Outer Banks Self-Guided Driving Audio Tour
Explore North Carolina's Outer Banks on this self-guided car tour. First, see the majestic Bodie Island Lighthouse and the peaceful Coquina Beach, where nature and history merge. Continue to Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station Historic Site, a maritime hero attraction. Next, see the Currituck Beach Lighthouse, a coastal landmark. Last stop: the Wright Brothers National Memorial, where flight dreams were realized. Explore maritime history and pioneering spirit in stunning coastal scenery. After booking, check your email to download the separate Audio Tour Guide App by Action, enter your unique password, and access your tour. These steps require good internet/Wi-Fi access. From there, follow the audio instructions and the route. Buy once, use for one year! Ideal for extended visits and return trips over the next 12 months. This isn't an entrance ticket. Check opening hours before your visit.
Departure Point
- After booking the tour, search your emails for "self-guided tour." Your tour is VALID FOR ONE YEAR so follow these instructions NOW to finish setting up the tour while you have Wi-Fi/data. Do NOT wait until you are onsite.
Duration
2 hours - 3 hours
Languages Available
- Audio guide - English
Points of Interest
Stop At: Whalebone Junction Information Center - Outer Banks Visitors Bureau
Cape Hatteras National Park Road, Nags Head, NC 27959
Welcome to The Outer Banks and Cape Hatteras National Seashore! This stretch of picturesque coastline is packed with stories of lost colonists, shifting sands, and of course… pirate ghosts! So let’s get started! Note: This 97-mile-long tour covers the essentials of the Outer Banks in 3-4 hours. Buy once, use for one year! Ideal for extended visits and return trips over the next 12 months.
Duration: 5 minutes
Stop At: Bodie Island Lighthouse
8210 Bodie Island Lighthouse Road, Nags Head, North Carolina
In 1921, the four-masted schooner Laura Barnes was sailing from Massachusetts to South Carolina to pick up a load of cargo. But the weather turned foul. A dense fog rolled in and the waves grew treacherous. Unable to see, the captain didn’t spot this shore… until it was too late! The ship crashed into the beach and broke apart. The entire crew made it out alive, but the ship stayed stuck! Salvagers scavenged most of it, but some of the ship’s remains are still lodged in the sand here to this day!
Duration: 5 minutes
Stop At: Oregon Inlet Life Saving Station
North Carolina Highway 12, Rodanthe, NC 27968
In a few minutes we’ll cross over the Oregon Inlet. This waterway unites the Pamlico Sound with the Atlantic Ocean. And speaking of storms, it didn’t exist until 1846, when a huge hurricane hit! A ship called the Oregon was in Pamlico Sound during that storm. As the story goes, the Oregon was sailing back to Edenton, North Carolina from Bermuda. It was right next to the Outer Banks when the hurricane hit. The rough, stormy seas lifted the entire ship up… and deposited it safely on a sandbar! Talk about luck!
Duration: 5 minutes
Stop At: Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge
14500 NC Highway 12, Rodanthe, North Carolina
That huge body of water to the right of the bridge is the Pamlico Sound. It measures 80 miles long and about 18 miles wide, though it never gets any deeper than 26 feet! The rivers from the mainland flow down and into the sound too, creating the second largest estuary in the US, after Chesapeake Bay. The shallow water makes for some great fishing. Pamlico Sound is where 90% of North Carolina’s commercial fishermen catch their crabs, oysters, and clams!
Duration: 5 minutes
Stop At: Pea Island Beach
Rodanthe, NC 27968
Coming up on our left is the Oregon Inlet Life-Saving Station from 1874. It’s the only structure we’ll see when the bridge meets land again; you can’t miss it. Can you imagine being on a ship in the dark, trying to find a dock along this coast? Before there was radar, GPS, or sonar, sailors didn’t have an easy time navigating this cape or the Oregon Inlet. Shipwrecks were incredibly common. So common, in fact, that the Outer Banks earned the nickname “The Graveyard of the Atlantic.”
Duration: 5 minutes
Stop At: Jughandle Bridge
Rodanthe, NC
We’re now driving through 13 miles of nature preserve! It’s the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, and it stretches from the bottom of the Oregon Inlet to the northern border of the community of Rodanthe. And it’s part of what scientists call “the Atlantic Flyway.” This is a corridor that migratory birds use to travel up and down the coast, sort of like a highway in the sky! Birds use these beaches as pit stops along their way.
Duration: 5 minutes
Stop At: Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station Historic Site and Museum
23645 North Carolina Highway 12, Rodanthe, NC 27968
Coming up in a moment will be parking for Pea Island Beach. This is a popular beach, but it’s so big you wouldn’t guess it! So even if you don’t go out in the water, take some time to sit on the sand and take in the gorgeous view.
Duration: 5 minutes
Stop At: The Mother Vine
263 Mother Vineyard Road, Manteo, NC 27954
We’re driving along Jughandle Bridge. But why does this bridge actually exist? After all, we’re not traveling from one island to the next, we’re just traveling next to the island!
