Corolla Recreation

Corolla Raceway

• 796 Sunset Boulevard, Timbuck II Shopping Village
• Corolla
• (252) 453-9100

The Corolla Raceway features one large track with 16 super-fast Indy cars. For the tamer ones in your crowd, there are freestanding, gas-powered bumper cars. The onsite arcade is a hit with the kids. The Raceway is open Easter through November, and from Memorial to Labor Day they have a snack bar stocked with treats.

Corolla Surf Shop—Monteray Plaza

• 807 Ocean Trail, Monteray Plaza
• Corolla
• (252) 453-WAVE and 453-9273

If you don’t know how to surf or want to get better at it, take a lesson through the surf school at Corolla Surf Shop. The two-hour introductory group lessons cover all the basics and include board and wetsuit rental, all for just $65. As long as the waves are good and you’re in pretty good shape, the instructors can almost guarantee they’ll have you standing up by the end of the lesson. Their top-notch surf school was recently written up in the NYTimes and recommended by Fitness Magazine as one of the top surf schools on the East Coast.

Corolla Wild Horse Fund—Trip of a Lifetime

• 1126 Schoolhouse Lane, Old Corolla Village
• Corolla
• 252-453-8002

Take the trip of a lifetime with the Corolla Wild Horse Fund’s Herd Manager. During a tour, which can last up to four hours, he will educate, observe, document and entertain you about aspects of the magnificent members of the Corolla wild horse herd. The trip is a benefit of membership donations at the two highest levels and entitles you and your guests to travel the north beach privately with the manager—what an amazing experience! 

Currituck Heritage Park & The Whalehead Club

• 1100 Club Road
• Corolla
• (252) 453-9040

Currituck Heritage Park is located on 39 acres of pristine soundfront property. The Park has a public boat ramp, areas for picnics, fishing and crabbing and is the starting destination for a bike path through Corolla. Take a stroll at sunset, or spread a blanket and enjoy the wildlife and natural beauty in the park. Leashed pets are welcome on the grounds. In addition to the Whalehead Club, you will find the Outer Banks Center for Wildlife Education and the Currituck Beach Lighthouse at the park. Please see the separate entries in Attractions for more information on each of those places.

Family-friendly fun events are a big part of Currituck Heritage Park: From art to fireworks to music, you’ll find it all. For up to the minute, live information on all the 2010 happenings, go to www.OuterBanksThisWeek.com. For additional information, please call (252) 453-9040 or visit their website.

Kitty Hawk Kites

• 817 Monteray Drive, Monteray Plaza
• Corolla
• (252) 453-3685

Looking for a little adventure? If you’ want to get vertical, check out the climbing wall at Carolina Outdoors. The 26-foot climbing wall is located in the Monteray Plaza courtyard. You get two climbs for $7. If height just isn’t your thing but you like to get wet and wild, they also rent single and tandem ocean kayaks (the sit-on-top style). No reservations are necessary.

Kitty Hawk Watersports

• 798 Sunset Boulevard, TimBuck II Shopping Village
• Corolla
• (252) 453-6900

If it’s on the water, the folks here can help you do it! Located on the sound at the backside of TimBuck II, Kitty Hawk Watersports rents four-stroke Waverunners, pontoon boats, stand-up paddleboards, sit-on-top and sit-in kayaks and two- and four-seat pedal boats. You can rent the pontoons with or without a captain — sunset cruises are perfect in one of these vessels! Guided kayak ecotours are offered in the morning and afternoon and at sunset. This year they’ve also added banana boat rides! Tried parasailing yet? Well, this is Corolla’s only parasailing location, and they fly single, double and triple parasail rides up to 1200 feet. They have a brand new USCG-certified boat and equipment. You can also do guided fishing tirps and rent fishing boats. Kitty Hawk Watersports has a retail store in TimBuck II, but that is not where you book the tours or rent gear. Go to the sound and look for the water sports building and pier.

Metropolis

• 520 Old Stoney Road, Ocean Club Centre
• Corolla
• (252) 453-6167

Metropolis is a great spot for a later-night evening of fun at the beach. They have an extensive beer, wine and liquor menu and are open until 2 a.m. Come early if you want to experience their supurb dinner menu. 

Mike Dianna’s Grill Room

• 777 Sunset Boulevard, TimBuck II Shopping Village
• Corolla
• (252) 453-4336

Mike Dianna’s Grill Room has an outdoor deck and bar with live music Monday through Friday in season. As an added benefit for all you oenophiles, their distinctive wine selection has won Wine Spectator’s Award of Excellence for the past three years.

Moneysworth Beach Home Equipment Rentals

• Delivers throughout the Outer Banks
• (252) 261-6999, (800) 833-5233

Moneysworth offers all beach vacation essentials for rent. They have everything from bicycles to linens, beach umbrellas to baby equipment. Best of all, they offer free delivery. See Recreation for more information on the sporting equipment they offer.

Outer Banks Charter Fishing Adventures/Corolla Bait and Tackle

• 603 Currituck Clubhouse Drive, The Shoppes at the Currituck Club and 101 Austin Street, Corolla Light Village
• Corolla
• (252) 453-9500, (252) 453-9690

Corolla Bait and Tackle offers two-hour sunset cruises where you take a relaxing cruise around the sound and see Monkey Island, birds and other wildlife. They also offer a pontoon-boat trip to the winery at Knott’s Island. You enjoy a short boat trip across the sound, participate in a wine tasting at the beautiful vineyards then motor back to Corolla. Be sure to bring binoculars, snacks and drinks. Want a little more action? Ask about the full range of fishing trips offered here; for more information see Fishing.

