Known for it’s many golf courses, Hilton Head is a perfect family-friendly hot-spot. It offers water activities, biking, golf, and much more. It is a very popular location for active families looking for a fun-filled vacation.
Hilton Head is a short drive from the Savannah airport and is very accessible with a rental car. It was a scenic drive to get there.
One of the toughest decisions when visiting Hilton Head is deciding where to stay. There are so many great hotels, that I decided to first focus on what part of town I wanted to stay. I used that decision to help me filter hotel choices.
After research, I knew that my family would want to do many of the activities within the Sea Pines area. There are only about five hotels within that area, and we ended up deciding to stay at the Inn & Club at Harbour Town. It was fantastic. The concierge helped us maximize our trip, select restaurants, and generally have a fantastic trip. The hotel staff was great.
We went to Hilton Head in early October, and I think that played a big part in the success of our trip. We had fantastic weather and were able to access restaurants that would be much busier during peak summer months.
After arriving at our hotel, we worked with the concierge to determine our restaurant reservations for restaurants within Sea Pines for the duration of our stay. Since we stayed at the Inn & Club at Sea Pines, they were able to help us get last minute reservations to Quarterdeck. In hindsight, I would definitely recommend booking reservations in advance.
Quarterdeck was a fun restaurant with a fantastic view of a golf course, a historic lighthouse, and a marina. It was a perfect way to kick-off our Hilton Head experience.
Since we were so close to the lighthouse, we decided go ahead and make the short trek to the top and take in the view. It was affordable, and we enjoyed the experience.
The next day, we did some of the classic Hilton Head activities – a walk through the Sea Pines area, exploration of Harbour Town, a golf lesson, miniature golf, and family photos. We visited in the fall, and the weather was perfect for many outdoor activities.
We ended one night with a private sunset cruise. We had a fantastic time and enjoyed seeing the area from a different perspective. We booked a private cruise on a smaller boat that could go into the harbors. It was fun to see some of the same boats in harbor that we had seen during our dinner the night before in Harbour Town. One of the highlights of the trip that always makes us laugh is when we were cruising around Harbour Town, and one person at Quarterdeck waved at us. We waved back and suddenly every person at the restaurant was waving back at us. It was so fun!
While on our boat ride, we asked the captain if he had any dinner recommendations for us. He gave us many recommendations but when we said we were staying in Sea Pines, he enthusiastically said we needed to go to One Hot Mama’s. We took his advice, and it did not disappoint. In fact, it just might be the best food we ate on the whole trip. As Texans who are used to great barbecue, we had high standards; but for my family, One Hot Mama’s is the new favorite to which all other barbecue will be compared. Everything we ate was fantastic.
The next day, we went shopping at Harbour Town and ended up having breakfast at the Harbour Town Bakery & Cafe. It was a very popular spot. We ate outside under a big oak tree and enjoyed people watching.
We did more exploring of the island and played another round of miniature golf. We visited Shelter Cove for shopping and lunch. We spent about 2 hours at Shelter Cove. We really enjoyed our meal at Jane’s Bistro. It was our favorite burger of the trip, but we did wish we had eaten somewhere with a view of a marina.
There are many fantastic restaurants in Hilton Head. We wanted to try as many as we could, but there is only so much food one person can eat! We would often share meals and eat light. Unfortunately, it seemed like the best meals were always the ones that we shared and were left wanting more!
The last night of our trip, we had dinner at Coast in Sea Pines. It was important to us to eat there during sunset so we could enjoy the view. We took turns walking to the beach and taking photos while we waited for our food. It did get chilly towards the end of the evening, so be sure to dress accordingly. It was a perfect last night in Hilton Head.
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