Little Known Islands in Georgia and South Carolina Part 2: Hilton Head Island, Hunting Island and Kiawah Island

North of Savannah: Hilton Head Island

Right after Savannah, the state of Georgia ends. One of the most famous South Carolina Island’s is Hilton Head Island. Hilton Head is about an hour from Tybee Island. It’s a rather touristic place. Tourism on the island prospers. There are many resort hotels, the compulsory golf course, beaches and many activities – basically anything you can think of. Also bars, clubs, nightlife, sport events, many offers for tourists. Right before Hilton Head Island, there is a nature protection area: Pinckney National Wildlife Refuge. You can go hiking, walk on the beach, do all kinds of ocean-related activities (kayaking, dolphin watching, fishing, jet ski, sailing, etc.). There are two big shopping malls. But it’s rather one shopping mall split into two parts. There are also many old buildings, plantations etc. Apart from that, Hilton Head has a very busy art life including theater, ballet, sculpturing, and painting. All in all it is probably the most diverse and biggest of all the islands.

Insiders’ Tip at the South Carolina Coast: Hunting Island and Kiawah Island

North of Hilton Head Island are some more islands like Prichards Island, Hunting Island and Folly Island. I only want to mention Hunting Island and Kiawah Island. Hunting Island is a nature protection area, reachable from the mainland on highway 21 (via I-95) and is located right between Savannah and Charleston. It’s not a national park but a South Carolina State Park. Many locals like to visit here. The island has camping and lodges but no big hotels. Again, you get to see mainly flora and fauna. For film lovers: the Forest Gump Vietnam Scenes were shot here.

http://southcarolinaparks.com/huntingtonbeach/introduction.aspx

Kiawah Island State Park is another interesting place. If you know this blog, you know that I like to point out beaches that won awards from Dr. Beach. Usually, that means these beaches are in their natural state, calm and have very few touristic equipment and buildings around. Also no huge hotels close to the beach. All of this is the case in Kiawah Island. It’s a one-hour-drive from Charleston (south on highway 700). It’s better to reach than Hunting Island. Both islands are calm and secluded without any big hotels.

About the South Carolina Islands

I have not seen all of the South Carolina Islands. The very popular Myrtle Beach is one of the things I don’t know so far. I anyways want to tell you how I see things. My travel agency only offers hotels on Hilton Head Island. They did not have anything for all the other islands and could not say anything about these places. As mentioned above, Hilton Head Island is very successful. Anything you need – you will get it here. The beaches are beautiful; there is a big variety of hotels, restaurants and activities. Nevertheless, I cannot fully recommend Hilton Head Island. To me, everything seemed a bit too fancy, a bit too crowded a bit too touristic. Just one example: I found an ad somewhere that you can explore a swamp area on stilts, without getting your feet wet (???). How does that work? I don’t know. Having a show like this is not my kind of thing. If I want to explore nature, I get dirty. I don’t need a soft version of that.

The United States are far away from Germany. It’s not cheap to even reach there. I want to see nature that I don’t have at home, experience things that are “typical USA”. Hilton Head Island is a perfect spot for a family holiday, an entire summer holiday or something like that. But I can have that kind of holiday at many places in Europe, for much less money, short flights and all in all less effort to reach. Hilton Head is not a winter destination. To me, this island does not have anything that I cannot get easier anywhere else. I don’t need to travel to the US for something like that. I prefer the other island with their nature protection programs. I really liked these.

This article is Part 2.

Part 1 can be found here:

Little Known Islands in Georgia and South Carolina Part 1: The Golden Isles of Georgia