The Boardwalk Plaza Hotel
An oceanfront Victorian-style hotel directly on the boardwalk — 84 rooms, heated pool, family-owned.
A Victorian-style oceanfront hotel directly on the Rehoboth Beach boardwalk, family-owned, with 84 rooms and a heated pool. The Boardwalk Plaza is the rare Mid-Atlantic beach hotel that hasn't been bought out by a chain — and the kind of place where you order a Funland day with the kids and a bottle of wine on the porch with friends in the same vacation. Brass, velvet, and a slightly theatrical Victorian-revival aesthetic that fits a 1880s-era boardwalk town.
If you've been to Rehoboth, you've walked past it. If you haven't, it's the elaborate cream-and-pink hotel on the boardwalk near Olive Avenue.
The setting
Rehoboth Beach is the principal Delaware beach town, two hours from Washington and three from Philadelphia. The boardwalk runs about a mile along the Atlantic, lined with restaurants, the Funland amusement pier, and a string of small shops. Boardwalk Plaza sits on the beach side of the boardwalk near Olive Avenue, with the ocean directly east and Rehoboth Avenue's restaurant strip three blocks west.
The drive in from any direction is mostly through farmland, then suddenly an Atlantic boardwalk town. There's a lot of summer traffic at the bridge and on Route 1; arriving early or late helps.
The building
A purpose-built late-twentieth-century hotel done in unmistakable Victorian-revival mode — turrets, gables, wrought-iron balconies, painted-lady color palette. Inside it leans into the period: brass, velvet, oak paneling, a fireplaced lobby, period chandeliers. Materials include clapboard and the brass-and-velvet drawing-room kit. It is a built version of what Rehoboth's actual 1890s grand hotels looked like, before they all burned down or were torn down.
The rooms
Eighty-four rooms across multiple categories. Standard rooms face the street or interior; ocean-view and oceanfront rooms have private balconies with direct Atlantic views. King and queen beds, suites with sitting rooms. From-rates open around $445 in season — Rehoboth's summer is genuinely peak. Bathrooms are tile, refreshed in recent cycles.
Food & drink
Victoria's Restaurant, off the lobby, runs three meals and a Sunday brunch. The menu is contemporary American with seafood — crab cakes, rockfish, a steak, a strong oyster program. Non-guests book regularly. The lobby bar has a separate identity in the evenings. Breakfast can be added to most rates.
On the property
A heated outdoor pool on a deck above the boardwalk, with a hot tub. A small fitness room. Direct boardwalk and beach access — the hotel is the boardwalk for that block. There's no spa.
- Heated oceanfront pool, hot tub
- Victoria's restaurant on-site
- Direct boardwalk and beach access
- Family-owned for decades
- Open year-round
Who it's for
- Families doing a classic beach week with the boardwalk fifty feet from the door
- Couples who want oceanfront rooms with private balconies
- Travelers who skip the rental house and like a hotel front desk
- Anyone with strong opinions about Funland's Sea Dragon
Who it's not for
- Quiet-property partisans — the boardwalk is loud and lit late into evenings
- Travelers who want an isolated, secluded retreat
- Pet owners (limited; verify policy with the front desk)
Nearby
The Rehoboth Avenue restaurants are three blocks west — Henlopen City Oyster House, a45, Touch of Italy. Funland on the boardwalk is right next door. Cape Henlopen State Park is ten minutes north for quieter beach days. The Tanger Outlets are five minutes inland. Lewes — the older, quieter Delaware beach town — is fifteen minutes north for an evening dinner. Dogfish Head Brewery's brewpub is in Rehoboth itself.
