Belmar, New Jersey

Belmar is a classic Jersey Shore town, a compact beach community on New Jersey's Atlantic coast with a lively boardwalk, a marina and a deep-rooted surf tradition. Its rock jetties and the nearby inlet shape some of the more dependable and better-organised waves on the northern part of the shore.

The surf is a beach break structured by the jetties along the beachfront, with sandbars forming rights and lefts beside each pile of rocks. Conditions suit a range of abilities, from mellow peaks good for improving surfers to punchier, hollow waves near the jetties and the nearby Shark River Inlet whenever a solid Atlantic swell arrives. The area by the Shark River Inlet jetties is the standout, catching and shaping swell that the open beaches let pass.

The Jersey Shore has a real surf pedigree, and Belmar has long been a gathering point, hosting contests, surf shops and a tight, welcoming local scene. Water is cold outside summer, so wetsuits are worn for much of the year, and the sandbars change constantly with the seasons and the storms that reshape them.

Autumn delivers the best surf, when Atlantic hurricane swells reach the coast and the summer crowds fade; winter nor'easters add powerful, bitterly cold sessions for the truly dedicated. Beach access requires a seasonal badge in summer, with parking and boardwalk entries close to the sand. Behind the beach, Belmar's boardwalk, marina and seasonal restaurants give it a quintessential shore-town feel around its reliable surf. Belmar's long-running contests and its dense concentration of surf shops make it a genuine anchor of the New Jersey scene.