Salt and SummitA local's North Carolina guide

West to east

Brunswick County coast

Sunset Beach, Ocean Isle Beach, Holden Beach, and Oak Island. Four Brunswick County barrier beaches, lined up west to east.

Last updated October 15, 2026.

These four towns sit on barrier islands between the Atlantic and the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, in North Carolina's southernmost coastal county. From the South Carolina line toward the Cape Fear, the order is Sunset Beach, Ocean Isle Beach, Holden Beach, then Oak Island. Inlets separate them. You drive inland to hop from one island to the next. The sand does not do carpool.

Caswell Beach and Bald Head Island are also Brunswick beaches. Caswell shows up here because the Oak Island Lighthouse stands there. Caswell doesn't get its own town page. Bald Head is a ferry trip, and it's outside version 1.

Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through November 30. Summer is the crowded season, all sunscreen and bridge traffic. Spring and fall quiet down. Winter is an open beach and a lot of seasonal counters with the lights off.

Brunswick CountyOcean Isle BeachAbout five low-rise miles of Brunswick County sand between Sunset Beach and Holden Beach.Brunswick CountyHolden BeachEight miles of houses, one bridge, and a town motto that just says Family Beach.Brunswick CountySunset BeachNorth Carolina's last developed Atlantic beach before South Carolina, with a mailbox walk on Bird Island.Brunswick CountyOak IslandThe biggest of these four beach towns, next door to Caswell Beach and its concrete lighthouse.