The Carolina Coast

Having left planning a peak period holiday until now I'm finding it difficult to find a value for money holiday[:#]. The current favourite is to fly into IAD and tour down to North & South Carolina. ( If not its back to florida for the third year running[:w])

Does anyone have any experience of this area ? Amongst my many questions are :

Are there any must see places, or places to avoid ?
Is the area worth a 10 day trip?
Is the sea safe for kids to play in ( IE no strong currents etc )
Should I stick to the coast or drive back through the Appalachian and Smokey Mountains?

Thanks in advance for any advice

DylanDog

[honey lamb]

Charleston SC is well worth a visit and I believe the Outer Banks in NC are a good place to visit

Along the Appalachians is the Blue Ridge Highway and dotted along there and throughout NC are some new and up and coming wineries

There's a water park on the SC/NC border (can't remember the name but Aer John went there and enjoyed it immensely) andAer John also went white water rafting on the New River - which is apparently the oldest river in the US

Asheville and the Vanderbilt Estate is supposed to be good also

Hope that gives you a few ideas

It's a bit out of your planned itinerary, but if you're going to be here for late July, you should try to make this: Assateague Pony Swim. It's up the coast in Virginia, but anyone who's ever read Misty of Chincoteague (or has horse/pony-loving kids) should go at least once! Islands, a protected National Seashore, and ponies - what fun!

Although Disney is fun also, there are lots of other things to do here

A bit of App info, lots of links! The drive would be a bit slow (summer traffic) but worth it IMHO.

Good luck and enjoy!

[Scrooge]

Nice area..the only issue I have is you are going smack in the middle of hurricane season...of course the same can be said for Florida...now I have put a damper on this..have a great trip

Thanks for the advice[^]

Looks like the trip might be worthwhile. I'll spend a few days trying to work out an itinery.

Slightly worried about hurricane season but if I keep the hotel bookings flexible we can move inland if things look bad[:0]

Thanks again

DD