Rodanthe is located in the northern part of Hatteras Island in the area known as the Tri-Village area. Visitors to Rodanthe enjoy the peaceful beaches, abundant wildlife and a variety of area attractions, activities, shops and restaurants.

Adventure enthusiasts will enjoy a variety of watersport activities while visiting the Tri-Village area. REAL Kiteboarding, the largest kiteboarding retailer in the world, is located in nearby Waves and offers a variety of camps and lessons for all skill levels. Other watersport companies in the area also offer kayak rentals, jetski rentals, surfing lessons, and more!

If you are looking for the perfect souvenir, you may want to take your family to the Pamlico Station shopping center of Rodanthe. Various gift and souvenir shops are located here, with something for everyone!

The children may enjoy spending an afternoon at the Waterfall Park, an adventure theme park featuring go-carts and a variety of other fun activities. The perfect end to the afternoon might be a stop at Village Conery in Salvo for some ice cream or a milkshake.

Rodanthe is also home to the historic Chicamacomico Lifesaving Station, which serves as a museum and offers weekly re-enactments of past lifesaving efforts. If you travel about 15 miles north of Rodanthe, you can enjoy nature walks, bird watching and wildlife viewing in Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Waves, one of Hatteras Island's northern villages that is part of the area known as the Tri-Villages, is a narrow piece of the island that offers close proximity to both the Pamlico Sound and the Atlantic Ocean. Whether your family wants to go swimming or fishing on the ocean beaches or windsurfing or kiteboarding on the sound side, Waves has just what you are looking for!

The mainland of North Carolina is about 50 miles from the sound side shores of Waves, which makes it appear as though you are completely surrounded by water and offers breathtaking views of both sunrises and sunsets.

The village of Waves was the first of the three villages in the area to be developed. As builders ran out of room in Waves, they stretched north to Rodanthe and south to Salvo to continue building. Because much of the area's land is protected by the federal government as part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, building any farther north or south from this area was stopped by federal property boundaries. Because of this, there is about 18 miles of undeveloped seashore between Salvo and the next village to the south, Avon.

The Tri-Villages are home to a variety of activities, attractions, shops and restaurants to suit all ages. Children enjoy visiting Waterfall Park to ride go-carts on various tracks, and the entire family enjoys trips to the beautiful sandy beaches. REAL Kiteboarding is located in Waves and offers a variety of instructional camps and lessons throughout the year for those of all skill levels.

Salvo, a village on the northern part of Hatteras Island that is one of the three villages known as the Tri-Villages, offers wide and uncrowded beaches. The island isn't very wide in this area, and visitors can see views of both the Atlantic Ocean and the Pamlico Sound from many vacation home windows.

Prior to 1901, Salvo was known as Clarksville, until it was given its own post office and name. This historic structure still stands on NC Highway 12 today and is a small white building with red and blue trim. Visitors enjoy stopping to visit this old post office on the soundside of the road to read a bit about the history of Salvo.

The Tri-Village area, which consists of the villages of Rodanthe, Waves and Salvo, offers a variety of activities that offer something for everyone. Whether you want to spend your vacation relaxing on the deck of your vacation home or on a beach towel, learn how to do a variety of watersport activities, go fishing or learn about the area's unique history, this part of the island has it all!

The main office of REAL Kiteboarding is located in nearby Waves. Whether you are already an avid kiteboarder or you would like to learn more about the sport, the knowledgeable staff at REAL Kiteboarding can help! A variety of lessons and camps are offered throughout the season to help get you involved in this popular and exciting water sport.

Just north of Salvo in Rodanthe is the Chicamacomico Lifesaving Station, which serves as a museum and offers re-enactments of lifesaving efforts each week. Also, located north of Rodanthe you will find Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, which is home to many species of birds and other wildlife.

A variety of souvenir shops, gift stores, restaurants and more are also found in the Tri-Village area for your convenience.

Avon is centrally located on Hatteras Island, about 20 miles north of Hatteras Inlet and 30 miles south of Oregon Inlet. Avon is home to the island's major supermarket, Food Lion, as well as a movie theater, fishing pier, restaurants, surf shops and souvenir shops.

Services located in Avon include Spa Koru, which is a fitness center, beauty salon and spa that is enjoyed by many visitors and locals. One of Hatteras Island's locations of HealthEast, a family practice clinic, is also conveniently located in Avon.

Local residents of Avon refer to themselves as Kinnakeeters, as the historic village name was Kinnakeet until it was changed by the United States Postal Service. Before the dunes that protect the village from ocean waters that exist today, most people lived on the west side of Avon along the sound. This helped to protect them from winds and waves during the storms. Also before the existence of the dunes, tides would wash through Avon several times a year. Residents who did not have their homes built off the ground on pilings would cut holes in the floor to allow for drainage of flood waters.

In the past, Avon was home to skilled fishermen and shipbuilders. Avon was once home to a maritime forest with oak and cedar trees, but as trees were cut down for shipbuilding, the maritime forest of Avon diminished. Today, many residents still earn their living from commercial fishing, selling their daily catch to locations as far from Hatteras as Baltimore or New York.

Windsurfing and kiteboarding enthusiasts flock to the area about three miles south of Avon, known as Canadian Hole. This narrow part of the island used to be a shallow inlet that allowed boats to pass through. Shifting sands closed the inlet, but the ocean and sound are still very close together at this point of the island today. On almost any given day on Hatteras Island, you can drive past this section and see colored sails and kites over the Pamlico Sound. Your family will enjoy watching the skilled kiteboarders and windsurfers as they take advantage of the Hatteras wind conditions. Sunsets are also beautiful from this part of the island.