Duration: 5 minutes
Stop At: Kite Point
North Carolina Highway 12, Buxton, NC 27920
Off to our left is another life-saving station, the Chicamacomico US Life-Saving Station. Like the Oregon Inlet Life-Saving Station, this served as a hub for rescue crews to live, observe the coast, and conduct training exercises with the peculiar device known as a beach apparatus. But what on earth is that?
Duration: 5 minutes
Stop At: Cape Hatteras Lighthouse
46379 Lighthouse Rd, , Buxton, North Carolina
The Outer Banks are home to some fascinating pieces of history, but one of the most unusual can be found on Roanoke Island. It’s known as the Mother Vine, and it’s the oldest grapevine on the continent still producing grapes! The vine is about 400 years old, though no one is sure of its exact date of origin.
Duration: 5 minutes
Stop At: Hatteras
Hatteras, North Carolina
We’re approaching a little spot on our right that locals call “kite point.” It’s just a strip of sand beach, but it’s become a mecca for kitesurfing! The beaches near here have been popular with windsurfers since the 1970s. And Kite Point is the perfect spot to watch this high speed sport in action. But where exactly did kitesurfing come from?
Duration: 5 minutes
Stop At: Teach's Lair Marina
58646 North Carolina Highway 12, Hatteras, NC 27943
Do you remember that the Bodie Lighthouse was so poorly built that it leaned like the tower of Pisa? Well, you’re about to see the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, and it had a tough time starting out too.
Duration: 5 minutes
Stop At: Hatteras Ferry Terminal
59063 North Carolina Highway 12, Hatteras, NC 27943
Cape Point in North Carolina isn't just a location; it's where nature and history meet. Its ever-changing sands and maritime stories connect visitors to a rich maritime heritage and the relentless shaping of the Outer Banks. Cape Point offers a unique blend of natural beauty and historical significance.
Duration: 5 minutes
Stop At: WWII British Sailor Cemetery
Buxton, NC 27920
We’re entering the small village of Hatteras. If you love fishing, this little village is the place for you! Locals and visitors alike make their money and spend their free time with a rod and reel in their hands. It’s got a population of around 400 people, so it’s as quiet and as quaint as a small town can get. The roads snake and meander around with no grids and no official plots. Everything here feels connected to nature.
Duration: 5 minutes
Stop At: Jockey's Ridge State Park
300 W Carolista Dr, Nags Head, North Carolina
We’re coming up on Teach’s Lair Marina. It’ll be the collection of boats off to our right in just a minute. As you’ve probably already guessed, the marina and plenty of other landmarks around here are named after Edward Teach, otherwise known as Blackbeard.
Duration: 5 minutes
Stop At: Wright Brothers National Memorial
1000 N Croatan Hwy, , Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina
Soon after that, we’ll also see the Hatteras Ferry Terminal. From there, you can take a ferry over to Ocracoke Island, if you’re in the mood to see those horses or look for Blackbeard’s ghost. Ferries depart three or four times a day, depending on the season. You can walk or take your car on the ferry.
Duration: 5 minutes
Stop At: Avalon Pier
2111 North Virginia Dare Trail, Kill Devil Hills, NC 27948
Do you remember the story of all those German U-Boats sitting out in a line near the Outer Banks, blowing up any cargo ship that was trying to leave North Carolina? Well, what I didn’t tell you was that a few Allied forces were sent over from Europe to help battle those Germans here in North Carolina. Those who perished ended up here, at the WWII British Sailor Cemetery.
Duration: 5 minutes
Stop At: Wright Brother's Garage Monument
3839 Moor Shore Road, Kitty Hawk, NC 27949
In just a moment we’ll see huge sand dunes off to our left. Those belong to Jockey’s Ridge State Park, the tallest sand dune system in the Eastern United States! But why are there sand dunes in the middle of this island? Aren’t the islands themselves sand dunes? Well, scientists believe that over many years, storms and hurricanes wash sand inland. Meanwhile, the winds from the mainland blow in the other direction.
Duration: 5 minutes
Stop At: Kitty Hawk Woods Reserve
983 W Kitty Hawk Rd, Kitty Hawk, North Carolina
To visit the Wright Brothers National Memorial, turn left onto Wright Memorial Drive. It’s got full-scale models of the brothers’ planes, markers of the distances of each flight the Wright Flyer took, and more.
Duration: 10 minutes
Stop At: Duck Town Park Boardwalk
Duck, North Carolina
If you’d like to visit Avalon Pier, turn right onto E. Sportsman Drive ahead. It’s a 440-foot-long wooden pier that has a fantastic view of the ocean and lots of restaurants and shops. The fishing is great from there too!
Duration: 5 minutes
Stop At: Pine Island Audubon Sanctuary
300 Audubon Drive, Corolla, NC 27927
Want to see where the Wright Brothers built one of their earliest gliders? Like all great American inventors, they got their start in a garage! I’ll tell you where to turn in a moment to see the site of the garage where it all began.
