Help me relax, hivemind!

October 22, 2009 12:46 PM

I am in Chapel Hill, NC and want to rent a house/cabin somewhere this weekend? Where should I go?

I don't want more than a 3 hour drive if possible, and I haven't been to either the mountains or the beach in the year that I've lived here. While the mountains may be beautiful at this time of year, I think the beach on a warm sunny fall weekend also sounds like a nice idea.

The problems:

- I don't know what towns I should be looking in.

- I want to bring my dog.

- I don't know where to look for rentals. I poked around on craigslist, but I want to know if there is some other site that is good for this.

- I want to spend about 125/night.


So Metafilter, where should I go this weekend?

posted by sickinthehead to Travel & Transportation around Chapel Hill, NC (7 answers total)

You could check VRBO too see what's available. It'll usually note which are pet friendly and a chunk of them maintain their availability calendars regularly. Home Away is a similar website. I've also had luck springing off of these and searching craigslist or googling the town and rentals.

The weather this coming weekend might not be the greatest sunny/warm-wise though but it might clear up by Saturday afternoon. A few hours from Chapel Hill to the mountains probably means Boone or other spots in NW NC rather than something south of Asheville and you wouldn't be able to make it to chunks of the Outer Banks within three hours. Perhaps the Wilmington area or similar SE NC beaches. Have fun.
posted by pappy at 12:58 PM on October 22, 2009

The Crystal Coast is great. I stayed in Pine Knoll Shores in May and it was very secluded and relaxing. It's also a quick drive from the Triangle area. I'm not sure how weekend rentals work there - most of the sites I've seen seem to rent out places by the week.

This is the company we used to book our house. If they don't do weekend rentals they might be able to direct you to someone who does.
posted by something something at 1:02 PM on October 22, 2009

The area between Linville Falls and Boone is really glorious right now -- or at least it was a few days ago, with the full spectrum of foliage and snow dusting the high trees -- and there are cabin rentals along 321 in the Linville area. It's a lot further than three hours from the Triangle, though.
posted by holgate at 1:04 PM on October 22, 2009

Asheville is a great town and is about three and a half hours down I40. It's high season for leaf peepers, though, so Wilmington (three hours in the other direction) might be a better bet. Or are you looking for something more remote?

VRBO.com has some interesting options for your price in Wilmington. Who knows about availability though...

You could also call the Asheville CVB and tell them your criteria--$125/night, this weekend--and see what they say.
posted by bluedaisy at 4:48 PM on October 22, 2009

Best answer: WOW do you need to look at Hot Springs, NC. Combo of mountains and water in that you get (amazingly relaxing) natural-water hot tubs, plus a big gorgeous river.
posted by kalapierson at 1:22 AM on October 23, 2009

Yeah, Hot Springs is fun -- I was there earlier in the year. Harder to book one of the nicer tubs in the main resort at short notice, but there are cabins with private tubs. We ate at the Mountain Magnolia Inn, which isn't cheap, but has an excellent locally-sourced menu.

(And I stand corrected about Boone: it's closer than I thought to Chapel Hill.)
posted by holgate at 12:20 PM on October 23, 2009

Response by poster: Thank you everyone for your suggestions!

I ended up going to Kittyhawk in the Outer Banks, as I'd never been to the OB before. It took about 3hrs 45min driving time, and I found the rental through http://outerbanksrentals.com/.

Lots of fun and a perfect beach weekend - 80 and sunny where we were!
posted by sickinthehead at 9:10 AM on October 26, 2009