It gets a little too "wild" for me up there. Nice to visit, but wouldn't want to be there all week.

Big difference between the houses just before the end of the paved road and the houses after it. If you're still on the pavement, they're fine. The beach is nice, the houses are big and relatively quiet. The drive to Harris Teeter is not that bad.
(TSFG said 30 min. to the Harris Teeter--I think he meant the one back at the bridge. The one in Carolla is more like 10-15 min.)

And my high schoolers and every high schooler they know rent group beach houses in Carova. So there's that.

Anonymous wrote:We looked at a few houses in the 4x4 area because they are less expensive, but the traffic on the beach right where the kids would play was a huge no-go for me. The beach and the road are the same thing in that area.

right, and you can't just speed down the beach either. if you are even a few miles from the paved road try doing it at 5-10mph - get's old QUICK

We looked at a few houses in the 4x4 area because they are less expensive, but the traffic on the beach right where the kids would play was a huge no-go for me. The beach and the road are the same thing in that area.

You will spend hours on a single lane road getting there, leaving there, and doing anything while you're there that is not at the house?

If you mean just before the paved road ends then it's about a 10-15 minute drive to Food Lion and closer to 30 minutes for Harris Teeter, but for things like ice there is a convenience store less than 5 minutes away. The beach on that end is pretty much the same as the beach in the middle of Corolla.

No real downsides to staying at that end. Except you just cant "run out" to the store if you need something, plan on being gone for at least an hour.

If you are staying on the sound side there is some parking closer to the beach, but really it's not a bad walk, and traffic crossing N.C.12 isn't all that bad since the only thing past you is sand.

Go to the bagel place in the same shopping area as Food Lion early in the morning and get warm French Toast Bagels

I would not take an OBX newbie to Corova (that's the town name). Cars drive by all day long on the beach, and it's pretty far (think at least 30 minutes) to the Food Lion shops. The Harris Teeter shops will be even longer! If you want to go out to dinner, if your kids want to play mini-golf, if you run out of something, you'll constantly be in your car driving. No way!

Any downsides to a house all the way at the end of the paved road? I'm pretty familiar with the OBX in general and Corolla, but we always stay around the Harris Teeter. Considering a house at the end of the paved road, and taking OBX newbies with us so want them to have a good experience. I know I've been up there, but really can't remember. How long will it take to drive to the Food Lion or Harris Teeter? How is the beach there? We love the flat, wide beach and slow drop off in the water of the beach in the middle of Corolla. Is it similar? Anything else to consider? Thanks!