Beach-y suggestions?

seeclear

OK, my sister is wanting to do a beach vacation over the week of the 4th of July. She has been looking at house/condo rentals at Myrtle Beach and finding that they are pretty pricy for the holiday week. My family will be flying out to stay for part of the week from CO. She wants someplace that they can drive to in a day (from upstate NY). Soooo, any suggestions from you-all for a nice beach-y place that is maybe less well known and possibly cheaper for that time frame? We were thinking anywhere from Virginia Beach south to Myrtle. Activities other than just going to the beach would be somewhat of a plus, but we don't need a lot of real tourist-y stuff. It will be 4 adults, one college kid (20 yr old girl) and our 12 yr old boy.

TIA for any and all help!!!

Oh, and I forgot to mention she wants to bring her two small dogs with her. A dachshund and an cockapoo.

seeclear

40 views and nobody has any suggestions??? C'mon, folks, you can do better than this!

Please?

tonyb

Holiday weekend....east coast beach, your gonna pay bro. If you want to be anywhere near a beach for that holiday better book soon. Can't help ya in the area your looking, hopefully others will chime in. I think we had another thread asking the same as you if you care to search, had some good suggestions in there too.

tonyb

Found it

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?141926-Best-beach-for-family-rental-in-the-Carolinas&highlight=beach

F1nut

Anything from the Jersey beaches, down thru the Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and the Carolina beaches in July is prime time and is going to cost extra. Most, but not all do not allow pets, so that will narrow your choices even more. If you don't want beach front the cost will be less and selection will be much greater.

Some areas in Delaware are Lewes/Cape Henlopen. It's pretty built up tho, but the beaches at Henlopen State Park are really nice. Bethany is nicer, but cost more. Middlesex Beach (one of my favorites) is a private community (has rentals homes) with a private beach, which at that time of the year is a major bonus. Expect to pay a premium.

I don't care much for Ocean City, MD., but it may be your cup of tea.

Chincoteaque Island, VA is a nice old time kind of place, pretty laid back, but nothing is really ocean front. Places are either canal or bay front. However, it's a very short drive over to Assateague Island State Park, which is ocean front beach, no houses.

Stay the hell out of Virginia Beach, period.

Just south of Myrtle Beach are some smaller beach front towns such as Surfside and Garden City, which are more laid back than Myrtle proper.

I suggest you move quickly on something as it's already late to be booking for that time of the year.

This is one of many rental resources, but this one you deal with the owners. http://www.vrbo.com/

obieone

There's PLENTY to do in MB, SC. Plenty of shopping, miniature golf, shows, restaurants, etc. Unfortunately, there's also plenty of traffic.
If you're sister plans on coming this far south, she'd better check w/ AAA to check out a travel route. When I went up north for a visit last August, there was a BUTTLOAD of construction on I95 in NC and VA, which will add a ton of travel time.

steveinaz

Seeclear, have you tried www.vrbo.com? We scored a gorgeous beach house rental in Florida last year thru VRBO.

seeclear

We're using vrbo, but still looking for suggestions of where to look. I was looking at Topsail Island last night.

shawn474

I suggest the Delaware beaches or the Outer Banks, NC. However, you arent going to find a "cheap" place and very likely that most are booked for that week - probably the most popular vacationing time at a lot of beaches. Topsail is nice, been there twice. Cool beaches where you can find great shells and sharks teeth with the kids. Pretty low key but pretty "in the middle of nowhere" too. Outer banks has plenty to do; the Delaware beaches have great shopping, is dog friendly if you have dogs, plenty to do with the kids and able to get to and from the boardwalk easily.

codyc1ark

Topsail is beautiful, however I'll always recommend Carolina Beach/Kure Beach area south of Wilmington. Plenty to do in the area, for all ages. When my ex and I used to go we would stay at the Golden Sands Motel, not the best accommodations but the rooms we're clean, right on the beach, had it's own pier with a Tiki Bar. Love it. They also have live music on the pier most nights of the week in the busy season, its great to open your hotel door with waves crashing and live music all at once. Good luck on your trip!

cnh

You're going to drive from upstate N.Y. to an east coast beach in ONE day? You know it takes 8 hours to get to NYC from there, right? Let alone South of Jersey?

And the others are right. July 4th is PRIME BEACH TIME from NY down! I have no idea what the Jersey shore looks like at this point. But that would be about a day's worth of driving from that far North.