Keith Cummings, owner of Corolla Bait and Tackle, also provides guided fishing opportunities. He’s a pro, and he loves sharing his fishing knowledge.

Pine Island Racquet and Fitness Center

• 290 Audubon Drive, between Corolla and Duck
• Corolla
• (252) 453-8525

Who says you have to miss a workout while on vacation? This center sports a fitness and health center complete with cardio and circuit training equipment. They offer elliptical trainers, Cybex machines, free weights, treadmills and rowing machines. The center is open to the public, so you can pay to work out for a day or get a membership for a week or longer. For tennis players, the Pine Island Racquet Center is a still a tennis lover’s dream. Choose from play on three indoor Plexi-cushion hard courts, heated or air-conditioned depending on the weather, or two outdoor clay courts. Lessons and clinics for children and adults are available from P.T.R. pros Rick Ostlund, Kent Autrey and staff. Reservations are suggested for court times, and play costs are $32 for indoor courts and $28 for outside courts. The club is open every day but Christmas Day. In-season weekday hours are from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.; on weekends it’s open 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Off-season hours are from 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends. The pro shop sells racquets, clothes and tennis accessories and provides stringing services. Want to set up a match? The club has a player referral list to organize matches.

RC Theaters Corolla Movies 4

• 815 Ocean Trail, Monteray Plaza
• Corolla
• (252) 453-2999

For first-run major movies, this is the only place to be on the northern beaches. The Corolla movies are open seasonally, from May through Labor Day and then again from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day. Movies are shown seven days a week. Call the hotline for movie information, check a local newspaper, such as The Coastland Times or The Outer Banks Sentinel or use your phone app. On rainy summer days they run extra showings in the mid-morning or early afternoon.

Sundogs Raw Bar and Grill

• 807 Ocean Trail, Monterey Plaza
• Corolla
• (252) 453-GAME (4263)

Looking for a little action in quiet Corolla? Sundogs is the place. They are open until 2 a.m. in the summer season and have live entertainment almost every night. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday it’s live music, DJs spin on Friday, and you can get into Family Karaoke on Monday and Wednesday nights with kids hours from 8 to 10 p.m. They also have 12 large flat panel TVs and a huge projection TV for sports, a pool table and a fully stocked bar where you can hang out and shoot the breeze. No one younger than 21 is allowed after 10 p.m.

The Grass Course

• 1024 Ocean Trail
• Corolla
• (252) 453-4198

The Grass Course offers 18 holes of miniature golf on all-natural grass. Holes are par 3s, 4s or 5s, and all ages can play here. There’s a snack shop on site. Open only in season, the course is available all day until 10 p.m. or later. If the lights are on, you are welcome to play! It’s next to the Corolla Light Sports Center.

TW’s Bait & Tackle

• 815B Ocean Trail, Monteray Plaza
• Corolla
• (252) 453-3339

TW’s is a well-respected Outer Banks tackle shop that’s been in business for 29 years. TW’s sells all the fishing gear, sportswear and bait you’ll need for the whole family to enjoy fishing in the sound or ocean. They have a large selection of lures, jigs, bottom rigs, nets, crabbing supplies and more, and they stock fresh bait like shrimp and mullet and lots of frozen baits. You can rent rods and reels here. Best of all, the folks at TW’s offer lots of free advice for everyone from the novice fisherman to the experienced angler. TW’s is also located in Kitty Hawk and Nags Head. See Shopping for more about the sportswear and home décor items sold here.

Wild Horse Adventure Tours

• 610 Currituck Clubhouse Road
• Corolla
• (252) 489-2020

There was a time when you could look out your rental cottage window and see wild horses traveling in herds and maybe eating your grass, but, for the good of the horses, that is no longer so. The wild horses were relocated to the four-wheel-drive area north of Corolla, so you must have an off-road vehicle if you want to see them. Wild Horse Adventure Tours can be your guide! They have three ways to get you into horse country. First is in a Suburban (a closed vehicle) driven by one of their seasoned guides, the second is in an open-top vehicle also driven by one of their guides, the third is to rent one of their Jeeps and drive yourself following one of their guides. The guides at Wild Horse Adventure Tours know exactly where to look for the horses, they know how to drive in the sand and they know a lot about the history of the area, making for a much more enlightening trip on your part. They’ll also point out snakes, shore birds, plants and interesting natural aspects of this oceanside environment. They run many scheduled trips per day — if you want to see real beauty, check out their sunrise excursion — so call to get all the details and make a reservation. Horse sightings are guaranteed.

Wildlife Education Programs

• Outer Banks Center for Wildlife Education, 1160 Village Lane, Currituck Heritage Park
• Corolla
• (252) 453-0221

The Outer Banks Center for Wildlife Education in Corolla offers great educational programs all year long that focus on the theme of exploring coastal North Carolina’s natural history and heritage. The daily free programs teach participants about such topics as birding, sound ecology, ocean ecology, animal tracking, orienteering, sea turtles, fishing and much more. Advanced registration is required for all programs. They are happy to work with schools and groups; just contact the program coordinator to schedule your visit. They also have an exhibit gallery and the NC Wild Store. All are open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. They are closed on Sundays year round.