Affordable Family Vacations does Duck, Outer Banks, NC

My husband and his family have been vacationing in Duck, NC so long that he remembers when the paved road, Route 12, used to end in Duck.  This was some time ago in the 70s.  My first visit wasn't until the early 90s and the paved road ended at it's current location in the Ocean Hill section of Corolla, the town north of Duck.  Since then, I have witnessed growth and changes in the Outer Banks, but not much has changed in Duck.  We have vacationed in Duck with our kids twice, both times staying for two week periods.  From these experiences and having stayed in the towns north and south of Duck, I have some great ideas to share to save money and have fun on your Duck family vacation.

Duck is quaint, but crowded in the summer.  The speed limit going to and leaving Duck is 35 mph and it drops to 25 in the heart of town. Most times traffic doesn't even reach that.  If you are staying in the heart of Duck, you wont mind the traffic as you can walk or ride a bike most places.  This is hands down my favorite part about staying in this section of the Outer Banks.  There is a paved path throughout Duck, alongside route 12, for bikes, walkers, joggers, etc. The path stays busy from sun up to sun down throughout summer.

Where to Stay in Duck
If you are planning a visit to Duck, you will need to rent a home.  There are no hotels or campgrounds in Duck. There are condos, older beach homes and beautiful, newer mansions.  With the great inventory of older, smaller beach homes it's easy to find something nice, clean and affordable and if not directly on the beach, easily nearby.  Duck is rather narrow making it easy to walk from the beach to the Currituck Sound.  Some homes even have great views of both bodies of water.  Most vacation homes include beach chairs and some beach toys, so don't buy or rent any until you arrive and can determine your needs.

What to Do in Duck
Once you settle in Duck, there are many affordable family activities.  The number one way to have fun is to play on the beach!  Take a swim, ride a boogie board, go for a walk and examine sea creatures, shells and the Duck Field Research Facility Pier.  Usually tours can be scheduled for the pier, but they are not having tours for summer 2013.  After a day on the beach, head to the sound to catch an amazing sunset.  There is a beautiful elevated boardwalk that runs the length of the sound from Christopher Drive, north to the Waterfront Shops.  Along the boardwalk are spots to drop in a kayak, go crabbing and take great photos.  There are also plenty of sound front shops and restaurants to keep you busy.  Just off the boardwalk, the Duck Town Park is the place where activities from outdoor yoga to live music keep you entertained.

From Duck you can head north or south for a variety of great Outer Banks activities.  Travel north to Corolla to check out the Currituck Heritage Club.  Read more about the activities and sights there in my Affordable Family Vacations does Corolla post.  Drive south to Kill Devil Hills and you can visit the Wright Brothers National Memorial, only $4 per person for admission.  Even further south, in Nags Head, you can hike up the Bodie Island Lighthouse, which until just recently was only open to view, but is now restored and open to climbing, $8 for adults, $4 for children and seniors.


What and Where to Eat in Duck
Come to Duck prepared!  There are no big box grocery stores in town.  There are a few smaller specialty stores and usually a farm stand is open, but it's a good 15 -20 minute drive north to Corolla or south to Kitty Hawk for the grocery stores.  Packing a cooler to take along basics and prepared meals for your trip to Duck is a great way to save time and money.  For affordable family friendly meals out in Duck, I recommend dining in or take out from Duck Deli, Waves Pizza, Coastal Cantina and Duck Donuts.  For yummy adult treats, go to a wine tasting at Tommy's Market and shop some of their fresh seafood and specialty foods.  If you just can't pass up on some of the fine dining options, make reservations for lunch and spend a lot less money and still enjoy a fantastic meal.  Research Duck restaurants before you go!

Now you are ready for a great trip to Duck.  Share your tips if you have any that I missed.

Affordable Family Vacations does Corolla, Outer Banks, NC

Have you been to the Outer Banks?  Not sure where to start?  The Outer Banks of NC has distinct areas that appeal to a wide variety of beach goers.  Do you like a lot of action, places to eat, and tourist attractions?  Then you will want to be right in the middle in the towns of Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills and Nags Head.  I will discuss these areas in another post.  If you want something a bit more relaxed, less traffic, and a more natural beach setting, then you will want to head to the north or the south ends of the Outer Banks.

Road signs directing traffic off the Wright Memorial Bridge, along with the plug for our website across the bottom.

The Lay of the Land - Corolla

Corolla, (Ku Rah Lah - not pronounced like car) NC is on the northern end of the Outer Banks, across the Currituck Sound from the mainland.  Corolla includes several neighborhoods each a little different from the next.  From fancy pants, secluded Pine Island mansions to  a variety of house sizes and options in Whalehead and Ocean Sands to amenity rich Corolla Light and Currituck Club, there is something for everyone.  Summer home rentals are usually a week.  Off season rentals offer more flexible time constraints.  Since Corolla is on the northern end, over 100 miles north of Ocracoke, which anchors the southern end of the banks, the water tends to be cooler, if not down right cold most months of the year. For this reason, I highly recommend visiting in July, August and September when the water temperatures are in the more mild range.  If you are from the North, you probably won't notice, but I grew up swimming in the Gulf in FL, so I struggle to appreciate cold water.

