sparks

My family wants to gather for our Dad's 85th birthday the first week in June. We would like a place to stay that is near if not on the beach & has a bedroom on the first floor because both my parents have problems climbing stairs. We would probably need a four bedroom cottage/house. My brother will be driving from New York City & the rest of us will be flying in & renting a car. What area should we be investigating? I know very little about the east coast & am trying to narrow it down to certain area. Also, suggestions on places to stay would be helpful. Thanks

cd

If you want the east coast the Outer Banks have many houses along the beach that have 3-6 bedrooms. Our family has stayed in ones that have first floor bedrooms. Make sure you have a porch that faces the water and a walkway from the porch to the beach. Your parents would probably not want to walk down the stairs to the sand but many of the houses have little gazebo's at the end of the walkway and your folks could sit and watch the waves. If interested, check the Realtors in the area

GoTravel

I suggest you try for a four bedroom condo and not a house.

Any house that is ocean front with ground floor rooms is going to be an older house. At least 10-12 years old.

Reason being is that building codes were changed after Hurricane Hugo to forbid new construction on the first floor.

Even if the bedroom or a bedroom is on the first floor, the common rooms will be on other floors which will pose a problem for your parents.

What is your budget?

Tandoori_Girl

If you are considering Florida, I'd recommend the following cities:

Tampa area beaches, including Indian Rocks Beach, Treasure Island, St. Petersburg Beach, and Passe-A-Grill; St. Augustine Beach; Seaside in the Florida Panhandle; Siesta Key near Sarasota; Sanibel and Captiva near Ft. Myers.

All these places have beach houses that were built before Hurricane Hugo, so you can have a first floor bedroom. You can look up homes to rent through VRBO.com or Vacationrentals.com. You also might want to consider a condo with an elevator. Once you narrow down your city then you can get recs. on where to stay.

emd

If you are interested int he Outer Banks (and it is a great place) there are handicap accessible houses on the beach in the Outer Banks on the oceanfront. But if you want one for June, you need to move fast, ASAP to get one. I stayed in one a few yrs ago but I didn't pay for it, I mooched off a friend who rented it. It had an elevator inside, but it was not one of the mega-expensive houses, it was 5 bedrooms and maybe 10 yrs old then. It had a ramp from the second floor down to the pagoda on the ocean at the dune line, and another ramp from there down to the beach-- NO stairs at all were involved and the ramp was at a gentle slope. I'll try to find out the details of what co. rented that house- but if I was you I'd call the main rental cos. now and ask them if they have ramp oceanfront houses available. That one was in Nags Head (try Village realty, Nags Head realty, Sun Realty; in other areas in Outer Banks try Resort Quest (pricey), R&R-- I'll post others as I think of them, or do a search. If you can go early in June you can get good preseason rates before the crowds come and school is out.