Search the travel guide:

Resort

• Atlantic City Travel Guide
• Travel Information
• Hotels in Atlantic City

Rants and Raves

• Write a Travel Review

Directory

• Travel Insurance
• Hostels
• Useful Resources

Atlantic City

Overview: At its height during the 1920s, Atlantic City was the holiday destination and playground for the rich and famous with thousands of city dwellers flocking to enjoy the seaside. The holiday resort is one of America's oldest and boasts the world's first Boardwalk, running along an eight-mile (13km) stretch of beach, which was built in 1870 by local hotel owners.

Atlantic City also boasts the nation's first Big Wheel, the first colour postcards and the first Miss America Beauty Pageant, which has been held here annually ever since 1921. Before long the Boardwalk became lined with amusement parks and nightclubs, but its grandeur faded into economic decline with the rise of jet travel to Florida, the Caribbean and Europe after World War II, resulting in a disastrous drop in tourism.

In a desperate attempt to revitalise the once-proud holiday resort, the state of New Jersey instituted legal casino gambling in the 1970s. The Boardwalk became a collection of grand gambling halls and the earlier 19th century stone hotels were replaced by extravagant casino-hotels reminiscent of Las Vegas, from designs like the Showboat to the onion domes and gigantic elephants of the Trump Taj Mahal.

Today Atlantic City is famous as a gambler's Mecca with a vibrant nightlife. It also offers amusement rides, souvenir shops and children's entertainment in a bid to market itself as a family holiday destination and 'America's Favourite Playground'. See www.atlanticcitynj.com for more information.