Outer Banks’ popularity keeps growing: Nags Head ranked one of nation’s top beaches

Kari Pugh, The Virginian-Pilot
·2 min read

The Outer Banks’ popularity just keeps growing. Travel website TripSavvy.com has named Nags Head one of the best 18 beach towns in the country, just weeks after the National Park Service announced Cape Hatteras National Seashore saw its third busiest tourist season ever last year.

“Situated along North Carolina’s famed Outer Banks region, the town of Nags Head — which features 30 public beach access points — is not to be missed,” TripSavvy wrote. “Jockey’s Ridge State Park is best known for its towering sand dunes, while the nostalgia-inducing Outer Banks Fishing Pier offers excellent fishing and an on-site restaurant. Speaking of food, gourmands will especially love Nags Head for its abundance of seafood spots like Sam and Omie’s, Owen’s, Tale of the Whale, and Sugar Shack Fish Market Oyster Bar and Grill.”

Nags Head was one of three North Carolina towns chosen for TripSavvy’s list. Sunset Beach ranked fourth and Emerald Isle 10th. The travel website has more than 4 million subscribers.

Visit NC’s public relations team helped with TripSavvy’s selections, providing information about Jockey’s Ridge and the Outer Banks Fishing Pier to “make the case for Nags Head,” the tourism agency said in a news release. California is the only other state with three beaches on the list.

Other top 18 beaches include Gulf Shores, Alabama; Daufuskie Island, South Carolina; Long Beach, New York; Lincoln City, Oregon; New Smyrna Beach, Florida; Pass-A-Grille, Florida; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Rockaway Beach, New York; Corpus Christi, Texas; Ocean Springs, Mississippi; Cape May, New Jersey; Chatham, Massachusetts and Huntington Beach, Montecito, Avila Beach in California.

The Outer Banks routinely appears on “top beach” lists. Last May, coastal expert “Dr. Beach” ranked Ocracoke the top beach in the nation. The tiny island has appeared for years on the list compiled by Stephen Leatherman, a professor at Florida International University, and has twice grabbed the top spot.

In January, vacation-rental search engine HomeToGo released its 2023 spring and summer travel trends, with the village of Avon on Hatteras Island and Sandbridge in Virginia Beach seeing huge spikes in internet interest as the new year begins.

Kari Pugh, kari.pugh@virginiamedia.com