The Village at Wild Dunes Family Activities

Wild Dunes offers so many diverse activities, including a full menu of family-oriented options, that it's impossible to do it all -- or even a fraction of what is available. Here's a general outline of what you'll find. Note that most (but not all) of the organized activities require a separate fee and making reservations at least a day in advance is always recommended to guarantee your space in the high season and to assure adequate participation to hold the event in the off-season.

Beach
Wild Dunes is located right on a 150-yard-wide, family-friendly sandy beach that's great for swimming, building sand castles, playing beach games, sunning and shelling (you can occasionally find whole sand dollars if you look hard enough at low tide). Surf lessons (both private and semi-private) are available at the resort, and if you didn't happen to bring your own, you can rent boogie boards, skim boards, surfboards and beach chairs with umbrellas.

Pool
All resort guests additionally have access to the two swimming pools on the Grand Pavilion at the end of the boardwalk near the beach as well as the more inland outdoor Swim Center pool, which features lap swimming as well as recreational swimming. During the summer, an 18-foot-high inflatable waterslide is available at the Swim Center for an extra cost (daily or weekly passes available). (Guests at the Boardwalk Inn and those staying in villa complexes in the rest of the Wild Dunes Resort complex also have access to additional pools for those areas -- the resort has a total of 20 pools in all.)

Dunes Golf
Wild Dunes features two 18-hole, 70-par golf courses (the Harbor Course, where you play from island to island in the intracoastal waterway, and the spectacular oceanfront Links Course) that were both designed by Tom Fazio and are consistently ranked among the best in the United States. Individual golf lessons and group golf clinics are offered for adults and children ages 8 to 16. The Fazio Junior program allows children ages 16 and under to play 18 holes of golf for a nine-hole rate after 11 a.m. if accompanied by a paying adult. The Family Evening Golf program allows one child age 16 and under to play free per paying adult after 5 p.m.

Tennis
The resort also offers 17 Har-tru tennis courts (five of which are lit for night play and one of which offers stadium seating) and gives guests a complimentary hour of tennis per hotel room or condo unit, per day (based on availability) from noon through 6 p.m. Tennis lessons and clinics are available year round (including kids' programs for ages 4 and up), as well as an extensive summer tennis program. Wild Dunes is also the first resort on the east coast to offer beach tennis, a doubles game using pressureless tennis balls on a beach volleyball court.

Trails
Five miles of walking/jogging trails wind through the resort, which also offers a great bike rental program. You can rent junior and adult bikes, tandem bikes and trailers (as well as baby jogger bikes for runners) by the hour, half-day, full-day, multi-day or week. You'll find the bike rental facility near the tennis center. Note: The sand is hard packed enough near the water during low tide to ride your bikes on the beach.

Go Wild Crafts & Adventures
The Go Wild Crafts and Adventure program provides hour-long activities (like Bingo, tye-dying T-shirts, making family stepping stones, treasure hunts and more) for kids to do with their parents. The program is available year-round, although the number of options is greatest in summer.

Island Adventures
The award-winning Island Adventures program includes seasonal day camps (with different themes, like sports, eco adventures or water adventures) for kids ages 3 to 12, family beach and sporting games, teen programs and Wild Excursions (nature exploration trips and nature-related programs). Wild Excursions cover more than a dozen options during the height of summer (and less during the rest of the year) and include things like exploring the ecosystem of the barrier islands by pontoon boat or kayak, taking a sunset cruise over the marshes with a naturalist to look for bottlenose dolphins and loggerhead sea turtles, going creek fishing or crabbing with a lowcountry guide, or joining a sunset sail aboard either a catamaran or the resort's 50-foot yacht. (Note: The resort provides transportation for most activities that meet off-site.)

Summer Nights
During the season, free resort offerings include a Monday night tennis exhibition, Village Idol karaoke contests, movies on the Village plaza (all G- or PG-rated) two nights a week, free shag (South Carolina's official dance) lessons, a DJ at the Grand Pavilion on Saturday nights, and black light dodgeball and black light volleyball for teens and 'tweens ages 10 and up.