U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge Reviews

One of my favorite places. Displays are fantastic. Staff is friendly and helpful.

Great beach, just watch out for the bugs! If the wind is blowing out to sea, the flies are NASTY, but if you get a good day the beach is comfortable with lots of space and nice waves.

This is an excellent nature area to spend half a day , started by climbing the lighthouse , followed up with the fws visitor center which has some great info about the refuge ,a welcome film on request , the wildlife loop trail is scenic too, you can also spot a lot of ponies along the marshes , the beaches are super clean , usually less crowded as compared to the nearby Ocean city ones and the campgrounds too , totally worth a visit

Very friendly park for everyone, beautifully kept and worth the price. The National Park Service has done an excellent job keeping the beauty of nature alive here for everyone to see.

Just a beautiful area to visit. Great for a family trip.

This is such a great place to bring the entire family ! The beach is so much better than the Jersey Shore! They have interactive learning facilities for the kids, great parking, awesome lifeguards, showers, bathrooms, wild ponies...Chincoteague is our new favorite place ever!!!!!

Sika deer and ponies.. beautiful place to hunt or visit.

Beautiful. The lighthouse attendant was very knowledgeable and friendly

Great family location to soak up the sun and observe/photograph wildlife.

Considered a crown jewel of the National Wildlife Refuge System, this enclave of isolated beaches, coastal marshes and forests offers a unique experience for the nature photographer. The refuge plays host to thousands of snow geese during the fall and winter, and the spring is busy with returning shorebirds and wading birds. Located next to the refuge is the Assateague Island National Seashore, which provides amazing opportunities to photograph the true essence of a coastal barrier island.

We did the beach, some hiking, visited the light house.. One of the most family friendly beaches we have been to.. Beautiful place and set up really nicely..

Loved it. There are walking trails, the lighthouse, ponies and the beach. All in one place. Only downside was the mosquitoes.

The wild horses are a wonderful sight. Beaches nice and clean. Lighthouse gives a great view of the area.

Great place for a swim on the beach, a walk in a wooded area or an awesome bike ride with the family. If you are lucky you may see wild horses. The is a light house that you can go up and check out the views from up there.
They do charge to get in to the park, i don't know how much because i have a national park pass that gets me in for free. I paid 80 for the whole year, it's worth to get one if you like visiting national parks.

The lighthouse is well worth the stair climb. It didn't seem to tall from the ground but the views are priceless from the top

Beautiful park. Good beach for swimming. A few too many mosquitos maybe?

Beautiful scenery, nice trails to and along lighthouse.

A very beautiful site, be careful to take mosquito repellent lotion

Wild horses, crabbing, not the hype and cray-cray from OC. Very family friendly.

Love Chincoteague! This place is beautiful! I try to stop here and spend as much time as I can on our drive into Ocean City. Or we take 1 day for a day trip down there.

Cool place, nice beach, visitor center, and we saw several wild horses.

Beautiful beaches. Saw rabbits, deer, and frogs along woodland trail but no ponies. Couldn't fit in kayaking or twice a day bus tour along service road where we probably would have seen some. Maybe next time.

Great

Great

I had an AWESOME experience here! I've never been to Chincoteague before and it's been something I've wanted to do since I was in elementary school. I was told I probably wouldn't get to see the ponies because it was the wrong time of year for them. But God graced me with the COOLEST experience because I saw them and actually got to walk around with them for a few minutes. Absolutely LOVED it!! Thanks be to God

We have been here so many times during the summers. Awesome wildlife. Easy to see the wild ponies, water birds, and bald eagles. We took a boat ride this time and saw dolphins and oyster beds. Plus there's the beach nearby. Great place for families. Kids can do a ranger program and go crabbing and take a net across on the bayside to see all kinds of sea creatures. Memorable natural setting.

This wildlife reserve seemed a bit boring at first, but after driving for a relatively short amount of time we came across a very nice, clandestine beach location. Luckily we had brought our swim suits with us, and we had an amazing time.

If you like nature and enjoy hanging out on the beach but you want to avoid the crowds of the overdeveloped beach towns....(Ocean city, MD. or VA beach) then I would highly recommend.

We were bitten by flies and mosquitoes. Bug spray purchases at the info center did not work. Lady at desk helpful. We saw only 2 horses.

When I was young, you could walk right on the same path as the ponies. I guess people ruined that though. I didn't even see 1 pony on my hikes.

