Which beach do you vacation at?

[lattemomof3]

The thread on what to do at the beach has me totally wanting to plan a beach trip for our next family vacation. Which beach do you go to? Where do you stay? Do you think it's comparable expense-wise to a Disney trip? TIA!

 

[Indiana Rose Lee]

Sanibel island. Awesome seashell hunting. We rent a house and enjoy the week.

 

[*pixie*dust*]

We really enjoy Hilton Head in the late spring.

 

[Tisha_PA]

We either go to Virginia Beach, Myrtle Beach or the Outer Banks. Last year we went to Myrtle and the kids loved it so we are going back again this year. Personally, I found it is significantly cheaper than Disney

 

[Priorityonecb]

Hilton Head or Myrtle Beach. There is a Disney resort on Hilton Head that is absolutely wonderful! Don't miss the Salty Dog! Myrtle Beach is fun too. We like the Broadway At The Beach, which is tons of shops, places to eat, movie theater, aquarium, boardwalk, boat rentals all in one spot!

 

[2manypets]

Dauphin Island, AL. Not much to do on the island, which is exactly why we love it. Forced relaxation!

 

[travelbug]

Ft. Myers Beach. My extended family has vacationed there for years. We all love it down there!

 

[Mas17]

Panama City Beach, here. Cheaper than Disney, but still alot to do whatever your age. Beaches are great!! We stay at The Summit.

Bev
GO COLTS!!

 

[ShannonMB]

Topsail Island, NC (south of the Outer Banks). Oh my, it's just beautiful. There are souvenir shops and restaurants, and other than that, nothing to do but play in the surf and soak up the sun. The beaches are marvelously un-crowded, we usually have it to ourselves! Pretty much the opposite of a go-go-go Disney vacation. This is where we go to relax!

As far as budget, you can get a house on or near the beach in pretty much every price range. We usually rent an oceanfront house that's about $3,000-$4,000 a week that sleeps 10-12. We go with my sis's family and my dad/stepmom and split the cost 3 ways. We usually only eat out once or twice, and all go grocery shopping together for the week. Each family takes turns making dinners. We also drive from Ohio, which (I think) takes 9 or 10 hours. It turns out to be a cheaper vaca for us than Disney, and it's nice to have the quality time with family members we don't see that often.

We LOVE our Disney vacations, but also LOVE our Topsail ones!!

 

[KirstenB]

Virginia Beach or Hilton Head.

 

[MAGGIED]

For those of you who said Myrtle Beach... please let me know what there is to do there... last year we went and thought it was pretty boring... except Broadway at the Beach... I enjoyed the shopping... I am going with DS again in April for baseball and will have tons of time on my hands.... I know there has to be more than what I was finding... there will be a bunch of families going... all with high school age kids...

 

[Derby]

We go to Bald Head Island, NC. It is AMAZING! There are no cars on the island (they have a few for maintenance, etc) so you take a ferry over and each rental comes with a golf cart or two. There are two clubs and rentals come with a membership to one or the other or both - one has golf, croquet, and a pool and the other one has a pool. They both have nice restaurants. There is not much to do there! There are only a few restaurants and shops. There is a lighthouse you can tour. It is very "Disney" in that the entire island is owned by one company so all the houses have the same markers, all the trash cans are the same, etc. You won't find ginormously huge houses like in the Outer Banks there which is part of what we like. It is like heaven there! We stayed in a villa last year and it was a 2 min drive to the beach. We had a blast just hanging out and playing games, heading to the club in the morning for swimming and lunch, back to the villa for naptime, then we'd hit the beach... can't wait til our trip this year! It is completely unlike the Outer Banks, Myrtle Beach in that there is no mini golf, movie theater, chain stores.

 

[mamalle]

we live in south fla and love our beaches on the east coast.. I do enjoy driving over to Captiva Island and spending time over there on the west coast. Our favorite place though is the Fla Keys... never can get enough of that place. When your own kids say lets go to the keys over disney- you know its a great place for the whole family..

 

[kellyg403]

Topsail Island, NC (south of the Outer Banks). Oh my, it's just beautiful. There are souvenir shops and restaurants, and other than that, nothing to do but play in the surf and soak up the sun. The beaches are marvelously un-crowded, we usually have it to ourselves! Pretty much the opposite of a go-go-go Disney vacation. This is where we go to relax!

As far as budget, you can get a house on or near the beach in pretty much every price range. We usually rent an oceanfront house that's about $3,000-$4,000 a week that sleeps 10-12. We go with my sis's family and my dad/stepmom and split the cost 3 ways. We usually only eat out once or twice, and all go grocery shopping together for the week. Each family takes turns making dinners. We also drive from Ohio, which (I think) takes 9 or 10 hours. It turns out to be a cheaper vaca for us than Disney, and it's nice to have the quality time with family members we don't see that often.

We LOVE our Disney vacations, but also LOVE our Topsail ones!!

We live about 5 min from Topsail. It is where we go for the exact reasons you state, less crowded than Emerald Isle. Of course, we rarely rent a house but when my sis comes down for the week, sometimes the kids and I share the costs and stay out there for a week.

We love Chincoteague in Md. too. Ocean City is nice, but too commercialized. Since we live so close to the beach, we tend to look more for the quiet beach vacation! The only things we have to do are sunbathing, eating and playing games. Always relaxing after real life!

Kelly

 

[KNJWDW]

Gulf Shores, AL. Beautiful beaches, very relaxing!

 

[MrsGoofyMitchell]

Gulf Shores! Last year we rented a 3 bedroom, 3 bath beachfront condo for $1,000 for the week. There were 2 master bedrooms that had a balcony over the ocean. It was such a relaxing and cheaper vacation because we went grocery shopping and cooked our own food. Hung out on the beach but also drove around and visited some historical sites (Fort Morgan). We are going again this summer with the IL's!

 

[lindsmom]

We are fortunate enough to live on Cape Cod, so we'd choose here (has a top 10 rated beach - Coast Guard in Eastham).

I would guess it's fairly expensive, especially if you're looking at rentals. However, you could probably get a decent deal next season, since a lot of rentals went empty last year. I can't really comment on cost of other expenses, since it's our everyday and that's tough to compare.

I can say that we go on vacation to NH and we feel it's cheaper to go there, so I guess that means it's expensive here.

 

[hsmamato2]

we're in ct,so we camp at the beach here....also in nearby RI,been to some beaches in FL too....just about any beach is good with us! personally,I try to find tent campgrounds on beaches- we camped on Assateague island - what a lovely wild beach......

 

[JillandFamily]

We love the Florida Keys! My 14 yo dd would rather go there than Disney. We go every spring. Not so much into the Key West scene but love the middle keys...All we do is RELAX

 

[DeeInMS]

Orange Beach, AL

Near the outlet malls at Foley, so we shop, eat and beach. Very relaxing trip.