Cape MayCape May, NJ

Visibility is an estimate — wind, rain, tide & water alerts.

Getting in

Shore access, walk in off the sand

Best conditions

Surfing is allowed only at the lifeguard stands the Beach Patrol designates for it, including The Cove and Poverty Beach at the beach's two ends. Surf fishing is confined to the unguarded stretch east of the Wilmington Avenue pipe, where fishing and surfing share the water with no lifeguard on duty.

Getting through the gate

Cape May is a tag beach. The city's 2026 prices are $40 for a season tag good from May 1 through Labor Day, $75 for a commemorative tag sold in person only, $25 for a weekly tag running Saturday to Saturday, $20 for a three-day tag and $10 for a day tag, charged per person age 12 and up; children 11 and under are free, and a tag is also required to use the city's ADA-accessible beach mats. The city states tag fees are in effect daily from Memorial Day through Labor Day. All sales are final, including for beach closures from bad weather. Tags are sold at City Hall's tax office, the Beach Tag Office next to Convention Hall, beach-entrance booths beginning May 23 at the start of Memorial Day weekend, and, other than the commemorative tag, online through a third-party vendor; active-duty military and veterans can get one free in person with ID.

Parking

Metered parking runs citywide from April 1, priced by color-coded zone from $1 to $3 an hour depending on location and how late into the year the zone stays in effect.

On site

lifeguard on duty, restrooms

Watch for

Jetties break the sand into sections at several points along the beach, per the Beach Patrol's own map of its stands and permitted activities, Lifeguards patrol daily from May through September, with extended evening hours from July through mid-September; core hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. across the roughly 2.5 miles of guarded beach from The Cove to Poverty Beach, and the water is unsupervised outside those beaches or hours

Checked 2026-08-27. Sources: City of Cape May: Beach Tag, City of Cape May: Beaches, City of Cape May: Beach Patrol, Cape May Beach Patrol: stand and permitted-activity map, City of Cape May: Convention Hall overview, City of Cape May: parking meter information, Cape May County Division of Aging & Disability Services: accessible beach guide (PDF), City of Cape May: veteran and active-duty beach tags.