Nice not to many people as not summer yet
Wish the lighthouse was open

There is walking trails, and light house to walk to and go up that still works, a really nice big beach with life guards and shower houses and restrooms also had grill areas. Also dolphins passed by every day that we went.

Super fun place to visit! Climb lighthouse before 2:30

We got started off on a bad foot. A friend bought an extra pass and gave it to us. When trying to visit the beach our first day, long story short, the young women that checked the card confiscated it. No warning at all. The card wasn't even signed. We had to buy another, which wasn't a big deal, so much so that we bought the annual, knowing we won't be back after this week, because they obviously need the money more than us. The whole experience was very uncomfortable and handled poorly, telling us we did something "super illegal". We had zero issues the remainder of the week, and everyone else was nice and informative. We only saw that person once more while leaving for food, and the line in was way backed up, so we decided to not even come back.
Besides that the bugs are really bad of course, the beaches crowded, and a bit littered but not too bad, and the waves are decent enough for boogie boards. The showers were always pretty backed up, but that's probably because they barely worked, except near the end of the lot. Nothing really that bad, but not anything spectacular either.
The town is a nice small beach town, and there were plenty places to try and eat for a week. There is plenty of wildlife to see, and a ton of birds. This place has the most aggressive seagulls on the planet. I watched sandwiches ripped from children's and adults hands, multiple times a day. We went for the kids to go to the camp, and they had a good time, so that's what really mattered.

Very nice place to take your friends & family that you can spend hours doing a lot of different things that doesn't cost a arm & a leg. Lots of trails to hike or ride bike's or just sit & relax & watch nature at it's best. Very highly recommend ! The Rangers are very nice & helpful also.

We visited during the pony swim and met " Misty lll, Loved the wildlife and beautiful scenic hikes.

Quiet and peaceful. Nice place to visit for a day and reflect. Marshes and wild ponies. Great place for beach and nature lovers. We just don t like the port-a potty, mosquitoes and huge biting flies. Bring a good amount of bug spray like OFF which also works for ticks.

ONE OF MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE PLACES... LOVE THE ENTIRE ISLAND. SO BEAUTIFUL AND RELAXING

Great people great place with great customer service

Late Fall or early Spring are my favorite times to visit this magical place. Tourists are few and you get to take your time to relax and enjoy a few of the restaurants that remain open year round.

It's a beautiful place. I have been coming every year for the past decade and a half to my grandparents place and it never ceases to amaze me. It has recently been plagued with overcrowding due to tourists and climate change. The wildlife has changed in this time and has diminished greatly.

Perfect time of year for a quiet visit and a very friendly atmosphere! Driving on a beach is always a plus. Pets are not welcome, not even in your vehicle!

Great place to go to the beach or check out barrier island wildlife. The horses are all around and I usually see one or two in the distance every time I go. Can walk along the beach for miles. Cold in the winter with the winds but the trails off the beach in the summer can have lots of mosquitoes.

Parking is real close to the beach. Bathrooms we're very clean.

Extremely rude/unfriendly front entrance employee, no ponies, walked a trail that was swarming with mosquitoes. Even with bug spray I had over 30 bites. It was beautiful and the beach looked nice, but that wasn't why we went. Construction on the lot we tried to go to, so we walked a lot further than planned (resulting in a foot blister). $8/car was reasonable and the hot & humid weather in October wasn't their fault, but I don't intend on coming back.

Love nature. Not that many people this time of year. If you don't like crowds, October is ideal.

Took a motorcycle ride to Tom's Cove and walked out on the beach Chincoteague and Assateague Island are two places we visited alot when younger it has been about 40 year last time there still beautiful as ever

Well worth the time and the $20.00. You get to see the Wild Ponys and many other animals if you take your time. You also need to go at different time during the day. In the early evening we saw the wild ponys, American Bald eagles, raccoons, deer, and many birds. But be warned that you are an intruder in this environment and the bugs will eat you alive if you are not prepared.

I was here years ago and had a great time but this time was a complete bust. Wanted to add the stop to our long road trip to see the horses and paid the now 20$ weekly fee to see for an hour. Looked everywhere and couldn't find the horses. Come to find they are not there, they are doing the annual swim.... There was no signs or mention of the swim. So I was very disappointed this time. And am leaving without seeing the horses at all.

Birdwatching is top notch, wildlife loop perfect for biking. Walking trails beautiful.