The Outer Banks is known for its breathtaking sunsets. Watching sunsets is a popular activity for both locals and visitors, and there are plenty of photogenic sunset spots to create special memories. Here are the top places to watch a sunset on the Outer Banks.

A public gazebo over Currituck Sound at sunset. Historic Corolla Park. Corolla, NC

Historic Corolla Park

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We love watching the sun set from Historic Corolla Park. There really is no bad spot to view the sunset within the park, but our favorite spot is the soundside gazebo and soundfront kayak launch. This is a great spot for families, as the park offers plenty of space for kids to run, picnic areas, beautiful wooden footbridge, and picturesque Whalehead and Currituck Beach Lighthouse.

Duck Town Park Boardwalk

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The Duck Town Park Boardwalk is a popular sunset spot. The boardwalk stretches along the Currituck Sound and offers beautiful Westerly views of the water and surrounding marshland. There are several benches where you can sit and view the sunset, but we recommend strolling along the length of the boardwalk to fully experience the beautiful views.

Duck NC Town Park and Boardwalk

Duck Waterfront Shops

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At the North end of the Duck Town Park Boardwalk, you'll find the Duck Waterfront Shops. This unique shopping center offers shopping with stunning views of the sound. Additionally, there are multiple restaurants and cafes with outdoor seating that offer a great spot to watch the sunset while enjoying a meal, drink, or dessert treat.

Jockeys Ridge State Park

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Jockeys Ridge State Park is the tallest natural sand dune system in the Eastern United States, and it offers a unique vantage point for watching the sunset. From the top of the dunes, you can see for miles around, including the ocean, sound, and surrounding landscape. The natural beauty of the dunes attracts dozens of sunset seekers each evening. Jockey's Ridge State Park is a popular spot for sunset family photos. Kids love running and jumping in the soft sand of the dunes while parents watch the sun set over the sound. Make sure to arrive at least an hour before sunset to give yourself time for the ~20 minute hike to the top of the dunes. Jockey's Ridge offers an outdoor shower station to rinse off before returning to your car.

Bodie Island Lighthouse

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The Bodie Island Lighthouse and park offers a beautiful backdrop at golden hour. We love watching the sunset from the park's wooden boardwalk and gazebo.

Kiteboarder watching the sunset over Pamlico Sound

Kitty Hawk Kites in Rodanthe and REAL Watersports in Waves

Kitty Hawk Kites in Rodanthe is a popular spot for water sports, which makes it a great spot to watch stunning views of kiteboarders in front of the sunset over the Pamlico Sound. The outdoor seating area at the onsite restaurant, Good Winds Restaurant, is a great spot to grab a meal or a drink and watch the sunset.

Real Watersports is another popular spot for water sports, and it also offers a great vantage point for watching the sunset. The onsite restaurant, Watermen's Bar and Grill, has outdoor seating with views of the Pamlico Sound and stunning sunsets, windsurfers, and kiteboarders.

Salvo Day Use Area has a nice view of Pamlico Sound and the sunset

Salvo Day Use Area

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The Salvo Day Use Area is a beautiful soundfront park that offers a great spot for watching the sunset over Pamlico Sound. This park is popular with watersports enthusiasts and has picnic areas & restrooms, making it a great spot for a beach day that ends with a beautiful sunset view.

Kiteboarders at Canadian Hole

Haulover Day Use Area

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Located in the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, the Haulover Day Use Area is a secluded soundfront park that offers a great spot for watching the sunset and kiteboarders. The park has restrooms and a parking lot.

Cape Point

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If you have a 4x4 vehicle and ORV permit, we highly recommend seeing the sunset from Cape Point. It offers stunning views of the Atlantic Ocean to the East and South. Cape Point is constantly changing with the tides, and often offers great shelling. This is a popular spot for fishing, so expect lots of surf fishermen.

Hatteras Landing

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Hatteras Landing is a soundfront shopping and dining destination located in Hatteras Village. This popular spot offers multiple restaurants to grab a bite to eat as you view the sunset over the marina and local fishing boats.

Big Buck's Homemade Ice Cream

Serving our customers on the Outer Banks since 1994, Big Buck's ice Cream is dedicated serving you “The Best.” We offer a full line of super-premium ice cream products, smoothies, chocolates, and custom-made ice cream cakes! 2 locations are open all year: Duck  and Manteo, at The Waterfront Shops.

 

We offer a full line of Espresso Drinks from Hot Vanilla Cappuccinos and Hot Chocolate to Iced Caramel Lattes & Frozen Mochas, all made to order. Big Buck’s fresh fruit smoothies are lactose-free and made to order. Also offering lactose-free sorbets made from the best fruits available. Old time favorites are sure to please! Choose from a delicious collection of milkshakes, sundaes and banana splits.

 

Savor the moment with our Homemade Chocolate! Chocolates are made daily in each location. We offer a large selection from Dark to Milk to White. Milk Chocolate Oreos & Almond Toffee, Dark Chocolate Berries and Cherries Clusters & Hand-dipped Peppermint Patties with a Drizzle of White Chocolate, Extra-Dark Sea Salt Caramels & our famous homemade caramel chocolate pretzels oh & don’t forget the ever-popular caramel pecan turtle, just to name a few treats!

