Theresa Gawlas Medoff, Special for USA TODAY Published 7:59 a.m. ET July 13, 2017 | Updated 7:59 a.m. ET July 13, 2017

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Bethany Beach's 1-mile-long sandy beach primarily attracts families spending a few days, a week or longer in this quiet seaside town.(Photo: Bethany-Fenwick Area Chamber of Commerce)

With tax-free shopping, dining and entertainment, Delaware's beaches are made for family memories. Bodysurf the steel-blue waves all morning, head to the carnival games at Funland around noon and, in the evening, drive south to the bandstand area of Bethany Beach at Atlantic Avenue, where free concerts are given during the summer.

Rehoboth Beach

Even on cool fall and spring days you'll find die-hard fans of the seaside walking along the water's edge on Rehoboth Beach, but in the heat of the summer, this Atlantic Ocean beach is booming. The population of the town (also called Rehoboth Beach) jumps from 1,500 to more than 25,000. Couples, teens, groups of friends and families, and day-trippers as well as vacationers come bearing beach towels, chairs, umbrellas and coolers as they vie for the "best" spot on the sand. The beach here in town starts at the boardwalk with a narrow strip of dunes dotted with grass and flows 275 feet to the high-tide line.

A wide, wooden boardwalk skirts 1 mile of the 1.5-mile-long beach, and all along that boardwalk are hotels; store-front eateries selling Boardwalk Fries, custard, pizza and burgers; and shops hocking sunscreen, bathing suits, beach toys and hermit crabs. Around lunch time, family-oriented Funland, a boardwalk fixture since 1962, opens its carnival games and rides to families seeking a change of pace from the beach. The amusement center is especially popular in the evening.

Rehoboth is a free, public beach. It has no changing facilities or showers, but there are public restrooms available at several spots along the boardwalk. Metered parking is available on the streets and at the Convention Center lot a few blocks from the beach.

Bethany Beach

Bethany Beach boasts of being one of Delaware's "Quiet Resorts." You won't find the summer traffic jams here that you do further north on Route 1, in the heart of the outlet shopping district. Bethany Beach doesn't have the bustling downtown atmosphere of Rehoboth Beach. And there's certainly not the raucous partying of Dewey Beach.

But that doesn't mean the crowds on this Atlantic Ocean beach are sparse. Bethany's population burgeons from 1,000 during the off season to 20,000 in the summer season. Most of those visitors are families. Families making sandcastles out of biscuit-colored sand on the clean, 1-mile-long stretch of public beach that's backed by sand dunes and beach grass waving in the wind. Families jumping the steel-blue, white-capped waves. Kids young and old bodyboarding or tossing balls on the beach. Early in the morning and in the evening, when the lifeguards are off duty, older children, teens and adults ride the waves on skimboards and surfboards or take to the waters on kayaks or stand-up paddleboards.

In the evening, you'll find families sauntering the boardwalk, hurrying to lick custard cones from Dickey's before the creamy treat drips down their hands. The Bethany boardwalk, just 3/8 of a mile long, is narrower than the one in nearby Rehoboth, but it does feature a larger, bandstand area at Atlantic Avenue where free concerts are given during the summer. Aside from a few shops and boardwalk eateries, most of the boardwalk abuts homes and condos where people sit on their decks watching the passersby. Free, family-oriented movies are shown on the beach on Mondays throughout the summer.

The beach in downtown Bethany is a free public beach that attracts mostly those staying a few days or longer. Day visitors park in metered spaces on the streets or in the few small, metered public lots. A public restroom sits right on the boardwalk at Atlantic Avenue, but there are no showers or changing facilities.

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The best beaches in Delaware - USA Today - USA TODAY