JellyCarts guide

Things To Do in Wrightsville Beach

Four miles of strand, a sound behind it, and one drawbridge on and off. The top 13, ranked — with the best hour to go and the parking rules that actually cost you money.

Stops

13, ranked

Island

4 miles

Cart legal

All of it

Looking for Pleasure Island instead? This list is Wrightsville Beach.Things to do on Pleasure Island →

How to read this list

Numbers are the ranking. Stops are grouped by where they sit — strand, then Harbor Island, then the water, then over the bridge — so the list doubles as a route. Drive times are from Wrightsville Beach Park at cart speed.

Parking is NOT included here. This is the one thing Wrightsville does differently from Carolina Beach, and it is the thing that catches people out. There is no town cart pass. Every lot and street space is pay-by-plate from 9 AM, 1 March to 31 October — $5 an hour in standard lots, $6 in premium ones, capped at $25 and $30 a day. Text WBPark to 25023 and register the plate before you walk away, even if you will be back inside the free window. The free period applies to a registered session; an unregistered plate is simply unpaid, and enforcement is a camera car that does not care why.

The StrandStops 1–4 · Lumina Ave, 4 miles of it

Johnnie Mercer's Pier

North Carolina's first concrete fishing pier, out about 1,200 feet over the Atlantic. Tackle shop, grill and gift shop on the deck. You do not need a licence to fish from it — the pier's blanket licence covers you.

Best Sunrise, and it isn't close — the pier faces dead eastOpen around the clock in season · $2 to walk out · season pass $10 single, $20 family

The beach itself · 2 min

Public accesses run the length of Lumina Avenue, most with a lot or street spaces beside them. Four miles of strand, and the reason you rented the cart.

Best Out by 10 AM, back by 4 PM — the sea breeze fills in after lunchOpen 24 hours · lifeguards Memorial Day–Labor DayEvery access lot is pay-by-plate and none of it is included. Register the plate before you walk off.

Surf lessons & board rental · 3 min

Wrightsville is the surf town of the Cape Fear coast, and the water off the pier is where most people learn. Morning is glassy before the onshore wind gets up. For boards and lessons both, South End Surf Shop at 708 S Lumina is the one locals send you to (910-256-1118); SurfBerry on Causeway Drive rents by the half-day and does acai bowls afterwards (910-679-8027). The Shed and Aussie Island round out the island's shops.

Best 7–10 AM, before the sea breezeBy booking · book a day ahead in July and August · call ahead for rental rates, they move with the seasonA longboard does not ride in a cart. Rent from the shop nearest where you plan to paddle out and walk it over.

Crystal Pier · 7 min, south end

The island's other pier, at the far south end beside the Oceanic Restaurant. Shorter and quieter than Johnnie Mercer's, and the more photographed of the two — it turns up in Dawson's Creek, Outer Banks and The Summer I Turned Pretty. You can eat on the pier itself at the Oceanic (910-256-5551).

Best Late afternoon, when the light comes down the beachPier access is through the Oceanic — call for current hours and whether fishing is openThe south end is all pay-by-plate and the lots are small. This is the end of the island that fills first on a Saturday.

Harbor Island & the CausewayStops 5–8 · 6 min end to end

Wrightsville Beach Park · 5 min

The town's municipal complex on Bob Sawyer Drive: playground, tennis and basketball courts, skate park and ball fields, wrapped in live oaks. Also where your cart is staged, which makes it the easiest thing on this list to reach.

Best Early evening, once the courts are in shadeOpen daily, dawn to duskThis is the one lot with the late-morning window — the first two hours are free once the plate is registered.

The Loop · 5 min

A 2.45-mile paved circuit around Harbor Island and back over Banks Channel: sound views, moored boats, and the whole town in under an hour on foot. If walking it twice sounds like enough, Wrightsville SUP on West Salisbury rents beach cruisers and fat tires (910-378-9283) — cart to the Park, ride the Loop, cart home.

Best First light or the last hour before sunsetOpen 24 hours · freeFeet and bikes only. Leave the cart at the Park and walk it — the Loop is a sidewalk, not a road.

Wrightsville Beach Museum of History · 6 min

Two turn-of-the-century beach cottages — the Myers and the restored Bordeaux — holding the Lumina Pavilion story, the trolley that used to run out here, and a scale model of the beach as it was.

Best The obvious move on a wet afternoonTue–Fri 10–4 · Sat 12–5 · Sun 1–5 · closed Mon · free · 910-256-2569

Dinner on the water · 4–7 min

Four that locals actually name. Tower 7 for fresh-Mex with sand on the floor and surfers straight off the beach. South Beach Grill on Lumina when you want a proper dinner without changing out of shorts. The Bridge Tender for a deck over the Intracoastal and boats going past — the one people book ahead. Bluewater when there are eight of you and somebody wants live music — it stood in for the Capeside country club in Dawson's Creek.

Best 5–9 PM · book the Bridge Tender ahead in seasonKitchens vary — most run lunch through late evening in seasonAll four are on pay-by-plate streets or lots. Register the plate before you sit down; dinner outlasts the free window.

