The April Southern Living Magazine is The South’s Best issue.  It named Hilton Head Island as The South’s Best Beach and The South’s Best Beach Town.

Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, No. 1 of the South’s Best Beaches
Southern Living April 2019 The South’s Best Issue

The South’s Best Beaches
No. 1 Hilton Head Island
South Carolina

Best known for golf at classic resorts like Sea Pines and Palmetto Dunes, Hilton Head Island has been around for a while (incorporated in 1983) and has grown comfortable in its own skin. Explore flat wide Atlantic beaches and waterways that are ideal for paddling.

The South’s Best Issue
Southern Living April 2019

Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, No. 1 of the South’s Best Beaches
Southern Living April 2019 The South’s Best Issue

The photo caption says;  “Hilton Head Island’s scenic sand and surf, colorful homes on Isle of Palms”

Hilton Head Island, SC, No. 1 of the South’s Best Beach Towns
Southern Living April 2019 The South’s Best Issue

The article that named Hilton Head Island as the number one Best Beach Town was even more effusive if possible.

South’s Best Beach Towns
No. 1 Hilton Head Island, SC
A Grown-up Beach Village

One might argue that it’s the beach that makes a place the best beach town, but Hilton Head Island proves something even more true: It’s the richness of the town that wins the day, and in this case, the hearts of its 40.000 locals.

Let’s not dismiss Hilton Head’s superb beach bona fides, however; Tucked snugly against the water-riven coast of South Carolina, the foot-shaped island exposes 12 miles of broad, tawny sands to the Atlantic Ocean’s rolling swells. All 12 miles are public beach that feel both expansive and inclusive (several access points include mats for wheelchairs). And with an average air and water temperature of around 70 degrees, that’s about as pitch-perfect as beach life gets.

But Hilton Head is far more than sun-loving fun. First, it is home to one of the great American cultures, Gullah, which evolved from the beliefs and practices of Africans enslaved on (and later liberated from) Hilton Head’s indigo and Sea Island cotton plantations. In fact, the island is home to Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park, site of the first self-governing village of liberated slaves – then called “freedmen” – in the nation. Set beneath arching oaks on Port Royal Sound, Mitchelville is now a center for touring and education and is emblematic of a welcome surge in Gullah-focused tours, festivals, and cuisine as well as an increased awareness for the 2.67 million visitors who cross the bridge onto Hilton Head Island every year.

Second, and just as important, Hilton Head feels all grown up. The sparkling eco-community (with a serious not to golf) that real estate developer Charles Fraser carved out amid the island’s dense pine stands in 1956 has matured into a collection of gated neighborhoods surrounded by live oaks, magnolias, and palmettos; linked by neon free boulevards bordered by …

The South’s Best Issue
Southern Living April 2019

The photos are of Coligny Beach, one of the wheelchair accessible beaches and of boats by the Harbour Town lighthouse.