When we discovered Hilton Head (thanks to my awesome friend Jenny, who kept suggesting that we vacation there), we also found our favorite beach destination in the Carolinas. Ted and I lived in North Carolina for a couple of year and we went to Wilmington, Wrightsville Beach and Myrtle Beach a few times, but we never ventured down South more. I can’t help but feel that we missed out on so much those years! From biking the island, to exploring wild beaches and kayaking on the canals, these are the best kid-friendly activities in Hilton Head.
WHERE TO STAY
We have been to Hilton Head twice now. The first time we stayed in a condo (Anchor for the soul) off of South Forest St, 10 minutes away from Coligny Plaza, one of the main areas in Hilton Head. The second time, we stayed in a condo inside the Hilton Head Resort. We preferred the first one.
It was the perfect size for our family, with two bedrooms, kitchen, living room, washer and dryer. It had access to a shared, community pool right around the corner and to tennis courts that, unfortunately, we never got to use. It was also within walking distance to the bike rental place where we got our bikes, which made pick up convenient for us. Coligny Plaza, which is 10 minutes away, has lots of options for restaurants, souvenir stores, bars and even a Piggly Wiggly (grocery store). The closest beach access (Alder Lane) is right across the street and Coligny Beach is a mere 5 minute bike ride away.
The second place we stayed at, the condo inside Hilton Head Resort was cute and newly renovated, but the complex itself was in dire need of renovation. There are 4 condo buildings in the resort. We chose to stay there based on the fact that they have multiple pools on site, including an indoor pool and a hot tub. I was very disappointed with the state of the building with the indoor pool though! The carpets were so worn out and stained that it made the whole place feel very dirty. The buildings looked like they had recently been painted on the outside, so hopefully they are slowly renovating the whole place. It definitely has potential, but I would not go back there until they remodeled it.
The location was good, with direct, private access to the beach through a long, wooden boardwalk. They have a golf cart that takes people from the resort to the beach and back.
Across the street, there is the Shelter Cove Towne Centre, where you can find a multitude of restaurants and stores, including a Kroger and a Whole Foods Market, and a pretty cool kids’ park (Shelter Cove Community Playground) . There is also a marina there, where you can rent canoes, boats, jet skis or you can book boat tours.
WHERE TO EAT
We cooked most of our meals at home (one of the benefits of renting a condo), but we did eat out a few times and we found the food in Hilton Head to be really good, but expensive. Our favorite restaurants were:
1. Frosty Frog cafe – we ate at this restaurant multiple times. We loved the vibe of the place, the pizzas, the fish, the daiquiries, the wings and their specialty fries. Your typical American cuisine, but the food was always fresh and tasty.
2.Salty dog cafe – it is the most famous restaurant on the island and the food was delicious! We only went once, because the restaurant is inside Sea Pines, a gated community only accessible to people who live or rent a vacation home there, or those who are willing to pay the $9 fee/vehicle.
The Salty Dog Cafe is not just a restaurant, it is more like a complex. They have multiple stores on site, where you can get souvenirs and Salty Dog Cafe gear for yourself and your pets, fishing and crabbing equipment, snacks etc. They also organize fishing trips and cataraman tours.
We loved their famous hushpuppies, the crab dip, the fish and chips and the calamari.
2. FISH casual coastal food – this is another restaurant where we ate multiple times, whenever we were craving for sea food. Ted usually got the raw oysters. The kids and I usually got a seafood basket of some kind. We also tried the Lowcountry boil once (shrimp, corn, smoked sausage) and it was really good.
3. Skillets cafe and grill – we ordered to go brunch from there once and it was delicious. They have crepes, waffles, breakfast burritos and eggs cooked in a few different ways.
4. Tio’s Latin American kitchen – located in the Shelter Cove Towne Center, this restaurant offers a variety of dishes from different countries in Latin America. I was on the fence about adding this restaurant to the list, because we ate there twice and the experiences were very different. We loved the food and cocktails the first time, but when we went back (a year later), we both agreed that the food was just ok and definitely not worth the money. I got the ”cerdo cubano” and my husband got the ”paella”.
I would give the restaurant another chance, because we really did have a very lovely, delicious meal the first time and I hope that the second time around the cook just had an off day.
5. The coffee shop near me (@Coligny Plaza) – small, family owned coffee place that had really good croissants, pastries and well…coffee.
