Published 2026-05-09 · A Port City Lowdown guide
Wilmington sits at a useful intersection. Drive an hour in any direction that isn't the Atlantic Ocean and you hit something different — a tiny historic port town, a sleepy family beach, a barrier island reachable only by ferry, a colonial-era city up the coast, or a much bigger tourist beach across the South Carolina line.
The locals' move is to keep Wilmington as the home base — restaurants, hotels, downtown — and pick day trips for the days when you want a different kind of place. Here's what's within about a two-hour drive, what each one is actually like, and the honest case for going.
Southport — 40 minutes south
The pitch: a postcard-pretty colonial port town at the mouth of the Cape Fear River. Old houses, oak-lined streets, a working waterfront with shrimp boats, a tiny historic district you can walk in an hour, plenty of antique stores and small galleries, a couple of standout restaurants.
Drive time: About 40 minutes from downtown Wilmington. Take 17 south to 87/133, or take the Fort Fisher–Southport ferry from the south end of Pleasure Island for a more scenic route (the ferry's a separate adventure and adds time).
What to do: Walk the waterfront. Browse the antique stores and small shops on Howe Street and Moore Street. Eat lunch on a porch — Southport has multiple seafood spots within sight of the harbor. Visit the NC Maritime Museum at Southport if you're into local history. Sit on a bench. The pace is the point.
What makes it worth it vs. Wilmington: the scale. Wilmington is a small city. Southport is a small town — actually small, like 4,000-people small — and it feels like one. If you've already done downtown Wilmington and want a slower, smaller, more pure-water-town day, Southport is the answer. It's also the launch point for Bald Head Island (see below) and one of the prettiest sunsets in the region from the riverside benches.
Locals' note: The first weekend of July is the NC 4th of July Festival in Southport, which is incredible but turns the town into a parking nightmare. Other times of year, parking is easy.
Bald Head Island — ferry from Southport, allow a full day
The pitch: An island with no cars. You drive to Southport, park, take a 20-minute passenger ferry across, and arrive on a barrier island where the only ground transportation is golf carts and bikes. 14 miles of beach, a maritime forest, the oldest standing lighthouse in North Carolina (Old Baldy), and almost no commercial development.
Drive time + ferry: 40 minutes to Southport, plus the 20-minute ferry ride from Deep Point Marina (1301 Ferry Road, Southport). The ferry runs roughly hourly through the day. You'll want to make a round-trip plan and check the schedule on their site — last ferry off the island is hours-dependent. Reservations recommended on summer weekends and holidays.
What to do: Rent a golf cart at the harbor (or a bike if you're lighter on gear). Drive to the beach. Climb Old Baldy lighthouse for the view. Eat at one of the few island restaurants. Walk the maritime forest trails. Watch sea turtles in season (the conservancy on the island runs programs and patrols nests).
What makes it worth it vs. Wilmington: there is no comparison. This is the no-cars, golf-cart-and-bikes barrier island that some Wilmington locals only get to once or twice a year because it requires a real plan. The contrast — leaving downtown's bustle and arriving somewhere with no traffic noise — is the whole experience. Bring a swimsuit, sunscreen, water, snacks. Plan to spend the full day. Don't try to do this and Southport in the same trip; pick one.
Holden Beach — about an hour south
The pitch: a quiet, family-style barrier-island beach with no boardwalk, no mid-rise hotels, and almost nothing but rental homes and a single bridge connecting it to the mainland. About 8 miles of beach, an active fishing pier, gentle surf, and a vibe that's been the same for decades.
Drive time: About 50–55 minutes from downtown Wilmington. Take 17 south, then 130 to 130-Business across the high-rise bridge.
What to do: Walk on the beach. Fish from the pier. Get lunch at one of the casual seafood spots. Watch dolphins from the surf. Read a book under an umbrella. There is genuinely no agenda here, and that is the agenda.
What makes it worth it vs. Wilmington's beaches: if Wrightsville Beach is the busiest of the local beaches and Carolina Beach has the boardwalk, Holden is the quietest. No commercial strip. No nightlife. Just sand, water, and rental houses. It's the beach you'd take young kids or your parents to — or yourself when you want a day where nothing happens.
Topsail Island — about 45 minutes north
The pitch: A 26-mile barrier island stretching north from where the Cape Fear region ends. Three towns along it — Topsail Beach at the south end, Surf City in the middle, and North Topsail Beach at the north — each with its own personality. Family-coded, low-rise, no boardwalk in the Carolina Beach sense. The Missiles and More Museum in Topsail Beach is a local oddity worth a stop.
