Place to stop 1 -2 hours outside of OBX

Hi! I am traveling with my family, (husband, 3 kids and mother) to the OBX (Duck) from Maryland. We would like to stop for the night right outside of the OBX and continue traveling the next day with the intention of only having an hour or two left.

While often a great option for road trips, we are looking for something different than the typical lot of hotels (Marriott, Hampton Inns) right off the highway next to a convenient store or chain restaurant. We are looking for something a little more quaint. It can be no frills, but ideally looking for a hotel in a little town we could explore and a nearby restaurant so we can make a afternoon/night out of it before we travel the next day. Maybe no such thing exists, but thought it was worth a short.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

Let me suggest Elizabeth City NC which is about an hour (with moderate traffic) from Duck, on the water, off any major highway, and a charming southern town. There are at least a couple of in-town B&B's that seem to meet your criteria for a place to stay: the Culpepper Inn, a moderately-sized, reasonably-priced inn/B&B in an historic neighborhood, and the Elizabeth City Bed and Breakfast, a slightly smaller and slightly pricier home-based B&B. Note, however, that you will need at least two and probably three rooms, which will certainly raise the cost and might severely limit the dates such small establishments might be able to take you.

AZBuck

When we want something different, or a little more quaint, we look for Mom-and-Pop motels. Often, these are older properties that have few renovations done to them. They are also more likely have the 2 or 3 rooms you need!


Donna

This is great advice! Thank you. We will explore Elizabeth City

Have a good day.

Great idea. Do you know of any along this route? Or is there a database for family owned hotels?

Thank you!

You can use your smart phone or computer to search Elizabeth City for its offerings. Do a Google search under "Elizabeth City lodging". Anything that doesn't sound like a chain, probably isn't.


Donna

You can usually tell from the way the advertisement reads as to whether it is a chain, or not. Mostly I find that hotel / motel search sites do not bring up many privately owned establishments.

Lifey

Tripadvisor lists 5 B&B's/Inns in Elizabeth City in addition to 10 hotels/motels (7 of which are chains).