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

Beautiful area. Bring bug spray along with your sunblock!!

Nice clean beach and facilities.

Price of admission for 1 day or 1 week is the same and a bit steep IMO (20.00) cheaper if you get a year pass.

We did see some wild ponies in the distance which was pretty cool.
Heavy ranger presence which is good.

The beach is like a peninsula with the Atlantic on one side and a cove on the other.
You actually park on the beach itself.
Plenty of bird watching here if that is your thing.

Beach was not crowded on a Sunday. And lifegaurds were on duty.

a must see if staying on Chincoteague Island.

Absolutely beautiful! It does cost money but it's a reasonable price. There is a bike path which is how you can get in for free. There is a really vacant beach that you may walk or bike to. Trails are paved and beautiful scenery. 100% recommend. BRING BUGSPRAY! There are some marshy areas which have a lot more mosquitoes so watch out! Available parking.

Love the bike trail! We even had a great view of the ponies!

Family oriented place. Lots of restaurants and other food stores. Ppl were very friendly and helpful. Play areas for kids where you can have fun with the family. I strongly recommended

This is my favorite place in the whole world. I've come here every year since I was born

Excellent place to explore and spend a day immersed in nature.

If you drive in there's a $20 admission fee for a 7-Day vehicle pass. But the shoreline is beautiful, and it has great facilities for you to use after your dip in the ocean.

The Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge and the Assateague National Seashore and two different things. And both are separate from Chincoteague Island.

First, you must pay to enter the Wildlife Refuge, which you must drive through to reach the Seashore. The Seashore, as you might imagine, is beach. Sunny, kite-flying, BBQing, swimming, surfing, etc.

The Wildlife Refuge is a wonderful opportunity to walk among native trees, see the wild ponies, go bird watching, enjoy nature, and be eaten alive by mosquitoes and the dreaded green flies that feel like they are injecting you with a needle when they sting you. We sprayed ourselves with Deep Woods Off, but the bugs just laughed.

Once we accepted our fate as the "dish of the day" for the local flying insects, we enjoyed the beauty of nature all around us.

Nice and quiet beach. Perfect for a family weekend getaway. The restaurant are great for food.

Wonderful hikes. Just sad the ponies were corralled ( because people won't leave them alone) This area is so beautiful.

Loved seeing the lighthouse. Watch out for large biting flies.

Awesome like every year BUT,its time to get the shower stations working at the beach!

So many things to see and the peace and calm is great!

No place like the island to watch the sunset. Hanging out on the beach until 930 at night and the sky was still pink and orange. Mosquito repellent is highly recommended

A wonderful place to be. Everything is slowed down and easy going.
I've been to almost every store and the locals are always kind. Plenty of things to see and do.

Such a wonderful place!!! The ponies were right by the ditch this morning. Egrets, great blue herons, snow geese, tundra swans

Great fishing shopping and dining love pulling clams and cast netting minis

Loved this place. Beautiful with horses running wild. Wonderful beaches. Just an overall great place. Going back in a few days.

Wasn t overly impressed with Chincoteague side of the park. What did we miss? Saw the ponies in the distance. Drove the wildlife loop at dusk. Walked the Wildlife pony loop. Tons of mosquitoes. We wore long sleeves and pants but we re still attacked. Didn t see any wildlife other than the ponies. Has nice biking trails, but the mosquitoes!

I enjoyed walking on the 3 mile trail , so peaceful and love hearing the sounds of nature.

Great sights, we saw dolphins on our tour and horses diving through the park headed to the beach just passed the lighthouse.

The staff was so friendly and helpful. The was great place to visit, yes it cost money to get into this National Wildlife Refuge, but it is worth it. We was able to see the Chincoteague ponies, which was awesome. We ended up riding all the way to the end of the beach road. This was an amazing place, very peaceful.

We love Chincoteague and its natural beauty will never get old! No matter how many times we visit.

While I love the national park there is a speed trap that seems to be directed at out of state drivers on Maddox Blvd. I suggest you forget about Chincoteague and go to Assateague near Ocean City instead. A much more welcoming experience.

Absolute must visit! Hiking trails are very well maintained. Plenty of wildlife and plants to see. And of course ponies!!! Lots of sightseeing opportunities and access to the beach. Very much enjoyed our time there.

Beautiful!! Cool place to get out in wildlife and go spend time relaxing on the beach. Only thing is the mosquitoes here are SO bad. If you do come here, best be prepared. But it's so beautiful it might have been worth it. The beach is nice and it's peaceful because there's no commercial buildings.

Awesome beach and lots of seashells. Best island in the north east. Beautiful seashells, awesome birds including bald eagles

Cars were stopped on the sides of the road and my friend and I did the same. To our surprise the horses and cattle egrets were out in the fields. One horse even had an egret on its back!!!

I could have stayed there all day watching these beautiful beasts! All of the onlookers were mesmerized and taking pictures and videos --- and my friend and I were among them!

Avoid the beach on the weekends. It's too small for the number of people that go.

