Ocean City

Ocean City is Maryland's number one summer holiday resort, with so many visitors during the peak summer months that it becomes the second largest city in the state for the season. It is not the place to enjoy a quiet holiday by the sea, especially on weekends or during the college holidays, when hordes of students looking for a party swamp the town.With more than 10 miles (16km) of white sandy beaches and pounding surf, Ocean City presents itself as an attractive holiday resort, dominated by the famous old boardwalk that is lined with shops, bars and restaurants, flashing neon signs and holiday condos. Among the ice-cream stands and all-night fast-food franchises are hotels dating back to the 1920s. The fishing pier at the end of the Ocean City boardwalk has an amusement park with a huge Ferris wheel. There are plenty of activities including boating and deep-sea fishing, mini-golf courses, tram rides as well as the beaches.To escape the holiday crowds in Ocean City, the Assateague Island National Seashore is a 37-mile (60km) stretch of wild and undeveloped beach and marshland that extends into Virginia. Little brown and white ponies are the only inhabitants that roam the dunes and graze in the grassy marshes. The main roads and paths can be crowded in summer with people coming to see the legendary wild ponies, but a short way off the main routes will bring the peace one may be looking for, but clouds of mosquitoes tend to plague even the most intrepid explorers.