The Outer Banks is made up of a sliver of mainland, Roanoke Island, and a collection of villages strung along a series of barrier islands. The Outer Banks tourism authority has helpful turn-by-turn directions from Norfolk International Airport, the Chesapeake Bay, and the Richmond area (and points north), as well as southern towns like Wilmington. And if you’re not sure what destination to enter, try one of the towns like Nags Head (the southern entry point) or Kitty Hawk (the northern entry point). You should have no problem routing your GPS or navigation system to the Outer Banks. ![]() Reaching US-158 from points west is simple: navigate the waterfront town of Elizabeth City via US-17 or US-158, then continue on to the Outer Banks.įrom the south or west: US-64 provides a straight shot across a beautiful, very rural stretch of North Carolina and arrives on Roanoke Island, while US-264 provides a more circuitous, even more rural drive that meets up with US-64 at the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. Upon crossing the Wright Memorial Bridge you’ll be on the Outer Banks. The northern route arrives in Kitty Hawk, while the southern route enters the Outer Banks at Roanoke Island (and the town of Manteo) before reaching the town of Nags Head.įrom the north: US-158, the Caratoke Highway, follows a narrow peninsula to the Wright Memorial Bridge. Most visitors to the Outer Banks arrive by car, approaching the Outer Banks from the north or the south. You can make a reservation (online) for ferries to Ocracoke Island, but you’ll just have to wait in line for the ride over to Hatteras. Once on Ocracoke Island you’ll drive the length of the island to the north end to catch the ferry to Hatteras Island, a one-hour ride. To reach Ocracoke Island you can take the Cedar Island Ferry or the Swan Quarter Ferry both crossings take two and a half hours, plus a few minutes to load and unload the ferry. This ferry arrives from Ocracoke Island, and getting to Ocracoke Island requires a ferry ride from the mainland. From here it’s a 60-mile (97-kilometer), 1.5-hour drive through Cape Hatteras National Seashore to the more tourist-focused towns of the Outer Banks. This route arrives at the far south end of the Outer Banks in Hatteras Village, the southernmost point of Hatteras Island and the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. North Carolina operates a number of car and passenger ferries along the coast, but one route – Ocracoke Island to Hatteras Village (a one-hour trip) – serves the Outer Banks. This is another small airport and is serviced only by American Airlines (with most flights between New Bern and Charlotte (CLT)), so renting a car upon arrival could be tricky. Coastal Carolina Regional Airport, NCĪnother nearby airport is Coastal Carolina Regional Airport (EWN) in New Bern, North Carolina, 138-miles (222-kilometers) southwest, a drive of just under three hours. You’ll have no problem renting a car if you fly into RDU. RDU sees a number of international flights daily and hundreds of domestic arrivals from regional and national carriers. In North Carolina, the Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU) sits around 220 miles (354 kilometers) west, a drive of three and a half hours. A number of national and regional airlines serve ORF, and there are plenty of rental car agencies available. Norfolk International Airport (ORF) sits 80 miles (129 kilometers) to the north in Virginia, a drive of around 90 minutes. If you do fly in, you’ll be flying into one of the bigger airports in the region. ![]() Note there are no regular commercial flights to the Outer Banks, and even if there were, renting a car here can be difficult as there’s limited inventory. ![]() The second airport is a single runway at First Flight Airport (FFA) at the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills though the airport sees more than 100 flights a day, most of those are flight-seeing trips with a few private flights mixed in for good measure. On Roanoke Island, the Dare County Airport (MQI) offers two runways but no commercial flights the planes you see here are privately owned or chartered, or they provide flight-seeing/skydiving services.
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