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Guides

Guides to Hilton Head Island

11 long-form guides to Hilton Head Island, each one signed and dated so you can see how current it is. They answer the questions that do not fit on a listings page: how the place is laid out, what you will actually be charged for, and which trade-offs are worth making.

Guides

Explore

  • Live oak trees draped with Spanish moss, the tree canopy typical of the South Carolina Lowcountry

    Guide

    Gullah Heritage on Hilton Head Island

    Featured

    Hilton Head has one of the most significant Gullah Geechee communities in the United States, and it is a living one. Where its history happened, who to learn it from, and how to be a decent guest.

    10 min readRenée Osei

  • A sandy path between tall dune grass leading to the beach on Hilton Head Island

    Guide

    A First-Timer's Guide to Hilton Head Island

    Featured

    The island is twelve miles long, gated in places, and deliberately hard to read from the road. Here is how it is organised, what you will actually be charged for, and where to base yourself.

    10 min readMarisa Delgado

  • A small passenger boat tied up at a wooden dock on an overcast day

    Guide

    A Day Trip to Daufuskie Island from Hilton Head

    Forty-five minutes across Calibogue Sound is an island with no bridge, dirt roads and a Gullah history that has not been tidied up for visitors. Here is how to do it in a day.

    9 min readRenée Osei

  • A public information sign standing on the sand at a beach access near the ocean

    Guide

    Hilton Head Beach Parking: A Lot-by-Lot Guide

    Every beach on Hilton Head is public. Parking is the part that is rationed. Here is what each town lot is like, when it fills, and the one that is free all year.

    8 min readMarisa Delgado

Guides

Outdoors

  • A young sea turtle crossing open sand, photographed at close range

    Guide

    Sea Turtle Nesting Season on Hilton Head Island

    Loggerhead sea turtles have been coming ashore here for far longer than the island has had visitors. What the season involves, what the rules ask of you, and what to do if you meet one.

    8 min readTom Brantley

  • A single-speed cruiser bicycle standing on the sand at the beach in daylight

    Guide

    Biking Hilton Head Island: The Trail Guide

    Seventy-two miles of paved public path, seventeen more inside Sea Pines, and twelve miles of hard sand that only exists at low tide. Here is how to ride all of it.

    8 min readTom Brantley

  • A paved pathway running between green grass under an overcast sky

    Guide

    Do You Need a Car on Hilton Head Island?

    Most people need one. A few genuinely do not, and which group you are in is decided almost entirely by where you have booked to sleep.

    9 min readMarisa Delgado

Guides

Tours

  • A dolphin surfacing in open water on a bright day

    Guide

    Dolphin Watching on Hilton Head Island

    Featured

    The dolphins here are residents, not migrants, which changes how you plan a sighting. What the tide has to do with it, what a fair price looks like, and where to watch from shore for nothing.

    10 min readTom Brantley

Guides

Who it suits

  • Two children running along the wet sand at the edge of the water

    Guide

    Hilton Head Island with Kids: A Guide by Age Band

    Featured

    Hilton Head is one of the easiest family beach destinations on the Atlantic coast, mostly because of its bike paths and its flat, wide sand. What changes with your children's ages is the logistics.

    9 min readMarisa Delgado