Kitty Hawk, Outer Banks
 

We are headed to the Outer Banks for a few days, staying in Kitty Hawk, to celebrate dh's 50th birthday. Neither of us has been before. Any tips, suggestions and / or recommendations for the first timer? Must do's, must-see's, must eats?? Thank you!

How few days? Which direction are you coming from to get to Kitty Hawk?
Try to spend at least 1 day/night on Okracoke. http://www.ocracokevillage.com/
If you were coming from the south you could take the Cedar Island ferry over to Ocracoke. Coming south from Kitty Hawk, the ferries are free.
We spent part of our honeymoon in Atlantic Beach NC and headed back home via Ocracoke and the Outer Banks.

Thank you, Tom! We'll be there three nights and we're coming from the north (Eastern Shore of MD).

The National Park service has a nice VC at Kitty Hawk mostly related to Wright brothers flight. A drive down the barrier islands is very scenic.

We've been renting summer "cottages" on the OBX for years...one possible on-line resource would be outerbanksconnection.com which includes restaurant reviews.

The Wright Bros Memorial is interesting as is the Hatteras lighthouse which you could do on a longer day down to Ocracoke (the free ferry over from Hatteras Village takes about 45 minutes one way.

There's an interesting aquarium over in Manteo.

Be aware that there is a LOT of commercial activity between Kitty Hawk and Nags Head although none of the high rise sort you'll see in Virginia Beach. The biggest (tallest) hotel is the Hilton and that isn't all that tall.

Once you go south of Whalebone Junction/S. Nags Head onto Rte 12 and the National Seashore all of the commercial stuff stops except in the smaller villages.

Buy a kite, hike up the sand dunes and literally go fly a kite! There's a great kite store in Kitty Hawk and even a beginner can get a kite airborne from the sand dunes. If you have a four wheel drive vehicle go to the northern part of the outer banks to Corolla where you can drive on the beach and see wild horses. Make sure to let some air out of your tires first or you WILL get stuck if you try to drive over the dunes up there. Duck is on the way to Corolla and has some cute stores and restaurants - sort of upscale touristy. It's a really laid back area - enjoy!

Very helpful, thank you all so much!

On Manteo—The site of the Lost Colony

Book a hang-gliding class at Kitty Hawk Kites: http://www.kittyhawk.com/hanggliding/introduction.cfm

They teach all ages and I did it when I was about 50 y.o.

Outer Banks Brewing Station in Kill Devil Hills has a very nice bar and really good food. The chef grew up in his family's restaurant and then trained in France. We ate there a couple of times last summer.

I wish we could "Like" posts here as on Facebook! More great suggestions, thank you!

Suki, thanks for the recommendation!