Outer Banks Self-Guided Driving Audio Tour

Name: Outer Banks Self-Guided Driving Audio Tour
Brand: Cool Destinations
SKU: 591563
Price: 24.99 USD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4.60 (35 reviews)

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Recommended by 91% of reviewers

Badge of Excellence | Outer Banks, USA

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2 to 3 hours (approx.)

Mobile ticket

Instant confirmation

Offered in: English

Overview

Explore North Carolina's Outer Banks on this self-guided car tour. First, see the majestic Bodie Island Lighthouse and the peaceful Coquina Beach, where nature and history merge. Continue to Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station Historic Site, a maritime hero attraction. Next, see the Currituck Beach Lighthouse, a coastal landmark. Last stop: the Wright Brothers National Memorial, where flight dreams were realized. Explore maritime history and pioneering spirit in stunning coastal scenery.

After booking, check your email/text to download the separate Audio Tour Guide App by Action while connected to WiFi or mobile data. Enter the password, download the tour, and enjoy it offline. Follow the audio instructions and route from the designated starting point.

New, Lifetime access, no expiry. Use it anytime, on any trip, as many times as you want.

This isn't an entrance ticket. Check opening hours before your visit.

What's Included

Support is available via chat, email, or phone if you need help.
Planning tools, route maps, scenic stops, and area previews included.
Private tour experience for your family, in your own car.
Lifetime access: use the tour anytime and keep it for future trips.
Works offline with GPS route guidance and automatic audio stories.
One purchase covers everyone in your car, not per person.
Flexible tour: start, stop, and pause anytime during your trip.
Hidden gems and local stories included along the route.
Self-guided audio tour through our easy-to-use mobile app.
Just bring your car and phone; the app guides your tour.

Self-guided tour — no live guide. Entrance fees, parking, food, and car rental are separate.

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Meeting Location

Meeting point

Cape Hatteras National Park Road
Nags Head, NC 27959, USA

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Detailed check-in instructions, including the exact address, are provided with your booking confirmation.

End point

59200 Museum Drive
Hatteras, NC 27943, USA

What To Expect

Book Online

Our secure website provides real-time availability, instant confirmation, and free, no-hassle cancellations up to 24 hours before your tour begins.

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Whalebone Junction Information Center - Outer Banks Visitors Bureau

Welcome to The Outer Banks and Cape Hatteras National Seashore! This stretch of picturesque coastline is packed with stories of lost colonists, shifting sands, and of course… pirate ghosts! So let’s get started!Note: The tour is over 40+ miles long, with more than 35+ audio stories, and takes about 2-3 hours to complete.New, Lifetime access, no expiry. Use it anytime, on any trip, as many times as you want.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Bodie Island Lighthouse

In 1921, the four-masted schooner Laura Barnes was sailing from Massachusetts to South Carolina to pick up a load of cargo. But the weather turned foul. A dense fog rolled in and the waves grew treacherous. Unable to see, the captain didn’t spot this shore… until it was too late! The ship crashed into the beach and broke apart. The entire crew made it out alive, but the ship stayed stuck! Salvagers scavenged most of it, but some of the ship’s remains are still lodged in the sand here to this day!

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Oregon Inlet

In a few minutes we’ll cross over the Oregon Inlet. This waterway unites the Pamlico Sound with the Atlantic Ocean. And speaking of storms, it didn’t exist until 1846, when a huge hurricane hit! A ship called the Oregon was in Pamlico Sound during that storm. As the story goes, the Oregon was sailing back to Edenton, North Carolina from Bermuda. It was right next to the Outer Banks when the hurricane hit. The rough, stormy seas lifted the entire ship up… and deposited it safely on a sandbar! Talk about luck!

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Herbert C. Bonner Bridge

That huge body of water to the right of the bridge is the Pamlico Sound. It measures 80 miles long and about 18 miles wide, though it never gets any deeper than 26 feet! The rivers from the mainland flow down and into the sound too, creating the second largest estuary in the US, after Chesapeake Bay. The shallow water makes for some great fishing. Pamlico Sound is where 90% of North Carolina’s commercial fishermen catch their crabs, oysters, and clams!

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Oregon Inlet Life Saving Station

Coming up on our left is the Oregon Inlet Life-Saving Station from 1874. It’s the only structure we’ll see when the bridge meets land again; you can’t miss it. Can you imagine being on a ship in the dark, trying to find a dock along this coast? Before there was radar, GPS, or sonar, sailors didn’t have an easy time navigating this cape or the Oregon Inlet. Shipwrecks were incredibly common. So common, in fact, that the Outer Banks earned the nickname “The Graveyard of the Atlantic.”

