Walking Atlantic City's Orange Loop street by street

The church on the Pacific Avenue corner

St. Nicholas of Tolentine Church (Tennessee Avenue at Pacific Avenue) is Atlantic City's only surviving Romanesque Revival church, on the National Register since 2001. The stone is pale, a triple portal of round arches sits below a big rose window, and the square bell tower holds the corner with casino towers rising behind the roofline.

Visitors are welcome outside Mass times, and entry is free with a donation box inside. Dress quietly and put the camera away during services. Coach parties and walking groups are fine here. The church sits at the inland corner of Tennessee Avenue, the end of the Loop you reach on foot from Pacific Avenue, so take it first and walk seaward from there.

The Boardwalk end of the Loop

The Atlantic City Boardwalk (Orange Loop beach blocks) is herringbone timber railed in white, with sand and the open Atlantic on one side and the low brick Orange Loop blocks on the other. Wicker rolling chairs are pushed along it through the day. Walking it is free and nobody is turned away. Rolling chairs cost $$, and their operators take small groups.

Steel Pier is a 6-minute walk northeast at Virginia Avenue, and its observation wheel is 227 feet tall. Turn the other way and Absecon Lighthouse, the tallest in New Jersey, is 15 minutes' walk off at Rhode Island Avenue. Those two walks bracket the Loop's three blocks, and you can do both in an afternoon with time on the sand between them.

The mural trail through the Loop

The Atlantic City Arts Foundation has put up 105 murals across the city since 2017, and their densest cluster is here. The Orange Loop Mural Trail (Tennessee and New York avenues) runs across the exposed brick side elevations of three-storey buildings, full wall by full wall: orange Monopoly-board motifs on some, oversized portraits on others, and a 'Pacific Garden' flower wall above a community garden plot.

The walk is free, self-guided and open at any hour, which suits the gap between a late breakfast and lunch. Work from the Arts Foundation's online mural map, because new pieces go up each June and September and a printed route goes out of date. In September, during its 48 Blocks festival, the Foundation runs guided jitney mural tours.

Coffee and a 6 a.m. yoga class

Hayday Coffee (155 S New York Avenue) was Atlantic City's first independent coffee shop. It has the ground floor of the Bywater Building behind a glass front, with a pale timber counter, an espresso machine, a pastry case and locals at the window seats. Espresso, cold brew, the French toast latte and a light breakfast are the order, at $. It opens seven days a week year-round, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., so treat it as a morning stop and start your day here. The room is small: a handful of people fit at a table, and a larger party should order and carry it one block to the Boardwalk.

The Leadership Studio (161 S Tennessee Avenue) teaches Baptiste-method yoga on the first floor, mats in rows on blond hardwood under tall windows looking onto the Loop. Drop-in classes take visitors and small groups, $–$$. Weekday classes begin at 6 a.m., early enough to clear a night in the beer hall before coffee opens. In warmer months the studio puts on free outdoor classes for the neighbourhood.

Where to eat dinner

Cardinal (201 S New York Avenue) is the grown-up table in the Loop. Chef Michael Brennan cooks locally sourced New American plates, the bar list is cocktail-led, and the room seats 120 across two bars with a street-side patio outside. It occupies the site of the old Saratoga Club. There is weekend brunch and two happy hours. It closes Monday and Tuesday, so put dinner here between Thursday and Saturday. Group bookings and private events go through an event coordinator, and the patio takes larger parties in season. $$$.

The Iron Room (Tennessee Avenue) reopened on this street after leaving its old Albany Avenue home, and you enter through Bar 32 Chocolate, New Jersey's only bean-to-bar chocolate and cocktail bar. The door is unmarked, behind the chocolate counter. Beyond it the room is dark and low-lit, with exposed brick, a floor-to-ceiling backlit whiskey wall and a handful of tables. The cooking is New American at tasting grade and the whiskey list is one of the deepest in the region. $$$–$$$$. Book ahead: the room is tiny, takes small groups only, and six or more will not walk in.

