Golden Inn and Resort
7849 Dune Drive (oceanfront at 78th Street), Avalon
609-368-5155, goldeninn.com
Number of rooms: 154; Summer price range: $230-$495
Robert Golden built the Golden Inn in 1961 as a 50-room hotel with a dining room. Today, it has 154 rooms and is run by VF Hotels, which bought the hotel when Golden died in 1983. Everything in the rooms has been renovated and replaced in the last three years. Beds are queen-size pillow-tops with down pillows, and the pull-out sofas have been fitted with bedding double the standard thickness (so you won’t feel that bar in your back when the couch turns into a bed).
You’re at the beach, but you can also enjoy the inn’s heated pool and barefoot beach bar and grill, which presents live music seven nights a week in season. This year, the Inn will launch new daytime activities for kids and provide dinnertime babysitting. For meals one can choose between the dining room, with its upscale menu, or Luigi’s Pasta & Vino, a casual Italian restaurant.
Feel like splurging? Book one of the six oceanfront studios. They sleep six people and look right over the dunes onto the beach. For a summer deal, ask about midweek getaways, which come with a reduced rate and food and beverage credits.