Holden Beach
©
Holden Beach

Holden Beach

Quiet North Carolina barrier island known for family beaches and rare east-west ocean sunrises.

Holden Beach is a quiet family island on the southern coast of North Carolina, 45 minutes north of Myrtle Beach and 45 minutes south of Wilmington. Getting here the first time takes some navigating -- there are no major roads leading directly to the island. Take I-95 or I-40 to Highway 17, then follow the signs from the town of Shallotte. Stock up on supplies there before crossing the bridge to the island.

What makes Holden Beach unusual is its east-west orientation. The sun rises over the ocean in the morning and sets back into it in the evening -- something very few beaches on the East Coast can offer. This is especially dramatic during fall and winter months, when the beach is nearly empty and belongs to you and the sandpipers.

Summer brings the island to life. The restaurants fill up with vacationers, the ocean warms into the low 80s, and a southerly breeze blows off the water. There are golf courses within minutes of the island, charter fishing boats that know the local waters out of the Holden Beach Fishing Pier, and rental companies that can supply everything from bicycles to beach chairs so you travel light. East of town, Lockwood Folly Inlet is good for shelling and kayaking through salt marshes. From May to October, the Holden Beach Turtle Patrol monitors loggerhead nests along the strand — catching a nest "boil" at dusk is the most memorable thing the island offers.

Guide

Eating Out

Holden Beach is small, and the food matches: a handful of seafood shacks and casual restaurants, with most of the variety on the mainland in Shallotte just over the bridge. On the island itself, expect fried fish baskets, hush puppies, soft-serve, and frozen drinks. Make a reservation in July and August, when the island's summer population is many times its year-round size, or eat early. The best meals are often the ones you cook yourself with shrimp bought off the boat at the bridge.

Guide

Things to Do

The beach is the point. Eight miles of pale sand running east to west, with the kind of gentle break that suits families and beginner surfers but does little for the experienced. Beyond walking it, shelling on the western tip, and biking the flat island roads, most of the activity is on or just off the water — Holden Beach Fishing Pier is the social hub, charter boats run inshore and offshore from the bridge, and kayak rentals open up the inlet and the salt marshes behind the island.

Guide

When to Go

The summer season runs from Memorial Day through Labor Day, and that is when the island is busiest, hottest, and at its most expensive. Water temperatures climb into the low 80s Fahrenheit, the rental houses are full, and you will need to book months ahead for a beachfront cottage. Hurricane season runs from June through November, but the worst storms tend to come in late August and September.

Shoulder seasons — May, late September, and October — are the real sweet spot. The water is still swimmable, the crowds have thinned, restaurants are easier to get into, and rates drop. Winter is quiet, mild by northern standards, and lovely for long beach walks with no one else in sight, but many of the restaurants and rental businesses close down. If you want to see sea turtle nests hatching, aim for July or August and contact the turtle patrol in advance.