Getting around
Eighteen miles per hour, windows-down weather, and nowhere you have to be.
The island's rhythm comes from what isn't here: no visitor cars, no traffic lights, no parking lots worth mentioning. Everyone moves by electric golf cart, bicycle, or on foot, and distances are shorter than they look; the whole island is only a few miles end to end.
Most rental houses come with cart advice baked in, and four island companies rent them by the day or week. Bikes work everywhere carts do, and the maritime forest roads under the live oaks are worth pedaling slowly.
Golf carts
The island moves at 18 miles per hour. Electric golf carts are the standard way around, and several island companies rent them by the day or week.
- Typical rate
- Around $99 per day for a 4-seater (varies by company and season)
- Requirements
- A valid driver's license; NC road rules apply
- Speed limit
- 18 mph island-wide
- Beach rule
- All tires off the pavement at beach accesses
- Rental companies
- Cary Cart Company, Island Adventure Cart Rentals, Riverside Adventure Company, Easy Cart Company
- Book your cart when you book your lodging in peak season; carts sell out.
- Carts are electric only; gas golf carts are prohibited on the island.
Facts last verified July 4, 2026. Details change;confirm with Village of Bald Head Island (rules)
Cars and ICE permits
Visitors do not drive cars on the island, but you will see some vehicles: contractors and services operate internal-combustion (ICE) vehicles under a village permit system.
- Gas golf carts
- Prohibited; electric only
- ICE vehicles
- Annual or daily ICE permits required to operate on village roads
- Contractor window
- Roughly 6 am to 6 pm, Monday to Friday
- Outside the window
- Special Use Permits required
- Apply
- Through the Village of Bald Head Island
- This is why the roads feel so quiet: almost everything on them is electric, and the few trucks you see are working.
Facts last verified July 4, 2026. Details change;confirm with Village of Bald Head Island
What the roads sound like
A cart passes at dusk
0:00 / 0:44
The rules that matter
- Licensed drivers only, no exceptions. It can feel harmless to hand a teenager the wheel on quiet roads; it is strictly prohibited and genuinely dangerous. NC road rules apply to carts exactly as they do to cars.
- Park only in marked cart spots, with every tire off the pavement at the beach.
- Headlights on at dusk; the forest roads get properly dark.
- Pull right and let faster carts pass; 18 mph is a limit, not a demand.
- And yes, wave. Everyone waves.
Cart life, documented
Surfboard racks, cargo beds, and the commuter fleet at rest.
The speed limit is 18. You will not want to go faster.