Wrightsville Beach NC

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besides the beach, restaurants or things to do that would be recommended?

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Oceanic is a restaurant on the beach at W'ville beach. It has great views of the Atlantic but the food is average, IMO.

Catch is in town, in a small strip mall, on Market St. but the chef is a James Beard nominee for 2023 (he may have won that once too). It's 5 miles from WB. I thought this was very good; have eaten there twice.

You can ride down to Fort Fisher Historic Area, it's about 25 miles from WB and you have to go into Wilmington to get there. It's on a barrier island too but you have to go back to the mainland to get there. The aquarium is nearby. NC has several small aquariums scattered along the coast and take less than a 1/2 day as I recall.

From there you can take a car ferry to Southport and check it out or take a person only ferry to Bald Head Island; where they filmed part of Weekend at Bernie's and other shows. You cannot take a car to BH Isl. so you will have to walk or rent a bike/golf cart. You don't have to take the ferry to get back to WB from Southport.

As Downeast12 said there is the downtown Wilmington area along the Cape Fear River and it's a 2 or 3 block by 5 or 6 block area with many restaurants and shops to brows around in. Wilmington has are several historical homes such as The Bellamy Mansion Museum that you can tour.

The Airlie Gardens are about 2 miles from WB. We went to a wedding there; all I remember about that is it was hot and humid. Might not be much in bloom in late summer though.

There is the Moores Creek National Battlefield which is about 35 minutes from WB. Not a lot there but it is the site of "the first significant victory of the Patriots in the American Revolution". There is a visitor center and some walking trails. If you like going to historical sites it worth a 1/2 day trip.

There are a variety of boat cruises you can take on the CF River including some lunch and dinner ones.

My son lived there until about 5 years ago so we don't get down there much now. I'll ask him if he has any restaurant recommendations and if he does I'll update this.