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge

We’re now driving through 13 miles of nature preserve! It’s the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, and it stretches from the bottom of the Oregon Inlet to the northern border of the community of Rodanthe. And it’s part of what scientists call “the Atlantic Flyway.” This is a corridor that migratory birds use to travel up and down the coast, sort of like a highway in the sky! Birds use these beaches as pit stops along their way.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Pea Island Beach

Coming up in a moment will be parking for Pea Island Beach. This is a popular beach, but it’s so big you wouldn’t guess it! So even if you don’t go out in the water, take some time to sit on the sand and take in the gorgeous view.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Jughandle Bridge

We’re driving along Jughandle Bridge. But why does this bridge actually exist? After all, we’re not traveling from one island to the next, we’re just traveling next to the island!

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station Historic Site and Museum

Off to our left is another life-saving station, the Chicamacomico US Life-Saving Station. Like the Oregon Inlet Life-Saving Station, this served as a hub for rescue crews to live, observe the coast, and conduct training exercises with the peculiar device known as a beach apparatus. But what on earth is that?

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

The Mother Vine

The Outer Banks are home to some fascinating pieces of history, but one of the most unusual can be found on Roanoke Island. It’s known as the Mother Vine, and it’s the oldest grapevine on the continent still producing grapes! The vine is about 400 years old, though no one is sure of its exact date of origin.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Kite Point

We’re approaching a little spot on our right that locals call “kite point.” It’s just a strip of sand beach, but it’s become a mecca for kitesurfing! The beaches near here have been popular with windsurfers since the 1970s. And Kite Point is the perfect spot to watch this high speed sport in action. But where exactly did kitesurfing come from?

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

Do you remember that the Bodie Lighthouse was so poorly built that it leaned like the tower of Pisa? Well, you’re about to see the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, and it had a tough time starting out too.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Cape Point

Cape Point in North Carolina isn't just a location; it's where nature and history meet. Its ever-changing sands and maritime stories connect visitors to a rich maritime heritage and the relentless shaping of the Outer Banks. Cape Point offers a unique blend of natural beauty and historical significance.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Hatteras

We’re entering the small village of Hatteras. If you love fishing, this little village is the place for you! Locals and visitors alike make their money and spend their free time with a rod and reel in their hands. It’s got a population of around 400 people, so it’s as quiet and as quaint as a small town can get. The roads snake and meander around with no grids and no official plots. Everything here feels connected to nature.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Teach's Lair Marina

We’re coming up on Teach’s Lair Marina. It’ll be the collection of boats off to our right in just a minute. As you’ve probably already guessed, the marina and plenty of other landmarks around here are named after Edward Teach, otherwise known as Blackbeard.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Hatteras Ferry Terminal

Soon after that, we’ll also see the Hatteras Ferry Terminal. From there, you can take a ferry over to Ocracoke Island, if you’re in the mood to see those horses or look for Blackbeard’s ghost. Ferries depart three or four times a day, depending on the season. You can walk or take your car on the ferry.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

WWII British Sailor Cemetery

Do you remember the story of all those German U-Boats sitting out in a line near the Outer Banks, blowing up any cargo ship that was trying to leave North Carolina? Well, what I didn’t tell you was that a few Allied forces were sent over from Europe to help battle those Germans here in North Carolina. Those who perished ended up here, at the WWII British Sailor Cemetery.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Jockey's Ridge State Park

In just a moment we’ll see huge sand dunes off to our left. Those belong to Jockey’s Ridge State Park, the tallest sand dune system in the Eastern United States! But why are there sand dunes in the middle of this island? Aren’t the islands themselves sand dunes? Well, scientists believe that over many years, storms and hurricanes wash sand inland. Meanwhile, the winds from the mainland blow in the other direction.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Wright Brothers National Memorial

To visit the Wright Brothers National Memorial, turn left onto Wright Memorial Drive. It’s got full-scale models of the brothers’ planes, markers of the distances of each flight the Wright Flyer took, and more.

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Avalon Pier

If you’d like to visit Avalon Pier, turn right onto E. Sportsman Drive ahead. It’s a 440-foot-long wooden pier that has a fantastic view of the ocean and lots of restaurants and shops. The fishing is great from there too!

