My favorite area is the Whalehead beach section of Corolla.
Corolla Light Resort and Duck are also nice.

Thanks for all the info!

Dock and Corolla are nice, there is a bit of an upscale feel to the area around the Sanderling and the Currituck lighthouse.
We just got back from Nags Head and the consensus was it was much more convenient that Avon, where we usually go, with outlet shopping and more restaurant and coffee house choices, but Avon has wider dunes and a "wilder feel." Not sure it is worth the extra hour of driving to get there for a short trip.

Sun Realty's website gives a very brief description of each town under Outer Banks Info. We stay in South Nags Head down Old Oregon Inlet Road, which is, obviously, further south than Nags Head and much quieter and more residential. We like the peace and quiet, but we're also not far from tons of restaurants, various marinas and piers (we like to watch the fishing boats come in), etc. Like you, we really like to explore and take frequent driving trips, and we feel like we're centrally located; we go down to Hatteras, over to Manteo, up to Duck and Corolla. There is tons of history in the Outer Banks. We rented through Sun Realty for several years and always had a great experience. This year we're renting through Beach Realty because they have a particular house we've wanted.

I'm really not familiar with the DE beaches so can't compare.

Look at houses in Duck/Southern Shores. If you don't mind driving then you can go either north to Corolla or south to Kitty Hawk/Nags Head for more restaurants, mini golf, etc. (Although if you stay in certain parts of Duck you'll be within walking distance of restaurants and shops) We've used Twitty and Southern Shores realty for rentals.

Hi there. My family and I are thinking about taking a break from Delaware and traveling to the North Carolina beaches. My friends family has a house on Top Sail, but that is a bit further than we wanted to drive. We were looking at all the places on the Outer Banks and were wondering which were the best places to rent a house. We have found some great rental sites, but not much on the different places. We like quiet, but do not want to be too far from everything. We like to explore and take drives as well. We are kind of looking for a North Bethany to Rehoboth kind of feel. Like staying in Bethany, but being able to drive to Rehoboth to go out. Any info would be greatly appreciated...thanks!