New Jersey shore Travel Guide

New Jersey's Atlantic coast, a 130-mile stretch of almost uninterrupted resorts - some rowdy, many pitifully run-down and faded, a few undeveloped and peaceful - has long been reliant on farming and tourism. No profitable ports were established, nor did short-lived attempts at whaling come to anything. In the late 1980s the whole coastline suffered severe and well-publicized pollution from ocean dumping, but today the beaches, if occasionally somewhat crowded, are safe and clean: sandy, broad and lined by characteristic wooden boardwalks , some of which, in an attempt to maintain their condition, charge admission during the summer. The rundown glitz of Atlantic City is perhaps the shore's best known attraction, but there are also quieter resorts like Spring Lake and historic Victorian Cape May , plus local gems like Wildwood that are worth the journey further down the coast.