America’s boardwalk tradition started in Atlantic City in 1870 when a hotel owner wanted to keep sand out of his lobby, and the solution proved popular enough that coastal towns spent the next 150 years building their own versions. The idea was simple and it still works.
These boardwalks stretch from California to New York, covering amusement parks that outlasted their era, wide promenades built for sunset cycling, and a few stretches that stayed quieter than their quality deserves. Some go big on entertainment. Others let the ocean do most of the work. All of them deliver the particular American pleasure of walking somewhere with no particular deadline.
12. Myrtle Beach Boardwalk, South Carolina
The SkyWheel rises 187 feet above the Grand Strand and stays visible along most of the 1.2-mile stretch, giving Myrtle Beach an instant landmark that smaller beach towns are lacking. Arcades, seafood restaurants, and beach bars pack the surrounding blocks into a commercial density that becomes the whole point for summer visitors.
The boardwalk connects two entertainment hubs at either end, and the walk between them covers enough variety to fill an afternoon. Peak season crowds on weekend evenings test your patience, but the people-watching at least compensates for the slow forward progress.
11. Long Beach Boardwalk, New York
Long Island’s most visited beach runs a 2.1-mile boardwalk along the Atlantic that New York City residents treat as their most accessible ocean escape, and the train connection from Penn Station puts the beach within reach of anyone without a car. The wide sand beach and consistent summer surf make the boardwalk a natural gathering point.
The boardwalk stays relatively simple compared to the Jersey Shore options across the water, which works strongly in its favor. The beach culture here belongs to the locals, and the Long Island community character surrounding it gives the visit a grounding that tourist-heavy boardwalks rarely maintain.
10. Coney Island Boardwalk, Brooklyn, New York
The Riegelmann Boardwalk stretches 2.7 miles through one of America’s most storied beach destinations, where Nathan’s Famous still holds court at the Stillwell Avenue intersection and the Cyclone roller coaster has been terrifying riders on the same wooden track since 1927. Summer weekends pack the boards with a cross-section of New York City humanity that makes the crowd part of the experience.
The Wonder Wheel, the carnival games, and the smell of Nathan’s hot dogs from two blocks away create an atmosphere that no amount of polish could improve. Coney Island operates on its own stubborn terms and always has.
9. Rehoboth Beach Boardwalk, Delaware
This mile of Delaware beach real estate somehow stayed closer to a classic seaside town than a commercial resort corridor. Funnel cake vendors, arcade games, and a handful of restaurants occupy the strip without overwhelming the community character that draws Washington DC and Philadelphia visitors down for summer weekends, and sometimes the whole summer.
The surrounding town adds independent restaurants and shops that extend the experience beyond the boardwalk’s physical length. The family-friendly atmosphere keeps things at a human scale that Atlantic City, an hour north, abandoned some time ago.
8. Franklin D. Roosevelt Boardwalk, Staten Island, New York
The longest boardwalk in New York State runs 2.5 miles along South Beach on Staten Island, and most New Yorkers never make the ferry trip to find it. The boardwalk opened in 1941, sits above a wide Atlantic beach that the city’s more famous options can’t match for space, and delivers Manhattan skyline views from the northern end on clear days.
The relative obscurity serves it well. The beach stays less crowded than Coney Island or Rockaway, and the ferry connection from St. George adds a pleasant maritime approach that the subway ride that goes to other beaches won’t deliver.
7. Daytona Beach Boardwalk, Florida
The hard-packed sand at Daytona Beach famously allows cars to drive directly on the beach, a bizarre luxury you never knew you needed until now. The boardwalk area concentrates around the Main Street pier with carnival rides, an arcade, and beach bars, establishing the particular Daytona character that spring breakers discovered decades ago.
The pier extends 1,000 feet into the Atlantic for fishing and ocean views. The entertainment district works best as exactly what it presents itself as: unpretentious Florida beach fun with no architectural ambitions and absolutely no shame about it.
6. Virginia Beach Boardwalk, Virginia
A 34-foot bronze Neptune statue anchors the 31st Street entry point, establishing immediately that Virginia Beach takes its boardwalk seriously. Three miles of concrete-and-brick promenade along the Atlantic accommodate cyclists, joggers, rollerbladers, and pedestrians across designated lanes, and the resort strip behind glimmers with hotels and restaurants that beachgoers flock to in droves.
The boardwalk connects to a bike trail extending further south, and military history surfaces in museums within walking distance of the ocean. The beach widens considerably south of the main stretch, and the crowds thin as you continue further, making the extra walk worth the effort.
5. Atlantic City Boardwalk, New Jersey
Atlantic City built the world’s first boardwalk in 1870 to stop sand from tracking through hotel lobbies, and the 4-mile stretch that followed changed American leisure culture permanently. The casino towers that rose around it over the following century altered the character considerably, and the current boardwalk shows that complicated history across operational casinos, shuttered properties, and the Steel Pier amusement complex running since 1898.
The ocean views haven’t changed, and walking above the beach at boardwalk height still delivers the pleasure the original designers planned for. Everything surrounding it tells a more complicated story about what American resort towns do when the money shifts.
4. Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, California
California’s oldest surviving amusement park has operated continuously since 1907, and the Giant Dipper wooden roller coaster from 1924 still runs today as a National Historic Landmark. The boardwalk sits at the northern end of Monterey Bay, where Pacific fog and consistent wave action set a mood that the amusement park somehow fits into perfectly.
Vintage rides, beach volleyball culture on the surrounding sand, and the Santa Cruz surf scene converge on the same half-mile stretch and create something that the town’s counterculture personality makes completely its own. The arcades still take tokens, and the corn dogs still justify the lines.
3. Ocean City Boardwalk, Maryland
Three miles of Maryland boardwalk supporting the highest concentration of Thrasher’s French Fries stands and Kohr Brothers frozen custard locations on the Eastern Seaboard, both of which function as cultural institutions for mid-Atlantic families who made Ocean City their annual summer ritual for generations. The boardwalk tram still runs the full length for anyone who has covered enough ground on foot.
The beach behind it stretches wide and clean, amusement rides at the southern end keep the family entertainment concentrated, and September brings the crowd numbers down to levels that make the whole boardwalk considerably more pleasant without changing anything worth visiting for.
2. Hollywood Beach Broadwalk, Florida
Hollywood calls it the Broadwalk because, at 30 feet wide, it earns something more ambitious than a standard boardwalk name, and that distinction captures the whole approach. The 2.5-mile paved promenade between Hallandale Beach and the south end of Hollywood runs wide enough for cyclists, rollerbladers, and pedestrians to operate simultaneously without generating the territorial friction that narrower boardwalks produce.
The village center section at Johnson Street has a permanent outdoor entertainment setup, bringing live music most evenings. The relaxed Broward County pace sits noticeably below the pressure of Fort Lauderdale and Miami Beach on either side, and Hollywood Beach really benefits from that gap.
1. Newport Beach Boardwalk, California
The Balboa Peninsula boardwalk covers a compact stretch but brings you an experience that Southern California beach culture has refined over decades. The Balboa Fun Zone, a small amusement area operating since 1936, holds a Ferris wheel that the Newport Beach skyline grew around, and the Balboa Island Ferry crossing the harbor adds a 3-minute boat trip to the loop that makes the whole circuit much more interesting than the distances suggest.
The surrounding peninsula has some of Southern California’s best fish tacos and a beach town character that Newport Beach’s wealth never smoothed into something predictable. The boardwalk works best as the center of a wider peninsula exploration, not a quick stop.