Ideas about the best drive through NC?

[dsobotta]

Originally Posted by angelaf

I'll be taking my first drive through NC soon and while we have most of our trip planned, we want to go to the coast but don't have any particular ideas or preference where. (I don't have any interest in living near the coast... just want to see the ocean.) I'm thinking we'll head for the coast after leaving Greensboro (probably mid-week) and we'll need to be back at the airport in Charlotte by Friday night. Can anyone recommend a nice drive this direction and a nice beach to spend a little time at? We'll probably be camping so a safe area would be nice. Also, are there more congested traffic areas we should avoid?
Thanks!

If you only have a couple of nights and are in Greensboro, I wouldn't head to the Northern Outer Banks. The travel time is too long.

This route takes you to the coast quickly while taking you through some nice countryside. It is stress free except for a few miles around Cary.

Depending on the speed you drive, it will take from 3.5 to a little over four hours to get to your destination, North Carolina's Crystal Coast.

Take 421 South from Greensboro until it hits 64. Follow 64 East until it hits I40 East. Take I40 East to exit 373 and follow 24 East to Jacksonville, then Swansboro. It takes about an hour and ten minutes from when you get off of I40. Be careful when you get off of the 24 Bypass at Jacksonville and the speed changes to 45 mph. It is a favorite spot to catch speeders.

I can recommend the Best Western Silver Lake in Cedar Point as a base of operations. It is clean, reasonably priced, and close to the beaches and Swansboro. It even has a really nice pool.

For more information on the area, check my Swansboro travel guide.

You are very close to beaches and can do a nice day trip to Beaufort which is only 35 miles away.

If history is more to your liking than beaches, then I would recommend Beaufort. I also have a travel guide for Beaufort. The Beaufort Inn is my favorite lodging in Beaufort.

Both areas are really nice, with lots of little shops. Beach access is much easier in the Swansboro-Emerald Isle area though there is a great beach access at Fort Macon State Park near Atlantic Beach.

You can be back in Charlotte in a little over 5 hours if you watch the time you hit Raleigh and Charlotte.

I have lots of area pictures at both Flickr and Picasa Web Albums.

I also have four web sites with area information, Southern Outer Banks, Coastal Paradise, Living on the Coast and Loving It, and Coastal Carolina Restaurants.

Your next trip, I would recommend coming in from the Tidewater Virginia and driving down to Nags Head, going through Pea Island and across the Oregon Inlet Bridge, and down to Buxton and then Hatteras where you catch the ferry to Ocracoke. From Ocracoke you can go to Cedar Island by ferry and then take Route 70 back to Beaufort.

I hope you have a wonderful trip no matter which way you go. We were out on the water this morning and the crowds have already disappeared at least from the boating landscape.

However, it is plenty warm right now. The water temperature is around 80 degrees.

There is camping available in the area, there is a lovely campground at Croatan National Forest in Cedar Point.