On the WaterStops 9–11 · sound side and the inlet

Paddleboarding & kayaking in Banks Channel · 4 min

The sound side is flat when the ocean is not, which is why every board and kayak on this island launches there. Shallow, protected, and dolphins come through more often than you would expect. Wrightsville SUP at 96 W Salisbury rents boards, kayaks and outriggers and runs lessons (910-378-9283). Soundside Adventures and Wrightsville Kayak Co. (910-599-0076) both rent too; the Blockade Runner on Waynick puts guided kayak trips into the marsh behind the island.

Best Before 9 AM, on a slack tide — the channel runs hard on the ebbRentals and guided trips per booking, seasonal — call for ratesMost outfitters launch you from their own dock, so park once and stay put. Boards do not travel on a cart.

Sunset & dolphin cruises · 4 min to the docks

The cheapest good decision on the island. Wrightsville Beach Scenic Tours runs sunset dolphin cruises, Masonboro eco-tours and a pirate treasure hunt for kids. Soundside Adventures sails an evening harbour cruise and charters a 44-foot catamaran. Epic Excursions does private half- and full-day charters, including oyster-farm tours. If you would rather learn than ride, the Blockade Runner Sailing Center is one of only five ASA-certified sailing schools in North Carolina, and Feel Good Fishing Charters will take a family out for flounder and trout.

Best The evening departure — dolphins feed on the turn of the tideAll by booking · seasonal · call for departure times, they shift with sunsetBoats leave from docks on the sound side and the causeway, all pay-by-plate. Register for longer than the cruise — they come back late.

Masonboro Island · boat only

5,653 acres of undeveloped barrier island south of the inlet — a State Natural Area, no roads, no buildings, loggerhead nests through the summer. The emptiest beach within reach of Wilmington. Wrightsville Beach Scenic Tours, Soundside Adventures and Epic Excursions all run across in season.

Best A full morning; take water, there is none thereOpen always · reachable only by boat · shuttles run from Wrightsville in seasonThere is nowhere to take a cart. Park it and take the shuttle.

Over the BridgeStops 12–13 · mainland

Motts Channel Seafood · 5 min, just over the bridge

A working fish house on Short Street since 1990, where the local boats unload at the dock out back. Flounder, grouper, mahi, snapper, shrimp off the boat, crabmeat by the pound, oysters October through March. This is the one stop on the list where the cart earns its keep — you buy the catch and drive it home, which is a great deal easier than carrying it. Ask what came in that morning; they will tell you, and they will tell you how to cook it.

Best Late morning, after the boats are in and before the good fish is goneCall for the day's catch and current hours — 910-256-3474Just over the drawbridge, so you are off the island: outside the town's parking system and outside our roadside service area. It is a short hop, but take a cooler bag — there is no shade in a cart.

Airlie Gardens · 12 min

Sixty-seven acres of 1900s formal garden on the mainland side: the Airlie Oak is over four centuries old, and the Minnie Evans bottle chapel is worth the walk on its own. Freight-train wisteria in April.

Best At 9 AM opening, before the heat · Friday concerts through the summerDaily 9–5, last admission 4:30 · $10, New Hanover residents and military $5, ages 4–12 $3Over the drawbridge. The crossing is posted 35 so the cart is legal on it — but you are off the island and out of our parking arrangement, so read the signs where you stop.

Before you pull out

Register the plate. Every time. Pay-by-plate means the session follows the plate, not the space, so moving the cart does nothing. Text WBPark to 25023, or use a kiosk. Wrightsville Beach Park and the rest of the municipal complex give the first two hours free — but only once the plate is registered.

Carts stay off the sand. No driving on the beach anywhere in Wrightsville Beach. The Loop is a sidewalk — feet and bikes only, no carts on it at all.

The whole island is cart legal. A street-legal LSV may travel any road posted 35 mph or under, and Wrightsville's last 45 mph stretch — West Salisbury Street — was dropped to 35 in 2013. There is no road on this island you have to avoid, which is not true of Carolina Beach.

Over the bridge is legal too, but read the signs. The crossing to the mainland is posted 35, so the cart may travel it. Past that you are outside the town's parking system and outside our service area for roadside help. Airlie Gardens is the one stop on this list worth that trip.

21 and over, licence carried. State law sets 16 for an LSV; we set 21, every product, no exceptions. Bring the licence — every driver shows one.

The Wrightsville Beach Police Department publishes the definitive LSV rules on a poster rather than a web page. If you want it from the source: 910-256-7900. Parking questions go to the parking office on 910-256-5453.

Renting one

Carts staged in the town lots. Pick up and drop off run 5–11 AM and 7–10 PM; outside those hours we deliver or collect for a scheduled $25. Wrightsville Beach rentals →

Stuck? Just call us.

Battery, parking, a stop that turned out closed — call or text 910-999-2278 and we'll sort it out. That's what we're here for.

Best-time notes are our call, not official hours. Venue hours, event schedules, and town rules change seasonally — last checked August 2026. Confirm with the venue before making the drive for one thing. Parking rates and the pay-by-plate window are set by the Town of Wrightsville Beach and change season to season — the parking office is 910-256-5453. · Affiliates · Terms & Conditions · Privacy