By Sarah Davis

North Carolina’s Cape Fear Coast is a hip, seaside region ideal for spontaneous visits, especially during the second week of April when spring flowers bloom and the ocean plays second-fiddle to the North Carolina Azalea Festival.

The five-day festival, held April 11-15, includes a downtown street fair in Wilmington with continuous live entertainment, headliner band concerts, a spectacular parade with elaborately decorated floats, marching bands, Southern belles and Queen Azalea. Festival-sanctioned home and garden tours, a circus and fireworks are other fun things scheduled.
Phone: 910-794-4650.

Downtown Wilmington
One of the most entertaining ways to explore Wilmington’s historic downtown is by joining a haunted pub crawl ($15). The tour begins at about 7:30 p.m. at one pub, in which guests can have a stout pint as the guide begins to tell stories of ghosts that live amid the draft handles and beer mugs. Then on to another pub, where the story might get spookier – or funnier, you never know. Tours are offered every Wednesday-Saturday during warmer months, and less frequently during colder weather, but all tours are reserved for those 21 and older. Even if you don’t believe in ghosts, after downing a few pints, you might take the story of James Maybrick or Mary Ratcliff to heart.

For all family members, with no age restrictions, join the Ghost Walk of Old Wilmington, which begins at 6:30 p.m. (Fee: $12 for adults; $10 for military, students and seniors; free for children under 6) Phone: 910-794-1866.

Wrightsville Beach
A laid-back beach town where surfing is the outdoor activity of choice, Wrightsville Beach is home to Blockade Runner Beach Resort, a good place to set up shop for the Azalea Festival or a Wilmington visit.

The Blockade Runner, a recently renovated hotel with 30 oceanfront balcony guest rooms, 42-inch plasma flat screen TVs and new furniture, is ideal positioning for outings with the Salt Marsh Kayak Co.

Hotel guests can walk across the street to the outdoor company’s small outpost, which offers kayaking and sailing lessons and tours.