Happy National Plan Your Vacation Day!  What better way to spend a bleak winter day than planning your beach vacation in Ocean City?  We’re self proclaimed experts on the area, and want to ensure all visitors get the best experience possible.

When Are You Coming?

This is often the first decision that needs to be made to plan your vacation.  Knowing when you are coming affects pricing of accommodations. Hotel stays are more affordable on Sunday – Thursday nights.  Pricing on Friday and Saturday nights is always more expensive.  If you can travel mid-week, you’ll save money for food and activities.

You may also want to consider visiting during times when an event is in town. View the largest collection of Ocean City events to help you determine when you’re coming to Ocean City. 

Where Are You Staying?

In Ocean City, you have the option of staying in a hotel or a rental.  Rentals usually have a separate living and sleeping space, and often have a kitchen.  Some rentals allow stays of less than a week, but most are weekly running Saturday – Saturday.  When booking a rental, scams are prevalent.  Be sure you’re booking with a rental management company as opposed to an individual.  Shorerent.com offers a great compilation of rentals from only trusted rental management companies. 

If you’re a person that loves coming back to a freshly made bed and the sand vacuumed from the carpet, a hotel is the way to go.  With flexible check in and check out dates and often more amenities than rentals offer, hotels are a popular choice in Ocean City.  Ocean City has a unique program for hotel bookings called OC is Free.    When booking a hotel that participates in this program, you get 4 free items to use during your trip, like a waterpark pass, or a $20 voucher at a local restaurant.  We love the idea of making the rest of our vacation more affordable by getting free items just by booking a hotel room.

Campers will also find great options near Ocean City. Share a campsite with wild ponies, just steps from the ocean at Assateague National Seashore.  Castaways RV Resort and Campground has all the amenities for a great stay and is a short drive to the ocean.  Families will love Frontier Town, where you’ll receive free access to their waterpark during your camping stay.

What Will You Be Doing?

Perhaps you’re not planning your day to day itinerary, but it’s always a great idea to discover what restaurants or things to do that you just can’t miss.  Our favorite way of researching these type of things when visiting a location is Pinterest.  You can find a great Pinterest page with lots of Ocean City ideas here.  If you prefer to find great ideas offline, you can always request a Vacation Guide to be mailed to your home.

Do you plan on making a trip to Ocean City a tradition?  If so, think about things you can do year after year as a family bonding activity.  Maybe waking up for a walk on the beach at sunrise is your tradition.  Or maybe it’s getting a box of Fisher’s popcorn for the ride home.  Perhaps it’s renting a surrey for a morning ride along the boardwalk.

As you get closer to your trip, you can visit ExploreOC.com.  ExploreOC uses your phone’s location to tell you what live entertainment and specials are being offered at establishments near you in Ocean City.  We also love their super deals!

Our summer vacation dreams are starting to look more like reality!