We are trying to find a good beach destination in the Charleston or Tybee Island area for early October. (We loved Nags Head area so something similar to that?)We are not into golf,nightlife, or major shopping so that's not a factor. We prefer smaller hotels/condos. Thanks for any help you can provide!

Wild Dunes near Charleston would be beautiful.

Wild Dunes is closer to Nags Head. Regardless I would choose Isle of Palms, Sullivans Island, Wild Dunes or Kiawah before choosing Tybee. Most people do not head to Savannah for the beach. Charleston's beaches are much nicer.

When I said closer, I meant in the way it looked and the amount of people etc not distance. Just wanted to clarify

For quality of beach, I don't think Tybee can be beat, but the town is a bit lowbrow & redneck. This scares off some, but has a sort of perverse charm for others. And strangely enough, Tybee has 2 of the best restaurants in the Savannah area.

I do agree that Wild Dunes sounds like what you're looking for. If you don't mind being behind gates.

Thanks all! We really liked the smaller hotels, etc. on Nags Head rather than large resorts. We went late September so there was no crowd. Are there good smaller hotels in these areas you all have mentioned? (DeSoto had caught our eye on Tybee)

If you are going to Tybee, head to the north end of the island close to the lighthouse. The beach quality/surrounding area is a little nicer in that section IMHO. I'm not a fan of any of the motels out there though, unless they've built something new since our last visit not quite 2 years ago. They were a little sad, but the entire area has improved some from when we lived there 6 yrs ago.

We've stayed on Kiawah and really enjoyed that...nice beach, and we rented a beautiful house. Also looked at Wild Dunes and that seemed nice too. That entire area is a bit more upscale than Tybee, but still quiet. We weren't there for golf or shopping either--just an nice peaceful beach setting one Thanksgiving as a getwaway from Savannah, and it was perfect.

Wish I knew what Nags Head was like today to help compare, but I was last there 34 years ago, when I lived in Va Bch and drove my brand new MGB down to "break it in"! OL (Do people today even know what breaking in a car means? Then there were just a few beach houses...not sure I'd like to see it now!

Anyway...my vote would be for Charleston area. Beaches are similar to Tybee, but surrounding area nicer.

Anyone familiar with Holiday Inn Express at Isle of Palms?

I wasn't aware that it was a HI "Express", but the HI I'm familiar with on IOP is right in the thick of the crowds, next door to the public beach access. That's not necessarily a bad thing, 'cause IOP is never terribly crowded like, god forbid, Myrtle Beach, and you can have a Pina Colada at Coconut Joes or watch the pick-up volleyball games at the Windjammer. However, if you are looking for something more isolated/exclusive, you might look elsewhere. There are no B&Bs or boutique type hotels on IPO or Sullivans or Folly to my knowledge.