Asbury Park Beach

Located in the beachfront city of Asbury Park in New Jersey, Asbury Park Beach is a popular beach with light brown sand.  The northernmost portion of this beach is sometimes called Asbury Park Dog Beach.  This beach was listed as one of the 25 best beaches in the United States by Travel + Leisure magazine.  In addition, it has also been listed as the second-best beach in the United States by the financial magazine Money.com, and is also a favorite of Randall Kaplan, the world’s foremost beach expert who is known as Mr. Beach.  The portion of this beach that is located between the eastern ends of 4th Avenue and 5th Avenue is popular with the LGBTQ community. 

Asbury Park Beach has lifeguards between Memorial Day and Labor Day.  During this time, the beach has lifeguards between 9 am to 5 pm on weekdays and between 9 am to 6 pm on weekdays and holidays.  In addition to lifeguards, the beach and the area near it have many other amenities including showers, restrooms, rental facilities for beach chairs, beach umbrellas, and watersports equipment, playgrounds, and drinking water facilities.  

There is a dog-friendly portion of Asbury Park Beach named Asbury Park Dog Beach – this dog-friendly portion is located near the beach’s northern end and dogs without a leash are allowed here between May 16 and September 14 between 6 pm and 8:30 am.

Asbury Park Beach offers many fun activities including sunbathing, beachcombing, fishing, swimming, boating, jet-skiing, surfing, kitesurfing, bodysurfing, boogie boarding, windsurfing, parasailing, water-skiing, wakeboarding, surf-skiing, kayaking, canoeing, and wildlife watching.  

Asbury Park Beach offers fun surfing waves throughout the year, making it ideal for surfers.  The best time to surf here for expert and strong surfers is when northeasterly winds are blowing and when the weather is stormy.  You can check the Asbury Park Beach cam online to see the amazing waves here.

If you are planning to surf, swim, kayak, or canoe here, we recommend being careful because the water here is known to have unpredictable rip currents and dangerous waves.  Please note that swimming is not allowed here when lifeguards are not on duty.  In addition, there is a seasonal surfers-only aquatic area here – this area is located between the rocky jetties near Deal Lake Drive and Eighth Avenue.

Asbury Park Beach offers beach wheelchairs for visitors with disabilities – these beach wheelchairs are available at the eastern ends of 3rd Avenue and 7th Avenue.  In addition, this beach also offers amphibious wheelchairs named WaterWheels for visitors with disabilities.  You can contact the Asbury Park’s Beach office by phone at (732) 502-8863 for more information regarding the use of beach wheelchairs and WaterWheels.  In addition, the beach also offers disabled-friendly access ramps and beach mats for visitors with disabilities, along with free reserved parking spaces for disabled visitors.

Getting to Asbury Park Beach is easy and the Asbury Park Beach directions are easy to follow – this beach is located along Ocean Avenue North.  It is easily accessible from New Jersey Route 35, New Jersey Route 66, and New Jersey Route 18 through Asbury Avenue.  There are multiple paid parking lots  and parking garages nearby, along with multiple metered street parking spaces  – you can visit city of Asbury Park’s official website for more information regarding the parking lots and street parking spaces here. 

Please note that you need to purchase a beach pass to visit this beach from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend.  You can visit the city of Asbury Park’s website for more information regarding the purchase of beach passes. 

We recommend visiting Asbury Beach Park early during summers because this beach can get crowded during this time.  We recommend checking the Asbury Park Beach weather reports before visiting here because the weather here can get stormy.

Asbury Park Beach and the city of Asbury Park host many fun events throughout the year including a famous music festival named the Sea.Hear.Now Festival, a festival named AsburyFest, the Asbury Park Zombie Walk, and Mardi Gras celebrations.

There are many attractions near Asbury Park Beach.  Asbury Park Boardwalk is an oceanfront boardwalk that offers many amazing shopping stores and restaurants.  In addition, it also has many other fun things to explore including a retro arcade, a splash park, a theater, a carousel, and a mini-golf facility.  If you like live music, The Stone Pony is a famous live music venue that offers many fun and exciting live music performances and it has hosted many eminent musicians including Bruce Springsteen and Steve Van Zandt.  Sky Zone Trampoline Park – Ocean Township is a trampoline park that offers many fun trampoline-based rides and activities including a ninja warrior course, a zip line, and a parkour area.  Allaire State Park is a state park that is a 20-minute-drive away and preserves a 19th-century iron-making town named Allaire Village and it offers many fun activities including canoeing, fishing, wildlife watching, hiking, skiing, hunting, and horse-riding.  This state park also has a nature interpretive center, antique steam trains, a campground, and a museum/visitor center.  If you are looking for another nearby attraction near the beach, Paranormal Museum is a museum that offers a variety of interesting objects related to the supernatural – the museum’s exhibitions include a supposed skull of the famous cryptid Jersey Devil, a collection of haunted dolls and haunted objects, a collection of ouija boards, and a collection of occult-related objects.

If you get hungry, there are many great restaurants near Asbury Park Beach.  The Robinson Ale House offers amazing dishes for lunch and dinner including burgers, pastas, tacos, flatbreads, soups, salads, and wraps.  Stella Marina Bar and Restaurant is an Italian restaurant that offers many amazing Italian dishes for lunch and dinner including pasta, pizza, pork chops, veal sorrentino, Italian-style seafood, and salads.  Porta is known for serving excellent Neapolitan-style pizzas and it also offers amazing pastas, eggs, sandwiches, and meatballs.  The Mainstay Bar & Lounge offers delicious seafood, along with a variety of other delicious dishes including chicken tenders, burgers, baskets, burrata, and rice bowl.  If you are looking for another good and affordable nearby restaurant, MOGO Korean Fusion Tacos offers amazing tacos with Korean culinary influences.

If you are looking for a hotel near Asbury Park Beach, there are many great nearby options.  The 4-Star Wave Resort & Spa offers many amenities including multiple restaurants, a bar, seasonal firepits, an ATM, bike loaner facilities, a seasonal pool, a private beach area, a gym, a salon, a spa, and a kids’ playroom.  The 4-Star Ocean Place Resort and Spa is another upscale hotel that offers many amenities including multiple restaurants and bars, multiple pools, a gift shop, a games area, a spa, and a fitness center.  A more affordable hotel is the 3-Star The Asbury Hotel offers many amenities including a pool table, multiple bars and restaurants, a rooftop lounge, and a pool.  Another moderately priced hotel is the 3-Star Berkeley Oceanfront Hotel that offers many amenities including a seasonal pool, a tiki bar, poolside cabanas, a garden, a pool table, a fitness center, a gift shop, a salon, and a restaurant.  If you are looking for another good and affordable nearby hotel, the 3-Star The Majestic Hotel offers many amenities including a porch and complimentary breakfast.