Start from 29 curated places around Carolina Beach, NC, then choose the recommendations that fit your guests.
Restaurants & cafés
Michael's Seafood Restaurant
The undisputed anchor of the Carolina Beach dining scene, open year-round when most island spots go dark. The award-winning seafood chowder — thick, creamy, layered with clams and fish — is the real reason to come, and locals order it regardless of the season. The menu runs deep into fresh local catch, and the crab cake sandwich is a reliable benchmark for the island.
Havana's Restaurant
Set inside a genuine 1916 beach cottage at the south end of the main drag, Havana's does a polished casual thing that most Pleasure Island spots don't attempt. The crab dip with house-made chips is the move to start, and the Honey Bourbon salmon and shrimp and grits have a following among regulars. Sunday brunch here is the best on the island — the kitchen actually earns that distinction.
Trails & outdoors
Sugarloaf Trail
The flagship hike at Carolina Beach State Park — a 3-mile loop through an unusually diverse set of coastal ecosystems for a single trail. The route passes through evergreen forest, limesink ponds, coastal sandhill, longleaf pine savanna, and cypress swamp, with the 50-foot Sugarloaf Dune appearing near the halfway point as a dramatic landmark. Birding is productive throughout, especially around the pond edges.
Flytrap Trail
A half-mile wheelchair-accessible loop that travels through pocosin wetlands and longleaf pine savannas — and is the best place in the park to see wild Venus flytraps in their native habitat. The plants are small and easy to overlook, but the interpretive signage helps, and rangers on weekend morning guided hikes can point out specimens that most solo visitors walk past. The short distance makes it accessible as a 20-minute add-on to any park visit.
Things to do
Carolina Beach Boardwalk
One of the last remaining classic beach boardwalks on the East Coast — a genuine wooden walkway with an amusement park anchor, seasonal carnival rides, a carousel, and a 100-foot Ferris wheel that lights up the oceanfront at night. The Thursday evening Boardwalk Blast runs through the summer with free live music starting at 6:30pm, and the weekly Family Night and Cash Bingo events give it a community calendar that still feels local.
Hurricane Alley's
The rooftop bar with the best unobstructed ocean view on the island — elevated enough above the strand to catch the full panorama of the Atlantic. Live music runs every weekend through summer and the crowd skews toward people who actually live here rather than straight-through tourists. The drinks are straightforward and the real value is the perch above everything else.
Landmarks & sights
Carolina Beach State Park
One of the most ecologically distinct state parks on the Atlantic Coast, famous for being one of the few places on Earth where Venus flytraps grow wild in their native habitat. The bog garden behind the visitor center puts you face-to-face with flytraps, pitcher plants, and sundews in a setting that feels genuinely alien. The park also has a 54-slip marina, boat ramps, and nearly 9 miles of varied hiking trails through coastal ecosystems.
Fort Fisher State Historic Site
The southern tip of Pleasure Island holds the earthworks of the Civil War's most strategically important Confederate fort — the last major port supplying the Confederate army. The site interpreted the largest amphibious assault in American history before D-Day, and the remaining earthworks, restored palisade fence, and reconstructed seacoast gun are walked via a shaded live oak trail. Free admission and a well-designed visitor center make this an underused stop.