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Outer Banks Camping Travel Guide

Other Guides for Outer Banks

Camping Destinations In or Near Outer Banks

Travel Guides In Outer Banks

Southeast Camping States/Provinces

Parks and Outdoors Travel Destinations

Sunset over Ocracoke Beach in Outer Banks, North Carolina

Ocracoke Beach, Outer Banks, North Carolina (Bill Russ/courtesy, North Carolina Tourism)

Outer Banks Camping Highlights

By Travel Expert: Mike Sigalas

The Outer Banks draw people for a variety of reasons, so it's no surprise that the destination offers a choice amongst three distinct camping experiences: the Commune with Nature; the Destination in Itself; and the Cheaper-Than-a-Motel Crash Pad.
If you're coming here to connect with nature, you're probably already leaning toward booking a site at the Ocracoke Campground inside Cape Hatteras National Seashore. If you'll be here during high season, then by all means book away—Ocracoke is the only National Park Service site in this area that accepts reservations. If snowbirds have Ocracoke booked, note that the first-come, first-served campground at Frisco also offers refuge from the bustle.
North of Oregon Inlet, the sole camping option—and a good one—is the privately-owned, tents-only Adventure Bound Campground at Kitty Hawk, located on the west side of Bodie Island amidst a maritime forest that has a mix of grass and treed sites.
Down on the Buxton Backroad on Hatteras Island, Cape Woods Campground fits the naturalist mold as well. Stay here, and you won't have ocean views, but you will have wilderness and some handy amenities not found in the National Park Service sites, including a swimming pool and hot showers.
Families seeking a one-stop retreat rich in amenities have some fine options on Hatteras: Cape Hatteras KOA, Ocean Waves Campground, and Camp Hatteras in Rodanthe. All of these are beachfront properties, though getting a front-row spot may be a challenge unless you book far in advance. If you don't need to be on the ocean, the soundfront Frisco Woods Campground offers on-site kayak and watercraft rentals.
The Cheap-Crash-Pad category includes the state sites at North Cape and Oregon Inlet. These campgrounds are far from dreary, but between the lack of cool shade and the absence of hot showers, it won't be long before you'll find yourself climbing into your car for one reason or another. Rough-around-the-edges Teeter's Campground offers partial hookups (no sewage) for rigs, and a handful of tent-only sites, all within easy walking distance of Ocracoke Village.

Outer Banks Overview

They're maddeningly overcrowded in the summer, and development has been rampant over the last 20 years, but the Outer Banks of North Carolina are unlike anything else along the East Coast. The infamous pirate Blackbeard met his end here, and this is the place where the Lost Colony mysteriously disappeared. On these shores, Virginia Dare was born, and centuries later, Wilbur and Orville Wright learned to fly. The Outer Banks once enjoyed a dubious reputation as "the graveyard of the Atlantic," and to this day, you'll see the many lighthouses that stood vigil over centuries of shipwrecks. You can even see the actual shipwrecks -- at several places along the shore the rusted bones of schooners and cargo ships are mired in the breakers. The East Coast's tallest lighthouse is at Cape Hatteras, and the oldest is at Ocracoke Island. Sand dunes tower over long stretches of undeveloped national seashore, and you can hop a ferry to explore islands where the residents (descended from the Elizabethans) say hoigh toids instead of high tides and call tourists "comers 'n' goers." Read More

Hotels

THE INN AT COROLLA LIGHT

1066 Ocean Trail
Corolla, NC 27927 Map

Distance: 60.3 mi.
(from destination center)

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The Inn on Pamlico Sound

49684 Highway 12
Buxton , NC 27920 Map

Distance: 18.5 mi.
(from destination center)

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The First Colony Inn

6720 S. Virginia Dare Trail
Nags Head, NC 27959 Map

Distance: 27.9 mi.
(from destination center)

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Attractions

Canadian Hole, Avon

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Cape Hatteras National Seashore, North Carolina

Distance: 16.3 mi. (from destination center)

Description: Canadian Hole is the Outer Banks' best... Read More

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Buxton Woods Coastal Reserve

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Open Pond Road
Buxton , North Carolina 27920

Distance: 18.5 mi. (from destination center)

Description: Buxton Woods spans 825 acres and is located on... Read More

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Jockey's Ridge State Park

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P.O. Box 592; Carolista Drive
Nags Head, North Carolina 27959

Distance: 6.3 mi. (from destination center)

Description: Jockey Ridge State Park offers an opportunity to... Read More

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Airports

Major Airports near Outer Banks

	Distance (mi.)
Norfolk International Airport	103.1 map	Flight Deals to ORF
Richmond International Airport/Byrd Field	170.5 map	Flight Deals to RIC
Raleigh/Durham Airport	187.8 map	Flight Deals to RDU