You mean "hit the parking lot."

On the way there we leave at 6am - on the way back we leave closer to 7am - we totally pack up on our last night and in the morning just wake, throw toothbrushes in the bag, start the dishwasher and hit the road.

OP here, thanks for the advice! I think we will most likely leave before 5am on Saturday. How about on the return trip? There is no way we would be out at 4am coming home. Is it better to wait till after dinner to start the drive back, or does everyone do that?

THANK YOU! I am so tired of people posting "It's only 5 hours to OBX" on here! It's a living hell unless you leave before dawn. And you can't ever leave early enough on the way back.

Anonymous wrote:The trip from dc to corolla took us nearly 10 hours a couple years ago. Brutal. I think we left around 9am. The year before we had driven all the way to Kiawah sc in a mere 9 hours. After that outer banks trip, we said... Never again.

I could have written this post word for word. Traffic going in and out of the OBX on a Saturday makes me want to slit my throat. Worst thing I've ever seen. Leave at 5 am going down and plan to do the same on the day you leave OBX. good luck.

We finally tried the very early idea last summer. Left DC at 4:15am. It was fantastic.
Kids slept 1/2 the way in the car, arrived with little to no traffic. Got there nice and relaxed, had a long lunch, hit WalMart, and some grocery shopping.
Only had to kill an hour, but I'd rather kill it walking around than sitting in a long line of cars.

Yep we have sat in traffic for hours in the past. Now we aim to cross very early or very late.

We leave Bethesda at 4:00am and we make it to Corrolla in about 6 hours. We have beakfast at a great little diner, do our grocery shopping for the week and then head up the beach to the 4X4 area.

see entry on the "new to the OBX" thread. Ditto on hitting bridge before noon, which means leave before dawn. Friday indeed great idea, or do a Sunday - Sunday rental and come in Saturday evening after it clears out.

You've got to hit the bridge to the Outer Banks before noon.

The trip from dc to corolla took us nearly 10 hours a couple years ago. Brutal. I think we left around 9am. The year before we had driven all the way to Kiawah sc in a mere 9 hours. After that outer banks trip, we said... Never again.

Ditto everyone above. You din't want to get stuck on the Wright Memorial Bridge or creep up Duck Rd for hours.

Ditto PP. 6is the absolute latest we leave. We prefer to leave around 5. We can still stop for breakfast and one of the roadside stands heading into the obx without getting stuck in much traffic. We pay extra for early check in at 1pm so we usually have lunch then go to the house.

We go every year and if we have a Saturday to Saturday rental we leave VA at the latest by 6 AM. If you get a later start you can spend about 2 hours just creepin up the road once you hit OBX. I'm actually leaving for Corolla tomorrow and we are leaving at 6 AM. Otherwise you're screwed. Going down Friday is a great idea.

We usually go to the outer banks in September, so traffic hasn't really been much of an issue. This year we are going in July. We are renting in the 4x4 section called Carova; so we will come into corolla and then drive up the beach from there. What is the traffic like on Saturdays headed into corolla? If it's going to be horrible we are considering driving down on Friday and staying in a hotel for the night. Or driving down super early on saturday like leaving at 4 am. Any suggestions are appreciated!