WHAT TO DO
1. Bike the island – The number one kid-friendly activity in Hilton Head is biking. With 60 miles of bike paths and 100 miles of protected public pathways, the island is completely navigable by bicycle. The only time we use the car is when we go grocery shopping. For all the other activities, we bike – to the beach, to the parks, to restaurants. Hilton Head is completely connected by bike paths. Many follow the main roads, giving bikers a safe way to navigate the island. The longest bike ride we went on was a 20 mile round trip to Fish Haul Beach from our condo on Forest St. Let me tell you, that ride is not for the faint of heart! Pulling the kids in the trailer behind us for 10 miles each way, in the blazing sun of Hilton Head, nearly did us in. But we survived to tell the story and, to this day, it’s still one of our favorite adventures.
There are several bike rental places on the island, but we found the Island Life Bike Rentals to be both cheap and reliable. It’s a no-frills company, so don’t expect over the top options for bikes and bike gear, but the people who work there are friendly, helpful and quick in solving any issues you might have. We needed to exchange a child seat for a trailer once and a trike for a regular bike, and they were more then happy to assist us at no extra cost. Besides regular bikes, you can also rent adult trikes, tagalong bikes (for adult+child), child seats and trailers, kids bikes, electric beach cruisers, helmets and baskets. The price to rent bikes for a week are: $43 /regular bike (adult or child) and $73 for any bikes with attachments (child seat, tagalong, trailer)
2. Visit a wild beach – number two on my list of best kid-friendly activities in Hilton Head is, perhaps, our favorite one: exploring a wild beach. Our go to wild beach on the island is Fish Haul. It’s secluded, with barely any people around. It is the perfect beach to look for shark teeth and to observe hermit crabs and different species of birds. There are thousands of hermit crabs on this beach!
Fish Haul is one of those hidden gems of the island. Most people don’t know about it, because it is not on the main strip of beaches and it’s not really swimmable. You don’t go there to lay in the sun or splash in the water, but rather to observe nature in all of its beauty. We usually try to get there at low tide and spend 4 – 5 hours exploring the beach until the high tide rolls in. For people like my parents, who prefer sitting down and quietly taking in the beauty, bring some beach chairs.
3. Go on a kayak trip– kayaking is not necessarily one of the activities people think of doing on Hilton Head, but it’s one of our favorite outdoor activities. I think it’s also one of the best way to see the local flora and fauna. We rented 3 double sit-in kayaks from Outside Hilton Head at Shelter Cove Marina. We initially booked them for two hours, but we were told we could return them at any time and they would adjust the price according to our arrival time. The more hours you keep the kayaks, the more the price goes down. It starts at $40/hour/kayak. For 2 hours, you pay $50. For three, $60 and so on. We didn’t do a guided tour, as it was my parents’ first time kayaking and we wanted to go at their own pace. Our goal was to get as close to the ocean as possible and, hopefully, see dolphins. Unfortunately, 2 hrs into our trip and a couple of stops later, we realized we wouldn’t be able to do that, as we were getting tired and we still had to paddle back. However, we really enjoyed kayaking though the canals and seeing birds flying and fish jumping out of the water. We stopped on one of the many little islands along the way, for a quick break, to stretch our legs and to collect shells. Sadly, my phone got soaked when a wave from a jet ski flooded my parents’ kayak. The phone had slipped out of my mom’s pocket and by the time we realized it, it wasn’t salvageable anymore. Lesson learned to place my phone in a waterproof pouch anytime we do water activities. The saddest thing is that my phone had not backed up any pictures I had taken the previous 2 months, so I lost them all.
In any case, I highly recommend doing a water activity. If kayaking is not your thing, you could instead do a catboat tour or a fishing excursion, or perhaps you could rent a pontoon boat. There are many options in the Shelter Cove Marina that could give you a different perspective of Hilton Head, other than the wide, white sand beach.
4. Watch the sunset
There is something about sunsets and sunrises that speaks directly to our souls. I don’t think I have ever met a person who didn’t like them. Sunsets are better on the creek side in Hilton Head, but we were lucky to catch a couple of spectacular ones on the beach as well.
5. Watch the sunrise
Yes, I know it is hard to wake up so early and that kids don’t always want to cooperate first thing in the morning, but trust me, it’s worth it! One of my fondest memories from our first trip to Hilton Head is watching the sunrise with my oldest son, Tavi. We got croissants and coffee/hot chocolate from ”The coffee shop near me” and ate them while watching the sunrise. Tavi still thinks of it as the best ”mommy and Tavi” date. I agree.
