Wilmington: What to See and Do

Discover more on Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington City Portrait
Where to Eat and Drink
Meet the Locals
 

Where to Stay

Figure Eight Island
There are plenty of beach cottages and condos for rent on Wrightsville Beach and Carolina Beach, but if you really want to escape, Figure Eight Island is the place. There are zero shops and restaurants on this quiet five-mile-long private island, just empty beaches with beautiful oceanfront and soundfront homes for rent. 
figure8island.com

Graystone Inn
Steeped in Old South style and grace, this turn-of-the-century mansion is now an elegant inn with nine unique rooms, a traditional parlor, and a lazy veranda. It sits just a few blocks from the Cape Fear River in historic downtown. 
100 S. Third St.; graystoneinn.com

Where to Shop

The Cotton Exchange
At the turn of the twentieth century, Wilmington was a bustling port, and this historic structure thrived as a cotton exporter. Revitalized in the 1970s as a shopping complex, it now includes eight restored buildings housing art galleries, a few cafés, and boutiques such as the Fire & Spice Gourmet Kitchen Shoppe, with hundreds of hard-to-find hot sauces, seasonings, and rubs. 
Corner of Front and Grace St.; 
shopcottonexchange.com

Old Books
on Front Street
This family-owned bookshop houses some 200,000 used titles, along with quirky additions like the Vend-a-Poem machine (25 cents each) and a literary jukebox that plays everything from Hamlet to the Muppets. Sugar, a tiny bakery, serves fresh pastries and cakes while you browse. Try the chocolate bourbon pecan pie. 
249 N. Front St.; oldbooksonfrontst.com

Redix
Though it began as a chain of Army surplus stores, in the 1960s Redix was transformed into a sort of general store for everything beach—chairs, bikinis, boating garb, bait and tackle. In need of a crab pot? Yep, they got it.
120 Causeway Dr., Wrightsville Beach; redixstore.com

Spectrum Art & Jewelry
Part custom jeweler, part gallery, this bright and airy space carries the work of more than one hundred artists, including glasswork, sculpture, and paintings such as those of local Ben Keys, who specializes in plein-air scenes of Wilmington landmarks. 
1125-H Military Cutoff Rd.; spectrumartandjewelry.com