North Carolina events › Itineraries › Wilmington and Cape Fear Weekend
Wilmington and Cape Fear Weekend: a 2-day plan with 4 stops, 2 of them state parks and 2 attractions, each with admission, dog rules and hours or notes copied from the official page. 3 list free entry. Each stop has a planning estimate for time on site and the road time to the next stop; drive times from five cities are in the table.
- Days2plan, then adjust
- Stops4each with a source
- State Parks2official park pages
- Free Entry3as the page states
Trip Kit
Plan It With Your People
Pick a start date, then send the plan to your group chat, put every day in your calendar, or open each day as a route in Google Maps.
Someone sent you this trip. It is set to the dates they picked.
A museum ship in Wilmington, then a Civil War fort at Kure Beach.
Day at a glance: about 3 h 15 min at the stops plus 38 min on the road between them, 3 h 53 min in all. Leave at 9:00 a.m. and you finish around 12:53 p.m., before meals and the drive to and from where you sleep.
Battleship North Carolina
Wilmington, New Hanover County · Attraction
- Plan about
- 2 h (our estimate)
- Arrive about
- 9:00 a.m. (our estimate)
- Priority
- Essential (our pick)
- Adult admission
- $14 (ages 12 and over)
- Child admission
- $6 (ages 6-11); 5 and under free
- Dogs
- Not confirmed
- Parking
- Free parking
- Operator notes
- Separate tour route pricing also listed ($10 adult / $5 child 6-11 for an additional tour)
Checked October 18, 2026.
Fort Fisher State Historic Site
Kure Beach, New Hanover County · AttractionFree Entry
- Plan about
- 1 h 15 min (our estimate)
- Arrive about
- 11:38 a.m.
- Priority
- Essential (our pick)
- Adult admission
- Free (admission is free per page)
- Child admission
- Free
- Dogs
- Not confirmed
Checked October 18, 2026.
About 38 min by road (21 mi) from Battleship North Carolina
Beach and marsh at the south end of the Cape Fear peninsula.
Day at a glance: about 2 h 30 min at the stops plus 14 min on the road between them, 2 h 44 min in all. Leave at 9:00 a.m. and you finish around 11:44 a.m., before meals and the drive to and from where you sleep.
Carolina Beach State Park
Carolina Beach, New Hanover County · State parkFree Entry
This coastal park south of Wilmington is where the Venus flytrap grows wild, and it also has a 50-foot dune and three limesink ponds with their own plant communities. Its marina opens onto the Cape Fear River and the Intracoastal Waterway for boaters and anglers.
- Plan about
- 1 h 30 min (our estimate)
- Arrive about
- 9:00 a.m. (our estimate)
- Priority
- Essential (our pick)
- Admission
- Free day use (exceptions in note)
- Hours
- Closes 6 to 10 p.m.; opens 7 a.m., by month
- Dogs
- Pets are allowed at the park and at campsites. They are not permitted inside buildings or in camper cabins. Pets must be on an attended leash of no longer than 6 feet at all times.
- Closed
- The park is closed on Christmas Day.
Checked October 27, 2026. Official page
Fort Fisher State Recreation Area
Kure Beach, New Hanover County · State parkFree Entry
This is the only park in the state system that allows four-wheel-drive beach access, which makes it a draw for surf fishing. Loggerhead sea turtles nest on the beach in warm months, and a marsh trail ends at an observation deck facing Zeke's Island.
- Plan about
- 1 h (our estimate)
- Arrive about
- 10:44 a.m.
- Priority
- Optional (our pick)
- Admission
- Free day use (exceptions in note)
- Hours
- Closes 6 to 9 p.m.; opens 8 a.m., by month
- Dogs
- Pets are allowed at the park, except they are not permitted on the swim beach or inside buildings. Pets must be on an attended leash of no longer than 6 feet at all times.
- Closed
- The park is closed on Christmas Day.
Checked October 27, 2026. Official page
About 14 min by road (7 mi) from Carolina Beach State Park
More Stops If You Have Time
North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher
Kure Beach, New Hanover County · Attraction
- Plan about
- 2 h (our estimate)
- Priority
- Optional (our pick)
- Adult admission
- Not confirmed
- Child admission
- Not confirmed
- Dogs
- Not confirmed
- Operator notes
- Page states the aquarium is CLOSED for a multi-year renovation and expansion; do not list as open
Checked October 18, 2026.
Drive Times From Five Cities
| Stop | Charlotte | Raleigh | Greensboro | Asheville | Wilmington |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battleship North Carolina | 200 min | 117 min | 187 min | 307 min | 11 min |
| Carolina Beach State Park | 219 min | 131 min | 202 min | 325 min | 18 min |
First route Google Maps listed, read October 18, 2026, so live traffic may be reflected. Stops without a row are not in our drive-times file. Full table: drive times to North Carolina attractions.
Map of Wilmington and Cape Fear Weekend
Frequently Asked Questions
How many days do I need?
This plan is built for 2 days. Stops are listed in a workable order, not a promise that every one fits in your time.
How were the times worked out?
Road times between stops come from OpenStreetMap road routing with no live traffic. Time on site and the Essential or Optional label are our planning estimates, so treat the day totals as a starting point and read each operator’s hours.
Are the prices and hours current?
Each stop was read on its own official page on the date shown under it. Prices and hours change by season; use the official page link before you go.
Where are the events?
Dated events change every week, so they are not on this page. Pick your dates in the trip kit above, then open the event finder for what is on.
What We Could Not Confirm
- Battleship North Carolina: dogs not confirmed on the operator page we read; check the official page before you go.
- Fort Fisher State Historic Site: dogs not confirmed on the operator page we read; check the official page before you go.
- North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher: adult admission, child admission, dogs not confirmed on the operator page we read; check the official page before you go.
- Road times between stops come from OpenStreetMap road routing (OSRM), read October 27, 2026, with no live traffic, closures, ferry waits or seasonal road status; real trips can take longer, and the trip kit’s route buttons open current Google Maps directions.
- Time at each stop, the Essential or Optional label and every arrival time are our own planning estimates, not figures from the operators. Arrival times assume a 9:00 a.m. start and no meal stops. We did not check each arrival against that stop’s opening hours, so confirm hours on the official page.
- Map pins are the park’s own ncparks.gov coordinates or an OpenStreetMap point for the attraction. They are not verified entrances or parking areas; confirm the entrance on the official page before you drive.
Sources
- Battleship North Carolina (operator page)
- Fort Fisher State Historic Site (operator page)
- Carolina Beach State Park (state park page)
- Fort Fisher State Recreation Area (state park page)
- North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher (operator page)
- OSRM routing on OpenStreetMap data
- OpenStreetMap place points
Read on October 27, 2026. Road times are computed from park GPS and OpenStreetMap points without traffic. How we check: editorial standards; spot a mistake? Tell us.
Cite this page: It's North Carolina, “Wilmington and Cape Fear Weekend”, itsnorthcarolina.com/itineraries/wilmington-cape-fear-weekend/ (updated ). By the It's North Carolina editorial team. Free to quote with attribution and a link to this page; data and tables are licensed CC BY 4.0.