Best Place to stay on Topsail Island - Topsail Beach, Surf City or N. Topsail Beach (Wilmington: real estate)

[bazers]

I am wanting to rent a beach house on Topsail Island for a couple of our pastors and their families for a week in April. We're just finishing up a big, long renovation project and they deserve a retreat.

I want to know what is the "nicest" part of Topsail Island. From the map I can see there is Topsail Beach, Surf City and North Topsail Beach. I guess that means what is the prettiest part of the Island - where the higher priced beach houses are located.

I'm looking for a 5-7 bedroom upscale beach house to rent and want to make sure it is in a nice location.

[Tootie the Brave]

They are all great, beautiful locations; it's gorgeous up and down the island. The type of cottage you're looking for can be found in all places, but will more likely be found in Surf City or N. Topsail. Topsail Beach is more quiet, with more wonderful older cottages from the 50's and 60's. But down at the southern tip of Topsail Beach is one of the most beautiful parts - where the ocean meets the inlet - and there are a good number of upscale cottages there. There's also the turtle hospital at Topsail and the awesome old skating rink. And the Beach Shop, which has burgers and fries and onion rings that hit the spot perfectly after a day at the beach.

Most of the growth at N. Topsail has been recent, and we all know recent means huge. We have a big group this year so we're staying at Ocean Song in N. Topsail (Century 21 Action). We've stayed there before and it's a good place. Generic, but solid.

Surf City is closest to dining and shopping.

[PDXmom]

Originally Posted by bazers

I am wanting to rent a beach house on Topsail Island for a couple of our pastors and their families for a week in April. We're just finishing up a big, long renovation project and they deserve a retreat.

I want to know what is the "nicest" part of Topsail Island. From the map I can see there is Topsail Beach, Surf City and North Topsail Beach. I guess that means what is the prettiest part of the Island - where the higher priced beach houses are located.

I'm looking for a 5-7 bedroom upscale beach house to rent and want to make sure it is in a nice location.

As someone who grew near Topsail & use to ride her bike there in the summer, the prettiest part is if you are standing in the surf looking at the ocean, with your back to all the development that now sits on top of what use to be rows (not a row) but rows of natural (not man made) sandunes w/ sea oats and native myrtle bushes. Sigh.


But since that hasn't exsisted for a long time.... are you looking to spend most of your time at your beach house? Do you want to be near resturants? Do you plan to make daily trips to the groc store etc? North Topsail tends to have more new construction. But the North end has fewer to no resturants & groc stores etc. And it can take 20-30 mins to get off the island at that end.

The South End is old established places (some have been in families for generations). There is more in the way of eatting etc. Even some places you can walk to shops etc. The middle parts of the island between the high rise and the swing bridge (roughly Surf City to Hampton Colony) is hit or miss when it comes to being near stuff. The island is 22 miles long end to end but you have a the 2 bridges that makes getting on and off it easier.

Rentals that time of year for that size will run you from 6K to about 1,500 (w/out the cleaning fees etc.)

I recommend using:
Topsail Island Real Estate
Kathy has been in the real estate business in that area longer than anyone else. And she's a kind person... her staff will treat you right.

[DownEastB]

I vote for South Topsail, based on many years of visiting there. I personally love Surf City, but I never rent a house on the Island. As PDXMom said, there are a lot of nice houses in S. Topsail that are also close to more amenities. If you want "nightlife" and a bigger choice of restaurants, Surf City isn't that far away.

[Spago11]

I love it all !!!

[MTNesters]

I think this somewhat depends on what type of vacation the families want and what age the children are. If they have tiny children, I definitely vote for Topsail Beach...there is a nice section of beach on the soundside where you can enjoy the water with the little ones and not worry so much about the waves crashing on them! Older kids might enjoy more the Surf City area and definitely there are more places around there for eating out and easier access to Wilmington if they care to go into town for a movie or shopping. All the beaches are beautiful and enjoyable and I hope they have a wonderful respite, and think that is so kind of you to think of it!

[ohnowill]

I personally don't care for the extreme north end of the island. Tends to be a ghost town most of the time. Anywhere near the center or south is fine.

Biggest piece of advice I can give you though, check the amount of beach left where you are staying. Hurricanes have not been nice to the island as far as erosion goes. Some areas are good, some are terrible to the point where there IS no beach around high tide. We vacation there every year, and thats the first thing we check when deciding on a place.

Places to eat, Max's pizza (especially if you love cheese!), Batsons Galley (Breakfast only, don't really care for lunch there), and my favorite, Andy's.

[Rtom45]

We have spent a couple summers just north of Surf City and really enjoyed it. Our adult children with their wives and boyfriends make plans to be there with us. They arrange their schedules to have vacation when we rent a house. Its peaceful, you pretty much have portions of the beach to yourself, and you can find things to do away from the beach.