Recap: 2025 Rehoboth Beach Girls’ Weekend Getaway

My sister and I have been going to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, for at least one long weekend a summer for over two decades. At first, this annual Rehoboth Beach girls' weekend getaway included our mom. When my daughter was born in 2009, she joined us. Our mom passed away just over a month after our 2023 Rehoboth Beach trip, and we have continued the tradition with just the three of us.

Recap: 2025 Rehoboth Beach Girls' Weekend Getaway

In between these family girls weekend trips to Rehoboth Beach, I have gone with my husband and daughter, just my husband, and with groups of girl friends (and my sister is usually in the crew). I feel my sister and I have perfected our long weekend getaway to Rehoboth, and our most recent trip was the best yet. A recap of what we did and of course, what I wore

Preparing for the Trip

We book our hotel room in January. After trying a few different hotels, we have stayed at The Avenue Inn for the past 16+ years and the place books up fast. While The Avenue Inn is not on the boardwalk, it is only a block away and has amazing amenities like a pool (partially indoors so it's great for rainy days), free beach chairs and towels, and a golf cart that will take you to and from the boardwalk,

We prefer a Resort Queen room, which has two Queen beds and a balcony overlooking Rehoboth Ave. (AKA “the main drag”). That being said, we have had different priorities for rooms over the years.

• When my daughter was younger, we liked the Coastal Choice Queen Suite which has two queen beds and a sofa bed. There is a barn door that separates the sofa bed from the rest of the room, so we could put my daughter to bed earlier and she'd have a quiet, dark space while we could sit up and watch TV, talk, or read.
• In the last couple of years before my mom passed, we'd get adjoining balcony rooms overlooking Wilmington Avenue so we all had more space, and the balconies are bigger so four people can enjoy one of them together.

We only have the leave available for a Friday through Monday getaway, which feels both too short and long enough to get some good beach time.

Friday

We try to get on the road from the Maryland suburbs of D.C. so we arrive in Rehoboth by lunch. We'll check in at The Avenue, knowing there's likely no chance our room is ready yet. However, this means we can park the car in the garage, and if we wanted to use the pool or go to the beach, we could use the changing rooms. They also text once the room is ready.

What I Wore: Old Polo Ralph Lauren oxford shirt, old J. Crew denim cutoffs, Teva sandals, Lands' End medium monogrammed tote with Lands' End and Baublebar bag charms

We then head down the street to The Purple Parrot for lunch. There are chicer places to dine, but The Purple Parrot is convenient, reliable, and has such a classic beach bar vibe. Also, there is always something for everyone on the menu. Usually on a Friday afternoon, you can get a seat in the front with a good breeze and view of the passers-by on Rehoboth Avenue.

My sister suggested that after lunch, we head to Browseabout Books, and this will be a new tradition. We always go to Browseabout Books, but by starting the trip there, we're able to buy our beach reads for the weekend. Browseabout isn't just a bookstore but a toy store and a gift shop, and just a vibe. Not sure what to read? Ask the staff; they are so nice and so passionate about books and have never steered me wrong.

By this time, our room was ready. We grabbed our luggage from our car, unpacked, freshened up, and headed to happy hour where we met up with friends who by chance were also in Rehoboth at the same time.

The Blue Hen is a restaurant in the lobby of The Avenue Inn, and it has an outdoor area with tables as well as a large fire pit surrounded by Adirondack chairs and a long curved bench. We took over half the area and enjoyed The Blue Hen's happy hour menu of specialty-priced drinks and bites. Since it's outside, it was family-friendly and we enjoyed the time with our adult friends as well as our teens and tweens.

What I Wore: Old Talbots votton voile shirt and matching linen shorts, Baublebar necklace, Teva sandals, and Desigual tote

After happy hour, we walked to Funland, the amusement park on the Rehoboth Beach boardwalk. Opened in 1939, but renamed Funland in 1962, it is still owned by the same family. It's a mix of indoor and outdoor space with games and rides for all ages. We played Skee-Ball and whack-a-mole, which take quarters not tokens. And we rode on rides like the 1984 Gravatron and the more modern SuperFlip360.

After we got our Funland fill and the kids had armfuls of stuffed animal prizes, we let the kids explore Rehoboth alone. Rehoboth, in my opinion, is safe enough to let tweens and teens have fun on their own. The kids got ice cream and visited shops, and we adults headed to 302 Social (outdoor patio overlooking Rehoboth Avenue; used to be a Hooters) to have a drink and bites.

Saturday

The Avenue Inn has free breakfast, so we headed down for bagels, eggs, hash browns, and fruit and took it out to the Blue Hen outdoor dining area to enjoy the meal al fresco. This isn't a gourmet breakfast, but it's convenient and free; I always grab an apple for my beach bag, and if you bring a reusable tumbler, you can get your fill of quality coffee.

What I Wore: Freya bikini top, old Sunsets swim bottom (similar), Athleta shorts, old Polo Ralph Lauren oxford, old baseball cap, Teva sandals, and an old Roller Rabbit bag

What I Packed: Wetcat Turkish towel, towel grabber, insulated bottle of ice water, phone battery, bandana, rashguard, book, personal fan, wallet with cash, AirPods, sunscreen, and personal comfort items (lip balm, eye drops, gum, protein bar and apple, etc.).

