A reference for outdoor Delaware

Outdoor Delaware, checked and dated.

You can cross Delaware in two hours and still spend a decade finding everything in it. Twenty-five miles of Atlantic coast, seventeen state parks, bald cypress swamps in the south and creek valleys in the north — and a bay that hosts the largest horseshoe crab spawning on earth.

This is the guide that tells you what's actually there today: which beach your dog can walk on this week, what a park costs this season, and whether there's a toilet when you arrive. Every fact carries the date we confirmed it and who told us. Here's how that works.

3: counties
17: state parks
5: beach towns
33: local parks

Section 01

Dogs

Where your dog is legal, on what date, and what it costs.

Five beach towns with five different sets of dates, the summer beaches that never close, pet fees, and every dog park on seven fields.

Beach and boardwalk rules, by town
Where a dog is legal in July
Dog parks — fenced, water, shade, surface
Pet fees, weight limits, dog counts
Blue-green algae and pond safety

5 of 5 town pages confirmed

Section 02

State parks

All 17, what's actually at each one, and the 2026 fees.

From Cape Henlopen's 5,451 acres to a Civil War fort you can only reach by ferry. Camping, trails, surf fishing, and where dogs are allowed.

Facilities, park by park
2026 entry fees — the beach parks doubled
Camping, cabins and trails
Dog rules per park

17 of 17 parks confirmed

Section 03

Community parks

County and town parks. Starting with: are there restrooms?

The questions you ask before loading the car — toilets, playground, drinking water, shade, and whether the dog can come.

Restrooms — permanent, portable or seasonal
Playgrounds and accessibility
Water, shade and pavilions
Which ones contain a dog park

12 of 16 parks confirmed

Section 04

Surf fishing

Five of the twelve crossings need a reservation. Not seven.

Drive-on access, permits, licences, and the after-4pm rule that lets annual permit holders skip reservations entirely.

Which crossings need a reservation
Permit tiers and the 3-week delivery
The licence exemption that covers only you
The off-peak permit ending in 2027
Walk-on access — free, no permit

0 of 12 crossings confirmed

Every fact here is dated

Delaware changes its rules more often than you'd expect. Rehoboth gave dogs two extra weeks of beach in January. The state parks reset their fees in March. Good news travels slowly, so we go and ask — the city, the park, the property — and then we write down the date and who said it.

It means you can see exactly how fresh an answer is before you drive anywhere. And a page we haven't confirmed first-hand simply doesn't publish itself: no stamp, no listing, no search.That's built into the site, so what you're reading has always been checked by a person.

Still to come

Crabbing, the trails, and Delaware's 48 breweries and wineries are next. One section at a time, each one checked before it goes up.