Delaware

Delaware runs about 92 road miles from Wilmington to the beach at Rehoboth. Its national historical park, First State, is six separate sites, from the Brandywine Valley to Dover, and counted 200,173 recreation visits in 2025. The state's 17 state parks cover more than 20,000 acres, Cape Henlopen near Lewes among them.

Delaware charges no sales tax, state or local, though its hotel rooms are taxed. We read the figures below on 27 October 2026 on the National Park Service's pages, the state's Division of Revenue, DNREC and DelDOT, the Cape May–Lewes Ferry's, Amtrak's timetable, the estates' own sites and NOAA's normals.

Which six places make up First State National Historical Park?

First State National Historical Park is six sites spread across Delaware, with a few hundred acres in Pennsylvania. Most of them are run by partners, who set their own hours and charge for some tours. The park's visitor centre is the Sheriff's House Welcome Center at 10 Market Street, New Castle.

First State National Historical Park is not on the 2026 list of eleven parks that charge visitors from abroad a $100 surcharge. There is no gate and no car fee, so there is nothing to pay in cash or by card on arrival.

The park sells no America the Beautiful passes; the nearest place to buy one is Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge at Smyrna. The $250 pass therefore buys nothing at First State. Our guide to national park fees for international visitors covers the parks where it does pay off.

October was the park's busiest month in both 2025 and 2024, with 41,148 visits in October 2025 alone. The park's film lasts 15 minutes, and its sites hold 12 passport stamps.

What is open on the Delaware side of the Brandywine Valley?

The Delaware side of the Brandywine Valley has the park's unit of more than 1,300 acres, and three estates with Wilmington addresses nearby: Winterthur, Nemours and Hagley. Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, 6.8 miles from Wilmington station by our routing, has a 60-acre garden on a 1,000-acre estate with 25 miles of paths. Winterthur opens Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Winterthur's general admission costs $29 an adult, $27 for seniors 62 and over and students, and $12 for a child aged 3 to 12. Each ticket is valid for two consecutive days. Yuletide admission costs $33 an adult. The self-guided house tour is not available from 10 to 20 November 2026, while the Yuletide rooms are set up; the Yuletide dates themselves did not load for us.

The Nemours Estate, at 1600 Rockland Road, has a 77-room mansion and 200 acres of gardens. Nemours opens from 1 April to 30 December, Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with last entry at 4. Its Sunken Garden is closed for renovation until spring 2027, and on 31 October regular admission is replaced by a Halloween event. Hagley's museum entrance is at 200 Hagley Creek Road; its hours and prices did not load for us.

The park's Brandywine Valley unit has free parking, and its two largest lots are Smith Bridge (#3) and Ramsey (#4). On 27 October 2026 the park's alert warned of numerous trees down across roads and trails after a storm, in force since 2 September with no end date. Longwood Gardens is across the state line in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, and closed on Tuesdays.

What is there to see in Wilmington and Old New Castle?

Wilmington and New Castle, 6 miles apart, hold three of First State's six sites. Old Swedes Historic Site, at 606 N. Church Street in Wilmington, opens Thursday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with the last tour at 2. Tours are by reservation only and cost $12 an adult and $7 for students aged 6 to 15, military and first responders; under-6s go free. A cemetery walk costs $5, and Old Swedes cannot honour national park annual passes.

Fort Christina, at 1110 East 7th Street, opens from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day, with reduced autumn hours to the end of October. The fort is free, has no toilets or running water, and its tours start at the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation's tent. From 1 November it is closed for the season.

The New Castle Court House was built in 1732 as Delaware's first court house and later served as the state capitol. The 1776 vote for independence from Pennsylvania and Britain was taken there. The museum is run by the Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs, on (302) 323-4453. The park prints no hours for it, and the hours of the Sheriff's House Welcome Center nearby did not load for us either.

What can you tour on The Dover Green?

The Dover Green is the park's site for the Old State House and guided walks. The Old State House opens Wednesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with tours on the hour. The 45-minute walking tours run Thursday to Saturday at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.

The Dover Green's walking tour costs $6.50 a person on its own page, with children 8 and under free. The park's fees page, updated earlier, gives $6 and Wednesday to Saturday, so take the newer $6.50 as the likely price. The Johnson Victrola Museum on the green is closed for construction "until the fall", on an undated notice.

The John Dickinson Plantation, at 340 Kits Hummock Road in Dover, offers guided tours Thursday to Saturday at 10:30 and 11:30 a.m. and 1:30, 2:30 and 3:30 p.m. Dover is about 49 miles from Wilmington, an hour and five minutes by State Route 1.

When does The Point at Cape Henlopen reopen to walkers?

The Point at Cape Henlopen State Park closes every year on 1 March, with a stretch of ocean and bay beach, to protect nesting and migrating birds. The ocean beach reopens on 1 September and the bay beach on 1 October, so from October to the end of February the whole Point is open. The dunes stay off limits all year, and the closure has run every year since 1993.

Cape Henlopen's Point had a record year for piping plovers in 2026: ten pairs nested there, the most since intensive monitoring began in 1989. Least terns rose statewide to 208 pairs from 127, by DNREC's count of 27 October 2026.

Cape Henlopen's surf-fishing crossings at Gordons Pond, Herring Point, Navy Crossing and Point Crossing need reservations on weekends and holidays. The park lies 2.8 miles from Lewes. Delaware's state parks site would not load for us on 27 October 2026, so we give no entrance fee or opening hours for it.

How do you reach Rehoboth Beach and Lewes by bus?

