How crowded are the two day areas at the Delaware Seashore State Park?

Those areas get a decent amount of people, but I personally wouldn’t call them crowded. We use to go to the Indian River area all the time (the area on the other side of the bridge from the campsite). They have a parking area that you have to pay a few dollars to get into (because it’s considered a state park). They also have showers and a consession stand.

Jeez, as a Delaware resident I feel really bad because I should be able to provide you with an immediate, accurate answer. I live in Wilmington and am very particular about when I go to the beach in the summer because my 2 hour off season drive become a 5 or 6 hour drive in season, and that’s more than I care to drive to the beach. However, that being said, the state parks are much less crowded than the “towns” like Bethany or Rehoboth. Yes, there is limited parking, you probably should get there early and yes there is a fee. I usually get a resident yearly pass to the state parks, so I’m not sure what a day pass for the state parks costs but I don’t think it is much more than a few dollars for the day. You might want to give them a call. Here is a link to the Delaware Seashore State Park.

http://www.destateparks.com/park/delaware-seashore/

Thanks for the responses!

We drove out early on Sunday. We arrived at the Fenwick Island public area at 9 a.m. and were able to get right in. It cost us $8 to get in to the lot and we parked right next to the bath house. We went right out on the beach and camped out right near a lifeguard stand. There were very few people on the beach at that time of the morning and the tide was going out. There was a small stand renting umbrellas and chairs.

It got steadily more crowded as the day progressed and I would say that the crowd was easily equal to any that we would have experienced anywhere in Ocean City. Not a problem for us, though. The kids were able to easily play in the surf with minimal overcrowding issues, and if you like people watching, it was a good spot. The down side was a guy smoking a big cigar upwind from us…

We went up to the bathhouse around 1 p.m. and got cleaned up. The only issue there was that the floors were soaked! Of course, it is a bath house, right? The challenge there was when it came to getting in your dry clothes with wet/sandy feet. Otherwise, I would call it a successful trip. I would definitely use those public beaches again!

The parking lot was totally packed when we left. There was even a line of cars to get in. My advice to anyone who reads this… go early. Don’t even bother if it is mid day or later.