Wrightsville Beach should not be considered a "best beach" in North Carolina

If you look at various "best of" lists for the beaches in North Carolina they normally always come to the same conclusions at the top of the lists and that is that the beaches on the Outer Banks are the best. It is easy to understand why: These beaches, honestly, shouldn't exist. The constant battle against erosion is one that will eventually be lost but in the meantime the end result is you have an amazing calm boating sound on one side and the perpetual waves on the other side.

I am not a surfer, but I know a lot of people that are and they insist that the waves on the Outer Banks are some of the most reliable in the States. I boogie board a bit, and that is enough learnin' for me to be honest. I don't have enough free time or enough youth to really get involved in learning to surf at my age.

One beach always makes the top 10 though and that is Wrightsville Beach in Wilmington, North Carolina. This is a city that I have very little in the way of love for anyway and feel as though it is included in these lists simply to appease the rich folks that live in that area.

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I'm going to be fair here and go ahead and say that as far as water clarity is concerned, none of the beaches in North Carolina are really all that special but at least they have the decency to have some sort of waves and Wrightsville Beach, except during a hurricane, has none of this. All they have is the same murky looking water that is true for all of the East Coast beaches outside of the southern-most parts of Florida and for some reason, some really expensive accommodation and overpriced tourist restaurants. They have none of the appeal of Carolina Beach, Emerald Isle, Nags Head, or even Duck.

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I really can not understand why anyone, given the myriad of other choices of beaches to visit would actually choose to go to one of the dirtiest ones that is located in the most populated beach city in the entire state. I don't know anyone that would make this choice but apparently people get duped into it over and over again when they really should be looking further north to the better beaches we have up here that are cleaner, more affordable, have consistent waves, and don't ever have any traffic issues.

125,000 people isn't exactly NYC, I understand that, but when you consider that most of the other beaches have populations of maybe 30,000 or so, you notice the difference. The resorts are kept more expensive in Wilmington because of the overall really expensive real-estate that exists there, for reasons I also do not understand.

I was visiting a friend there recently and her house, which looked like a shack compared to what I live in despite the fact that she makes a lot more money than I do, was worth more than $400,000, mostly because of the land.

The hotels on the beach at Wrightsville cost upwards of $200 a night RIGHT NOW and it isn't even warm enough to use the ocean yet. When that time of year comes, you can expect to pay at least double that much. In the beach areas near me (like less than an hour drive) you can get a place for a week for $400, and it is going to be your own bungalow on a far superior beach area.

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You an also bring 4-6 of your friends because you are getting an entire house for less of a price than a hotel room in Wilmington. Also, the beach is far more usable, has zero traffic around it, and with just a little bit of a look you can avoid the tourist trap restaurants and bars. In Wrightsville, even when I was with my local friend, every single place we visited was overpriced and substandard by my standards.

Maybe it is because I like to avoid crowds and this is based on the lifestyle of open spaces that I have incorporated into almost every aspect of my life. The "city" I live in has 18,000 people in it so when you dump me in a city with over 100,000, it feels like a metropolis to me.

So if you are ever in the market for a nice getaway for yourself and your family or friends, stay away from Wrightsville. It is one of the most heavily advertised beach areas in North Carolina and it simply sucks in my opinion. You'll have to drive a bit further from the airport if you are coming to the beaches further north, but in the end you will save money, have a better time, and basically have the beach to yourself.