Summer (June to August) is the obvious season — the beach, the boardwalk and the amusement rides are all open, the weather is warm, and the town is packed. July 4 and Labor Day weekend bring enormous crowds and the highest hotel prices of the year. Late spring and early autumn are probably the sweet spots — the weather is still pleasant, the ocean is warm enough into September, and rates are half what they are in July. Winter is cold, windy, and often surprisingly atmospheric — the casinos stay open year-round and offer their biggest discounts, but the boardwalk in January is a ghostly, monochrome experience. The casinos run their own marketing calendar: Monday to Thursday rooms are routinely a fraction of weekend rates, a hangover from the pattern of Philadelphia day-trippers who still drive in and out on Saturday nights.