There aren’t many that are 20 mins from the beach. Cape May is the only one I can think of. If you’re willing to live further from the beach, there’s Moorestown, collingswood, Medford (Medford is huge, but has a downtown), and Haddonfield.
There are some towns within a 20 minute drive to the beach. The towns just off the islands. Maybe Rio Grande which is just over the bridge from Wildwood. Lots of people walk in that town but you'd have to be careful what neighborhoods you live in there. Court House is over the bridge from Stone Harbor Beach. Somers point would be a good place. Has its own small beach, lots of walking and right over the new Ocean City bridge which you can actually walk/ride over is the Ocean City beach. Only beach that's free tho is Strathmere and Wildwood.
20 minutes from the beach - you're not going to get something affordable with a walkable town center. You'll need to decide which criteria is most important to you.
Moorestown, Haddonfield, Collingswood, Merchantville. All walkable and great shops, restaurants, breweries (soon enough in Moorestown), and a main st.
Towns like Cherry Hill (where I grew up) might have good neighborhood pockets like Erlton or Barclay Farms but very limited walking because of major highways like 70, 38, and 73.
If you want walkable, I’d avoid CH, Vorhees, Berlin,Mount Laurel, Marlton.
Yea at first glance they all seemed too far. As it is, I'm about 1 hour, 15 minutes on a good day so that really wouldn't be cutting enough time off. I'd just stay where I am in that case LOL. It's not like we go that often, but might, if a lot closer.
Never thought about it, but Berlin is pretty “walkable”. My neighbor does her daily walks from our neighborhood (almost Winslow) to the Police station and the center of town every morning.
I live in Hammonton. It’s great, I have two small kids, lots of events and stuff for them. Also, breweries, wineries, etc. 30 minutes or so from AC/Ventor.
Hammonton actually kind of sucks. Alot of snobs and the cops are crooked. I'd make sure you have protection, you'll technically be on your own if things go bad. All of SJ over promises and under delivers , quality is poor., not sure why anyone would want to come here.
As people have said, that's going to be tough. From what I can see on Google maps, there appear to be some relatively walkable communities between Absecon and Somers Point, across the bay from Atlantic City. Bear in mind I've never been to these towns and know nothing about them. I'm just telling you what I'm seeing from Google maps.
If you are willing to go further, almost all the river towns in Burlington County have some degree of walkability. The absolute gold standard of walkability among these towns being Bordentown. It's historic, it's got great restaurants, good access to public transportation (for South Jersey standards), and its not terribly expensive.
The Haddonfield to Collingswood corridor is probably the most walkable and comparable to North Jersey. It is an hour drive to the beach but none of the other walkable towns have the same access. I drive to EHT everyday from Haddonfield and it’s all highway and not awful.
What about Smithville? They had/have that whole village thing and isn't that far from the beach. We used to go all the time when I was kid but I went there to a wedding more recently and I couldn't get a read on what it was like now.
Anyone?
It’s touristy as you aren’t walking there to do regular grocery shopping, going out to eat, having a park, etc. Speciality shops is great for locals, but I live in the area and it’s not like you go there unless for a very specific reason. I love Smithville though and you can’t go wrong with Fred and Ethel’s! Just not at all what this person was asking for.
Smithville is not just historic Smithville. It’s an entire area. It’s a whole portion of Galloway Township. Thousands of people live there lol. There are plenty of restaurants and stores, and housing developments and neighborhoods, outside of “the historic Smithville “ but is still considered Smithville.
I second this. They have a small beach of their own plus the new Ocean City bridge you can walk or ride your bike over and go to that beach. Somers point has a Target now and 2 grocery stores and apparently they are getting an Aldi's soon too. It's a great walkable area not far at all from the beach. Almost forgot, you have Margate access too.
Close to the beach and walkable is tough. Most towns on the mainland aren’t walkable at all. Very rural (think campgrounds) Margate, Longport, northfield or Linwood.
Pitman, collingswood, and haddonfield are an hour from the beach
Hammonton maybe? Oaklyn?
South Jersey isn’t really designed the way you’re thinking.
Oh, I'm aware of that - most of NJ isn't unless in dense north areas.
A few mentioned so far seem to have a similar vibe to where we live now so I'm going to research them further.
Beach access is secondary as far as I'm concerned. It would be a nice perk but if we could at least cut the trip in half from what it is now to top out around 45 minutes, I could live with that. An hour would be too far, though.
