Explore North Carolina Beaches on the Mainland and NC Outer Banks
Beach Resorts, Hotels and Attractions

NC Outer Banks & Coast

There are over 320 miles of North Carolina Beaches. Most are located on the Barrier Islands. The sounds separate the islands from the mainland, they are north to south: Currituck, Albemarle, Roanoke, Croatan, Pamlico, Core and Bogue Sound.

This page lists the best beaches in North Carolina on the mainland and the NC Outer Banks. Find oceanfront hotels, cheap motels, resorts, villa rentals, condos and more beach accommodations at discount rates; oceanfront and on the beach.

Kure Beach, Fort Fisher and Carolina Beach are located on Pleasure Island near Wilmington.

Jacksonville NC is the location of the US Marine Corp base. It is in Onslow County, Closest beaches: Hammocks Beach State Park on Bear Island.

New Bern is noted for the Tryon Palace where the British appointed governor of North Carolina lived just prior to the American Revolution. Beaches are 35 miles away.

Hotels near NC beach attractions

 

Travel North to South

• Knots Island - just south of the Virginia line, main road is NC 615 - quiet isolated area with private homes, Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge - hiking, biking, bird watching
• Currituck Banks - Carova Beach, North Swan Beach, Swan Beach, Ocean Beach, Currituck National Wildlife Refuge
• Corolla - northern Outer Banks - location of the Currituck Lighthouse. 
• Duck
• Kill Devil Hills is near Jockey Ridge Park where you can hand glide or fly kites. 
• Kitty Hawk has a monument dedicated to the Wright Brothers who flew the first airplane (glider).
• Nags Head - Jockey Ridge State Park
• Roanoke Island
  • Manteo
• Bodie Island
• Pea Island national Wildlife Refuge
• Rodanthe
• Waves
• Salvo
• Avon
• Cape Hatteras
  • Famous for the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and shipwrecks
  • National Seashore
• Buxton
• Frisco
• Ocracoke Island
• Portsmouth
• Cedar Island
• Cape Lookout National Seashore
• Harkers Island
• Shackleford Banks
• Beaufort
• Morehead City
• Atlantic Beach - is on Bogue Sound and is close to Havelock, Pine Knoll Shores and Morehead City. It is the most southern point of the Outerbanks and known as the Crystal coast.
• Pine Knoll Shores
• Indian Beach East
• Salter Path
• Emerald Isle
• Hammocks Beach State Park
• Camp Lejeune
• Sneads Ferry
• Top Sail Island is close to Sneads Ferry and Jacksonville on the mainland. There are many shipwrecks off the coast here. You can go scuba diving and search for sunken treasure. At low tide you can even see the tops of sunken ships from the beach.
• Surf City
• Top Sail beach
• Shell Island
• Wilmington
• Wrightville Beach is the closest beach to Wilmington (10miles)
• Pleasure Island - Carolina beach town, Kure Beach, Fort Fisher
• Carolina Beach State Park
• Brunswick Islands
  • Bald Head Island
  • Ocean Island beach

NC Coast Attractions Highlights

Ferry service

• Knots Island to Currituck
• Cedar Island
• Hatteras
• Knotts Island
• Ocracoke
• Pamlico River
• Swan Quarter

see ncferry.org  for schedule (link opens in new window)

NC Lighthouses

8 total

1. Bodie Island Lighthouse - built 1872 located North of Hatteras Island on the Oregon Inlet
2. Bald Head Lighthouse - located on Smith Island, 1st in NC, Built 1795. rebuilt 1817 - guides ship around Cape Fear and Frying Pan Shoals.
3. Cape Hatteras Lighthouse - built 1870, covers the area around Cape Hateras and Diamond Shoals
4. Currituck Lighthouse (Whalehead) - built 1875 located on the Currituck sound at Corolla, covers the coastline between Cape Henry Lighthouse VA and Bodie Island Lighthouse.
5. Ocracoke Lighthouse - built 1823 on Ocacoke Island, one of the oldest lighthouses still operating in US,
6. Oak Island Lighthouse - built 1950s, brightest lighthouse in US, near Southport NC
7. Prices Creek Lighthouse - built 1848, no tours, 2 miles from Southport, covers the Cape Fear River area,  it has been inoperable since the second battle of Fort Fisher during the Civil War.
8. Cape Lookout Lighthouse - built 1859 on the Core Banks, covers the Lookout Shoals area. take boat from Harkers Island, Morehead City or Beaufort.

There are lots of seafood festivals, events and fishing tournaments taking place all year round throughout the North Carolina Coastal Region

Related Websites

Outer Banks NC vacations - We have been taking vacations for years to the Outer Banks and come to love it, as you do, or soon will.

Outer Banks Vacation Rentals  Find the perfect rental on TripAdvisor.