Has anyone ever vactioned at the outer banks?

YES! I love it and want to move there!Hurricanes be damned! :)
I love it’s desolate beauty,art galleries,history,wildlife,great food and the friendliest people I have ever met.I try to go every year to recharge.Some of my favorite places to go is the Elizabethan Gardens,Hatteras beaches,which are not over run with tourists.(You can be alone!)!and Pea Island wildlife refuge.
The best part in my opinion is that it allows me to get inside my head, relax and think.The feeling stays with me for a long time.Lovely…sigh
Have fun if you go :))

I have. My family and I – about 40 of us altogether, counting the little kids and whatnot – rented a great, big house right on the shore.

We did very little sightseeing, and mostly just relaxed by the pool or on the beach. But the beaches are nice and clean and not terribly crowded, and it’s a nice place to just be.

I think it was the best vacation I’ve ever been on.

Hope you have a great time.

If you have a hardcore 4 wheel drive you can drive on the beach north of duck and see the wild horses. It’s pretty incredible.

@blueknight73
There is great seafood and restaurants in North Topsail and back on the mainland. Get down to the city of Wilmington good food and breweries.

Great place but take a lot of bug juice with you. The horse flies over there actually take chunks out of you body. If you go to the beach get in the water quickly. They don’t like the salt too much.
And for Gods sake, stay out of the tall grass. You’ll be lunch for all the flies.

We’ve beeen going to various NC beaches for years.Most of my favorite places are north of Topsail. Proper local pronunciation is Tops’l. It’s a southern thing. If you get a chance, go to Wilmington and visit the USS North Carolina. It is an incredible look into the past and what our fighting men experienced.(I can’t remember if women served on battleships when it was in service.) These are clean beautiful beaches. If you fish, take a rod and reel and a 2 hook bottom rig.. If you want, Surf City has a pier that you can fish off of. Also, try the Johnnie Mercer pier. Most piers wll rent you a rod and reel and tell you what’s been biting and what bait to use. Look online and call first. One last suggestion: take a good book, a small shovel and a blanket,, dig a hole, put the sand on the edge of the hole, lay down the blanket in the hole and presto, a recliner.