Holts Landing State Park
Millville, DE
Holts Landing State Park sits on the south shore of Indian River Bay, a 2,000 foot stretch of shoreline built more for crabbing and kayaking than a classic swim day. A 220 foot pier draws locals after blue crabs all summer, and the boat ramp is the only public bay access for several miles in either direction.
A genuinely useful spot for crabbing and the only real bay boat access on this stretch, though it's a working shoreline more than a beach, so swimmers should look elsewhere.
How we score beachesBring your own crab line and a bucket. The pier here gets far less competition for space than the docks closer to Bethany and Dewey.
A single main lot serves the pier, boat ramp, and trails, free and rarely full outside of summer boating weekends.
Paths from the lot to the pier and shoreline are flat and mostly graded gravel or grass; the boat ramp itself is concrete.
Bay water warms through the mid 70s by midsummer, calmer and a few degrees warmer than the ocean beaches nearby. Crabbing peaks from late spring through early fall, before the same hurricane season that runs June through November on this coast.
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