The North Carolina Outer Banks: A Road Trip Illuminated By Lighthouses - Caffeinated Excursions (2024)

The North Carolina Outer Banks: A Road Trip Illuminated By Lighthouses

Published June 15, 2018

I love geographically unique places. If you ask me how I choose my travel destinations, there are a number of obvious answers: cost, feasibility, whether friends want to go along, etc. But geography is another huge factor for me, especially for solo trips. When I decided to take a road trip through the Outer Banks of North Carolina, I was looking forward to seeing sandy beaches, billowing clouds, and long stretches of land with water on both sides.

The Outer Banks (often abbreviated asOBX) are a long and narrow island chain off the North Carolina coast that are connected by Highway 12 and a couple of ferry routes. Separating these islands from the mainland is the Pamlico Sound, which is extremely shallow (with an average depth of only5 to 6 feet). The sound is about 15 to 20 miles wide in many areas, which means that you won’t be able to see the other side from the OBX.

In fact, these islands are so far from the mainland that you can actually watch the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean and the sunset over the Pamlico Sound from the exact same location. There’s only a handful of places along the East Coast that offer sunset views over water, and this is probably the best one. Just take a look at this amazing sunset that I was able to capture fromthis location:

Lighthouses

1. Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

This lighthouse looks like it belongs in a painting, doesn’t it? It offers some great views from the highest lookout point in the Outer Banks.

After making the climb, I learned from an employee at the top that the lighthouse was actuallymoved away from the shorein 1999 because waves were hitting the structure. As you can see, the spiral stairs in this lighthouse look fairly sturdy and are bolted to the wall.

Entrance costs $8. Hours of operations for the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse can be foundhere. Keep in mind that both lighthouses are only open for climbs during the summer months!

2. Bodie Island Lighthouse

I actually like the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse more than this one for its swirling black and white façade and red base, but the view from the top of Bodie just can’t be beat.

Bodie Island Lighthouse is not as tall as Cape Hatteras, and it contains a floating staircase with grated steps. This might be a little freaky, but there are landings on each level where you can rest if you need to.

Entrance here costs $10. Bodie Island Lighthouse is located about 45 miles north of Cape Hatteras. You can check their opening hourshere.

3. Ocraco*ke Lighthouse

Unfortunately, Ocraco*ke Lighthouse is not open to the public. You can walk right up to it, but the door is closed (the lighthouse is still functional today and operated by the United States Coast Guard). Even though this is a bit of a disappointment, a lot of postcards and souvenirs feature all three lighthouses, so you might as well check it out to be able to say you’ve seen them all. More importantly, Ocraco*ke Island is an interesting place that’s still worth a visit. Read on to learn why.

Two Towns Worth Exploring

Even though lighthouses are super cool, towns along the Outer Banks have other unique offerings. The two I ended up exploring most were Ocraco*ke and Hatteras. I spent a bit of time in some other villages (dinner in Buxton, lunch in Avon, etc), but it seemed like these two towns had the most attractions.

Ocraco*ke

This long, narrow island is only accessible by ferry, but it’s definitely worth the extra effort to check it out! The only town on the island is on its southwest corner, on a piece of land that juts out into the Pamlico Sound. If you take the ferry from Cedar Island or Swan Quarter, you’ll disembark right into town; there’s free public parking and the town is small enough that you can walk around. If you’re coming from Hatteras, you’ll need to drive the 14-mile length of the island since that ferry terminal is on the other side.

My favorite part of my visit was a restaurant calledDajio. They had an absolutely amazing chicken and biscuit breakfast. Their elderflower mimosa was also really tasty!

I’d never pass up a family-owned coffee shop;Ocraco*ke Coffeereally hit the spot. They have a ton of space to sit down and relax if you’ve been walking around town for a while.

Don’t forget about the lighthouse! It’s about a 10-minute walk from the main road into town. Other than that, there is an interesting little British cemetery as well as afree museum.

I came from Cedar Island, which meant my next stop was Hatteras. Along the main stretch of the island is a two-lane road with a number of beach access points.

Hatteras

My favorite thing about the town of Hatteras is all the beach houses sitting up on stilts. I just loved the aesthetic and the bright colors!

Hatteras also had a really cute family-owned coffee shop.The Dancing Turtlehad a large yet cozy area to sit and relax.

After visiting the lighthouse here, head towards the beaches due east of theCape Point Campground. They’re open to the public and offer some cool views of the lighthouse from a distance.

Getting Here & Making the Drive

The OBX are surprisingly far from any big cities and are most accessible to residents of Virginia and North Carolina. If you live farther away, consider flying into Norfolk or Newport News, VA and renting a car. From my home in South Carolina, I had to drive about 400 miles just to get to the coast. If you’re coming from the south like I was, you can cut off a few hours of driving by following the route I took from Jacksonville to Nags Head.

This journey involved taking two ferries with a “layover” on Ocraco*ke Island, but crossing the Pamlico Sound by boat was definitely part of the experience. The following section tells you what you need to know for a successful ferry ride.

The North Carolina Ferry System

The second ride from Ocraco*ke to Hatteras was on a much smaller ferry. You can’t reserve a spot, but since Ocraco*ke serves as a choke-point for traffic, you should be able to make it onto the first boat that docks after you arrive to the terminal. There isn’t much of a check-in process since the ride is free.

Where to Stay

Since I started driving from South Carolina right after work on Friday, I spent my first night at an Airbnb in Jacksonville, NC. This was still about a two-hour drive from the Cedar Island Ferry Terminal, but it was the closest Airbnb I could find.

Early Saturday morning I made my way to the dock (be sure not to speed here, especially in the towns you’ll pass through along the way). I ended up spending the morning and afternoon in Ocraco*ke, but I wouldn’t recommend staying here overnight; after you’ve spent a few hours here (or as long as you like), take the ferry over and spend the night in Hatteras. There were only a few Airbnb options in Hatteras which seemed to fill up quickly, so I stayed at theSea Gull Motelwhich cost about $140 for one night but was comfortable and conveniently located.

This post was published on June 15, 2018