Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
My family and I moved to Raleigh in November and since the weather is nicer, we would like to start visiting the beach. Are there any places with a boardwalk and shops and a restaurant to take my mother in law for mom's day. Not sure if there are any places for a half-day trip.
Wrightsville Beach is a nice place, but it's crowded as hell. I only go back often enough to remind myself why I don't go there during beach season. I've had to turn around and leave without parking because of a lack of spots, several times. I vacation up near Beaufort every year and I've got to say that the coast up there blows away that of the Wilmington area. Extremely beautiful. Hit the Sound or the Atlantic from there.
Not intentionally trying to get you confused, but....Morehead City, or across the bridge over to the Crystal Coast, and actually on the Atlantic Coast, is reasonable, no boardwalks but most of the time the beach is fairly deserted. The main draw to that neck of the woods is fishing, most of the non-locals are also from N. Carolina, I am 3.5 hrs inland. The out-of-state folks are mostly from Pennsylvania, although Delaware is beginning to make a showing as of late. The Beach, by N.C. law, belongs to the public, so there really are not huge hotels. The locals are friendly, the food is good and the fishing is amazing. There are a couple of camp grounds open year round as well. Ft. Macon is left at the first stoplight over the bridge and follow it til the road ends (translates to North) is open pretty much year round and there is an N.C. State Aquarium about halfway down turn right at the stoplight, (that translates to south), the Crystal Coast. AND...at that same stoplight there is a diner, it serves the best breakfast around.
And to help unconfuse you Beaufort is across another bridge from Morehead City. It's all the same general area, Morehead, Beaufort, and the "Crystal Coast" (Atlantic Beach portion mentioned above). In short,Wrightsville has the closest beach, Carteret County has the best. Subtract Emerald Isle from that, though. You might as well go to Wrightsville, if you're heading there.
Morehead City-Atlantic Beach-Beaufort. Three towns connected by two high rise bridges and one small draw bridge. All three towns are a baseball throw away from each other.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
