On the way to Ocean City, Maryland, we stopped at one of the cutest small towns: Berlin.

Like many Americans, especially Marylanders, when Labor Day comes around my family always tries to pitch in our money and go somewhere. In the year prior to this we went to the western part of Maryland, in the mountains, and rented a cabin in the area called Deep Creek. I’ve been there before, and it’s relaxing, but there’s not much to do.

So when my sisters were plotting out where to go this year, they landed on Ocean City, Maryland. I put out my blog post on this trip already, so check out my blog if you want to read on how this full trip went!

However, the AirBnB we got (which I didn’t end up liking at all—it was so expensive yet extremely janky. Stuff was literally falling off of the walls without being touched) didn’t allow us to check in until 4:00 PM that Saturday, so we decided we needed to do something before going to the ocean.

First we decided to stop in Preston, as my grandparents are both buried there. Once upon a time, my maternal grandfather was a pastor in the town of Preston, on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, and both of them were buried near the town because he was a Korean War veteran as well. Both of their funerals were here in the town as well.

We knew we were going to do that, but the question mark was what else we could do to fill the time. I had originally pitched that we go to a park in Delaware to see some cypress trees, but that didn’t seem to land as well because it was a bit out of the way. That’s how we then landed on Berlin, which is twenty minutes outside of Ocean City.

Berlin, Maryland, has been voted as one of the best small towns in the country. That’s how we knew about the town and decided to go there because of it. My sister’s family also decided to go there, but they arrived before us because we stopped in Salisbury for lunch before heading to Berlin.

Let’s get into what we did there! It’s certainly quite the fun place to visit if you’re heading to the ocean, or want a staycation.

Berlin, Maryland, is a place that thrives on small businesses.

Straight off the bat, we could see how cute this place was as we drove down the Main Street. We pulled into a side parking lot and on Labor Day we had to circle a few times before someone left. Every single spot in the main part of town was occupied, so if you come during a holiday weekend like we did, maybe expect not to find parking right away.

We then stopped to chat with my sister’s family, which were at the ice cream shop. We didn’t end up getting any ice cream, but this shop is pretty famous and the kids all told us the ice cream was pretty good. Once they headed out, we decided to weave in and out of the shops.

A lot of the businesses around here are small businesses and/or locally owned—that’s the vibe we got when we were talking to people. And these people were very friendly—my father kept sitting outside on benches and random strangers would literally sit and chat with him while they waited for their family members too.

We were weaving in and out of the shops for a few hours, as we knew we needed to burn time before we headed out to Ocean City. There are some souvenir stores in addition to the smaller shops, but my favorite was the massive thrift store emporium and olive oil store that were near the visitor center. I only bought a small Japanese rice bowl at the thrift store for $9 (which feels a little steep, if we’re going to be honest).

Something we also were doing as we walked around was heading down the random side streets and checking out the shops in there. Some of the boutiques were a little expensive and definitely catering to wealthier tourists, so we didn’t end up buying anything at these clothing stores.

This is such a nice place to grab a meal or coffee, read a book, and people watch.

Besides the shops, there are a handful of places to eat and cafes scattered throughout the main portion of town. As I mentioned before, we ended up eating in Salisbury because some of the menus in Berlin looked to be on the $$ sign ($15+ for a sandwich kind of dollar signs), but that ended up working better for us in terms of our schedule anyway.

If we were going to eat here again in the future, I would eat at the outdoor space at the center of Main Street. I don’t know about the food, but this restaurant was packed and people were waiting to get in. Even though the parking situation was a bit difficult and you’d expect it to be crowded, I felt like it was spaced out enough that you weren’t on top of other families and couples.

We ended up grabbing coffees at Cafe Berlin. If I had a book or a journal I would totally just sit here and write/read, as this was such a soothing space to be in despite it being outside. I think the vibe of Berlin is so peaceful and conducive to a writing mindset for me, which is interesting because I’m used to writing at home.

I wouldn’t recommend the baklava latte though at the cafe. I thought it was way too artificial tasting and I only drank half of it before giving up and dumping it. My sister’s boyfriend liked what he got, which was a simple espresso situation.

After we wrapped up in Berlin and decided we were done with people watching, our sister texted and told us the AirBnb was ready. We then headed to the local super Walmart to pick up groceries, as we planned on cooking for dinner one night instead of constantly eating out, then ventured into Ocean City. There was a little bit of traffic at this point, but we were staying

I would definitely come back to Berlin for a staycation in the future.

This blog post is very much to the point, but Berlin is a place that is very much about vibes. I don’t know if I would go back here just to go to Berlin, as it’s almost three hours from where we live in Maryland, but if you’re going to Ocean City then this is a perfect day trip or stop along the way.

I would come here if there was a writing residency or something going on here. As I mentioned before, the small town vibe really helps someone get into the writing or creative mood. If I wanted somewhere to go, even if I wasn’t a creative, where I could clear my headspace then this would be a good area in general to hit up.

Visit once if you get the chance! It was quite quaint, and we all enjoyed our time there, but agreed we didn’t know if we would go out of our way to come back again.

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