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BMW442's avatar
BMW442
Explorer
Mar 09, 2015

NC Southern Banks/Crystal Coast

Anybody familiar with this area? I did a search on the forum but only came up with posts about hurricanes & insurance.

We will be there with a small pop-up TC for 2 nights on our way back up from Charleston. We did the OBX a few years back off-season and loved it, but have never been here.

Trying to figure out a place to stay since it's a Fri/Sat in mid-April I assume we'll need reservations. I'm looking at these spots:

Water Edge RV Park (Newport)
Cedar Creek Campground/Marina (Sealevel)
Coastal Riverside Campground (Beaufort)

Have you ever stayed here? Or know of other places nearby?
I looked into Cedar Point CG at the Croatan Nat Forest but its already booked up.

Any advice is much appreciated!
  • I'm not familiar with the other campgrounds but the Cedar Point CG is closed for repairs until sometime later this year. Flanner's Beach is another Croatan NF campground with similar amenities (showers & flush johns) in the area (maybe thirty miles away on US 70) and Oyster Point is also close by but a bit more rustic.
  • Haven't heard of those. Unfortunately, not much available in that area. There is Carolina Beach + a campgrd at Topsail Island. Wilmington has a KOA.
  • Emerald Isle there is HTP which is holiday travel park resort. Very nice but expensive. On the beach.
  • Since you have a couple of days and a 4WD, another possibility would be dispersed camping on Cape Lookout National Seashore. Private vehicle ferries provide access to South Core (from Davis) or Portsmouth Island (from Atlantic). Both are just a few miles from Sea Level. I don't know of anywhere else on the east coast where you can pick your own campsite from twenty miles of unspoiled beach.

    http://www.nps.gov/calo/planyourvisit/camping.htm

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