Carolina Beach &Wilmington, NC

We recently spent a couple of nights in the Carolina Beach State Park, which consists of over 700 acres on Pleasure Island. The park is a short drive from Wilmington and is also only a few minutes from the beach. The state park has an abundance on wildlife and multiple trails to hike. Close by the campsite is a marina that also has a small store for odds and ends that one might have forgotten to bring along. The campsite in the park is very quiet and dispersed, which makes it a very pleasant and quiet place to stay.

The campsite is about 10 minutes from the beach, where you will also find a memorial site and an aquarium. This is a great outing for the family! The beach was empty while we were there, but that might be different on the weekends.

A 30 minute drive to the north will take you to Wilmington, which is a historic town with plenty of interesting things to see. One of our favorites is the River Walk. There you will find a wooden walkway directly on the river with several restaurants and bars with river views. Despite the pandemic, there were several people in the restaurants (we didn’t visit any restaurants). Once you reach the end of the walkway, you can loop back to your starting point by walking through the town. Also here you will find several restaurants, cafes, and small stores. A very quaint town!