Not to worry, we were told; rooms were plentiful. The price? A mere $65 a night.
Like Cape Cod , the Outer Banks is vastly different -- and dramatically less expensive -- in December, January, and February than at the height of tourist season, when their year-round population of 33,000 explodes to more than 300,000. The massive influx of vacationers brings the usual accompaniments : inflated room rates, packed tourist attractions, long waits at restaurants, and ghastly traffic congestion.
But during our four-day visit last winter, when we drove the whole 130-mile coastline from Corolla to Ocracoke Island, we had the place nearly all to ourselves. Without having made reservations, we slept and ate on the cheap at some of the Outer Banks' finest hotels and restaurants -- of those that were open. We roamed several of the coast's most beautiful nature preserves, including Nags Head Woods and Currituck Banks National Estuarine Research Reserve, where we spotted tusked wild boars -- but not another human.
We delighted in mostly sunny skies, temperatures in the 50s, and only one day of rain. And we were among fewer than a dozen people who rode the Hatteras ferry to Ocracoke Island one afternoon -- the same ferry that last July carried 165,000 passengers . Sizing up the ferry terminal's massive parking lot, which was nearly vacant but would brim with hundreds of idling cars in a few months, I concluded that winter showcases the Outer Banks at its best.
"People get great value for their dollar when they visit in the off-season, and they gain the experience of seeing the Outer Banks in a different light," said Carolyn McCormick, managing director of the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau. "You won't do any waiting in lines at restaurants or historic sites, you're going to get accommodations for 60 percent less than you'd get in July, and you'll see incredible species of birds coming through here. This is really the time of year to come."
