A nonstop parade of motels and shopping malls along the six miles of Hwy-1 links Lewes with REHOBOTH BEACH , Delaware's largest and liveliest beach resort, which merges into Dewey Beach at its southern end. Crowded all summer, but nearly empty the rest of the year, Rehoboth - which started life as a Methodist revival camp, and attracts so many escapees from DC that it's known as the Nation's Summer Capital - is more family oriented than other beach towns, lacking the nightlife of Ocean City but making up for it with miles of clean and uncrowded sands.

Rehoboth has less of a history than Lewes, though its wooden boardwalk is one of the last on the east coast. It stretches along the Atlantic to either side of Rehoboth Avenue - always " The Avenue " - which acts as the main drag, its four short blocks clogged with souvenir shoppers browsing though the usual array of T-shirts and seaside kitsch. Most of the restaurants and nightspots are concentrated here, with Thrashers French Fries stands and burger bars mixed in with the mock-Caribbean beach shack decor of the Back Porch Café , 59 Rehoboth Ave (tel 302/227-3674), and the gaudy Mexican touch of the Iguana Grill , a block north at 52 Baltimore Ave (tel 302/227-5957). After dark, the action shifts to the anglophile environs of the Country Squire , 19 Rehoboth Ave (tel 302/227-3985), which has the largest beer selection for miles.

If shopping is your passion, Rehoboth has the largest concentration of outlet stores in the Delmarva area, with more than 140 famous name shops like Nike, Donna Karan, Gap and Coach, where, as in all of Delaware, you can shop tax-free. You can't miss the blatant consumerism along Route 1 - just follow the tide of cars inching toward the latest bargains.

South of Rehoboth, Delaware Seashore State Park (tel 302/227-2800, ) stretches for miles along a thin, sandy peninsula, split by Hwy-1 and bounded on the east by the Atlantic and on the west by various freshwater marshlands. There's little here apart from beachfront parking areas ($5) and the park's campground (tel 302/539.7202 or 1-877/98PARKS) until you approach the Maryland border, where the concrete tower blocks of Bethany Beach do little to prepare you for the Costa del Sol-like concentrations of hotels and condos in Ocean City, ten miles further along.

Rehoboth Beach

• Rehoboth Beach

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