Ocean City, Maryland

Ocean City, Maryland has long been called the "East Coast's Number One Family Resort" because it hosts numerous activities and events that appeal to every member of the family and because it offers accomodations to meet all tastes and budgets.

In the summer, the 10-mile stretch of free Atlantic Ocean beach in Ocean City features swimming, surfing, boogie boarding, surf fishing, kite flying, sand castle building, jogging, and a host of other pursuits.

In spring, summer or fall, headboats and charter boats take anglers out of Ocean City in search of white or blue marlin, blue fish, tuna, wahoo and shark.

Maryland's famous blue crabs can be caught from a number of bayside fishing piers. The bays west of the island of Ocean City offer sailing, boating, fishing, jet skiing, water skiing, parasailing and windsurfing.

Ocean City is also home to some of the finest dining and nightlife on the East Coast. Restaurants serve everything from local seafood specialties to pizza and world-famous french fries and French, Chinese, Greek, Italian and Mexican foods. Nightclubs and pubs in Ocean City offer the full spectrum of entertainment from sports bars to dancing to mellow jazz and blues, Top 40, rock 'n roll, and country-western.

Two full-scale amusement parks, arcades, miniature golf courses, two enclosed malls, a new Outlet shopping center, movie theaters, go-kart tracks, and a three-mile, ocean-front boardwalk loaded with shops and restaurants will also keep you busy in Ocean City.

Golfers can choose from nine award-winning courses surrounded by wetlands and marsh near Ocean City. Many of the local hotels and motels offer golf packages all year long.

The major attraction in winter is Ocean City's annual Winterfest of Lights Celebration, which features hundreds of lighted displays consisting of more than 750,000 lights, including nautical themes such as Santa hooking a marlin, a lighthouse, Surfing Santa, and an animated "Jaws" swimming across the water before thrusting its head out of the surf with teeth bared