Duration: 5 minutes
Stop At: Corolla
Corolla, North Carolina
We’re driving through the town of Kitty Hawk. You’ve probably heard the name before. After all, historians credit this town with being where Wilbur and Orville took their first flight. But technically, the brothers took their flight a few miles south of the town line, in a place called Kill Devil Hills. Quite a name, I know! Since that wasn’t an official town in 1903, Kitty Hawk gets the credit for Orville and Wilbur!
Duration: 10 minutes
Stop At: Currituck Beach Lighthouse
1101 Corolla Village Road, Corolla, North Carolina
Coming up on our left is the Duck Town Park Boardwalk. This scenic park features waterfront trails, shops, restaurants, and more. If you’d like to visit and stretch your legs, turn left at the sign that says, “Town of Duck.” Otherwise, continue straight.
Duration: 10 minutes
Stop At: Whalehead Club
1100 Club Road, Corolla, NC 27927
Coming up is the Pine Island Audubon Sanctuary, containing 2,600 acres of preserved land. This land is home to hundreds of species of birds, but it would have been home to many more if not for the hunting craze that took over this part of the Outer Banks over a century ago.
Duration: 5 minutes
Additional Information
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- How to access: Once you book a tour, you’ll get a confirmation email and text with instructions: • Download the separate tour app by Action • Enter the password • Download the tour MUST DO while in strong wifi/cellular Works offline after download
- How to start touring: Open Action’s separate audio tour guide app once onsite. • If there is just one tour, launch it. • If multiple tour versions exist, launch the one with your planned starting point and direction.
- Go to the starting point No one will meet you at the start. This tour is self-guided Enter the first story’s point and the audio will begin automatically Follow the audio cues to the next story, which will also play automatically. Enjoy hands-free exploring. If you face audio issues, contact support. Stick to the tour route & speed limit for the best experience.
- Travel worry-free: Use the tour app anytime, on any day, and over multiple days. Start and pause the tour whenever you like, taking breaks and exploring side excursions at your own pace. Skip anything you don’t care about or explore bonus content for everything that interests you
- Savings tips: Driving tours: purchase just one tour for everyone in the car
- Buy once, use for one year! Ideal for extended visits and return trips over the next 12 months.
- Easy-to-use app: download Action’s Tour Guide App onto your phone
- Great value: purchase per car, not per person. More affordable than bus or guided tours!
- Engaging storytelling: Uncover unique tales and thrilling history for a memorable journey!
- Perfect narrator: nothing can beat listening to a great voice. Proven with tons of rave reviews!
- Offline maps: no signal, no problem! Works perfectly without cellular or wifi.
- Comprehensive route and stops: See it all, miss nothing, leave no stone unturned!
- Go at your own pace: Start anytime, pause anywhere, enjoy breaks for snacks and photos freely!
- Hands-free: audio stories play on their own based on your location. Easy to use!
Exclusions
- Attraction passes, entry tickets, or reservations
Redemption Instructions
Set your tour up NOW ahead of your trip, while in wifi/cell signal. Do not wait until your travel date, your tour is VALID FOR ONE YEAR.
1. Find The Setup Instructions NOW:
- Email: Search for “Action Tour Guide” with a subject line "Your tour operator sent you a message.". Check All Mail and Spam.
- Text: Search for “Action Tour Guide” sent from 14159804997.
- Viator App Messages: Viator App > Bookings > View Voucher > Contact Tour Operator
- TripAdvisor App Messages: TripAdvisor App > Account > Messages
Can’t find it? Ask Action Tour Guide to resend: actiontourguide.com/redeem/
2. Download The Tour NOW:
You MUST follow the instructions and download your tour BEFORE traveling to the site over WiFi/cellular. Do NOT wait until your travel date to download the tour.
Your tour is VALID FOR ONE YEAR. The tour is not tied to your travel date and is valid any day, any time for multiple visits for one year from your purchase date.
3. Audio Tour Tips
Not familiar with Action Tour Guide’s audio tours? Watch a short video: actiontourguide.com/tutorial
Important Note: Your purchase is for the audio tour ONLY. It does not include entrance tickets to parks or attractions.
CarPlay and Android Auto are not yet supported. Connect your phone via Bluetooth, USB, or Aux for audio. Use the phone speakers if needed.
Valid For One Year: Use your audio tour anytime, any day over the next 12 months. No need to change your booking if your travel date changes.
Support: Action Tour Guide is here to help! For quick answers read the Action Tour Guide website FAQs at actiontourguide.com/faq. For further help, call Action Tour Guide at 1315-291-0634, chat online at actiontourguide.com, or email support@actiontourguide.com.
Voucher Info
Mobile or paper ticket accepted
The tour identified in this promotion is made available through Viator. Groupon is not affiliated with or sponsored by the Travel with Action in connection with this deal. Please contact Groupon customer service for all inquiries related to this offer. Inquiries placed to Viator will be directed back to Groupon.
This offer is not eligible for promo codes.
Need To Know Info
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours in advance of the start date of the experience.
Merchant is solely responsible to purchasers for the care and quality of the advertised goods and services. Offer is not eligible for our promo codes or other discounts. Learn about Strike-Through Pricing and Savings