DART's Beach Bus links Rehoboth Beach, Lewes and Dewey Beach, with free parking at two transit hubs. They are the Rehoboth Park & Ride at 20055 Shuttle Road, off Route 1, and the Lewes Transit Center at 17616 Coastal Highway. A trip costs $2, a day pass $4 and seven days $16. The buses reach the Rehoboth boardwalk, Dewey Beach, Lewes and Ocean City in Maryland.

DART's 305 Beach Connection runs from Wilmington, Christiana Mall and Dover to Lewes and Rehoboth on weekends and holidays. The fare is $6 one way from Wilmington and $4 from Dover. DART's page prints no season for it, so do not count on it in winter. DART Route 204 stops at the Lewes ferry terminal.

Rehoboth Beach and Lewes are 7.5 miles apart, and Dewey Beach is about 3 miles from Rehoboth. The three towns' own websites would not load for us, so we give no boardwalk, parking or beach rules from them.

What does the Cape May–Lewes Ferry cost in winter 2026–27?

The Cape May–Lewes Ferry crosses 17 miles of Delaware Bay in 85 minutes and sails every day of the year. Its Delaware terminal is at 43 Cape Henlopen Drive, Lewes, with free parking. The other end is at North Cape May, at Exit 0 of the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey.

The ferry's winter fares run from 1 November 2026 to 31 March 2027. A car under 20 feet costs $24 to $28 one way, and an adult $9 one way or $16 return. The fare table is headed "Passengers and Driver Fares", so the driver pays a passenger fare too.

On top comes a fuel surcharge of $9 a crossing on vehicles, expected to last until 31 December 2026; foot passengers do not pay it. A car with two adults therefore pays $51 to $55 one way in November and December.

Most winter days have four sailings each way:

The Cape May–Lewes Ferry adds six or seven sailings on some weekends, on the days around Thanksgiving and in late March. For Thanksgiving Day, 26 November, and Christmas Day the schedule says to check online. Drivers and foot passengers over 14 need photo ID, and passengers with a reservation must check in 30 minutes before departure.

Which tolls does a drive to the Delaware beaches pay?

A drive from Wilmington to the Delaware beaches on State Route 1 passes two toll plazas, Biddles Corner and Dover. Southbound, each charges a car $2.50 in cash or $1.50 with E-ZPass on weekdays. At weekends, from Friday 7 p.m. to Sunday 11 p.m., each charges $6.00 in cash or $4.00 with E-ZPass. Through both plazas that is $5 cash on a weekday and $12 at a weekend.

The I-95 Newark Toll Plaza lies south of the Route 896 interchange. DelDOT does not say whether an E-ZPass issued in another state pays the E-ZPass or the cash rate on Route 1. The Delaware Memorial Bridge plans a move towards cashless tolling no earlier than 1 January 2027.

Delaware's main plazas have staffed cash lanes in both directions. E-ZPass Delaware's FAQ, written before 2019, says Toll By Plate is offered only on US 301. By the same FAQ, a car without E-ZPass that passes a plaza on Route 1 or I-95 without paying cash receives a violation notice. Ask the rental company how it handles tolls; an E-ZPass account can add a rental car's plate if the service centre is told.

How fast is the Acela from Wilmington to New York and Washington?

Wilmington station, at 100 South French Street, is on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, served by the Acela and the Northeast Regional. By Amtrak's Acela timetable for 27 October 2026, Wilmington is 1 hour 36 minutes to 2 hours 5 minutes from New York's Moynihan Train Hall. Washington's Union Station is 1 hour 20 minutes to 1 hour 40 minutes away. Philadelphia's 30th Street station is about 20 to 25 minutes, and Baltimore Penn about 45 to 50.

Some Acelas pass Wilmington without stopping, and we could not read the Northeast Regional's times or any fares. Wilmington's own airport has Avelo flights and American Airlines' Landline service, but its site lists no destinations in text. Long-haul flights land at Philadelphia, covered in our Pennsylvania guide, or at BWI, covered in our Maryland guide.

The distances are our own routing, without traffic. From BWI the route to the beaches crosses the Chesapeake Bay Bridge on US 50. From Cape May the ferry's 17 miles replace a drive round by the Delaware Memorial Bridge that our routing puts at about 165 miles.

How much snow falls in Wilmington compared with Lewes?

Wilmington averages 20.2 inches of snow a year and Lewes, on Delaware Bay, about 10.5, a figure NOAA still marks provisional. Lewes counts 59 nights at or below freezing a year against 92 at Wilmington's airport. The table gives NOAA's 1991 to 2020 average highs and lows.

July is the warmest month at all four stations. Days at or above 90°F number 22 a year at Wilmington, 29 at Lewes and 31 at Sussex County's airport in Georgetown. Rain falls in every month, 44 to 48 inches a year.

Delaware lies wholly in the Eastern time zone. Its clocks go back an hour at 2 a.m. on 1 November 2026, when daylight saving time ended.

Why does a Delaware receipt show no sales tax?

Delaware's Division of Revenue states that the state does not impose a state or local sales tax. It taxes the seller instead, through a gross receipts tax of 0.0945% to 1.9914% depending on the business. That tax is not added to the receipt as a line.

Hotel rooms are the exception a visitor pays. Delaware's lodging tax is 8% of the rent on hotels, motels and tourist homes, collected by the operator. Short-term rentals booked through platforms such as Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com have paid 4.5% since 1 January 2025, and a town's own tax can come on top.

The beach towns' and Wilmington's own rates did not load for us. Our guide to sales tax in the USA explains why prices elsewhere are shown before tax.