4 Best Sights in Kure Beach and Carolina Beach, The North Carolina Coast

This is one of the South's largest and most important earthworks fortifications from the Civil War, so tough and strategically placed along the Cape Fear River that it was known as the Southern Gibraltar. The fall of the fort in January 1865, closing the last supply lines for the South, helped seal the fate of the Confederacy. You can explore the restored battery with its reconstructed artillery and follow trails along the river. Inside, displays range from Civil War relics and a fiber-optic battle map to artifacts from sunken blockade runners. It's also known for its underwater archaeology sites.

Fort Fisher also includes a beach access point with showers. It's one of the most attractive beaches in the area.

Family memories are made here on tall ocean piers where kids reel in their first big catches. You can swim, beachcomb, kiteboard over the big blue sea, or scuba dive down to find some of the Cape Fear Coast's dozens of shipwrecks. Wildlife excursions set off from various nature trails, birding sites, and miles of undeveloped beach at the southern end. Shorebirds and loggerhead sea turtles inhabit the remote reserve of Zeke's Island. At Fort Fisher, the Confederacy's largest earthen fort, you can track Kure Beach's history. Amenities: food and drink; lifeguards (generally Memorial Day to Labor Day); parking (mostly no fee). Best for: sunrise; sunset; surfing; swimming; windsurfing.

With ice cream cones, flashing arcade lights, seashell souvenirs, and paddleboats on the small inland lake, Carolina Beach's old-fashioned boardwalk is steeped in nostalgic charm, most evident at Britts Donut Shop, an institution since 1939 that still sells its glazed beauties for an even buck. Amenities: food and drink; lifeguards; parking (fee); toilets. Best for: sunrise; windsurfing.

This small but beautiful oceanfront aquarium features a 235,000-gallon saltwater tank that's home to sharks, stingrays, and a Goliath grouper and green moray eel. There's a touch tank with rays, a room of glowing jellyfish, an albino alligator, and turtle ponds. Kids love the life-size replica of a megalodon shark, complete with fossilized teeth found in North Carolina, and enjoy the daily feeding times and animal encounters. In the Butterfly Bungalow you can wander among hundreds of colorful free-flying butterflies.