Is Outer Banks worth it? Help convince my husband it’s better than any New England beach

[Anonymous]

It's warmer.

[Anonymous]

It's great. You can be there with every other moron in northern va. Also the water is excellent for swimming.

[Anonymous]

Rather than drive all the way to nc, sandbridge va has the same beach vibe but is closer to DC and is closer to more activities nearby

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's great. You can be there with every other moron in northern va. Also the water is excellent for swimming.

That is IF you can swim (many red flag days) and if you don't drown in a riptide.

[Anonymous]

My family has had a beach house in Duck since before I was born, so I grew up going multiple times a year, sometimes for a month or more at a time. I love it. Like most other houses there, it is a huge house right on the beach. The whole family can come. There’s lots of great ocean swimming; we also love ocean kayaking and surfing. I don’t get the comments here about riptides— the little kids hold their own fine, and there aren’t dangerous currents any more than the Delaware beaches. You need to know how to swim well but that’s it; an 8 year old is fine.

It’s not a place for boardwalks or lots of excitement or particularly good dining; it’s a place to spend a lot of time with a group enjoying a beautiful beach. If reading and swimming all day and cooking and drinking at night bore you, it’s not for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rather than drive all the way to nc, sandbridge va has the same beach vibe but is closer to DC and is closer to more activities nearby

+1 Sandbridge is nice

[Anonymous]

The actual beach is very much like the beach at assateague. The advantage of OBX over NE is there are large new houses right on the beach. The disadvantage is there isn’t much else going on.

[Anonymous]

OP we went to a destination wedding a few years back in OBX. I was pretty pumped to go as I grew up in Williamsburg and all of my friends went to OBX for a week yearly and my parents dragged me to Florida.

Once my now husband and I got there we were like ‘oh’. It’s fine, big beaches and houses to gather. Food is not so great and the drive is a slog.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:God I hate OBX. Spent every summer there for 25 years and would never go back. Never been to the New England beaches, but they have to be better.

Why?? I have so many fond memories of going there as a kid. I went recently as an adult and it was just as I remembered

Eroding beaches, wicked riptide, too many annoying people, bad dining. Nothing to do. Too long a drive. I get the appeal of huge houses and isolation but it's not for me anymore. I worked every summer in kitty hawk as a high schooler/college student, and for years after vacationed at duck or Hatteras ( depending on our mood). Just can't do it anymore.

It feels so....one foot in the grave now.

Ok, well it sounds like you got sick of it, which is understandable. I don’t think I’d like to go to the same place every year either. But, that doesn’t mean something is wrong with it.

[Anonymous]

OBX beaches are worth the travel. I prefer Corolla, Hatteras, and Ocracoke to get away from crowds and fly our beautiful kites.

[Anonymous]

I greatly prefer Cape Cod to OBX. I don’t like that there’s nothing really to do at OBX but stay at your beach house. Totally worth the slightly greater hassle to get up to the cape imo

[Anonymous]

+1 to having big family reunions in the same house.

I think the wild horses, plovers, and driving the 4x4 area are fun. The simpler you can keep it (bond with your family, just be at the house or at the beach), the better it is IMO.

But nothing beats Northeast beaches in the summer for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH has absolutely no interest in Outer Banks and I have every curiosity about what people love about the beaches there.

We did all of Delaware beaches and he’s originally born and raised in Maryland. Grew up with Ocean City and didn’t love the Delaware coast. I think that’s why he enjoys the variety in NE.

I’m an OBX person and honestly you don’t convince him. If he’s decided not to like it he won’t. That’s just human nature.

[Anonymous]

". I am not a fan of the Outer Banks at all. I guess duck is OK, but the rest of the towns are strip mall after strip mall, severe undertow,l, just not my kind of place."

This poster is very misinformed about OBX. I'm sure there are areas like this, but the vast majority is remote and devoid of commercial development. That's its appeal. Some people find it boring for this reason. I love it and I've been to all the best NE beaches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
It would be helpful to know what he didn’t like about the Delaware beaches. I am not a fan of the Outer Banks at all. I guess duck is OK, but the rest of the towns are strip mall after strip mall, severe undertow,l, just not my kind of place. We love the beaches in the Charleston area and also Wilmington area.

Sounds like you only went to Nags Head, Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills. Hatteras Island is nothing like this.