Have fun!

cnh

NJPOLKER

It's know its not where you said you wanted to go butttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt

I have been to the beaches from NJ thru North Carolina and without in my mind the beaches/shore here in Southern Rhode Island are the best. That's one of the reasons I live here. Not nearly as crowded as NJ to NC, not nearly as costly, not nearly the awful traffic and the beaches are really beautiful. Anne Marie and I go to the beach and always laugh about how great we have it living so close to the shore. I have taken her to the Jersey Shore, Long Beach Island which is nice, but no comparison to what we have here.
The Outer Banks is nice but again not as nice as here. We do not have all the *******s that you'd have to put up with like in NJ and not nearly as touristy as the OBX. Like F1 said stay away from Va Beach.
I do wish you the best luck and let us know after your vacation how you made out.
Drew

drumminman

codyc1ark wrote: »

Topsail is beautiful, however I'll always recommend Carolina Beach/Kure Beach area south of Wilmington. Plenty to do in the area, for all ages. When my ex and I used to go we would stay at the Golden Sands Motel, not the best accommodations but the rooms we're clean, right on the beach, had it's own pier with a Tiki Bar. Love it. They also have live music on the pier most nights of the week in the busy season, its great to open your hotel door with waves crashing and live music all at once. Good luck on your trip!

Love the Golden Sands, especially the Tiki bar. Drink all you want and then walk back to your room :loneranger:

Only catch is when I was last there there was only one restaurant that had decent fool. That was a couple of years ago. If you like history the guided tour of Fort Fisher, at the south end of the island, is fascinating.

seeclear

cnh wrote: »

You're going to drive from upstate N.Y. to an east coast beach in ONE day? You know it takes 8 hours to get to NYC from there, right? Let alone South of Jersey?

And the others are right. July 4th is PRIME BEACH TIME from NY down! I have no idea what the Jersey shore looks like at this point. But that would be about a day's worth of driving from that far North.

Have fun!

cnh

8 hours to NYC? They're not riding bikes.

Seriously, "upstate" encompasses a pretty big area, and it could be 8 hours or more to NYC from some parts of NY, but not where they are coming from. A 2 hour drive up the Hudson valley is still considered "upstate". And it is their drive to make, not mine, so if they want to do it and try to do it in one day, more power to them. We're coming from Colorado, so we'll be flying.

If it were just me I might consider RI, but they have their hearts set on someplace down south. FWIW, what would the water temps be at the RI beaches by July 4?

codyc1ark

drumminman wrote: »

Love the Golden Sands, especially the Tiki bar. Drink all you want and then walk back to your room :loneranger:

Only catch is when I was last there there was only one restaurant that had decent fool. That was a couple of years ago. If you like history the guided tour of Fort Fisher, at the south end of the island, is fascinating.

Yeah, good food was difficult to find in walking distance. There is a great diner though right at the Kure beach pier, and the Sands resturant was pretty good but overpriced. You can't beat the distance from tiki to room though! I also can't complain that I've usually had a pool view room... More good sites from the room!

gdb

I think Virginia Beach is great. For some reason, the whole place is positively crawling with gorgeous young ladies from Russia ! :cool: The Navy jet noise sucks, though !:mad:

NJPOLKER

seeclear wrote: »

8 hours to NYC? They're not riding bikes.

Seriously, "upstate" encompasses a pretty big area, and it could be 8 hours or more to NYC from some parts of NY, but not where they are coming from. A 2 hour drive up the Hudson valley is still considered "upstate". And it is their drive to make, not mine, so if they want to do it and try to do it in one day, more power to them. We're coming from Colorado, so we'll be flying.

If it were just me I might consider RI, but they have their hearts set on someplace down south. FWIW, what would the water temps be at the RI beaches by July 4?

The ocean temp should be in the 70's

inspiredsports

Topsail might be the best kept secret out there and the vrbo.com suggestion is a good one. We've rented 3 different homes with a pool on Topsail about 50 paces from the breakers and enjoyed every stay.

Jetmaker737

F1nut wrote: »

Stay the hell out of Virginia Beach, period.

LOL!... too late for me. I'm booked at VB July 3 thru 7, at the tail end of a trip thru NYC, Gettysburg, and DC. Got a nice little place right on beach, North side. What kind of awfulness should I expect? I'm a life long west coaster. Never been to an east coast beach.