My boyfriend and I did a little weekend trip to Wilmington, North Carolina for his birthday. Wilmington is a historic city on the coast of North Caroline. It’s within 15 minutes of Wrightsville beach. I have been to Wrightsville beach for a college sailing competition. I remember thinking I loved how close the city was to a beach town, and it reminds me a lot of Savannah, GA.

 

Downtown Wilmington is full of cool shops, good restaurants, and a mix of pubs and clubs. We started the trip with a cycle tour pub crawl. On the pub crawl we stopped at Edward Teach Brewery (Edward Teach is the infamous pirate, Blackbeard’s real name), Slainte Irish Pub, and The Husk. Edward Teach Brewery has a giant map wall where you can place a pin where you are from. I loved this idea because it’s so fun to see how many people from all different places came here to visit. I would also always recommend visiting local pubs or bars because it gives you a better feel for the area, you can try local beers, and it always feels authentic.

 

The downtown area is on a river that leads to the ocean. There’s a path to walk along the river. If you want to see an amazing view at sunset I would recommend going to Cloud 9. It’s a rooftop bar at the top of the Embassy Suites by Hilton. They open at 4 p.m. and by the time sunset comes around there will be a line to go in.

 

There are plenty of bars and clubs in the downtown Wilmington area. Some of the more local dive bar places are Duck & Dive, Good Fellas, and Blue Post. Blue Post has couches, pool tables, darts, and photo booths. For a more nightclub-type experience, there’s Ibiza or Pravda. Pravda will usually have a cover, but it’s Russian-themed with a special vodka bar.

 

Bar Local is another dive bar popular among locals. We were told it has the best pizza, so of course we went there to try it. We had the prosciutto-arugula pizza. While the pizza was very yummy, the service was a little slow due to lots of pizza orders and a small kitchen. The staff was very apologetic about it, and coincidentally we saw our server the next day in the Old Wilmington City Market. When she saw us she bought us drinks at the wine bar and apologized for the night before. This was such a pleasant surprise, and we were able to chat with her a little and get more Wilmington recommendations.

 

The Old Wilmington City Market is in downtown right by the water. There’s local art vendors, fun shops, and places to eat and drink. I would definitely recommend walking through at least once. We went to the Old Wilmington City Market right before going to Anne Bonny’s Bar and Grill on the water and taking a river boat tour.

 

The River Boat tour is really inexpensive and a fun way to hear more about Wilmington’s history, You’ll hear about the ships that go up and down the river, the restoration of old downtown buildings, the Port of Wilmington and much more!

 

If you want a fun dinner outside of the busy downtown, you have to try Indochine. Indochine is a Thai and Vietnamese restaurant that is known for it’s elaborate atmosphere. The entire restaurant is decorated exotically with art. We were told to ask about the Vietnamese wraps appetizer, and it was a build-your-own rice paper wrap set up. They gave us rice paper, showed us how to fill and roll it, and then gave us chicken, beef, veggies, and sauces to use. It was really fun for a date or would even be good to do with your friends. Not everyone wants to build their own dish when they pay at a restaurant, but for us, it was a fun way to experience this type of Asian cuisine. In addition to the wraps, we got the spicy tuna sushi roll. To drink, we shared sake. Sake is not like typical American alcohol drinks. I would say you definelty need to try it and keep an open mind. We had warm safe, which feels like you’re drinking tea out of a shot glass expect it’s not tea it’s alcohol. The entire dinner at Indochine was really amazing. We had a great server and the food and drinks were phenomenal. This place is a must-visit if you are even in Wilmington, NC.

 

Wrightsville beach is just a few minutes from Wilmington, and it also has great options for food and drinks. Of course there is the beach as well. For breakfast or coffee, I would recommend Zeke’s Bean’s & Bowls for açaí bowls, poke, smoothies, and more. I would also recommend The Workshop for coffee. It’s a small coffee shop that has display cases of shark teeth. You can also buy shark teeth jewelry in addition to your morning coffee.

 

To eat in Wrightsville beach, I would recommend Tower 7 Baja Mexican Grill or South Beach Grill. We also had lunch at Wrightsville beach Brewery. There was a pop-up event with The Grove Market, and they had multiple local vendors and a band outside the brewery. We tried some local beers and had the shrimp po-boy pizza, which was so good.

 

To do:

• Grove Market
• Old Wilmington City Market
• River Boat Tour
• Cycle Pub Tour
• Ghost Tour

 

To Eat:

• Adapt kitchen & juice bar
• Zeke’s Beans & Bowls
• Shark Bar & Kitchen
• Tower 7 Baja Mexican grill
• Poe’s Tavern
• South Beach Grill
• East
• Indochine
• Lulas pub
• Reel
• Tantelli’s
• Nikki’s (best sushi)
• Bar local (good pizza in a local’s bar)
• Caprice Italian

 

To drink

• wrightsville beach brewery
• Tavern law 1832
• Slainte Irish pub
• The husk
• Edward teach brewery
• Cloud 9 (at sunset)
• Duck & dive
• Good fellas 
• Hoggins
• Ibiza
• Pravda (will have to pay cover)
• Blue post ($1 cover)
• Rooftop bar at the Front Theatre

 

Coffee:

• Sunday’s cafe (surf cafe)
• The Workshop (shark tooth)