Excellent facility. Informative. Video shown on screen in room...helpful staff

Great beach crowd is light, stay until the end of the day and have the beach to yourself

My special place! Love it here, call, peaceful, beautiful!

I was so excited to visit this lovely coastal park
It is located just off the coast of Chincoteague Island. We had to pay $10 to enter with a day pass
But it was worth it.
More do if the weather had been above 25 degrees plus blowing cold winds

First we stopped at the Lighthouse trail to hike to see the beautiful Assateague Lighthouse
Then we drove through the wetlands and marsh, Tony keeping his eyes open for any wild horses

We stopped next at Tom's Cove then drove out to Beach parking where we saw tons of groups of seagulls and migrating large White ducks that were everywhere.....exciting
In the marsh, we saw Herons, Cranes and Mallard Ducks
Very nice day
Definitely will go again
The beaches were Natural and undisturbed No houses, no hotels, littered with tons of seashells.
I was able to get myself a nice bunch of shells to take home with me

If you like remote places, this a great beach getaway. No hotels or commercial business on the beach here!

This place really is AWESOME so many things to do in the park !

We went to Ocean City mainly and had a plan to visit Assateague Island. We did not know about Chincoteague. After getting the Map from Assateague, we decided to visit Chincoteague. And we loved every bit of our visit, starting from the beach, wildlife loop, lighthouse trail, other beach trails and the small town itself. The beach is from another world. Went there with my sister s family and we think we will enjoy the same even if we visit there 5 more times. It s heavenly. Beautiful and less crowded. LOVED IT!

Beautiful views of the sunset and sunrise. Salt marshes. Wild ponies. Great place, and good food in town nearby.

Love to visit here I love nature also love skyline drive

One of my favorite vacation spots! Dont forget to bring bug spray if you visit during the summer months.

Great family beach without all the hustle and bustle of the other popular beaches around. Only downside is you have to drive to get to the beach. Still very beautiful and must see!

Unbelievable how nice this place us. Park Employees are very Friendly

Great place for the family. Several beaches near by also.

Modern, interactive visitor's center with auditorium, programs, gift shop, ample parking, and clean restrooms. Trails to hike. One leads to the lighthouse, of course, which you can climb, if it's open. Sweeping views from the top! A great slice of Eastern Shore nature and history. Well worth a visit!

Excellent wildlife refuge with good instructional exhibits.

I can't say enough about this place. Natural beauty everywhere, it leaves you speechless. It's incredibly peaceful and beautiful, very clean, and filled with wildlife. Everyone absolutely must visit. Please respect the environment and enjoy the outdoors!

The southern half of assateague island has great hiking, bicycling, and a few good beach spots. The best beaches and the large majority of ponies roaming free are in the northern section of the island. The national wildlife refuge is a great place to visit tho!

I really loved coming here enjoyed every minute of it.

Love it! You park on the beach & the bay is behind you! Been comming for 12 years!!

Beautiful place! Great visitor center, very helpful staff! We didn't see horses but a great place to see waterbirds.

Always an enjoyble time here. Have visited in every season and there is always wildlife to see. The refuge loop road is closed to motor traffic until mid afternoon so is great for biking and walking. The beach area has good parking and plenty of wide, open beach.

This is the cleanest beach around. We love coming and look forward to going next year.

Entrance fee is $20 for the week or $40 for the year. There is a lot to do here; climbing the stairs to the top of the Assateague Lighthouse, touring the visitors center, short hikes, and beach access.

Very nice place to hang out and watch the ponies , alot of people come with professional cameras for pictures , if you are planning to get out of the car for pictures, becareful with the mosquitos, gonna eat you alive !!! I have been there mid May and it was so bad , you definitely need repellant spray, and may need to wear boots if you will hike , there is mud , poison IV , there is bike rentals , sunset cruise and dolphin, ponies and birds cruises , beach is nice but literally it's just the beach, there is nothing more to do there . Been there two days in a row and I was done, there is not much to do there, Pass is $20 for a day

I love this beach, it laid back and reminds me of how going to the beach use to be. They have a few picnic areas and grill privileges. I love driving up to the actual beach not much walking.

Very nice and beautiful park, we absolutely loved it.

Saw the pony swim and it was well worth our time and effort to get to the place where they cross from Assateague to Chincoteague. The beach on Assateague is beautiful, and was always bustling.

Beautiful, peaceful we had our wedding on the beach

This is a beautiful place to stop. The entire area is beautiful.

If you like nature and you are not high maintenance, this is a great place to go for a beach vacation .Nice nature trails ,fishing, crabbing watching wildlife. Chinqutique has lots of places to eat , nothing fancy . you will find lots of small restaurants , not very well maintained. But this place is known for its Wild ponies .

The ponies are lovely to look at and watch in their natural habitat. You can simply pull off to the side of the road and take pictures and take it all in. Just gorgeous views.

A natural wonder and a great day getaway. The town has great amenities with a vast selection of restaurants. Enjoy!!!