Jersey Shore’s best party towns for every style

In the interest of serving the thirsty public, we’ve scoped out some of the best places to hang throughout the Jersey Shore, broken down by each town’s party-personality type.

Personality: WASP-y.

If you go: Wear popped collars and boat shoes.

Avalon’s hot spot is the Princeton Bar & Grill, known for its fancy drinks (and fancy-drink prices). Looking for a college-kid club scene? You won’t find it here.

Avalon is predominantly a Catholic community, counting visitors from West Chester, Malvern, and Newtown Square. It’s the type of town you “graduate” to when you’ve grown weary of the college-kid scene. It’s where you go with your significant other after you’ve met the family.

Personality: LGBTQ-friendly.

If you go: Take all of your friends.

Cape May is a laid-back Victorian resort town that is very welcoming to the LGBTQ community, with about 20 hotels and B&Bs that are either gay-friendly or -owned, according to the travel site purpleroofs.com. The bar scene offers a little something for everyone. The outdoor bar at the Rusty Nail is a longtime favorite for younger and older partiers. Low-key visitors may enjoy sipping a drink on Harbor View Restaurant’s terrific deck, with a generous 3-6 p.m. happy hour.

The Brown Room at Congress Hall offers a more refined vibe and a post-Prohibition-style cocktail list, and the Chalfonte Hotel’s intimate King Edward Bar is a smart spot for a nightcap.

Personality: Old-school.

If you go: Try the veal.

In Margate, a stylish community just beyond Atlantic City, the party is most often found at the deli. The city, along with Ventnor and Longport, is part of a trio of once-predominantly Jewish summer communities, with visitors mostly from Philly and the Cherry Hill area. But the bay-side Amherst Avenue strip, which hosted a popular bar scene from the late ’60s through the mid-’80s, is now home to well-reviewed restaurants designed for vacationers with sophisticated palates.

Inquirer food critic Craig LaBan has described longtime standout Steve & Cookie’s as having the feel of a sleek yacht club, with “excellent service and wines, and one of the more sure-handed contemporary menus down the Shore.” Memories in Margate, torch-carrier of the “Partygate” era, sits at the precipice of the transition. The 47-year-old nightclub, and its 78-year-old owner, “the Geator with the Heater” Jerry Blavat, are still popular among the baby-boomer crowd. But instead of all-night binges, now they settle for a cold drink and a blast from the past.

Personality: Dry.

If you go: Find a house party.

Folks from the smaller South Jersey communities that hug Camden County parade into this dry, family-first town with house-party invites tucked into their sun visors. There is, of course, under-the-radar drinking going down. The Flanders Hotel and the Ocean City Yacht Club routinely throw events with open bars, and visitors can join a private club where membership fees provide dispensation from abstinence. Places like the relatively new Foodies Dinner Club at Captain Bob’s are allowed to serve drinks to guests — so long as they’re paying club members.

But the real partying happens at home. Neighbors take turns hosting, and families gather after a long day on the beach, joining together to get a little tipsy while staying as close as possible to their beds. Make sure to stock up at Circle Liquors before you cross the Ninth Street Bridge, or else you’ll be in the market for a designated driver after the party supplies dry up.

Personality: College.

If you go: Drink lots of water.

At the heart of downtown Sea Isle City is the bane of every beach-goer’s liver: the more-than-130-year-old O.D. (Ocean Drive, to the uninitiated). The bar is the town’s main attraction, along with its sandy-floored outdoor annex, affectionately called the Sandbar. It’s mostly known for two party scenes: the No-Shower Happy Hour, which lures thirsty visitors in wet bathing suits right off the beach every Saturday from 4 to 8 p.m., and the Sunday Jam, which attracts hordes of college kids on summer break who don’t have to worry about getting up early on Monday.

The bar always fills with people dancing wildly to the cover-band duo Secret Service, who at this point are old enough to be the partiers’ grandparents.

Personality: Multiple.

If you go: Take Advil.

The “Wildwoods” nickname refers to Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, and North Wildwood (tony Diamond Beach falls under Lower Township’s banner, and blue-collar West Wildwood can’t be bothered). Taken together, the trio offer the most diverse range of the Jersey Shore’s party offerings.

The Crest is alcohol-free, family-friendly, and condo-crowded. But the Jelly Fish Cafe on New Jersey Avenue, a tater-tot-serving breakfast spot with a fun name, is a good time. The North is much livelier. The 60,000-square-foot Seaport Pier, redeveloped into a resort-style venue with two bars, concert venue, and semi-private pool, is entering its second season. A mash-up of recently legal drinkers and people their parents’ age regularly pack mainstay Keenan’s Irish Pub, which has become an unofficial reunion hall for old Philly neighborhoods. And for dive-bar aficionados there’s #1 Tavern, home of the five-liquor, umbrella-garnished, blackout-inducing Super Tully Nut.

And finally, Wildwood proper. In addition to a boardwalk and amusement rides and doo-wop, the city boasts more than 50 liquor licenses. Trendier spots like Mud Hen Brewing Co. and Dogtooth Bar & Grill both have dog-friendly patios with comfort food and craft beers, while Goodnight Irene’s on Pacific Avenue pumps dance music and stocks Smirnoff Ice.