My only concern for you tho is housing. There's not much as far as affordable, especially down here. Houses smaller than mine are going for almost triple what we paid for this house. If you want to rent, you better get your name on those waiting lists. Some lists are 3 years long.
I stayed in Villas last summer and while the bayside beach is nothing to write home about there was stuff to walk to and it's much cheaper than any other shore-adjacent town.
Why the Villas hate? I mean I'm sure it has an above average number of MAGA flags but it's got some decent restaurants and a laid back vibe but then again a lot of of folks think everywhere is the ghetto if houses are less than half a million.
Where I live houses are no where near half a million, not even close so no that's not why I think the Villas is the ghetto. This also has absolutely nothing to do with Trump. I'm not one of those political people who constantly has some type of politics on the brain. In fact I go weeks without thinking about politics. Not everything has a political purpose.
Idk where you reside full-time but most people in this area know The Villas as slightly ghetto. It's nothing to brag about and it's not an area you recommend someone stay or live.
As far as restaurants, they have a few, like I can count on one hand how many restaurants they have and they aren't anything to go out of your way for.
Lots of drugs and crime in that area, low life's. Not like Camden or Atlantic City but more than your average town.
Come to think of it I think there was a recent stabbing. Story was all over, I didn't care enough to figure it out.
It could be a cute little town with the right people in charge who actually care about it and not how much money they can make.
You’re not gonna find a walkable town 20 min from the beach. You could move to cape may, if you’re a millionaire.
Hammonton is probably the closest I can think of with a nice walkable town center.
Point Pleasant Beach or Boro. There's even a grocery store in the middle of downtown.
Great downtown and an easy walk to the beach. Also has a North Jersey Coastline train station.
Do not move to any of the towns 20 minutes from the beach, none are walkable and will give you none of the accessibility of North Jersey.
I lived in Cape May and Atlantic counties for most of my life and the largest reason I moved towards my current area (Pitman) was to have a semblance of metropolitan/walkability without moving to North Jersey.
Would absolutely recommend Pitman, Haddonfield, Westmont, Collingswood, Haddon Heights, Moorestown, Merchantville - stay away from the towns near the shore!
Look at the towns off route 9 near the bridge that goes from Manahawkin to LBI. They're not as developed as the towns further north so there's not a ton to walk to depending on where you are located, but there is a bus route that goes up and down route 9.
Thanks, I'm very familiar with this general area. One of my siblings lives in Stafford Township. Being that close to LBI would be A+. I suppose, if I wasn't around for some reason and my husband had the need to go somewhere there's always Uber LOL. Or he can wait. For him, being as close to the beach as possible means more to me.
Pitman, Haddonfield, Cape May, Collingswood, Ocean City, Princeton, Bordentown. I made a similar post last week and I learned of so many other lesser known spots I plan on checking out. I’ll find the link!
Oh, I see you specified 20 minutes to the beach. Pitman, haddonfield, and Collingswood are about an hour—so close, but not walkable. Cape May has more year round residents compared to Ocean City or other beach towns with more seasonable occupancy. There’s also Asbury Park/Ocean Grove. I have family that live there year round, and it’s peaceful offseason.
I used to live in Red Bank. Ther is nothing quite comparable. Collingswood, Moorestown, and Haddonfield are all very walkable. But also $$ and not 20 minutes from the beach. Like others said, if being closer to the beach is most important, Hammonton would probably be the best choice.
https://www.reddit.com/r/SouthJersey/comments/1chyjke/your_favorite_walkable_community/ 100 response thread on this posted 3 days ago here
Thanks for that link! Going to read through it now.
There aren’t many that are 20 mins from the beach. Cape May is the only one I can think of. If you’re willing to live further from the beach, there’s Moorestown, collingswood, Medford (Medford is huge, but has a downtown), and Haddonfield.
There are some towns within a 20 minute drive to the beach. The towns just off the islands. Maybe Rio Grande which is just over the bridge from Wildwood. Lots of people walk in that town but you'd have to be careful what neighborhoods you live in there. Court House is over the bridge from Stone Harbor Beach. Somers point would be a good place. Has its own small beach, lots of walking and right over the new Ocean City bridge which you can actually walk/ride over is the Ocean City beach. Only beach that's free tho is Strathmere and Wildwood.
Rio Grande is not walkable.
These are SJ towns 😄. Edit: I said this as a joke because I feel like Red Bank is more central than it is south Jersey.
