Carolina Beach
Carolina Beach, NC
Carolina Beach anchors a boardwalk strip just south of Wilmington, with a fishing pier, an amusement arcade, and 44 separate public accesses spread along the shoreline. The historic wooden boardwalk itself is the town's social center, packed with shops and food stalls through summer evenings.
The boardwalk and pier give it a genuine social scene, but summer parking is a scramble and the crowds match any tourist beach on this stretch of coast.
How we score beachesFree parking is limited to side streets away from the boardwalk and disappears within an hour on a summer morning. The paid lots near Cape Fear Boulevard run $10 to $20 a day and almost always have room.
Free street parking on side streets fills fast; paid lots near the boardwalk run $10 to $20 a day. There are 44 public accesses total, from large lots to small side-street paths.
Boardwalk-area accesses are paved ramps onto the sand. The smaller access points elsewhere are sand paths over a low dune.
Dogs must be leashed and are banned from the beach between 9am and 5pm from April through September. Outside that window, and October through March, they're allowed anytime, though never on the wooden boardwalk itself.
Water reaches the upper 70s by August, in the thick of hurricane season, which runs June through November. Locals lean toward May or late September for warm water without the boardwalk crowds.
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