Planning Your Outer Banks Vacation

North Carolina’s Outer Banks offers 100 miles of coastline. To get the most of your Outer Banks vacation you need to do some pre-planning. The Dare County Tourism Board makes it easy to plan your vacation with a free copy of The Outer Banks Official Travel Guide. Along with the book you will also receive the 2012 Getaway Card. You’ll need to plan your trip off-season (winter, fall and spring) to benefit from a long list of accommodations, restaurants, recreation and shopping business that offer discounts with the card.

The Outer Banks Travel Guide has a wealth of information in the form of maps, articles, driving directions, a calendar of events and festivals that take place all year around on the Outer Banks, ferry schedules, rules for off-road vehicles, things to see and do, public beach accesses and rules and regulations for beach use, how to get married on the beach, and where your pets can and can’t go.

In a section titled “Adventures” find out where you can go to learn hang gliding off Jockey’s Ridge, dive, hike, surf, take a cruise, deep sea, pier, and surf fishing, windsurf, kayaking and canoeing, and biking. For the less adventuresome there is shelling, crabbing, and bird watching. In the hottest time of day plan to visit the art galleries, museums, and historic sites.

The guide has a complete list of where to stay and where to eat, divided into geographical sections: northern Beaches, Roanoke Island, and Hatteras Island. Here you will find out which accommodations are pet friendly, have beach access, swimming pools, and are handicapped accessible. It includes hotel, motel, efficiency apartments, beach houses and cottages.

You’ll also find listings of Outer Banks official welcome centers. Near the back of the book are colorful ads. Best of all, inside the booklet is The Outer Banks Getaway Card and a six page listing of Outer Banks Businesses that offer card-holders nice discounts. These businesses include accomodations 9hotels, motels, camp grounds and rental properties), restuarants, recreational venues (including Kitty Hawk Kites, Roanoke Festival Park, and Frisco Native American Museum and Natural History Center), and gift shops.

To get your copy of The Outer Banks Travel Guide call the toll free number 877-629-4386 or email information@outerbanks.org.