Isabella's Italian Pizza Kitchen (131 S Tennessee Avenue) took the space that was Rhythm & Spirits, now closed. An 800-degree Forno Bravo dome oven glows behind the open counter, tiled and loaded with pizzas on peels, and family-style tables fill a bright narrow room. Thin-crust wood-fired pizza comes with Sicilian-style sauces, and there are artisanal sandwiches and salads. Walk-ins are normal, and it is the cheapest proper sit-down meal on the block, at $$.

Beer, bands and the late bar

Tennessee Avenue Beer Hall (Tennessee Avenue) started the district's revival. The hall runs long in dark wood, with a 40-tap wall, communal tables and Monopoly-themed murals splashed across the exterior brick. Behind it a fenced beer garden is strung with festoon lights over picnic benches, and in warm months an oyster-bar counter opens out there. The craft bottle list is wide and the gastropub food is award-winning, at $$. Walk-ins are fine, and large parties and buyouts are arranged by phone. It closes Mondays.

Anchor Rock Club (New York Avenue) is the Jersey Shore's indie room, small and black-painted, with a low corner stage, an anchor emblem over the bar, bare brick and punk flyers layered on the walls. Punk and metal play here, along with folk festivals and a punk-rock flea market. Tickets run free to $40, with most shows $13 to $25, and age limits vary from 0+ to 21+, so check what your party can get into before you buy. Bar nights are Friday and Saturday, 4 p.m. to midnight, and groups walk in then. It is standing room only. Check the calendar before you walk over, because the doors open for the bar and for shows and at no other time.

King's Pub (229 S Tennessee Avenue) has served this street under one name or another for decades and was the Pic-A-Lilli before that. The bar is worn wood, the screens carry sport, the regulars are local, and the plates are wings and fried seafood alongside comfort food, at $–$$. No reservations are needed and groups are welcome. The licence runs to 2 a.m., and to 4 a.m. on Fridays, which makes this the last stop of the night.

Cigars and cannabis on the Loop

Tennessee Avenue Tobacco Company (127–129 S Tennessee Avenue) is the city's only cigar lounge, a narrow storefront with a walk-in glass humidor wall on cedar shelves, deep leather armchairs and low amber light, and the humidor stock is rare. It opens seven days, 21+, at $$–$$$, and the lounge seating takes a small group for the hour between dinner and a show.

Peaches Garden (157 S New York Avenue) is the Loop's own dispensary, minority-owned and community-rooted, with peach-motif signage outside and a bright retail floor of glass display counters and budtenders behind them. Adult-use cannabis is legal in New Jersey. Retail is walk-in, 21+ with photo ID, 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily, $$–$$$, and at peak the queue forms on the pavement outside. Consumption on the street, the beach and the Boardwalk is still illegal.

Where to stay by the Orange Loop

Resorts Casino Hotel (North Carolina Avenue) is two blocks southwest along the Boardwalk from Tennessee Avenue, twin towers in Roaring-Twenties styling above a beachfront tiki bar and an outdoor stage on the sand. It was the first casino to open outside Nevada, in 1978, so the building is part of the walk. LandShark on its beach is where the evening gets loud. It runs group rates, meeting space and blocks of rooms at $$–$$$, which is what you want for a stag or hen party staying within staggering distance of the Loop.

Courtyard by Marriott Atlantic City Beach Block (1212 Pacific Avenue) is the closest gambling-free bed, a modern mid-rise on the South Carolina Avenue corner one street back from the Boardwalk, with two restaurants at street level. It has 206 rooms and takes group bookings and meeting rooms, at $$, and you cross no casino floor to get out of the door. Tennessee Avenue is one block away and the beach is one block the other way. For other options, compare the Atlantic City hotel search.

Closed days and bookings

Cardinal closes Monday and Tuesday and the Beer Hall closes Mondays, so a Thursday-to-Saturday visit gets you the whole Loop. Book The Iron Room ahead, check the Anchor Rock Club calendar before you walk over, and keep the church visit outside Mass times.

See the Atlantic City guide for the rest of the city.