Tag Archives: HHI

Relaxing But Fun Things To Do On Hilton Head Island

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I decided to review some of my favorite relaxing activities about Hilton Head Island that I’ve enjoyed from my past few vacation.

Hilton Head Island

Hilton Head Island looks like a shoe!

Fun Things To Do On Hilton Head Island

  • Biking – Hilton Head Island is perfect for renting a bike and going biking since its an Island and therefore very flat!  The Island is literally filled with biking paths everywhere!  You can ride for miles and it seems that you never run out of energy.  Even the heat doesn’t both you while you are riding because of the low intensity workout.
  • Family Beaches – Not near as touristy as Myrtle Beach, Hilton Head’s beaches are basically family beaches.  This is a great place to take young kids to explore the beach without the craziness of college age kids running amok.
  • Golfing – This Island is a golfer’s paradise!  Some of the smaller, less know courses are very reasonably priced to boot!  Bring bottle of water while on the course!
  • Quaintness of the Shops and Businesses – I notice that many of the store and restaurants are operated by people who live on the Island.  This makes sense, but it seems more real and since many of the residents are from northern states that have moved down there, it feels like people are there because they want to be there.  I have a favorite cafe/ice cream shop where it has the feeling of a beach bum type of place.  It was cool to see the local residents interact with each other there.
  • Seafood Meal – I know this is going to sound odd, but I enjoy seafood more when I visit Hilton Head Island.  The food taste a little fresher and just seems more authentic overall.
  • Tours of the Area – We’ve taken a few tours and have found that they are entertaining and the guides witty and very funny.  It was cool hearing about the history and the famous or rich folks that live on the Island.  It’s a nice way to relax and learn a few things.
  • Kayaking Trips – This requires more effort than biking, but seeing the dolphins swim up along us during our kayaking route was exciting and just overall cool.
  • Staying at a Larger House – We stayed at a house that had 6 or 7 rooms last time, and to me the house was huge.  I started reading a book, played games with my family, lounged in the pool, walked the nearby beach, and did whatever I wanted.  Activities by the house were totally spur of the moment and unstructured!
  • Free Things Too – Just being there is a great fun time in itself as there are plenty of great free things to do at Hilton Head Island!  Last year while getting ice cream, we saw a performer do make and tricks with animals.  At another location there was a small, free concert going on.

My list of Fun things to do in Hilton Head Island is a relaxing one, but there are many other more water activities you can do too.  Fishing and crabbing is always fun.  Wave runners and the like are an adventure too, we’ve never rented these but you’ll see them out in the ocean often times.

We usually walk around Coligny Plaza and make a trip to Harbour Town, these are touristy locations but still interesting and fun.

I guess the stimulus for this article was that fact that I was Hilton Head Daydreaming again!

Hope you enjoy your vacations!

MR

Hilton Head Daydreaming

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This past summer, we vacationed in Hilton Head for a week.  As I look out my wintery window (This post was written on January 23rd, 2010), the weather which reminds me of a grey cloudy horror movie setting, I keep daydreaming of the great time we had at Hilton Head Island in SC.

Hilton Head looks like a shoe

Hilton Head has a little bit for everybody, but it is mainly oriented towards families with kids.  The island is covered with some great bike paths, and HHI (Hilton Head Island) has a warm, friendly feeling practically everywhere.  The problem with Hilton Head is that if you rent a house for a week, it can get pretty expensive (thousands of dollars).

We usually go to the Sea Pines area to eat at “The Salty Dog” at least once.  It’s very touristy there, but it’s still cool in its own little commercial way…

One of the things I keep coming back too in my memories, was the kayaking ride with dolphins.  My son had such a great time seeing the dolphins continually surface as we paddled up the inlet.  I even perked up when I saw how close the dolphins were coming to the kayaks.  As expected, the rest of the Island was great too, the beaches were perfect, not too many people.  Dining was but good, albeit a bit pricey.

The reason I’m writing about HHI, is because I want to go over a few point of interest.

  • If you rent a house, it’s cheaper to get one across the street from the beach.  The walk isn’t far, and really it’s not really that different.
  • Consider renting an apartment for a week down there.  The have some good deals on these versus renting a house.
  • Bring sunscreen 😉
  • Rent some bikes!  It’s worth it.  If you have a young (and not quite ready to ride alone yet) child, consider getting a tag-along attachment.
  • Bring golf clubs.
  • Visit the “Harbour Town Lighthouse“, while the lighthouse isn’t anything too amazing (good view though), the history (look at the pictures and captions) during the climb up the lighthouse is pretty fascinating!

When we first went, we had no idea how laid back the bike riding would be…  They have special trails that make it a lot of fun.  I was intimidated by the golfing aspect of HHI, but they are many different levels of golf courses.  Since I’m a beginner, we went on a cheap one.  We had a blast, the only problem was the houses were too close to the course.  My ball kept going into home owner’s yards.

My son is very unfortunate in that he’s been stung twice by jellyfish (once at Hunting Island and another at HHI) on separate occasions.  So we don’t go far in the ocean anymore.  But typically the water is nice and warm.

I don’t know if we’ll go there this year since we’ve been have went there for the past 2 years.  But it’s definitely worth it to go at least once.

Beware of the palmetto bugs (big cockroaches), if you have a phobia of these type of bugs make sure they spray the house really well!