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Family vacations can be pretty hectic (especially with 9 adults, 3 kids, and 2 babies), but Nags Head provided a relaxing, easy stay for all of us. We rented a large house on the beach on S. Virginia Dare Trail and were pleased with how much space there was (we also loved having our own private pool). One of my favorite things was that we were able to see some dolphins somewhat close to the shore from our balcony.

Day 1 & 2

Nags Head Beach
Heated pool/hot tub

This vacation consisted of a lot of relaxation and for the first two days, we spent a lot of time on the beach and swimming in our pool. We were there before Memorial Day, so the beach was usually pretty empty and we didn’t run into many other tourists, which was pretty nice. The downside to the timing was the ocean water was a bit too cold for swimming (we tried, but could only stay in the water for a few minutes), so we mainly stuck with swimming in the heated pool.

Day 3

Nags Head bike path
Tanger Outlet Shopping Center
Fat Boyz Ice Cream

The Nags Head bike path ran right in front of the house we rented and was perfect for going on a morning run. This path is 11 miles long and is mostly asphalt and concrete. Within walking distance of the house was the Tanger Outlet Shopping Center, which was a little bit disappointing as there were only about 15 stores, which is pretty low for an outlet mall. Regardless, they had some typical outlet stores (i.e. gap, izod) and a smoothie store that made a pretty good smoothie. Later in the evening (after some swimming), we walked over to a little ice cream shop called Fat Boyz, which has huge waffle cones and pretty good ice cream in a few different varieties.

Day 4

Whalebone Park
Professor Hacker’s Lost Treasure Mini Golf
Go-karts

In the morning, a few of us wanted to get a good workout in that wasn’t on the beach (which we had tried the day before), so we walked down to a little playground and did some exercises there while the kids played. It was a pretty small park, but it had a rubberized surface under the playground equipment, which was great for our workout. Later, we found an awesome putt putt golf course down the road in Kill Devil Hills, NC called Professor Hacker’s Lost Treasure Golf. You get to take a quick train ride up to the top of a fake mountain and then choose between two courses to take, with the golf holes going inside cave areas, on little ships, and by cute little buildings. After that, we felt like riding go-karts, so we drove a few minutes down the road to find a go-kart place, which was decent.

Day 5

Roanoke Island Aquarium
Kelly’s Outer Banks Restaurant and Tavern

The North Carolina Aquarium branch on Roanoke Island was a great experience for the kids (and the adults) and the size was just about right to entertain them for a couple of hours, without being too large. They had an area of sick sea turtles they were nursing back to health and an employee there to answer any questions about the process. There was also a hands on area for kids to learn about helping sea turtles, where they picked a plastic turtle and went around to little stations to learn of a diagnosis and treatments. The aquarium also had all of the normal fish and sea creatures you would expect (including otters!). Later that night, the adults went out to Kelly’s Outer Banks Restaurant for dessert and drinks and we sat in the tavern area. The tavern had a nice little stage and a dance floor where people were learning some country line dancing when we first went in and then later had a country open mic night. The cocktails were pretty great and they had a long list of different drinks and they also had delicious desserts that everyone really enjoyed. It wasn’t very busy when we went, so the energy was a little low for the open mic night, but I’m sure in the summer it would be pretty lively.

Day 6

Jennette’s Pier

A few people walked down to the large pier by our house to do some night fishing on the last night. The pier was very nice, but you do have to pay not only for fishing, but also if you just want to take a walk on the pier (only $2 for walking, but still a little annoying).