Ocean City and Somers Point share a body of water (Great Egg Harbor Bay), a bridge (9th Street Bridge), and visitors who travel from the booze-free former to the latter’s taverns and pubs for happy hour.

While their fates are entwined, these neighbors couldn’t feel more different.

Somers Point is boating and nightlife, coolers in the parking lot at Smitty’s, and live music spilling from old taverns. Ocean City is the boardwalk, Night in Venice, beach tags, and families feeding seagulls who should probably be arrested. (The families, not the birds.)

Having the two towns side by side creates a best-of-both-worlds dynamic. You can do the nostalgic family thing — munching Johnson’s Popcorn by the Music Pier — then head over the bridge for Cape May IPAs and bar food by the bay.

This itinerary works with or without kids. Also grandparents, who are hopefully paying. Start the car.

Near the nexus of Route 9 and the Longport Bridge in Somers Point, Chester’s Pastry Pantry’s old-timey red facade has been greeting Shore-goers since … well, we don’t know exactly. The no-frills bakery, like all great things, is of indeterminate age. Their website goes to an error page, and their social media appears to be handled by an 80-year-old, and good for them. Who needs to bother with the nonsense of the modern world when you’re sitting on a bank of glass pastry cases absolutely stacked with caramel-shellacked sticky buns, pastel Italian cookies, and trays of fabulous doughnuts. Chester’s chocolate-frosted will ruin you for all others; they come ringed not with a thin crackly icing, but dense, ganache-esque crowns.

📍 506 New Rd., Somers Point, N.J. 08244

On the quieter end of the boardwalk, the Port-O-Call rises like a bubblegum-pink layer cake above the beach. The recently renovated rooms lean into the reigning coastal-neutral aesthetic, and every room comes with either ocean or bay views from a private balcony. Down below, the lozenge-shaped pool is ideal for those early summer weekends when the Atlantic is still just a little too chilly.

📍 1510 Boardwalk, Ocean City, N.J. 08226

Catch the Screamer Speedboat from the bayside dock for an adrenaline-pumping hour-long trip. The custom vessel clocks 40 miles per hour as it tears across the ocean, looking like a chartreuse shark with its grinning razor-toothed face painted across the front. Dolphins love to see the Screamer coming. It’s a common occurrence for the playful mammals to chase the boat, diving in and out of its wake.

📍 244 Bay Ave., Ocean City, N.J. 08226

With the iconic Wonderland Pier closed (RIP), Playland’s Castaway Cove on the southern end of the main boardwalk has a monopoly on amusements. Long considered the thrill-ride sibling to Wonderland’s family-friendly energy, Playland is home to Gale Force, the 125-foot coaster whose triple-launch layout twists itself into a surprisingly compact footprint. Just maybe save the Kohr Bros. until after riding.

📍 1020 Boardwalk, Ocean City, N.J. 08226

You already know: No booze in Ocean City. So hop right over the 9th Street Bridge for drinks at the Anchorage Tavern, which has been serving since 1874. With its breezy front porch draped in stars-and-stripes bunting and the inside bar conjured from dark woodwork and vintage memorabilia, the Anchorage embodies that been-around-forever, everyone-knows-everyone vibe that’s an increasingly endangered species down the Shore. Locals, for what it’s worth, tend to stick to weeknights.

📍 823 Bay Ave., Somers Point, N.J. 08244

Do you need to have pizza twice in a weekend? A better question is: What if you’re somewhere that has not one but two of the best pizzerias in the entire state? Bakeria 1010, which moved a few years ago from Linwood to Asbury Avenue, makes rounds and Detroit-ish squares from 36-hour-fermented dough. The marinara pie is outrageously flavorful, and for protein-maxxers, the cheesesteak is also lights out. Meanwhile, across the bay, former pandemic pop-up Squares & Fare runs a reservation system out of a cute little storefront with a tomato-red door. There are only so many doughs a day to be transformed into crispy-bottomed, poofy square pies that are so much lighter than they look. The half-and-half vodka sauce/classic is the move.

📍 955 Asbury Ave., Ocean City, N.J. 08226

📍 7 E. New Jersey Ave., Somers Point, N.J. 08244

Ocean City’s prettiest neighborhood is the Gardens, where hydrangeas bloom like basketballs outside stately old homes. Right before the neighborhood gives way to the familiar boardwalk bustle sits TJ’s Ice Cream Plus, serving homemade ice cream from its cheerful red-and-yellow storefront for more than 20 years. Unlike most ice cream parlors down the Shore, TJ’s makes its own in-house, including a notably peachy peach, two variations on espresso (bean and chip), and the best black raspberry this side of Franklin Fountain.

📍 100 E. Atlantic Blvd., Ocean City, N.J. 08226