Things to Do in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey

Point Pleasant Beach is small enough to cover on foot and busy enough that you will not run out of things to do in a week. The town divides neatly into four worlds: the boardwalk, the beach, the water behind the boardwalk, and the downtown a few blocks inland. Most visitors only find the first two.

Here is how we would spend a week, in the order guests tend to discover it.

The main event

Jenkinson's Boardwalk

Jenkinson's is the reason most people know the town. It runs along the ocean and packs rides, arcades, mini-golf, an aquarium, food and live music into a stretch you can walk end to end in fifteen minutes — though nobody ever does it in fifteen minutes.

• The rides — a proper old-fashioned amusement area, geared more to families and younger children than to thrill-seekers
• The arcade — the reliable answer to a grey afternoon, and to teenagers
• Mini-golf — the traditional post-dinner activity, and the traditional post-dinner argument
• The aquarium — small, well done, and the best hour you can buy when it rains
• The food — funnel cake, fresh donuts in the morning, ice cream, and boardwalk pizza that earns its reputation

Jenkinson's runs a seasonal calendar of events and entertainment through the summer. It changes year to year, so check jenkinsons.com for the current schedule rather than trusting anything you read on a blog — including this one.

From our house, the boardwalk is a two to ten minute walk depending on which entrance you take. Late morning and after dinner are the pleasant times; midday on an August Saturday is an experience of a different kind.

The sand

Point Pleasant Beach Is Five Beaches, Not One

Most visitors assume "the beach" is one place with one price. It isn't. The oceanfront here is split between five separately run beaches — Jenkinson's, Martell's, Risden's, Bradshaw's and the borough-owned Maryland Avenue Beach — and each sets its own badge price, hours and rules. A badge from one does not get you onto another.

Beach	What to know
Jenkinson's	The best known, running along the boardwalk. Daily entry $14 weekdays and $15 weekends and holidays, $130 for the season, and children under 12 free with an adult. Daily wristbands are sold at the gate.
Martell's	The stretch by Martell's Tiki Bar on the boardwalk. Season badges are $150, sold by mail or in person rather than online. Mondays are 21 and over — worth knowing before you arrive with children.
Risden's	Privately run; check its current badge prices directly before you go.
Bradshaw's	Privately run; check its current badge prices directly before you go.
Maryland Avenue	The one beach owned by the borough itself; check current badge prices with the borough.

Jenkinson's and Martell's figures are from each operator's own 2026 price list. We haven't listed prices we couldn't confirm with the operator directly — they change, and plenty of what circulates online is out of date.

One thing that surprises people: where a state beach easement applies, the borough's own beach-access ordinance says the access paths down to the sand can't be gated shut, and nobody may stop the public reaching the wet sand below the high-water line. Operators can still charge a badge to use the beach itself, and during staffed hours that is where you will be.

Point Pleasant Beach Borough Code § 21-3, adopted March 2025.

Our badge guide covers Jenkinson's in detail — where to buy, cooler limits, what you can bring. North Beach, the quieter end, is a three-minute walk from our front door, and the house comes with four adult Jenkinson's badges.

Beyond swimming

• Early-morning walks before the gates are staffed, when the beach belongs to joggers and gulls
• Surf fishing, and watching the people who are much better at it than you are
• Sunrise over the Atlantic, which is genuinely worth setting an alarm for once in a week

The water behind the town

Lake Louise, Cooks Creek and the Manasquan River

This is the part visitors miss. Behind the ocean-facing streets sits a network of protected water: Lake Louise, Cooks Creek running out of it, and the Manasquan River beyond that, out to the inlet. It is flat, sheltered and almost entirely free of the crowds two blocks away.

• Kayaking and paddleboarding — the lake is calm enough for children and beginners, and two kayaks come free with the house
• The paddle out to the river — through Cooks Creek toward the Manasquan, a proper half-morning trip
• Boats and jet skis — the house has a private dock, with jet ski docking available for a fee
• The Manasquan Inlet — walk the wall, watch the boats come in, and stay for the fishing fleet
• Wildlife — swans on the lake most mornings; one guest review counts seven of them

Point Pleasant Beach also has a long-standing fishing and party-boat scene running out of the river side of town. Head-boat trips are an easy half-day for a group that wants something other than sand. Operators and schedules vary by season, so ask us and we will point you at whoever is running well that summer.

An evening on the lake side of town is the counterweight to a day on the boardwalk: the sunset is behind you rather than in front, the water goes glassy, and it is quiet enough to hear the fire pit.

Worth the walk

The Best Waterfront Views in Point Pleasant Beach

The town has water on two sides, which means two completely different kinds of view within a few minutes of each other.

• Sunrise over the Atlantic. The ocean faces east, so the sun comes up straight out of the water. Early enough and you will have the sand to yourself before the gates are staffed.
• The Manasquan Inlet. Walk out along the inlet wall at the north end of town and watch the fishing fleet and pleasure boats run in and out between the river and the ocean.
• Evening on Lake Louise. The ocean is the morning view; the lake is the evening one. The boats come back into the marina around the corner, the lake goes still once they are in, and the crowds stay down on the boardwalk.
• The boardwalk at dusk. Not a quiet view, but the lights coming on over the rides with the ocean behind them is the classic Jersey Shore picture.

Staying on the lake side puts the evening view on your own deck — see the private dock — and the sunrise three minutes' walk away.

A few blocks inland

Downtown Point Pleasant Beach

The downtown is a short walk or bike ride and does the job the boardwalk cannot. Antique shops, seafood restaurants, bars and a comedy club sit within a few blocks of each other, and the mood is closer to a small shore town than to an amusement pier.

• Antiques and browsing shops for a slow afternoon
• Seafood restaurants for the one proper dinner out that a week deserves
• Bars and a comedy club for an evening once the children are asleep
• Groceries and provisions for a house with a full kitchen — worth doing on arrival Saturday

Doing one downtown dinner and cooking the rest of the week at the house is how most of our guests handle food, and it is a large part of why a house beats a hotel for a family of six or eight.

When the weather turns

Rainy Day Options

Every shore week gets one. The reliable indoor answers, in rough order of how long they buy you:

• The aquarium at Jenkinson's — the best of them, especially with younger children
• The boardwalk arcade — loud, dry and effective
• Downtown antique shops and browsing
• Board games, the sound system and the Smart TV back at the house — there is a reason we keep a full games shelf
• A drive up or down the shore, since the weather here is often local and twenty minutes changes it

Planning a week

How to Fit It Together

A pattern that works: beach in the morning while it is cool and the sand is empty, back to the house for lunch and a swim off the dock, boardwalk in the late afternoon and evening when the rides open properly. Keep one day for the water behind the house, one evening for downtown, and leave one afternoon completely unplanned — that is usually the one people remember.

Everything above is walkable or bikeable from the house, which has bikes in the shed and parking for two cars that you will barely touch. If you are still working out dates, our summer rentals guide covers how the Saturday-to-Saturday weeks run and which ones go first.