Book Atlantic City attraction tickets

Atlantic City occupies a narrow barrier island on the southern New Jersey shore, facing the Atlantic Ocean across a broad beach that has drawn visitors since the Victorian era. The Boardwalk, first laid down in 1870 and now stretching for several miles along the seafront, remains one of the most recognisable promenades on the eastern seaboard. Steel Pier, once the home of the famous diving horse act, still juts out over the waves. The salt air, the scale of the casino hotels rising behind the beach, and the particular quality of light over the ocean in the late afternoon give the place a character that is genuinely its own, neither quite resort nor city in the conventional sense.

The casino industry transformed Atlantic City after gambling was legalised in New Jersey in 1976, and the skyline that resulted, concentrated largely along the Boardwalk and the parallel strip known as the Marina District, defines the city's visual identity today. The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, housed in what was once the Taj Mahal, is among the most prominent of these properties, and the Hard Rock Cafe Atlantic City Dining Experience available through the catalogue here offers a straightforward way to sit down to a meal in that environment without the formality of a reservation made weeks in advance. It suits visitors who want to take in the atmosphere of the casino corridor while keeping the day flexible.