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Wright Brother's Garage Monument

Want to see where the Wright Brothers built one of their earliest gliders? Like all great American inventors, they got their start in a garage! I’ll tell you where to turn in a moment to see the site of the garage where it all began.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Kitty Hawk Woods Reserve

We’re driving through the town of Kitty Hawk. You’ve probably heard the name before. After all, historians credit this town with being where Wilbur and Orville took their first flight. But technically, the brothers took their flight a few miles south of the town line, in a place called Kill Devil Hills. Quite a name, I know! Since that wasn’t an official town in 1903, Kitty Hawk gets the credit for Orville and Wilbur!

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Duck Town Park Boardwalk

Coming up on our left is the Duck Town Park Boardwalk. This scenic park features waterfront trails, shops, restaurants, and more. If you’d like to visit and stretch your legs, turn left at the sign that says, “Town of Duck.” Otherwise, continue straight.

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Pine Island Audubon Sanctuary

Coming up is the Pine Island Audubon Sanctuary, containing 2,600 acres of preserved land. This land is home to hundreds of species of birds, but it would have been home to many more if not for the hunting craze that took over this part of the Outer Banks over a century ago.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Corolla

We’re entering the town of Corolla. Off to our right, beyond the houses, stretches the seemingly infinite expanse of sand known as Corolla Beach. The locals here number around 500, but in the summer, the population surges into the thousands! Vacationers come here from all over to enjoy the small-town feel, the watersports, and that herd of wild horses.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Currituck Beach Lighthouse

Currituck Beach Lighthouse is coming up in a few minutes. I’ll let you know when to turn if you want to see it. On December 1, 1875, engineers finished construction on this “first-order” lighthouse. “First order” means the biggest kind of lighthouse. The Fresnel lens at the top of the tower stands about eight and a half feet tall and stretches to around six feet wide! Its light can be seen from 21 miles away! The lighthouse itself stands 162 feet tall.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Whalehead Club

Just before the lighthouse, you’ll also have the chance to see the historic Whalehead Club. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, this area became the go-to place for wealthy Americans who wanted to do a little hunting. Edward Collings Knight, Jr. was heir to so many fortunes—sugar, railroads, and steamships! And he and his second wife bought a huge tract of land here in 1920 and started building a house on it. The resulting house is called the Whalehouse Club. It’s a 22,000 square foot home designed in the Art Nouveau style. The Knights used it and offered it up to their friends as a hunting lodge.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Show 26 more stops

Additional Info

Confirmation is instant and will be received at time of booking
Public transportation options are available nearby
Suitable for all physical fitness levels
NOTE: An entrance fee or valid park pass is required to visit the Wright Brothers National Memorial. Please check current entry requirements before your visit.
Easy to use: GPS-triggered audio plays automatically along the route for a hands-free experience.
Private tour: Explore in your own vehicle without crowded buses or large tour groups.
At your own pace: Start anytime and pause for hikes, picnics, photos, or scenic stops.

Works offline: Once downloaded, the tour works using GPS without Wi-Fi or cellular service.
Good value: One purchase covers everyone in your vehicle, not each person separately.
More ways to save: Choose a single tour, a nearby bundle, or access to 200+ tours.
Download in advance: Download the Tour Guide app by Action and tour while connected to Wi-Fi or a strong cellular signal.
Follow the route: Begin at the suggested starting point or join anywhere along the route shown in the app.
Lifetime access: Preview the tour before your trip and revisit the stories, photos, and details afterward.
Supported devices: iPhone with iOS 15+, Android with version 9+, or a GPS-enabled iPad/tablet with cellular capability.

Frequently Asked Questions

(6)

Q: What is the cancellation policy for the Outer Banks Self-Guided Driving Audio Tour?

A: You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the tour for a full refund. For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the tour start time.If you cancel less than 24 hours before the tour start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.Any changes made less than 24 hours before the tour start time will not be accepted.Cut-off times are based on the tour local time (EDT). Read more Apr 2025

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the tour for a full refund.

Still have questions?

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Activity code: C-267535P41

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Reviews

4.60

35 reviews

Average 4.60 out of 5 stars based on 35 traveler reviews collected by Cool Destinations and partner sites such as Trustpilot, Viator, and TripAdvisor

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Outer Banks Self-Guided Driving Audio Tour

from $24.99 per group (up to 4)

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Cancellation Policy

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