Courtesy of Asbury Park Boardwalk Facebook page

 

Does your fam go to the same Jersey boardwalk and shoretown every summer? If Asbury Park hasn’t made your beach bucket list yet, you may want to reconsider: it just got named the #2 beach in the country by MONEY Magazine.

MONEY’s picks came down to mostly two key requirements: a mix of waterfront fun and affordability. After analyzing more than 250 vacay go-tos, the mag narrowed it down to seven national and international sites each.

Asbury’s stats are impressive, the average airfare coming to $293 and standard hotels rounding out to $185 a night. But the star of the town is the beach and boardwalk. For $5 on weekdays and $7 on weekends, you can surf, lounge, play and swim on the mile-long spread of sand and sea. Asbury Park highlights include The Stone Pony, an iconic music venue, Asbury Lanes, which just got a major restoration and upgrade for the summer, the Silverball Museum Arcade, a quarter-free collection of antique operational pinball machines, and Asbury Park Convention Hall, the site of seasonal markets and this year’s Cat Convention.

Beer nerds get their fill of craft brews and Euro-inspired fare at Asbury Festhalle & Biergarten, which boasts more than 50 taps, while Langosta Lounge is a mod resto that makes standout apps like Oh Hi! Wings made with crab caramel, toasted sesame seeds and spring onions and brunch entrees like the Lobster BLT, loaded with applewood smoked bacon, Atlantic lobster salad, tomatoes and roasted pepper aioli. Pop’s Garage spices up the local food scene with authentic Mexican specialties like plantain picadillo stuffed with beef, chorizo epazote and chipotle and cilantro mayos, or Cali pescado fried cod tacos.

Another fun fact? AP is home to the Catsbury Park Cat Cafe & Tea House, a nonprofit that serves java and specialty teas with a side of adorable kitties up for adoption. If that’s not enough to add this shoretown to your summer calendar, we don’t know what is.