The town beach is a wide, well-maintained stretch of fine sand backed by a brick promenade running from Wilmington Avenue past Convention Hall. A beach tag (sold daily or by the week) is required for ages 12 and up between Memorial Day and mid-September — the rangers patrol and check. Outside those months the beach is free, less crowded, and arguably better.
The promenade is the morning jog route, the evening stroll route, and the bike-lane spine of town. Convention Hall hosts concerts and the off-season antique shows; the playground next door fills up by mid-morning in summer. The water is colder than southern New Jersey beaches because of the bay current, which is exactly why Cape May was a fashionable summer resort in the era before air conditioning.