The village of Buxton is found at the highest and widest part of Hatteras Island. Though Buxton doesn't offer as many vacation homes as other villages on Hatteras Island, visitors enjoy Buxton for its many attractions, activities, shops and restaurants.

Perhaps the most popular site visited in Buxton is the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, which is the tallest lighthouse in the United States. This famous lighthouse was moved more than 2,000 feet from the eroding coastline in 1999 to preserve the historic structure. Today, visitors to Buxton enjoy learning about the history of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse from staff and volunteers at the museum and visitor center. During a large part of the year, the structure is also open to the public for climbing.

Many people enjoy going to the area of Buxton known as "The Point," which is located just past the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. You will need a 4-wheel drive vehicle to drive onto the beach. People enjoy driving out to this part of the beach for swimming, surfing, fishing, sunbathing and more!

Buxton is also home to the Buxton Woods Coastal Reserve, which is the largest maritime forest on the North Carolina coast. The Reserve, three miles wide and fifty feet high, offers visitors and locals a variety of hiking and exploring opportunities. Pine and live oak trees, maritime swamp forest and marsh wetlands are all found in the Buxton Woods Coastal Reserve, as well as a variety of wildlife. More than 360 species of migratory birds, including bald eagles and peregrine falcons, call Buxton Woods home. Other species found here include box turtles, green anoles, southern dusky salamanders and a variety of rare butterfly species.

If you are interested in watersport activities, you may want to visit Natural Art Surf Shop, Fox Watersports or REAL Kiteboarding for information about purchasing or renting surfboards, windsurfing gear, kiteboarding equipment or kayaks. A variety of watersport lessons are also available from these surf shops.

Two public tennis courts are available in Buxton. The Fessenden Center, a county recreation facility, and the Cape Hatteras High School both offer public tennis courts.

The children will enjoy a game of miniature golf followed by an ice cream treat at Uncle Eddy's, or maybe a short trip south to Frisco Mini Golf & Go Karts.

A variety of gift shops, souvenir shops and art galleries are also available in Buxton. Whether you are looking for a Hatteras Island t-shirt, a Cape Hatteras Lighthouse painting, beach-style décor or gear for the beach, Buxton has just what you need!

Several delicious restaurants are also found in Buxton, as well as Conner's, a locally-owned grocery store. Seafood is the specialty at most Hatteras Island restaurants, and Buxton is no different. Some local favorites include: Buoy's Restaurant, The Fish House, Wahini's Surf Grill, Diamond Shoals Restaurant, Pigman's BBQ, Angelo's Pizza, Finnegan's Dining Haul and the Sandbar & Grille.

As you can see, when you visit Hatteras Island, you definitely need to make a stop in Buxton!

Located on the southern portion of Hatteras Island, Frisco is a small village situated between Buxton and Hatteras. Frisco began as a town called Trent, and was renamed in 1898 by the United States Postal Service.

In the past, the Croatan Indians lived in heavily wooded areas on the sound side of Highway 12. To learn more about the history of them, you may want to visit to the Frisco Native American Museum and History Center. This museum was created to preserve Native American artifacts, culture and art, and a variety of stories and legends are on display there.

Tourists enjoy visits to Frisco throughout the year. The large and popular Brigand's Bay subdivision on the sound side of Highway 12 is enjoyed by locals and tourists alike for its proximity to the Pamlico Sound. Residents and visitors of homes in this area can enjoy windsurfing, kiteboarding, kayaking, fishing and more – all from their backyard!

Some unique shopping can be found in Frisco, with a variety of local art and pottery galleries offering items handmade by locals.

Also in Frisco, you will find Ocean Edge Golf Course, which is a 9-hole oceanfront golf course. Children will have fun at Frisco Mini Golf & Go Karts. There is also a fishing pier located in Frisco, which attracts anglers of all ages.

The Billy Mitchell Airfield, located just off Highway 12 in Frisco, allows private charter planes and is home to some local planes offering aerial tours of the area. Many people enjoy driving their 4-wheel drive vehicles onto the beach at the public beach access just past the airfield.

Hatteras village is the southernmost village located on Hatteras Island. Hatteras is most well-known for fishing, as a large number of charter boats depart from Hatteras Inlet throughout the year. Sport fishing trips take visitors fishing inshore in the Pamlico Sound or offshore in the Gulf Stream waters.

Daily catches include a variety of dolphin, wahoo, tuna and king mackerel. Billfish species of blue marlin, white marlin and sailfish are also abundant in the offshore waters but are normally tagged and released. If you are interested in learning more about Hatteras fishing but are unable to take your own charter trip, visit any of the Hatteras marinas late in the afternoon to see the boats come in with their catch.

Anglers who have 4-wheel drive vehicles also enjoy driving down The Point of Hatteras, which stretches along the coast south of Hatteras Village into Hatteras Inlet. This strip of land is very narrow but offers great fishing in both the oceanfront and soundfront waters.

Also in Hatteras is the ferry terminal which is home to the ferries that travel between Hatteras Island and Ocracoke Island, which is the island located just south of Hatteras. Ferry rides are provided by the North Carolina Department of Transportation and are approximately 40 minutes long. Though it is free to ride the Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry and reservations are not accepted, you will want to arrive early during busy summer months as lines to travel between the islands get long during the summer. During the summer months, ferries depart both Hatteras and Ocracoke every 30 minutes, while in the winter months ferries depart every hour.

Located near the ferry terminal in Hatteras, you will find the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum. The museum offers a unique design, with an entrance to mimic timbers of the many shipwrecks that happened in history along the coastline of Hatteras.

A variety of gift shops, art galleries and great local restaurants can also be found in Hatteras, which offers a variety of fun for the whole family.