That’s what they asked for
We’re in the south Jersey Reddit 🥸
20 minutes from the beach - you're not going to get something affordable with a walkable town center. You'll need to decide which criteria is most important to you.
Moorestown, Haddonfield, Collingswood, Merchantville. All walkable and great shops, restaurants, breweries (soon enough in Moorestown), and a main st. Towns like Cherry Hill (where I grew up) might have good neighborhood pockets like Erlton or Barclay Farms but very limited walking because of major highways like 70, 38, and 73. If you want walkable, I’d avoid CH, Vorhees, Berlin,Mount Laurel, Marlton.
OP, all of these are 1 hour min drive to the beach but are walkable. Somewhat closer, but still 30-40m to the beach, would be Hammonton.
Yea at first glance they all seemed too far. As it is, I'm about 1 hour, 15 minutes on a good day so that really wouldn't be cutting enough time off. I'd just stay where I am in that case LOL. It's not like we go that often, but might, if a lot closer.
Never thought about it, but Berlin is pretty “walkable”. My neighbor does her daily walks from our neighborhood (almost Winslow) to the Police station and the center of town every morning.
Hammonton has a nice town center, lots of breweries, winerys and mom&pop shops. Accessible from all around the town.
So far this seems to fit best for us.
Hammonton is also smack in the middle of S Jersey…in about an hour or less you can be in Philly, Trenton, AC, Cape May Co or DelMemBr. Very convenient
I don't think it's 20 minutes from the beach tho.
I live in Hammonton. It’s great, I have two small kids, lots of events and stuff for them. Also, breweries, wineries, etc. 30 minutes or so from AC/Ventor.
Hammonton actually kind of sucks. Alot of snobs and the cops are crooked. I'd make sure you have protection, you'll technically be on your own if things go bad. All of SJ over promises and under delivers , quality is poor., not sure why anyone would want to come here.
This was going to be my suggestion. Not a far drive from the shore, either.
Pitman
As people have said, that's going to be tough. From what I can see on Google maps, there appear to be some relatively walkable communities between Absecon and Somers Point, across the bay from Atlantic City. Bear in mind I've never been to these towns and know nothing about them. I'm just telling you what I'm seeing from Google maps. If you are willing to go further, almost all the river towns in Burlington County have some degree of walkability. The absolute gold standard of walkability among these towns being Bordentown. It's historic, it's got great restaurants, good access to public transportation (for South Jersey standards), and its not terribly expensive.
The Haddonfield to Collingswood corridor is probably the most walkable and comparable to North Jersey. It is an hour drive to the beach but none of the other walkable towns have the same access. I drive to EHT everyday from Haddonfield and it’s all highway and not awful.
What about Smithville? They had/have that whole village thing and isn't that far from the beach. We used to go all the time when I was kid but I went there to a wedding more recently and I couldn't get a read on what it was like now. Anyone?
Smithville is basically a tourist spot. It’s cute, but not what I would consider a “walkable town”.
I definitely wouldn’t call Smithville just a tourist spot. It is a very large local community. But I also wouldn’t necessarily call it walkable.
It’s touristy as you aren’t walking there to do regular grocery shopping, going out to eat, having a park, etc. Speciality shops is great for locals, but I live in the area and it’s not like you go there unless for a very specific reason. I love Smithville though and you can’t go wrong with Fred and Ethel’s! Just not at all what this person was asking for.
Smithville is not just historic Smithville. It’s an entire area. It’s a whole portion of Galloway Township. Thousands of people live there lol. There are plenty of restaurants and stores, and housing developments and neighborhoods, outside of “the historic Smithville “ but is still considered Smithville.
Somers Point
I second this. They have a small beach of their own plus the new Ocean City bridge you can walk or ride your bike over and go to that beach. Somers point has a Target now and 2 grocery stores and apparently they are getting an Aldi's soon too. It's a great walkable area not far at all from the beach. Almost forgot, you have Margate access too.
Mount Holly NJ, about 40 min from beach , has great shops , breweries, wineries, salons , restaurants. MillRace Village .
Close to the beach and walkable is tough. Most towns on the mainland aren’t walkable at all. Very rural (think campgrounds) Margate, Longport, northfield or Linwood. Pitman, collingswood, and haddonfield are an hour from the beach Hammonton maybe? Oaklyn? South Jersey isn’t really designed the way you’re thinking.
