Photo: Lahglele, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
More than half of our guests are three generations under one roof, and after a decade of hosting them we know what makes that week easy and what makes it hard. Here is the playbook.
Pick the home for the least mobile person
If a grandparent has trouble with stairs, the condos at St. Regis are the answer: an elevator from the parking deck to your door, a covered heated pool, and the sand a short elevator ride away. Sea Pointe Combined joins two sixth floor point units for 16 people with two kitchens and no stairs at all. If stairs are fine, the beach houses give you a fenced oceanfront deck and a private walkway, which is the shortest distance between a toddler and the ocean anywhere on the island.
The toddler beach schedule
Morning on the sand while it is cool: the tidal pools that form late in the day here are the best toddler feature we have, warm and ankle deep. Lunch and a nap in a dark bedroom (all of our bedrooms have blackout curtains or shades in the condos). Late afternoon back on the deck, where the gate on the beach houses means a parent can actually sit down. Dinner on the grill, bath in the outdoor shower, bed by eight, and the grown-ups get the fire table.
What we provide so you pack less
Every home has a well stocked kitchen, linens and towels, beach chairs, and a washer and dryer, so the car can hold a pack and play instead of a suitcase of towels. Ask us before you book about high chairs and pack and plays in the specific home you are considering; we would rather tell you exactly than have you guess.
Sleeping arrangements that keep the peace
Every property page on this site has a bed by bed map. The pattern that works: grandparents in the oceanfront main bedroom with the private balcony, parents with the baby in a queen room, and older cousins in the bunk room. In the duplexes, one side can go to bed at seven and the other side can stay up.
Rainy day and off beach ideas
The Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center in Surf City is the one outing that every age loves. The St. Regis game room is a lifesaver for the seven to twelve crowd. And a grandparent walking a toddler to the ice cream shop in Surf City is a memory nobody plans and everybody keeps.
Quick answers
Which Topsail rental is best for a grandparent who cannot do stairs?
Our St. Regis condos: Aqua Vista, Sea Pointe North, Sea Pointe South, and Sea Pointe Combined all have elevator access from the parking deck to the door and a covered heated pool.
Do your beach houses have fenced decks for toddlers?
Yes. The oceanfront decks on our beach houses are gated, and the private walkway means the beach is seconds away with no street to cross.
Room for everyone, and an elevator if you need one
Compare the beach houses and the St. Regis condos, then ask us which one fits your crew.