they do have a QR code thing on the boardwalk to order some shizzle for delivery) and the surf school buoys. Really top-notch stuff.

My friend suggested a beach day, stationed at the Conover Pavilion. She mentioned that there was a…read morelarge, grassy parking lot that was for daily guests, and that I could purchase parking time for my spot through the Premium Parking app. Well, when I arrived, the area was full of cars, but a crossing guard told me that I could park on any of the neighboring residential streets, as an alternative. So, the closed lot wound up being helpful in that I was able to park for free and with almost the same level of convenience. Once my friend and I resolved our parking situations, we walked up to the main building to pay the $12 beach entrance fee, for which they only accepted credit cards. After we obtained our daily bracelets, we approached the main pavilion area, which included reasonably clean bathrooms, locker rooms, changing areas, several tables, and a well-stocked snack bar and grill. In fact, we decided to get lunch from the stand, and my Grilled Chicken California whole wheat wrap (with grilled chicken, avocado, lettuce, and tomato) was pretty great! The chicken was a tad dry, but the vegetables were super fresh. I was shocked at the selection of healthy and flavorful options they had; your standard hot dogs and hamburgers were not the only items on offer. They also served a variety of chips, novelty ice cream bars, non-alcoholic drinks, and more. We were even able to easily get a table at which to enjoy our food. The beach was fluffy, clean, and not overly crowded. Plus, they had showers both on the beach itself and up on the deck of the Pavilion, making it easy to clean off before leaving the venue. Overall, it was a beautiful and relaxing day at the shore. In fact, while I had not been sure if I had been to Conover in the past, I immediately recognized it from my childhood, which was a nice memory with which to be surprised!

Ample parking. Clean restrooms. Helpers for getting all gear to the beach. Secure lockers for day…read moreguests. Convenient cabanas for members. Members also get preferred parking. Been coming to this beach club since I was a child many,many years ao & it was called Phillips Avenue beach. Friendly, professional, fairly priced. My summer go to.

Great customer service . Fast and easy booking . Nice view and cute attraction for kidsread more

We had a GREAT time on the boats. We were greeted right away by the most friendly staff, who helped…read moreus in and out of the boat seamlessly. Its 25$ for 30 minutes, which is honestly a great price. I think this is such a cute activity for families or couples. I can't recommend this enough.

The Deal Casino is an amazing beach club. The beach is well maintained, as is the pool. The lockers…read moreand cabanas are well maintained. The club serves all ages from the kids to the card players and seniors.

I love the huge pool and I can swim hours in this gorgeous one of a kind pool. The best in the…read moreuniverse. This is home. The place is huge, gorgeous and grwat

What a great place! It has every amenity - the kitchen is a dream. Love the porch - perfect for…read morepeople watching. The owner, James, is great to work with and provides a fabulous primer on the house and the area. You just have to show up and read the book...it's all there! Ocean Grove is charming. A great Main Street. Lovely beach. Highly recommend.

Chadwick Cottage is beautifully decorated but in a way that is so comfortable that our group never…read morefelt anything but relaxed. The fireplaces were an added treat on a chillier than usual evening, and the kitchen is large enough and so well-stocked with cooking apparatuses that it almost was a "Big Chill-ish" experience to stay there, with groups gathering in the kitchen while others held court in the living areas. There is also a lot to recommend the location, with easy access to the more grownup social activities available in Asbury Park. We will be going back.