Attractions Nearby Dover, Day Trips and Excursions

(Dover, Delaware - DE, USA)

If you are holidaying in Dover and planning to get out and about, then various appealing day trips certainly present themselves. There are a number of outlying attractions and longer excursions which will require an early morning start - it just depends how you are looking to spend your time - sightseeing, nature reserves, fine dining or shopping.

Many of the most-visited attractions in this part of Delaware line the shoreline of nearby Delaware Bay, such as the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge to the northeast.

Lying roughly 20 minutes to the north of Dover and past the Garrisons Lake Golf Club is the small town of Smyrna, which boasts a surprising number of old buildings listed on the prestigious National Register of Historic Places. In particular, sightseers visiting Smyrna should be on the look out for Baynard House (1750), Belmont Hall (1753), Ivy Dale Farm (1786), the John M. Voshell House (1850), Moore House (1868), Mount Pleasant House (1810), the Savin-Wilson House (1820) and the Timothy Cummins House (1780), amongst many others.

General Information

Head further north along Highway US-1 (the Korean War Veterans Memorial Highway) and you will soon reach the attractions of Middletown. The journey from Dover to Middleton should take in the region of 40 minutes, with crowds of visitors coming here each August to join in the fun at the Olde Tyme Peach Festival on Main Street.

A little further to the north and roughly 50 miles / 80 km away is the city of Wilmington, which is actually the biggest in the whole of Delaware state.

There are many reasons why Dover tourists consider day trips to Wilmington, including the city's numerous shopping malls and family friendly attractions, such as the Brandywine Zoo and the Delaware History Museum.

If you are heading southwards from downtown Dover, then there are a number of additional attractions that are suitable day trip destinations. Popular excursions include the Killens Pond State Park, Milford, Georgetown, Seaford and Millsboro, with the latter being home to historic sights such as the Isaac Harmon Farmhouse (1845), the Perry-Shockley House (1901), the Robert Davis Farmhouse (1900), the Warren T. Wright Farmhouse Site (1900) and Warren's Mill (1918).