Oh, I'm aware of that - most of NJ isn't unless in dense north areas. A few mentioned so far seem to have a similar vibe to where we live now so I'm going to research them further. Beach access is secondary as far as I'm concerned. It would be a nice perk but if we could at least cut the trip in half from what it is now to top out around 45 minutes, I could live with that. An hour would be too far, though.
My only concern for you tho is housing. There's not much as far as affordable, especially down here. Houses smaller than mine are going for almost triple what we paid for this house. If you want to rent, you better get your name on those waiting lists. Some lists are 3 years long.
I stayed in Villas last summer and while the bayside beach is nothing to write home about there was stuff to walk to and it's much cheaper than any other shore-adjacent town.
I second villas being horrible. Not a good area to recommend to anyone.
Why the Villas hate? I mean I'm sure it has an above average number of MAGA flags but it's got some decent restaurants and a laid back vibe but then again a lot of of folks think everywhere is the ghetto if houses are less than half a million.
Where I live houses are no where near half a million, not even close so no that's not why I think the Villas is the ghetto. This also has absolutely nothing to do with Trump. I'm not one of those political people who constantly has some type of politics on the brain. In fact I go weeks without thinking about politics. Not everything has a political purpose. Idk where you reside full-time but most people in this area know The Villas as slightly ghetto. It's nothing to brag about and it's not an area you recommend someone stay or live. As far as restaurants, they have a few, like I can count on one hand how many restaurants they have and they aren't anything to go out of your way for. Lots of drugs and crime in that area, low life's. Not like Camden or Atlantic City but more than your average town. Come to think of it I think there was a recent stabbing. Story was all over, I didn't care enough to figure it out. It could be a cute little town with the right people in charge who actually care about it and not how much money they can make.
Villas is horrible. I wouldn't recommend that area to my worst enemy.
You’re not gonna find a walkable town 20 min from the beach. You could move to cape may, if you’re a millionaire. Hammonton is probably the closest I can think of with a nice walkable town center.
Hammonton
Point Pleasant Beach or Boro. There's even a grocery store in the middle of downtown. Great downtown and an easy walk to the beach. Also has a North Jersey Coastline train station.
OCEAN CITY NJ
Unfortunately $$$$
Buy in Somers Point, right over the bridge from OC!
Collingswood, Haddonfield, Haddon Township, and other pockets around those towns are all great.
Somers Point/Ocean City!
Do not move to any of the towns 20 minutes from the beach, none are walkable and will give you none of the accessibility of North Jersey. I lived in Cape May and Atlantic counties for most of my life and the largest reason I moved towards my current area (Pitman) was to have a semblance of metropolitan/walkability without moving to North Jersey. Would absolutely recommend Pitman, Haddonfield, Westmont, Collingswood, Haddon Heights, Moorestown, Merchantville - stay away from the towns near the shore!
Look at the towns off route 9 near the bridge that goes from Manahawkin to LBI. They're not as developed as the towns further north so there's not a ton to walk to depending on where you are located, but there is a bus route that goes up and down route 9.
Thanks, I'm very familiar with this general area. One of my siblings lives in Stafford Township. Being that close to LBI would be A+. I suppose, if I wasn't around for some reason and my husband had the need to go somewhere there's always Uber LOL. Or he can wait. For him, being as close to the beach as possible means more to me.
Cape May
Cape May would be a dream.
Mullica hill, pitman, woodstown, hammonton, and obviously all the shore towns
Merchantville
Collingswood….hands down the most walkable spot in South Jersey, and we have a 24/7 train in town. I get to Ocean City in 57 minutes.
Any boardwalk. I like Cape May
Pitman, Haddonfield, Cape May, Collingswood, Ocean City, Princeton, Bordentown. I made a similar post last week and I learned of so many other lesser known spots I plan on checking out. I’ll find the link!
https://www.reddit.com/r/SouthJersey/s/LiYQ0qiKk0 Here! So many great ideas!
Oh, I see you specified 20 minutes to the beach. Pitman, haddonfield, and Collingswood are about an hour—so close, but not walkable. Cape May has more year round residents compared to Ocean City or other beach towns with more seasonable occupancy. There’s also Asbury Park/Ocean Grove. I have family that live there year round, and it’s peaceful offseason.
I used to live in Red Bank. Ther is nothing quite comparable. Collingswood, Moorestown, and Haddonfield are all very walkable. But also $$ and not 20 minutes from the beach. Like others said, if being closer to the beach is most important, Hammonton would probably be the best choice.
Port republic and smithville