 

Belinda Pleva grew up serving ice cream out of her parent’s shop. She loved being part of what she calls “a happy business.” “I love it when people come into the shop and you hand them something, and it makes them smile,” Pleva says. “That moment when you hand an ice cream cone over to a little kid and their eyes just light up. That’s what I love about the ice cream business.”

 

In 1994, Pleva opened up her own ice cream and chocolate shop, Big Buck’s Ice Cream, in the brand-new Timbuk II Shopping Center in Corolla. Business was good, but something was missing.

 

“I was never satisfied with the ingredients in the ice creams and chocolates you could purchase back then. I wanted to serve my customers delicious flavors with ingredients they could actually pronounce,” Pleva says.

 

Pleva took a trip to Italy to study the gelaterias. She fell in love with the incredible flavors, and when she returned home to the Outer Banks, she began working tirelessly to perfect the flavors in her own ice cream.

 

Big Buck’s homemade ice cream combined the flavors of the Italian gelaterias and the richness of American ice cream. It quickly became a tourist favorite. After having the same unsatisfactory experience with the readymade chocolates she was selling, she also took a trip to Brussels to learn more about making handmade chocolates. Pleva brought the chocolate-making experience right back with her, and the result was the finest quality of chocolates on the Outer Banks.

 

After her huge success in the Corolla shop, Pleva was able to open up three more shops—one in Kitty Hawk, one in Manteo and one in Duck.

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Brew Thru

No trip to the Outer Banks is complete without cruising through Brew Thru, the Outer Banks’ original drive thru convenience store. Whether you’re looking for a refreshing cold beverage of Coke, Pepsi and other soft drinks on the go, stocking up your cooler with refreshments to enjoy at the beach or piling up on beer and wine for a party, Brew Thru is a fun and unique experience all vacationers need to see for themselves.

Drive-Through Beer & Gear

Brew Thru is Your One-Stop Shop at the Beach

The year was 1977, and Dana and Becky Lawrentz were chatting with friends over brews in their hometown of Akron, Ohio. They got to talking about a gas station convenience store in the area that had built a makeshift drive-through. Everyone agreed it would be pretty great if you could actually drive through a convenience store and pick up everything you needed without getting out of the car. But what would you call a place like that?

Well, you’d call it a Brew Thru.

It was an idea they couldn’t shake, so the Lawrentzes moved to the Outer Banks and built the first Brew Thru with the help of a partner. The idea was that people could come buy everything they would need for their trip to the beach—beer, wine, soft drinks, snacks, ice—without getting out of the car. That same year, a t-shirt salesman visiting the store and talked them into adding t-shirts to their product line—and 44 years later there are now more than five million Brew Thru t-shirts out in the wild.

The Lawrentzes’ daughter Brandy and her husband Philip Foreman purchased the business from them in 2002, and they now operate five locations across the Outer Banks.“We love being the one-stop shop for folks on the way to their beach house,” Foreman says. “Our car tenders are the friendliest people at the beach. We’re here to greet you, get you everything you need for your trip, load it up in the trunk for you, and have you leaving with a smile on your face.”

The store is quite expansive, featuring more than 100 brands of beer, dozens of wines and even a vast selection of cigars—not to mention all the snacks, t-shirts and other gear. To make ordering a little easier, customers in line get a menu—fondly known as the Summer-y—that outlines everything available at the store. These Summer-ies are also available in many of the beach rentals, which allows vacationers to decide what they want before driving through.

For customers who would like to get out and stretch their legs, there’s the Brew Thru Shop in Kill Devil Hills, where you can find their world famous t-shirts and other gifts. New t-shirt designs are created each year, making a yearly Brew Thru t-shirt a favorite of locals and annual visitors to the Outer Banks.

The Foremans both grew up in the Outer Banks, and they love that Brandy’s parents’ vision for a friendly and convenient place for people to grab their brews and other beach stay essentials is continuing to flourish.

“Our family has been welcoming people to the Outer Banks since 1977,” Foreman says. “We love this beautiful place, and we want everybody to get to enjoy it.”

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Jockey's Ridge State Park
Duck Town Park & Boardwalk

Duck Town Park provides a playground for all seasons and more. Its 11 acres consist of a mix of Maritime Forest, willow swamp, open lawn with amphitheatre and picnic shelters, all sitting next to the lovely shallow waters of scenic Currituck Sound. Situated in the heart of Duck, the Park is also central to most of the town’s public activities. During the season, the smoke-free Park offers live theatre, stories and magic shows for children in the mornings and a concert series for all ages in the early evenings. All during the day, every day from dawn ‘til dusk, visitors and locals can take advantage of the park’s picnic shelter, walking trails through the woods, canoe and kayak access and playground with gazebo. Fantastic free Town Park events like the Fourth of July celebration, with parade and after-party, and October’s Duck Jazz Festival, featuring national and local jazz artists, have become favorite annual OBX traditions.The latest addition to the Park is access to the town’s new boardwalk, which is open from dawn until 1 a.m. and offers breathtaking soundside views, peaceful sunsets and a connection to solitude and nature, as well to the bustle of Duck’s many visitors shopping and dining during the season. Duck Town Park provides two parking areas where visitors and locals can leave their cars and enjoy any or all Park activities, or they can choose to access the boardwalk and take in all it has to offer.The Town of Duck sums up its Park as a place for family fun, sound side activities, natural beauty, awesome music and stunning sunsets.