6. Play at the parks – there are several public parks in Hilton Head, with our two favorite ones being the Shelter Cove Community Playground and the Adventure Playground, across the street from Coligny.
Adventure playground might be one of the coolest parks I’ve even seen actually. The main play structure in the park is designed to look like the Adventure, the ship of Captain William Hilton, who is credited with discovering the island. The ship has cannons that shoot water, which was a favorite with my kids. There are also swings, teeter – totters, slides, obstacles and even a pond, where you can see turtles and crocodiles.
It was our favorite place to go to after dinner, to burn some calories and energy.
7. Walk along the beach and discover what the tide brought in.
On our walk, we have come across numerous ocean creatures. Most of them were, unfortunately, dead but our kids are used to seeing animal bones and remains from our walks in nature, and they seem to accept that death is part of the life cycle. I know other kids are much more sensitive to the thought of animals passing away, so if that’s the case, you should probably skip this activity. Some of the animals we’ve encountered were jelly fish, huge horseshoe crabs, sea cucumbers and even a couple of baby sharks. Those were alive and were successfully returned to Mother Nature.
8. Bring fishing nets and check out the rich marine life on the ocean floor
Seriously, you have to do this – it blew my mind to see how many creatures we could pull out in just one strike. Anything from snails, to shells, to crabs and sand dollars. It was so interesting placing the sand dollars on the beach and observing them slowly bury their bodies with sand. Their movement was so subtle, that if you didn’t pay close attention, you would miss it and they would disappear in the sand.
9. Visit Sea Pines
Sea Pines is located at the southern tip of the island and it is abundant with natural beauty and scenic areas to explore. The resort is gated and there a $9 fee/ car to enter it. You cannot enter by foot or riding your bike, and there is no public access from the beach either (all the pathways from the beach into the community are marked as private property).
In my opinion, Sea Pines is the prettiest area in Hilton Head and that is where we plan on staying next time we visit the island. I love lush vegetation and Sea Pines has plenty of it. The bike paths are shaded and tranquil, and you can really feel the peacefulness of nature around you.
To take full advantage of a day pass, I recommend going in as early as possible to bike for a few hours, then have lunch at Salty Dog Cafe, followed by an afternoon at the beach. We did this on our last day on the island, and while we were at the beach, we got to see a bunch of dolphins swimming very close to us. It was such a perfect way to end our vacation!
There are other attractions in Sea Pines that we haven’t done yet. One that is very high on my list is the Sea Pines Forest Preserve, which is famous for its marshes, swamps and wild life.
10. Do you need another reason for why Hilton Head is the best family beach destination in the Carolinas? Its location. Hilton Head is about 45 minutes away from Savannah, one of the most beautiful cities in the United States, in my humble opinion. So, if you need a change of scenery midway through your vacation, a day trip to Savannah could be the answer.
We went to Savannah to drop off my husband, who had to go back to Ohio for work. We decided to spend the day in the city and since it was my parents’ first time in Savannah, we wanted to see and learn as much as possible in one day. But it also had to be entertaining for the kids. So the solution we found was a hop on, hop off trolley. We chose Old Savannah Tour company and bought tickets for the one day unlimited hop on/hop off experience, at $36/adult. We didn’t need to purchase tickets for the kids. The trolley stops at 15 most popular sites in Savannah, including some of the famous squares. You decide where you want to hop off and when you want to hop back on. The trolleys pass every half an hour and you get picked up in the same spot you got dropped off.
There are a few other activities on my list of things to do in Hilton Head that we haven’t gotten around to yet. One of them is Pirates of Hilton Head, where young kids get to be pirates for one day and blast Stinky Pete with water from the cannons. The experience is supposed to last for about 1.5 hrs, rain or shine.
Extra tip: the best souvenir shop I found, with the most affordable prices is located right across the way from Earle of Sandwich Pub and the little kids park inside Coligny Plaza.
Hilton Head is one of those places that you could return to year after year and it would still not get old. It is one of our kids’ favorite vacation spot. My oldest son still talks fondly of the ”hotel E”, two years after our first vacation to Hilton Head. It took us a while to figure out what he meant by ”Hotel E”, but I finally realized that he was talking about the condo on Forest St, which was in building ”E” of the complex. So don’t take my word about Hilton Head being the best family beach destination in the Carolinas. Instead, take the word of a 5 year old, who is seeing the world for the first time and who is all about that beautiful island.
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