Regions

Atlantic Coast road trips

Barrier islands, Gullah Geechee country, pirate lore and 400 years of port-town history from the Outer Banks to St. Augustine. US 17 — the old Kings Highway — is the thread.

The Atlantic Coast has 9 back-roads routes, about 1,780 miles and 78 curated stops, and 9 ready-made itineraries use them.

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Routes in the Atlantic Coast

• Kings Highway & the Lowcountry
  US 17, the coast road since 1735
  Wilmington → Savannah · ~290 mi · 3–4 days · skips I-95
• Golden Isles & the First Coast
  US 17 and A1A to the oldest city
  Savannah → St. Augustine · ~210 mi · 2–3 days · skips I-95
• Outer Banks & the Sound Country
  NC 12, two ferries and the Albemarle backwaters
  Dismal Swamp → New Bern · ~300 mi · 3–4 days · skips I-95 (by 200 miles)
• US 301: The Ghost Road
  the interstate that time forgot
  Emporia → Santee · ~290 mi · 2–3 days · skips I-95 (that's the point)
• Sherman's Carolinas Campaign
  Columbia to the largest surrender
  Columbia → Durham · ~280 mi · 2–3 days · skips I-95 / I-40
• The Inner Banks
  Blackbeard's sound country
  Washington → Ocracoke (via Swan Quarter ferry) · ~120 mi · 1–2 days · skips US 64 bypass
• The Northern Neck
  Historyland Highway, the peninsula of presidents
  Fredericksburg → Irvington · ~110 mi · 1–2 days · skips I-95
• VA 5 & the Colonial Parkway
  plantation row to the first peninsula
  Richmond → Yorktown · ~90 mi · 1–2 days · skips I-64
• US 13: The Eastern Shore
  two counties, four centuries, one road
  Cape Charles → Chincoteague · ~90 mi · 1–2 days · skips I-95 (by an entire bay)

Ready-made itineraries in the Atlantic Coast

• Lowcountry Long Weekend
  3 days · ~210 mi · from Charleston
  Charleston to Savannah the slow way — oyster sheds, ruined churches, Gullah history and two of America's most beautiful (and complicated) cities.
• Tidewater & the Outer Banks
  4 days · ~430 mi · from Richmond
  Plantation row and the first peninsula, then across the Albemarle sounds to the barrier islands — colonial capitals, wild beaches, two free ferries…
• Sounds & Banks
  7 days · ~560 mi · from Norfolk
  Two ferries, four lighthouses, one lost colony and the slow handoff from sound country to the Lowcountry's front porch.
• Golden Isles Getaway
  3 days · ~260 mi · from Savannah
  Georgia's marsh coast at low speed: the smallest church in America, wild horses and driftwood beaches, a millionaires' island club and the tabby…
• Cradle & Surrender: Jamestown to Appomattox
  3 days · ~260 mi · from Williamsburg
  The bookends of American history in one Virginia weekend: the first permanent English colony and the Yorktown victory that won independence, then…
• US 17: Outer Banks to Florida
  8 days · ~820 mi · from Norfolk
  The Atlantic coast road end to end: NC 12 and two ferries across the sounds, then the Kings Highway from Wilmington to Savannah and the Golden Isles…

Also touches the Atlantic Coast: The Eastern Crescent · The Whole Hog · Atlanta to Savannah to Charleston

States: North Carolina · Virginia · South Carolina · Georgia · Florida. Browse the other regions: Gulf Coast · Deep South · Upper South · Florida Peninsula · Ozarks, Ouachitas & the Bootheel · Beyond the Sabine.