Drive time: About 40–60 minutes depending on which town you're aiming for. Surf City is the easiest reach — about 45 minutes via 17 north and 50 east.
What to do: Beach. Surf City has a small downtown strip with restaurants and shops by the swing bridge. The Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center on the island is one of the best-known sea turtle rehab programs in the country and is open for tours seasonally. Walking the beach at the north end of the island into the Onslow Beach federal area is dunes-and-nothing-else gorgeous.
What makes it worth it vs. Wilmington's beaches: different vibe. Topsail's beaches are wider in some sections, less developed in others, and the south-end Topsail Beach town feels frozen in time in a good way — small cottages, a single swing bridge, a fishing pier, no chain stores. If you want the "old North Carolina coast" experience, Topsail delivers it more than Wrightsville does.
New Bern — about 2 hours north
The pitch: The first colonial capital of North Carolina, founded in 1710 by Swiss and German settlers. A walkable historic downtown at the confluence of the Neuse and Trent rivers, the reconstructed colonial governor's palace (Tryon Palace), and the alleged birthplace of Pepsi-Cola.
Drive time: About 2 hours from Wilmington. Take 17 north most of the way — it's the long flat coastal-plain drive. There's not much to do in between, but it's an easy drive.
What to do: Tryon Palace — the reconstructed colonial-era governor's residence and gardens — is the main historical site and is genuinely impressive. The palace tours and the gardens together can fill a half-day. The downtown New Bern Historic District is walkable, with restaurants, antique stores, and a small but real arts scene. The Birthplace of Pepsi store on Pollock Street is a tourist stop, but a fun one. The riverfront has nice walking paths.
What makes it worth it vs. Wilmington: deeper colonial history. Wilmington's old, but New Bern is older — it was the colonial capital — and Tryon Palace is the kind of historical site you can't replicate downtown. The trade-off is the drive: this is a real day trip, leave early and come back tired. Best done as a one-tank trip when you're staying in Wilmington longer than a long weekend.
Myrtle Beach — about 90 minutes south (and yes, it's in South Carolina)
The pitch: The big tourist beach across the state line. Boardwalk, amusement rides, mini-golf in absurd quantity, the SkyWheel, Broadway at the Beach, and miles of high-rise hotels along the strand. It's everything Wilmington's beaches aren't, which is sometimes exactly what you want.
Drive time: About 1 hour 25 minutes from downtown Wilmington. Take 17 south, cross into South Carolina, keep going. 74 miles total. The drive itself is fine — flat coastal plain, four-lane highway most of the way.
What to do: Whatever you're in the mood for. The boardwalk and SkyWheel for the touristy experience. Broadway at the Beach for shopping, dining, and the aquarium. Brookgreen Gardens (a half-hour south of Myrtle proper) for sculpture and gardens — actually one of the best-kept secrets of the region. Or just go to the beach.
What makes it worth it vs. Wilmington: scale and entertainment density. If you have kids who want amusement parks and mini-golf and souvenir shops, Myrtle has all of it concentrated on a strip. If you want fine dining, music venues, and historic architecture — stay in Wilmington. They serve different purposes.
Honest note: Myrtle Beach traffic on summer Saturdays is famously bad. Weekday or shoulder-season trips are much more pleasant.
The locals' rule of thumb for picking
A rough guide:
- Want a quiet beach day? Holden Beach.
- Want a slow, pretty water town? Southport.
- Want a once-in-a-trip island adventure? Bald Head.
- Want a family beach with old-NC charm and sea turtles? Topsail.
- Want history and gardens and you've got 8 hours? New Bern.
- Want amusement, lights, and noise? Myrtle Beach.
A few practical things
- Most of these are coastal — bring sunscreen, water, a hat, and snacks. Convenience stores exist but are not always close.
- Beach parking is paid almost everywhere. Bring quarters or a credit card; most beaches use the ParkMobile or a similar app.
- Hurricane season runs June through November. The drives are easy, but check forecasts and storm tracks in late summer.
- Pier fishing is a thing all up and down this coast. Most piers sell day passes if you have your own gear, or rent rods if you don't.
- If you're trying to see the most coast in a long weekend, doubling up — Southport plus Bald Head, for example — is hard. The ferry alone is most of a day. Pick one well-done day trip per day, not two rushed ones.
For things to do back in town between trips, our first-timer's weekend guide to Wilmington covers what to actually do downtown, and our annual events guide covers when the big festival weekends hit. For weekly listings — concerts, comedy, markets, the bar lineup — our weekly digest publishes every Sunday morning.
What's happening this week? The full Wilmington events digest publishes every Sunday morning. See this week's events.