The northern area to me is much nicer(OBX area), but will probably add a good 3+ hours to your drive. It takes us about about 3 hours, if I remember correctly to get to the Outer Banx. There's several area's that you can drive on the beach as well. The Wilmington area is nice as well. I went down to Carolina Beach a few weeks ago. There are 2 area's where you can drive on the beach there.