We stopped by the front desk to borrow beach towels and waited out front for Lew to return with the golf cart to take us and our borrowed beach chairs to the boardwalk. Once at the beach, we plop down our chairs and get in line to rent a beach umbrella (cash only, and tips are expected).

I'm pretty low-frills at the beach. I'm comfortable lying on the sand on a Turkish towel, sand in my toes as I sit in my chair reading a book, and I am not ashamed to head into the waves if I need to pee. I like to pack light, and I treat myself by going out for lunch instead of packing one.

For lunch, we went to Above the Dunes, which used to be a Greene Turtle. It's right at Wilmington Ave. above Thrasher's Fries. If you're not a large party, grab a seat on the balcony overlooking the boardwalk. The food isn't mind-blowing, but the view is great, the service is good, and we could see our umbrella from our seats.

We enjoyed a long day on the beach, then headed back to our rooms and took disco naps and showers. We then went for a later dinner. I was the first ready, so I walked down to Henlopen City Oyster House and Salt Air and put in my name for a table; the wait was 40-50 minutes. Salt Air texted me back first, so I canceled at Henlopen.

What I Wore: The Shirt by Rochelle Behrens shirt, Lands' End bubble skirt, Anine Bing sweatshirt via Rent the Runway, Teva sandals, Lele Sedoughi earrings

Salt Air's decor is dated and weird (canned food and paintings of cows and rag-painted walls and fake ivy and chalkboard and more all at once), but the acoustics are better than Henlopen if you want to talk, and the food is quite good.

We stopped by Sammy's Market for snacks and returned to our room where we enjoyed a glass of wine and Cheez-Itz on our balcony before bed.

Sunday

Not wanting hotel breakfast again, and wanting a better spot on the beach closer to the water, my sister and daughter grabbed a ride from Lew around 9am to the beach, and I headed to Goolee's Grill and grabbed to-go breakfast sandwiches that we enjoyed on the beach.

What I Wore: Lands' End swimsuit, same J. Crew denim cutoff shorts from Friday, and the same Rochelle Behrens shirt as the night before with Teva sandals and my beige baseball cap

We got so much sun the day prior, we didn't feel the need to stay super late at the beach. We headed back to the hotel, where some of us napped, some of us showered, and some of us enjoyed the hotel pool and sundeck.

What I Wore: Lands' End sundress and tote, Teva sandals, Lisi Lerch earrings, Ray-Ban prescription sunglasses

Again, I was the first ready so I headed out to get us a table for an early dinner. We always have one Rehoboth Dinner at Claws, which IMO is the best place for crabs at this beach. Again, you can wait up to an hour for a table, so I brought along my beach read and hung out on a bench on Rehoboth Ave until I got the text our table was ready.

We always request an outdoor table at Claws. Inside is good if you have little ones or a big crew, but it can be noisy and the overhead lighting is pretty strong. The porch is charming and protected from sun and rain, but this year we got a corner table out next to the sidewalk and it was lovely. We had fantastic weather, and it was breezy but warm and plenty of space. A dozen XL crabs was plenty for the three of us.

What I Wore: White linen shirt from Lands' End, old white Madewell pants, Lisi Lerch earrings, Teva sandals

We went back to the hotel to change out of our crabby clothes and properly scrub our hands. We then headed out to the boardwalk and got Kohr's frozen custard (I'm a chocolate-dip vanilla cone kind of gal myself). There was a Sturgeon Moon that looked red for some time, so we went out on the beach to admire it. There was a yacht rock band performing at the bandstand, so we went over to enjoy, sing along, and dance a bit. There we met up with our friends, whom we saw on Friday.

It was our last night in Rehoboth, and we wanted one last drink together. Not wanting to be indoors, and not wanting too wild of a scene so we could chat, we headed to the Purple Parrot Biergarten, which is behind the restaurant. This was a good location as we could easily meet up with the kids when they headed back to the hotel.

Monday

Monday, I wanted to see the sunrise so while it was still dark, I got dressed, grabbed a coffee from the hotel lobby, and walked to the beach. Often, it's just me and a random person with a dog or metal detector out at that hour, but this morning, I was surprised to see a dozen folks. As the sun continued to rise, I walked down the beach and then back up the boardwalk, getting in a couple of leisurely miles.

What I Wore: The same Athleta shorts, an old Universal Standard bikini that is also red, the same Anine Bing sweatshirt, Teva sandals, baseball cap

Back at the hotel, my family had begun packing up, and we decided to grab breakfast. Wanting to try something new, we headed to Breakfast Guru. While none of us had bad meals, the place was clean, and the staff attentive, I would not return. The ambiance was depressing, the food mediocre, and Rehoboth has far better places. In fact, I've eaten at Sammy's across from the Avenue Inn, and it's a charming diner with better food.

The weekend was so great, we didn't want to ruin it, so we had the car packed before our 11am checkout and got on the road. However, in the past, we have done a bit of shopping on Rehoboth Ave and/or stopped by the outlet malls on Coastal Highway on our way home. It was nice to be home early enough to be able to unpack, do laundry, settle in, and have dinner together as a family.

Next year, we may consider trying a different hotel. We love The Avenue, but we're in a different place in life and a lot of the amenities that are so great aren't quite what we need now. If you have been to Rehoboth recently and have a hotel as well as a breakfast spot you like, do share in the comments below!