Ocean Hill is the last neighborhood you will pass heading north on the paved road. If you travel any further into Carova, you must have 4WD.   Even if you have 4WD, if you haven't driven on soft sand, TURN AROUND.  This is not Daytona Beach, you will get stuck if you don't know what you are doing and don't have the right vehicle.  If you have four wheel drive, hop out, air down your tires to 20 PSI and you can drive up the coast and check out Carova and Swan beach and travel to the state line dividing North Carolina from Virginia. The 4WD area is the section of the Outer Banks where the wild horses roam free.  If you don't have 4WD, book a tour.  They aren't cheap, but if you really want to see the wild horses, it's your best option.

Where to Stay
Rent a vacation home in Corolla.  There are hotels in Corolla (two) but for family travel, you will save enough money on meals to cover the difference, if any, of staying in a hotel.  My family has stayed in homes in the Corolla neighborhoods of Ocean Sands (3 times), Whalehead (2 times), Corolla Light (3 times) and Ocean Hill (1 time).  We always stay on the ocean side of the main road, route 12.  If you want to save even more money and you enjoy the sound, many beautiful homes can be found on this side too.  Some sound side neighborhoods offer transportation to the beach . If you came for the beach, verify your neighborhood does this before you reserve a home.

Beach and rental homes in Corolla

There are several reputable property management companies and individuals that rent homes to visitors.  See these by owner and by property manager homes for an idea of what's available.  Check out their ratings and reviews before investing in renting a vacation home.  It's a shame, but some homes and their managers aren't what they appear to be so research it like you would any large purchase.  Many houses in Corolla are large, as in really, really big.  If you have close relatives or another family you can tolerate for a week, go in together to rent a home.  

Dining Out and Grocery Shopping

I highly recommend taking a cooler, even if it's just a small one and a few bags of groceries on your trip to Corolla.  There are two large chain grocery stores, but they do tend to run a little higher on costs than my area grocery stores and they are swamped with shoppers on most days.  There is also a small farmers market, seafood shops and specialty food stores.  Taking a cooler lets you chill out at the house and relax when you first arrive, something you will want to do after driving through summer traffic.  It also lets you have a meal ready to go for your first night insuring you aren't in a 2 hour wait for pizza delivery.  A small cooler also comes in handy taking lunch down to the beach and lots of cold drinks.  If you have the room to take a bigger cooler, make a few meals in advance, freeze them and use the frozen casseroles as your ice in the cooler.  Nothing is better than spending a whole day on the beach and not having to worry about making dinner knowing you can pop one of those in the oven.

There are restaurants in Corolla.  Some are great and some are OK.  I haven't found anyone offering early bird dining specials or anything else, but honestly, they don't have to in the summer as they are shooting fish in a barrel.  Check out restaurant reviews from locals and vacationers at Corolla Restaurant Guide on the OBX Connection website before making the investment to eat out.  As usual, I highly recommend making your meal out lunch and not dinner.  Lunch avoids the crowds, cost less and is a lot more enjoyable for both reasons.  My favorites for affordable family dining in Corolla are Route 12 for lunch (I think their dinner menu is over priced for the setting and location), Corolla Village BBQ (it used to be better under different owners, but it's still pretty decent) and Lighthouse Bagels.  My absolute favorite meal though is when we buy the 5 pound shrimp special that you will see advertised on road side signs and take it home for what we call a "Low Country Boil" and what others call "Frogmore Stew".  It is a simple meal that pleases the masses.

Activities
We spend almost every day possible on the beach.  We look for shells, examine beds of crushed shells for sea glass, play frisbee or paddle ball, read books and ride boogie boards on countless waves.  Most rental homes provide some chairs and beach toys.  I would wait until you arrive before renting or buying any equipment.  Some have the bare minimum and some homes are stocked to the brim with great beach items from boogie bards to a beach cart and bikes.  We usually bring a chair or two, a beach umbrella and that's it.

The next favorite activity is visiting the grounds of the Currituck Heritage Park on the sound in Corolla.  There are many things to do and see here, most activities are free or fairly inexpensive.  Turning the kids free to roam is the best part.  The Outer Banks Wildlife Center is here and it is free.  The Whalehead Club is also here.  You can tour the outside and check out the gift shop for no charge, tours of the inside are free for kids under 8, $10 for adults and $8 for 8-18.  Next door to the Currituck Heritage Park is historic Corolla Village.  It's free to check out  the older buildings, mostly shops and the grounds of the Currituck Beach Lighthouse.  To climb the lighthouse is $7 and it is free for kids under 7.  The photos you can take from the top are priceless.

Aeriel shot of Whalehead Club, Nature Center and Currituck Beach Lighthouse along the Currituck Sound

Usually we take one day trip down to the middle of the Outer Banks for another activity.  Depending on what we are up for, we either climb Jockey's Ridge in Nags Head or we visit the NC Aquarium in Manteo on Roanoke Island.  There is no charge to enter Jockey's Ridge State Park or to climb the dunes.  I do recommend you go early in the day as it gets very hot on the sand in the summer sun.  This is also another excellent location to take photos.  The NC Aquarium is high on my kids list to visit.  It's the perfect rainy day activity, but be forewarned that if it's raining, the Aquarium will be packed.  The NC Aquarium is $6 for children, $8 for adults and $7 for seniors.

Have Fun
Now you are ready to roll and enjoy a fantastic, affordable family vacation in Corolla.  When you get back, leave me a note and let me know what you thought.  If you've been before with your family, let me know if you have any other tips and tricks for a great affordable vacation.

Your beach umbrella is waiting for you in Corolla!