Harbour Town, Hilton Head Island

This is a beautiful little harbour town with great shops of all kinds. The views are wonderful and bring your camera! You can find boats of all kinds here from a dingy to million dollar ships. Many things to do here from walking around eating ice cream to dolphin tours.

If you are looking for something to do, go to the pier at Harbour Town. This is the place to be if your looking for water sports and tours. Take a sail on the Stars and Stripes Yacht to see dolphins or a sunset. Rent any thing for water sports you can think of and have fun.

The Harbour Town Lighthouse was built in 1970, this lighthouse is not maintained by the Coast Guard and is NOT officially a lighthouse, though it does have a beacon which does assist boats coming in the waterways. Charles E. Fraser developed much of the island and built the lighthouse. The lighthouse has a store at the top and has great views to reward you when you reach the top. It was built as a tourist attraction and has been most successful in becoming the identification symbol for Hilton Head Island.

Harbour town is in Sea Pines, and you'll have to pay to get in. There is a lighthouse, which was never really made to serve any other purpose besides tourism, but it is a landmark of Hilton Head Island nonetheless. Also, you can take sailboat rides from the harbour. I recommend renting a jetskii or taking a sailboat ride, because there are plenty of dolphins in the water, and they are friendly!!! :-)

Harbour Town is a great place to visit--it has restaurants (try she-crab soup!!) a multitude of shops and places to just cool your jets!! There is a moderate cost for the parking, a shuttle takes you to a drop off point. During the prime vacation season, you may have to wait in line to get on and off the shuttle.

There are twenty different shops to visit and a number of restaurants. Shops include those for clothing, gift and crafts, nature, art galleries, jewelry and beach souvenirs.

the harbour town lighthouse was built in 1970 and is the most recognizable modern symbol of hilton head island. inside of the lighthouse is a viewing area, small museum, and a gift shop. at the base of the lighthouse are a couple of restaurants and harbour town marina. a very touristy thing to do when on hilton head island. note there is a $5 fee to enter harbour town.

Boat after boat docked at Harbour Town. Our family loved watching them--while I did a little shopping with the other gals, the guys kept an eye on the waterfront action. There was always something to interest them.

Our favorite restaurants at Harbor Town were the Crazy Crab--a great place to try She-Crab soup and The Quarterdeck--which offered a wide variety of choices that appealed to kids and adults.

In Harbor Town-Get the view. You can walk up to the top and get a view from Sea Pines Plantation for miles around to see the ocean and marsh areas. It really is nice and untouched in a lot of sections.

This resort project is one that I was involved in to take over real estate in the mid 1970's and the resell. NOt a good time to do that, but I got a lot of trips out of it and learned a lot about highbrow people and politics steering money their way.
Dea Pines and Hilton Head are some of the more attractive resort plantations on the east cost. The island held a great deal more when it had less people. Now it is saturated and hard to manuveur around the island. Why would you sit in traffic to go out to eat all the time? Prices at Hilton Head are high and even rentals on the steep end.

With endless shopping, dining and entertainment options, it's easy to plan a full day in Harbour Town. From the docks, charter a boat, rent a Waverunner or try an adventure cruise. Hungry? Eateries range from ice cream shops to upscale restaurants. Various stores sell everything from postcards and T-shirts to unique gifts and artwork. Of course, there's always the inviting option of simply kicking back on a park bench and taking in the scenery from the water's edge.
As the sun goes down, the Quarterdeck fills up with cocktail-slurping folks awaiting the stunning sunset. At night, crowds mill about and listen to live music from Center Court until a table opens up at an inevitably crowded restaurant nearby