I am in the early stages of planning a trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Any feedback appreciated....hotels, restaurants, activities. Thanks

Broad area! It's over 100 miles.

We stayed up in Duck. Had a house with pool and hottub, which was good as a tropical storm was offshore and the beach was nasty.

Duck Donuts and Donuts on a Stick were probably my kids favorite.

I enjoy lighthouses so made everyone go see a few.

Kill Devil Hills they did the ranger program, but also flew kites and sledded down the dunes.

Besides the pool, the kids swam only on the inland side. That was because of the storm. But they had fun.

Fishing, they have tuna boats. Can't afford that, so we fished the piers and went crabbing.

We didn't make it to Ocracoke. Wanted to, but kids got tired from the driving.

Thanks Pro Sandy for the feedback. The Duck area is what we are considering. The Sanderling Resort in Duck seems to get good reviews. I am worried if we want to bust out and go do some nightlife or restaurants the location might be a bit far from those venues. Thanks again!

Traffic is awful, you'll probably want to stay near any activities you want to do. It felt like my destin experiences of once we got to our house, I really didn't have a huge desire to drive around and sit in traffic,

We've stayed at an Airbnb which to do a week rental you have to book pretty far in advance if you want to be super close to the beach. Saturday is usually turnover day and traffic is even worse.

Probably different at a hotel, but by staying in an Airbnb, the beach wasn't overly crowded which was great. Water was cold so we mostly played beach games and a quick dip to cool off.

Thank you, The Lost for your feedback. We are planning on going in early October. I read it thins out by then. Thanks again!

Been going to the OBX in early Aug for a few years now with a lot of family. We have stayed in Duck and Corolla. Rented houses within walking distance to the beach and had pools, usually did the beach in the morning into the afternoon, back to the house for swimming and dinner. Corolla is farther north but we like it there and will be there again this summer. Weekend traffic is bad, during the week it seems to thin out a bit. If you go in October I would think the traffic to be very light and the water will be pretty cold. Not a lot of night life up by the resort your looking at, will have to drive north to Corolla or South back into Duck. It's much more commercial in Kitty Hawk, Nags Head, and Kill Devil Hills. We liked the Wright Brothers Museum in Kill Devils Hill, and the aquarium on Manteo Island. The Lost Colony of Roanoke is pretty cool too. Get some Duck Donuts for breakfast!

Thank you
Tor3210


I am a novice when it comes to the Atlantic. We just want some good seafood, great ocean views and cooler weather.

We stayed in Kill Devil Hills about 2 blocks from the beach. It was our favorite beach vacation and we'd do it again in a heartbeat. We loved that it was very laid back and most things were walking distance or a short drive, which was important with with 2 young boys. The beaches are big enough that you don't have to fight for a spot and there generally was enough parking/public access if you went at a reasonable time.

I wouldn't say there were any must-do sites or restaurants - we generally made our own meals at the Airbnb and the times we ate out we went wherever Google/Yelp suggested and it was all very good. We saw a few lighthouses, toured the Wright Brothers museum, and did a dolphin-spotting cruise - all of those were generally take-it-or-leave-it in my book.

Good luck!

Thanks IowaAg07. We appreciate the feedback.

Tortuga's Lie is our favorite place in Outer Banks. Worth a look up...

Thank you aggiedadofpanda