Topsail is nice. We went there three years ago and the year before that, staying at the same oceanfront house in Surf City. Then we went to Lake Norman (near Charlotte, we’d had a baby), and then to Garden City, SC. Now we’re going back to the house in Surf City.
You have to go to the mainland for a real grocery store, but it’s not the end of the world, like the Outer Banks.
I worked OBX last September. Stayed at the Garden Inn on the company’s dime. Not bad at all.
There actually are towns out there you know, lol. I love Hatteras Island, prefer the north end. Waves, Salvo, or Rodanthe. But you’ve got to drive 20 miles to avoid paying island prices for groceries, down to Avon. Avon is large enough to have a selection of restaurants and bars, some tourist stuff for entertainment. The ferry landing on the south end of Hatteras is somewhat developed, and you get back into spanish moss and palm trees there, since the Gulf Stream is so close.
North of Hatteras Island are Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills. Every fast food place, eight land highways and all. Jungle golf and tourist kitkat galore. The Wright Brothers Memorial on a huge dune field right in the middle of it all.
I like end of the world places, so it’s Hatteras for me.