Asbury Park is dubbed 2nd best beach in the U.S. Is it worthy?

Asbury Park has been making steady headlines, both in New Jersey and nationwide. The Monmouth County hot-spot has landed a new festival, Sea.Hear.Now happening in late September. Beloved bowling venue, Asbury Lanes, recently reopened with a new, sleeker look. Now, Asbury Park nearly tops a national list of best beaches for your buck, by 'MONEY' magazine (owned by TIME).

MONEY writes it considered factors on more than 250 popular beach destinations across the world to narrow the list, picking seven domestic and seven international places. (They limited winners to one city in each state, including number one ranked Florida).

Of course, over on Reddit, there's heavy debate over Asbury's latest title and whether it's deserved. Jeweled_Peasant writes "I'm from Hawaii and now live in NJ. The beaches here are surprisingly amazing, but bro...not even close to #2."

That one's an easy answer. It seems like airfare alone is what kept Hawaii from making this list. The most expensive flight on the top US spots is to Michigan, at just over $500 a ticket. To get anywhere in Hawaii, you're looking at spending four times that, maybe?

Reddit user kevkev667 is very Jersey in reaction, writing "All due respect, Asbury isn't even the second best beach in New Jersey."

GPrime85 wonders who ranked Asbury Park so high, wondering if it was "the writer's Uncle Tony? Wildwood Crest is cleaner, bigger, and has a better boardwalk."

User jeepCK questions the affordability itself, pointing out that peak rates for local hotels are much more expensive than the article quotes. And, there's more than a couple locals wondering what the story will do for crowds of tourists. APVABoy points out in sharing the list, "good luck getting a parking spot now."

The extra attention comes amid the rise of a new massive property in Asbury Park by developer iStar. When complete, the 16 floor building will include luxury apartments, a boutique hotel and 23,000 square feet of retail and amenity space. It's expected to be done sometime next year.

Proud Jersey Girl Erin Vogt’s first reporting gig involved her Fisher Price tape recorder. As a wife and momma of two kiddies, she firmly believes that life’s too short to drink bad coffee.  A fan of the beach, Dave Grohl and karma, in no particular order.

Follow her on Twitter and on Facebook as ProudJersey.

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