Ocean City, MD in the off-season

[ckay87]

So I'm heading to OCMD for the first time in many years this weekend. And it will be my first time ever during off season. We thought it might be fun to check out the beach & boardwalk with fewer crowds. But when we went to book a hotel, there really wasn't a lot of vacancy (where we wanted to stay, at least). We did find a room, though. But what is it like during the early fall? Less crowded? Less partying? Just as much stuff to do? Or pretty much the same as summertime? I'm excited, I wish we had more than a weekend!

 

[lynxstch]

right after Labor Day weekend..yes, it's less crowded, yes there's less partying, but there's also less open..restaurants sometimes cut back hours, a lot of the mini golfs are only open on weekends , some of the hotels shut down for the winter,along with cut hours at some stores, etc..we had to
reserve a hotel room for 3 days for next week for one of my husbands clients, and found that next week and weekend will be busy..there's some kind of Sun Fest going on and lot of the hotels were already booked..we found him one on the boardwalk with an indoor pool (as this was what he requested), of course the larger hotels had rooms..but I wasn't prepared to pay $300-400 a nite for an ocean front room!
You can still stroll the beach, shop at the stores, eat at most restaurants, and have a great time, without walking into someone every 2 feet, and without having noisy parties going on right beside you at this time of year
Have a great time!

 

[iNTeNSeBLue98]

We were at OC last week, Wed-Fri after Labor Day. The weather was awful for us, so I don't know what kind of impact that had on tourism while we were there.

Most of the shops on the boardwalk were still open, but food establishments were not so much mid-week. We stopped for burgers and the place we chose was out of french fries. I'm guessing they ran out and weren't expecting more until the weekend or they were clearing out in order to close for the season.

Traffic and parking was much lighter than when I last visited on a Sunday in August. Again, weather had some impact, but it was mid-week and kids are back in school. We were able to park on Baltimore Ave, one block off the boardwalk without searching for a space.

I went to SunFest last fall for a day. Basically it's a craft show. It's crowded at the inlet (held on the Inlet parking lot), but the boardwalk is open. Bike Week is this weekend (17th-20th), SunFest is 24th-27th.

 

[ckay87]

Thanks to both of you. Bike Week, huh? That should be interesting. Could explain the trouble we had booking a room on the boardwalk. Upside is that the restaraunts should be open.