Looking for Hilton Head DVC tips!

[lyncecelia]

Hey all,

So my husband and I started a new tradition this year of drawing two random state names to visit in the upcoming year. We ended up drawing South Carolina as one of the states, and felt it was the perfect excuse to visit Hilton Head.

The thing is, I know absolutely NOTHING about Hilton Head or the surrounding area. We usually only vacation at Walt Disney World, so this is brand new territory for me!

So do any of you have any tips for the Hilton Head DVC area? Anything to see that is around the DVC resort? Anything we shouldn't miss at the resort itself? We'd be willing to drive about an hour away too if anything in the surrounding areas really peaked our interest. I'm obviously doing some research of my own, but I'd love to hear input from my fellow DISers as well!

Hope you all had a wonderful New Years!

 

[hhisteve]

I used to own HH but now live in the area. You must make a trip to Savannah and do the trolley tour and walk River Street. You must eat at the Santa Fe Cafe which is walking distance from the resort. Spend plenty of time at the Beach House. Rent bicycles as there is an extensive trail system that can get you virtually anywhere on the island. Visit the funky art galleries and casual eateries in Old Town Bluffton on the mainland. Take a chartered boat tour and watch dolphins or go deep sea fishing if you are interested. Of course there is golf. Or you can spend plenty of time at the resort itself as it is a beautiful, relaxing place.

 

[dgaston]

I used to own HH but now live in the area. You must make a trip to Savannah and do the trolley tour and walk River Street. You must eat at the Santa Fe Cafe which is walking distance from the resort. Spend plenty of time at the Beach House. Rent bicycles as there is an extensive trail system that can get you virtually anywhere on the island. Visit the funky art galleries and casual eateries in Old Town Bluffton on the mainland. Take a chartered boat tour and watch dolphins or go deep sea fishing if you are interested. Of course there is golf. Or you can spend plenty of time at the resort itself as it is a beautiful, relaxing place.

On Tuesday evenings Eat! (Robert Irving) has half price tapas -- make reservations. We also love Red Hot Mamas $ 10 Sunday brunch ( Orchid ) from Iron Chef competition. So many great places to eat on the island. We don't golf but do enjoy all the nature walks and have loved the dolphin boat tours. Ditto on the Savanna trolley tour!!!

 

[Susan C]

I really like the Salty Dog Cafe...

 

[Anal Annie]

I second another vote for One Hot Mama's!! Also Mellow Mushroom has good pizza (I liked it better than the Guiseppi's place near the resort.) We were not fans of the Sante Fe place and would not return but we did also eat at several other good places and I'm drawing a blank now on their names (it's been a few years now). There was a cafe place only the name was deceiving - much better than a cafe. Gosh I can't remember the name. We also ate some Low Country food one night (tried alligator). That was fun.

We did not visit Savannah on that trip (we had some rainy days where we didn't do much of anything) but we did stop & spend the night there once while driving to WDW. We stayed not far from River Street and ate dinner at Paula Deen's restaurant (delicious green fried tomatoes and pot pie). There are nighttime graveyard tours & such there too if you like that sort of stuff.


ETA: it was driving me crazy that I couldn't remember all the names of all the places we liked when we were there so I just did a quick search. Truffles Cafe was the one place that I knew was "cafe something" and the low country restaurant we tried was Chef David's Roastfish & Cornbread. Both were good and fun to try. During my search I also saw that there are now some Jersey Mike's Sub shops in the area - if you've never had a Jersey Mike's sub "Mike's Way" you should grab a sub there once.

 

[Judique]

On Tuesday evenings Eat! (Robert Irving) has half price tapas -- make reservations. We also love Red Hot Mamas $ 10 Sunday brunch ( Orchid ) from Iron Chef competition. So many great places to eat on the island. We don't golf but do enjoy all the nature walks and have loved the dolphin boat tours. Ditto on the Savanna trolley tour!!!

Eat! closed last year. I went looking for it this past June and it was gone.

One Hot Mama's is still open.

 

[SevenWonkas]

There already some great ideas here! Our primary goal at HHI is to relax! We do enjoy renting bikes.

Go to Sea Pines - this is where South Beach is (Salty Dog), along with the lighthouse (Harbour Town). There is a nominal cost associated with entering the Sea Pines gates (a few dollars, I think) so plan accordingly. Parking can be an issue at South Beach and Harbourtown during busy season, but there is a free trolly that drives around the resort. Sea Pines has a nice website that may be worth checking out.

We've never been there, but I've heard nice things about Lawtown Stables, especially with kids.

As for food (a very important part of every HHI vacation!).... DH's family has been going to HHI yearly since the late 80s. They love the steamed shrimp from Crazy Crab; we go there at least once during our trip. We also really like Hudson's on the Docks. Skull Creek Boathouse is supposed to be really good. Other restaurants that we've tried recently and enjoyed: One Hot Mamas and Annie O's. Lowcountry Backyard is awesome, but get there early because it's a small place and a line forms quickly! We tried Sunset Grille last year, per the recommendation of someone at our hotel, and it was truly wonderful. It's tiny, and is by reservation only. It's actually at the RV park, but don't let that scare you! It's on the upper level of one of the buildings, and overlooks the water. It's gorgeous.

There is a restaurant guide that will probably be in the lobby of your resort. It's called the Fork & Fun Restaurant Guide or something. It lists menus and early bird specials for most restaurants on the island. I believe they also have an app for the iPhone if you want to check it out.

A trip to Savannah for a trolley tour is fun. I'm sure there are plenty of tasty restaurants to try. When we went a few years ago, we went to Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room. That was a fun experience.

Have a nice time!

 

[RobDoc]

Eat! closed last year. I went looking for it this past June and it was gone.

One Hot Mama's is still open.

We love One Hot Mama's. Orchid also runs The Lodge - which is at the same location. The Lodge offers $1 spaghetti (plus $1 per meatball and $3 for a salad) on Monday nights and has a great selection of craft beers (which are $3 on Wednesday nights). Otherwise, the menu is similar to Mama's. In that location there are 4 restaurants that share a common courtyard - lovingly referred to as the "Barmuda Triangle" (O'reillys and Hilton Head Brewery are also there).

Eat did close a year ago - http://www.islandpacket.com/2013/12/30/2871035/celebrity-chef-robert-irvines.html

Irvine has opened another restaurant off-island in Bluffton - Nosh.

HH has lots to do if you enjoy the arts, nature, water activities. As noted, Savannah is about 45 mintutes away and Charleston is about 2 hours.

There are over 60 miles of paved bike trails which also provide great opportunity to explore the island.

Enjoy!

 

[rseeb]

Great Suggestions have already been made, but there are plenty of good restaurants across the docks from resort within walking distance. Also, they are building an new shopping complex within walking or biking distance that will have some nice restaurants as well. One will be a roof top bar and grill. Plenty of relaxation and good food in the area and that is why we own there. Enjoy the trip!

 

[Simba's Mom]

I really like the Salty Dog Cafe...

AAlthough I agree, there's just one caveat-in order to get to Salty Dog you have to pay the entrance fee to Sea Pines, which is now $6 per car (when did that happen?) If you're going when the weather's warm, I recommend a visit to the Wexford Shopping complex, just down the street, for a gelato. ANd sine the gelato place often has different flavors on different days, you my want to make more than one trip. And right at the resort, we've seen Dolphins several times so keep your eyes open for them!

 

[lyncecelia]

Thanks everyone for all the awesome suggestions!

I see a lot of mention about dolphins...does anyone know of a swim with the dolphins type of excursion? That's always been on my bucket list, and now that I weigh less it might be feasible!