Self-dubbed, “America’s Favorite Island”, Hilton Head Island sees visitors from all over the world year round. It is a true destination island with a salubrious southern climate. Even if you don’t golf, there are plenty of things to do on Hilton Head Island to fill your family vacation.
As resort island that caters to the affluent, Hilton Head boasts numerous high-end resorts, spas, golf courses, pro-shops, bars, and restaurants.
For the rest of us, Hilton Head shares its history of Native American life, sea cotton plantations, and Civil War lore. And then there’s the 12-miles of beaches.
There are no roller coasters or malls on Hilton Head Island, and Dave and Buster have yet to make an appearance. Hilton Head keeps it classy as if it were written into the bylaws (we assume that it is).
Below are what we’ve found to be the six most interesting and beautiful things to do on Hilton Head Island. We hope you enjoy!
The Coastal Discovery Museum is an all-encompassing, Coastal Carolina experience. Here you can learn about the plants and animals of the region, the ecosystems and geology.
You can also stroll through beautiful maritime forests and manicured gardens, indulge a butterfly house, tour the salt marshes beneath moss-strung trees, meet carnivorous plants, and spend time with horses.
The Coastal Discovery Museum houses an art gallery and an interactive science center. There are fountains along crushed-shell pathways. There are exotic animals to observe and plants to admire.
The Coastal Discovery Museum has an embarrassment of riches to explore and it is free of charge. Without a doubt, unless your are a golf enthusiast, and perhaps even if you are, the Coastal Discovery Museum is the very best of all the things to do on Hilton Head Island.
The Harbour Town Lighthouse is the centerpiece of Harbour Town. The interior of the lighthouse is dressed as a museum and contains the immaculate collection of what is known about the island’s history. This is definitely one of the best things to do on Hilton Head Island.
The walls are covered in informational plaques, photos, stories and artifacts of the ancient native civilizations, the civil war era, and the post-1962 golf development era. The top of the lighthouse lends a 360-degree view of the harbor. Admission is $5.75 for adults, children under 5 are free.
Located on the SW inland side of the island, Harbour town is the perfect place to stroll and ogle the yachts. There is some light shopping, a wonderful children’s playground, and people watching galore. Harbour Town is one of the few places on the island that feels like an actual town.
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Imagine yourself all alone in the wild, large alligators swimming to your left, a tree filled with ibis to your right. Overhead a heron flies as the bushes behind you rustle with critters.
The sounds of nature call from all directions as you weave about freshwater ponds, salt marshes, and maritime wooded pathways.
Pinckney Island is located between HHI and the mainland (map). There are 14-miles of trails to hike and bike. It is free to visit and sees approx. 250,000 visitors annually.
If you wonder what it looked like on the Carolina Coast five-hundred years ago, here’s your chance to find out. For nature lovers, Pinckney Island Refuge could be the best thing to do on Hilton Head Island.
Coligny Beach Park is one of the most popular places on HHI. A shopping center beside a nicely arranged beach facility provides the perfect setting for a family outing.
The beaches run together on the east side of the island, which means it doesn’t matter much if you’re at Hilton Head Island Beach, Singleton Beach, Burkes Beach, etc. The beach at Coligny Park has the best facilities, however, which include adirondak chairs, swinging benches, and foot wash stations.
The shopping at Coligny Beach Park is extensive, offering groceries, specialty stores, gift shops, and a multitude of restaurants including the Frosty Frog Cafe and The Sandbar.
If you love to travel, we have something we would like to give you. It is our professionally designed e-book and it is FREE of charge. We think it’s pretty great, and we’re hopeful you’ll like it, too. It’s called, “Cultivating a Lifetime of Travel”. Click HERE. and we’ll send it on over!
Everyone loves a challenging, 18-hole mini-golf course, so why not make (2) two of them and utterly dominate the Hilton Head putt-putt landscape?
Legendary Golf claims to be, “A country club style mini-golf course unlike anything you have EVER experienced.” To be honest, it’s a mini-golf course — you’ve done this before, it isn’t schema-altering.
The four-acre, forested landscape makes the courses beautiful and a pleasure to play. We found the fairway features and obstacles abundant, interesting and fun.
There are inspiration quotes and biblical references at the start of each hole which we thoroughly enjoyed. Perhaps it is unlike anything we’ve ever experienced.
Military/Police/Firefighters play free, and VA nurses get a pat on the back. Just kidding — they let our entire family play free. If you like putt-putt this is the best course on the Carolina Coast.
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Captain Jack Stoney built this once grand antebellum plantation house around 1790. The ruins contain the main house and slave quarters.
In 1850, Stoney lost a poker game to a man named William Baynard, a successful sea cotton plantation owner. When the Union army invaded Hilton head in the 1860’s, the Baynards’ left the property.
The Union Army used the plantation as a headquarters before they burned it down.
This is one of the best things to do on Hilton Head Island and it is free of cost.
The ruins are easy to find in a housing community near Harbor Town (map). There are plenty of placards to read.
One of the most interesting components of the ruins, for us, was the introduction of “tabby” as a building material. Tabby, which hardens like concrete, is a mixture of burnt oyster shells — which makes lye — water, ash, sand, and broken shells.
We came to Hilton Head Island expecting a sea of khaki pants and khaki buildings; a place where Bartholomew summers with Muffy and the kids. In a way it was those things.
The island is clean, the crowd is subtle, and the beaches are pleasant. The pre-1962 history of HHI is very interesting — the natives, the plantations, the civil war — and there are many ways to learn about it.
Three days was enough for us to pick up the vibe and see all the things to do on Hilton Head Island. If we were golfers we would have barely scratched the surface, but as roadschoolers we feel that Hilton Head Island is a closed chapter in the books.
If you’re looking for other things to do in the area, check out:
South Carolina Beaches and Coastal Things to Do
South Carolina Islands to Visit
And if you’re wondering if Tybee Island of Hilton Head is better, check it out!
Thank you for stopping by our website! We are the Hoffmann family, a full-time RV family that has split residence in Seattle, Washington and San Antonio, Texas. We have special needs children that we homeschool, and work travel assignments for the Veteran Affairs Hospital. If you would like to learn more about us, check out our Start Here and Biography pages. In the meantime, God bless and travel happy!