things to do on a budget in obx

zoie101

1038 miles to the north
Joined
Jul 16, 2008
Messages
974
This is my first beach vacayion where we will be renting a vacation home for a week. I am new to the area and any help is appreciated on budget thind in or around salvo nc. Or what to back . Tia
 
OBX can be a very budget vacation. Obviously cook your own meals, buy your groceries before you go, though. The Wright Brothers Memorial in Kitty Hawk is very inexpensive, also Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is free unless you go up in it, but I don't think that costs much either. Of course you could just hang out at the beach, swim, fly kites and collect shells all week, too.
 
We went for the first time last month here's what we did for free (or cheap)

Jockey ridge park- the dunes are fantastic and toally free. We did purchase a kite for $12 for our girls to fly and they used it all week on the beach too.

Wright brothers memorial- not sure the break down but it was $20 for 5 adults and 2 kids.

Corolla light house and villiage- free unless you want to climb the light house then it's $7 each. we spent a few hours just walking the shops, seeing the lighthouse and the horse museum.

we cooked our own meals for most breakfast, and lunches which saved us money and the hassle of the leaving the pool.

have a great trip!
 
Go to The Outer Banks Center for Wildlife Education in Corolla. They have free programs to participate in. Last year we enrolled our kids in the crabbing program - they had a great time.

Also, check out Jockey's Ridge State Park - they also have som programs there and is nice to just explore.
 

Go to the beach!!!

We go every year and it isn't often that we anything BUT go to the beach all day every day. I guess we're beachy people. :beach:

This year we are going to the sand dunes though. I have no clue where they are but FH has been going for 20 years and I've gone for 5 with him. I can let you know in three weeks though!
 
I was curious about the Wright Brothers Memorial because I know we didn't pay that much to get in, it's $4 per adult over 15yo for a day pass, that's why the pp paid so much more than we did, we only had two adults.
 
The sand dunes are FREE and really cool...bring a kite...great flying at the top.
 
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Salvo is further south than Carolla and Duck, to drive up that way will cost you $ in gas and some hours in driving.

1. Top off your gas tank near the Walmart. Gas get more expensive (like 30cents gal) the further south you go

2. Drive south toward Hatteras and take the FREE ferry to Okracoke. go EARLY (before 10am) and if you can on monday or tues (it gets busy come the middle of the week and after 10am). You can go to the beach there or look at the ponies, ride into town and drive back. We were there last week and saw 2 dolphins off the bow of the ferry, only baout 200 feet away!

3. Get a cheap kite (I've seen decent one at Christmas Tree Shop for 6.99, but we have even used dollar tree ones!)

4. Do a bulk of your shopping before you hit the Walmart (bring a cooler for frozen/cold stuff)...once in the OBX area the stores are CRAZY busy and a bit more expensive!

5. If you have a vechile that has 4WD there are beaches in Avon that you can drive onto (take some air out of your tires 1st!), so we would load the cooler with lunch, snacks and drinks and go to the beach for the day.

6. Go to the sound side beach. Just see how the mosiquitos are, cause they can be bad there (we went to the beach one day, it was CRAZY windy so we went to the sound. The sand there is moist so it didn't pelt us like at the beach and due to the wind the bugs were gone, and the water was great, the kids loved it!)
 














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