• Welcome to OGBoards 10.0, keep in mind that we will be making LOTS of changes to smooth out the experience here and make it as close as possible functionally to the old software, but feel free to drop suggestions or requests in the Tech Support subforum!

Best Beach near Wilmington

scooter84 said:
The beach at BH is beautiful, the golf course is great and there are lots of ridiculously nice and expensive houses. That being said, it is a pain in the ass to get to and you are captive once you are there, as far as restaurants and other things to do - everything out there is over-priced and the choices are minimal. In my experience, people either love BHI or hate it.
Click to expand...

I am glad someone else said this as it just sounded like a pain to get to and having to lug everything over there on a ferry then a golf cart to the house . I am sure its nice and relaxing but maybe too relaxing. Looking into Wrightsville & Topsail though it is 90 mins or so from Wilmington. Anyone know anything about Holden Beach?
 
It's wise to bring a very well stocked cooler with you to BHI. Not just because of the one grocer on the island is a monopoly and charges accordingly, but also so you can have foodstuffs you like. That one store is no Wegmans or Publix.

Holden is fine, it's not dissimilar from its neighbors Ocean Isle or Sunset.
 
Topsail and Holden both are just far away from anything. At bald head you have a different experience and it’s worth it. You unload the car at the ferry; they load it onto the boat and deliver everything to your house so it’s not really any more work - you just have to pack carefully.
 
spiffylubes said:
I was at Figure 8 just this weekend! Couldn't see a single other person on the beach Friday, probably because it was Friday and it's not even Memorial Day yet.
Click to expand...

That's standard pretty much all the time. Aside from holiday weekends when you might have someone set up on the beach within 75 yards of you (if you're near a beach path), that's what you get.
 
I was there too - beach south rd. Same place I got married. Good times and spectacular weather.
 
NjDeac77 said:
That's standard pretty much all the time. Aside from holiday weekends when you might have someone set up on the beach within 75 yards of you (if you're near a beach path), that's what you get.
Click to expand...

My family has a house there, but we have a street boardwalk between our house and the next so sometimes we get more people near us. It's LITERALLY the worst.
 
spiffylubes said:
My family has a house there, but we have a street boardwalk between our house and the next so sometimes we get more people near us. It's LITERALLY the worst.
Click to expand...

My in laws share a place and it's pretty close to the middle of the island so we end up with more people near us on the beach than most since it's convenient for people coming on to the island who aren't staying at a house.

It's hard to say anything about the island is literally the worst though.
 
People coming to Carolina beaches from New Jersey are literally the worst.
 
Carolina Beach is the place, easy in and out and once you get there you never have to leave the island. Good mix of resort with a lot of people that live there. What they have done there in the last 10 years is amazing.
 
DeacDiggler said:
Topsail and Holden both are just far away from anything. At bald head you have a different experience and it’s worth it. You unload the car at the ferry; they load it onto the boat and deliver everything to your house so it’s not really any more work - you just have to pack carefully.
Click to expand...

Like I said, people either love BHI or hate it. It is great once you get there but, to me, not so great as to be worth the hassle or the choices you give up once you are there.
 
Wrightsville is really great, but gets very crowded. Plenty of college kids running around. If that’s not your scene, then it’s probably not for you.
 
NjDeac77 said:
My in laws share a place and it's pretty close to the middle of the island so we end up with more people near us on the beach than most since it's convenient for people coming on to the island who aren't staying at a house.

It's hard to say anything about the island is literally the worst though.
Click to expand...

Yeah no I was kidding. Been going there for 25+ years, it's one of my favorite places in the world.
 
Your choice of NC beach really depends on what type of experience you’re going for. There’s pretty much a beach for everything (family-friendly, nicer restaurants, bar scene, boardwalk scene, scenery, privacy, Yankees, big houses, smaller houses, etc).
 
We have been going to Holden for 30 years and love it! But, as others have said - it really comes down to what type of "beach" experience you are looking for. We are there for the beach, family, and friends playing games and hoping for waves near the pier. The Brunswick beaches are all great, family oriented, safe waters, but just a few nice restaurants/bars. BHI is very cool, but agree about the pain in the ass factor and much more $$. Wrightsville is nice, but crowded and some of the surfers are total assholes which is another reason why I like Holden.
 
Say Hey Deac said:
Your choice of NC beach really depends on what type of experience you’re going for. There’s pretty much a beach for everything (family-friendly, nicer restaurants, bar scene, boardwalk scene, scenery, privacy, Yankees, big houses, smaller houses, etc).
Click to expand...
Which is which? Can we have a chart, please?
 
Wrightsville is the answer. Yes, it can get crowded on weekends in the summer, but depending on where you are staying, not so much during the week. I, for one, am bored with beaches to myself, it's more fun to have others there in my opinion. There are good restaurants there, a great seafood shop if you want to cook your own, and lots of things to do and places to eat in Wilmington. No brainer for me. But I'm a city guy, so maybe I'm biased. I will also say that I'm biased since Wrightsville Beach is where I was listening to Sirius radio on the way to Mott's Seafood store when I heard App State win at Michigan, and a few years later Auburn return the pick six.
 
Last edited:
wakephan09 said:
Which is which? Can we have a chart, please?
Click to expand...

This board is waaaay too quietly lately, so to start a discussion, I'll give my hot take. Going north to south:

Outer Banks beaches

Corolla - scenic; wild horses; big ass rental houses; almost exclusively non-North Carolinians (i.e., Yankees)

Duck - scenic; fancy shopping; mostly Yankees

Kitty Hawk/Kill Devil Hills/Nags Head - cool touristy stuff (Jockey's Ridge; Wright Brothers Memorial); very commercialized; terrible traffic

everything south of Nags Head to Cape Hatteras - beautiful; quiet; mostly visited by ladies who read that Nights in Rodanthe book

Ocracoke - mysterious, because it takes a goddamn dog's age to get there; old lighthouse; locals have weird accent

Crystal Coast beaches

Atlantic Beach/Pine Knoll Shores/Emerald Isle - lumping these all together because I've been, but don't typically go here and can't distinguish among them; my impression is that these are visited mostly by people from eastern NC and are more blue collar; somewhat commercialized, but not overly so; not as scenic as other NC beaches

Topsail beaches

North Top Sail Beach/Surf City/Topsail Beach - uncomfortably close to too many Marines; quickly disappearing into the sea;

New Hanover beaches

Wrightsville - my overall favorite beach, especially if going with just Wife; closest beach to Raleigh; expensive; excellent restaurants; a handful of cool bars; walkable; ridiculously crowded on summer weekends from people driving over for day

Carolina Beach - used to be redneck beach (so redneck that even Rubbins was uncomfortable there - true story), but quickly getting nicer, although everyone working at shops along Boardwalk seem to be on meth; very commercialized, plenty of bars and restaurants

Kure Beach - rental houses; less crowded; close to Fort Fisher and the Aquarium

Brunswick County beaches

Bald Head Island - never been, mostly because it seems like a pain in the ass to get to, but I have friends who go regularly and like it

Oak Island - this is where my family goes; pretty quiet; mostly North Carolinians; more modest houses, but still nice and not many rednecks; enough restaurants to get by; not much to do on the island other than hang on the beach; kind of feels like going back in time

Holden Beach - quiet and uncrowded; not much by way of restaurants or bars or stuff to do other than hang on beach

Ocean Isle - a lot of boats with the canals; more commercialized; mostly North Carolinians

Sunset Beach - fried seafood; too close to South Carolina for my tastes
 
This is great. Thanks, Say Hey. I've been to just fewer than half of these, but it reads as pretty accurate based on my experiences.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top