By ship
There are two water taxi services that connect downtown Wilmington to the U.S. Battleship North Carolina (http://www.cfrboats.com/w...) and connect Wrightsville Beach to the North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve at Masonboro Island (http://www.capefearnatura...). Many area attractions, including Carolina Beach, downtown Wilmington, and Wrightsville Beach are accessible by boat via the Cape Fear River and Intracoastal Waterway.
By car
If you do not drive to Wilmington, it really is advisable to rent a car once you arrive as travel in Wilmington is so difficult without one.
Car rental is available at the airport from these companies:
Avis
+1 910 763-1993Hertz Rent-a-Car
+1 910 762-1010National Car Rental
+1 910 762-8000Thrifty Rent-a-Car
+1 910 343-1411Traffic can be heavy in some parts of Wilmington South College Rd., Market St., but on the whole, driving around town is relatively easy. For the most part, major thoroughfares radiate out from the historic downtown, and there are numerous streets that allow you to cut across these radiating thoroughfares. The new Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway provides easy access to downtown, the airport, Interstate 40, and the beach while bypassing the most congested parts of Wilmington.
By bus
Local bus service is provided by the Cape Fear Public Transportation Authority, which does business as WAVE Transit (http://www.wavetransit.com/). WAVE Transit operates eight local routes through the city of Wilmington and New Hanover County. Most of these operate every 30 min on weekdays. The authority also operates a free downtown trolley that runs every 10 min on weekdays and infrequent service to the towns of Belville, Bolton, Hallsboro, Lake Waccamaw, Leland, Navassa, and Whiteville on the west side of the Cape Fear River. The base fare for a one-way trip is $1.50. The services that cross the river are more expensive.
By bike
The NCDOT Cape Fear Run Bicycling Highway 5 (http://www.ncdot.org/tran...) connects Apex to Wilmington and closely parallels the RUSA 600km brevet route. The 300-mile Ports of Call Bicycling Highway 3 connects Wilmington to Bath, Edenton, New Bern and Southport. The River to the Sea Bikeway signed route 1 runs for ten miles from downtown Wilmington to Wrightsville Beach along local streets and off-road paths. The Wilmington Metropolitan Planning Organization (http://wmpo.org/wmbpc/) produced a map of local bicycle facilities and routes in 2007.