Atlantic city is more adult orientated because of the casinos. I went about 15 years ago when I was about 19 or 20. I only went for the day though from a place in New Jersey. We were down on a peninsula and it had a decent size beach town called Seaside Heights. I don't know what it's like now, but try looking it up. It's in New Jersey and down on a peninsula. We actually stayed further down the peninsula. Another place of interest in the area is Cape May although I never went there.

Thanks for advice Lesley74. Done some searches, quite a lot of choice along the peninsular, beaches look good, will carry on investigating!
Regards

No problem. The area is called The Jersey Shore. I'm not sure if you would have to drive down there.

Since you're thinking on staying a while, you might want to consider driving further down? Washington DC is driveable and worth seeing.

Also, should have said, bear in mind you are closer to Philadelphia airport when you are down Seaside Heights and Atlantic City etc, so you might consider flying either to Philly or Newark, depending on the prices. If you are hiring a car it will be easy to get around from both. You won't want to try to get parking in NY though, so not sure how that would work. You can take a bus from NY to AC though, it takes about 3 hours though.

If driving maybe you could stay in several different places. 10 days at Seaside Heights could get a bit boring I think unless you are visiting other places in the area. The beaches are nice down there, but you pay to get on them. Many hotels will include a beach pass, so watch out for that. I don't remember the name of where we stayed but it was South of Seaside Heights and my relatives always stayed at the same place. It was in a pretty quiet area, with only a Deli, Seafood restaurant and another restaurant and some bars nearby. I am thinking it was as far south as the hotels went on the peninsula but it may have extended now. It's a nice area, but I think you'd need a car so that might be the deciding factor for you!