Small towns and water for vacation ideas (Charlotte, Raleigh: rentals, home)
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We love the cabins, chalets, etc you find in the vacation areas. We also love stopping in small towns with lots of local restaurants, bakeries, ice cream, retail shops, etc. Maybe day tripping or passing thru one town to see a local site and visiting towns along the way. Also, we love being near water such as a small shallow river, lake, or ocean.
Is there any vacation area that has a lot of these small towns short distances away? A friend said something about Cashiers, NC which has a lot of VRBO rentals and is near small towns? Ideally, it would be a rental in a small town (near) like I mentioned above that a small shallow river fronted the property (kids and pets) but perhaps an hour or two from the coast? Perhaps a short drive to a town with lots of these amenities that we could base from for the most part for our meals if we chose not to travel all the time.
Sounds by the second paragraph you wanting to be near the coast and by a river. Base on both paragraphs Beaufort NC comes to mind. Also nearby Harkers Island and last coastal recommendation is Duck NC
Beaufort NC is rich in North Carolina history (3rd oldest NC city)and maintains a lot of historic characteristics and is along a river at the mouth of some NC sounds.
It also near Shackleford Banks, I recommend packing beach gear and book a passenger cruise to visit this car-less island during your stay.
The mountains are about 5 hrs from the coast in NC so you kind of need to pick one or the other. Most people who go to the beach want to stay at the beach and then maybe do day trips to small towns around.
Yeah, its a broad request. I would like to be close enough for a 2 hour drive to the beach lets say. However, maybe something sorta in middle with touristy towns around?
We are from Nashville so been to the Smokies hundreds of times bit still enjoy. When I say river I mean more like a big creek that kids and dog can play in. You know how the mountains have what thet call rivers but more like streams thats good. A lake with shoreline rentals and maybe watercraft rentals would work too.
In NC the touristy areas are the beach and the mountains. The middle is where we live and work, but not where we play as much. There are things to do if you have to be there, but people don't really vacation much in Raleigh or Charlotte. Might go there for a ball game or a concert, but not too many folks take a vacation to those places. There's not going to be many rental cabins like you describe outside of the beach or the mountains. You could probably Air B&B it some places, but I don't think what you're describing really exists in NC.
Two hours to the beach really limits you to Raleigh and eastern NC, basically along I-95 and east, which is my least favorite part of the state until you get to the beach. It's very rural and there are large pockets of poverty, too. I guess you could look at something like New Bern, but really I'd revamp your idea. I just don't think what you're describing is North Carolina (or South Carolina). Maybe there's something like that in Virginia, say, around Williamsburg?
If you want to stay at the beach and do some excursions into the inland towns for shopping you might like the Crystal Coast area. It's a little more low key. You can visit Beaufort and Morehead City and Fort Macon, the NC Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores, Cape Lookout, etc. It's a very nice beach destination. Lots to do.
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