Best layout of any place we've stayed in OBX. The host was friendly and responsive. We would definitely stay here again.

The house was very spacious. It gave everyone their own space if they needed it. Loved that it was on the beach and we had perfect weather the entire week. Lots of activities close by. The house itself could use some sprucing up but we enjoyed our week in Corolla. The biggest drawback is the speed limit on the road to the house. I would recommend the property!

We enjoyed the experience and had a very good time the lack of dining Facilities was hard to plan around

Had an awsome vacation, awsome weather, nice roomy house but could use some improvements, clean windows would be great, having bikes and the pool toys was great! Overall evry thing was good!

This house has everything you need plus some. The pool was amazing. The sounds of the ocean are literally all through this house. The board walk takes you almost to the water if the sound isn't close enough. Sun rise and coffee was my favorite every morning. The updates on the house are beautiful. What I loved most was the new decking they are upgrading. Not just because the deck was beautiful and the design is magnificent, but the owner himself was doing it. He is a hard working man and what America was founded on, dreams. This home was his wife's favorite, her art still hangs in the house, and the love they have for family shows in every room, detail, and extra amenity they added. Some you won't see listed in the details. I will loved to have my family back again next summer. If you get a chance to stay in the castle by the s sea be sure to decorate a family shell to add to the basket in the library.

Great location. Great house layout. All the amenities that you would need. Gameroom with retro arcade fuzzball and pool table was enjoyed by all. Owners have thought of everything for a great vacation. There were a couple issues that did not bother us. Other reviews mention the cleanliness of the house. It is little dated and could use a little work. New kitchen counters being installed apparently which will make the kitchen very nice. Two things that are good to know for future guests. One is that the hot tub is not available except during pool season which is a shame . The other thing is that it is listed as a seven bedroom however 1 of the bedrooms is a small room accessed through the master on top floor. It would work well for small kids but i don t think an adult would enjoy it as there is only a crib and daybed in the room. Overall i think this home is great for a family vacation and the owners are quick to respond to questions

If you want a clean house, this is not for you. If you want basic necessities provided such as toilet paper, paper towels, soap, and enough towels for each bathroom, bring your own. If you don’t mind dirty windows and hermetic seals broken, then you’ll be fine. If you don’t mind cobwebs dangling from the light fixtures and ants in the food-stained cushions on the chairs, then go for it. I was shocked upon arrival, and within ten minutes of entry, contacted the owner who really didn’t seem surprised to hear from me. He did send the pool maintenance person and the owner of the house cleaning company the next day. This put us in an awkward position, having to greet these folks who were clearly irritated to have had complaints waged against the house that they are supposed to be maintaining. We had to listen to their stories about how the owner doesn’t pay them enough to do the deep cleaning that is needed for this property. The pool person was especially belligerent saying “I hope your kids enjoy the hell out of the pool!” There were beer bottle caps, cigarette butts, and even a pair of boxer shorts around the perimeter of the pool and he tried to tell us that those things weren’t there the day before. (Strange thing is, he never cleaned up those items even after we pointed them out) The owner defended him saying he is such-and-such in the community. Doesn’t matter…the guy was angry and rude. The entire back side of the house has mold spots on all of the white woodwork – we envisioned sitting out on the decks enjoying the view, but you’d literally have to face outward and not look behind you because you’d see dirty cobwebs and mold on the house. I wish there was a way to post pictures, as I did take several. Upon notifying the owner, he offered an extra night if we didn’t give a bad review. I declined and have decided to tell the truth about this property so that no one else wastes their hard-earned money on a place for their family vacation. This was a once in a lifetime event for us, and I couldn’t have been more disappointed in the house itself. To be fair to the owner, he immediately offered a full refund if we found another place right away. Many other issues, but not enough room here to post. I’m only doing this to spare another family the disappointment we experienced.

From 5to 68 we all had a wonderful time! The house was very clean, room for all 11 of us! The pool was ready and heated as we requested. Couldn't be closer to the beach. The weather was awful the 1st couple of days and we still enjoyed every minute! Thank you for a wonderful time!

Great location, close to restaurants and shops. Nice biking roads and trails. Inside of property was neat and clean. Outside will need some updating, pressure washing but did not effect our stay.

House is a little dated but very spacious with nice ocean views from the top level. The dune is high so the ocean view from the middle level bedrooms are not great views. The house is very close to the beach with some steps but easy access. The beach is very nice and clean. We enjoyed the beach immensely. As stated the house is a little dated but the price paid was fair for the house size and location so our only disappointment cleanliness was our only Our only real disappointment was the cleaning service. The carpet seemed to be okay but the other floors were very dirty. After a few minutes our feet was black from the floor debris. The windows were very dirty with limited visibility. The We had to drive 45 minutes to Walmart to purchase cleaning supplies and mop.

This property has a great location. The rooms are actually larger than they appear in the photos. Our family had a wonderful vacation here, even though the weather was terrible! It’s great beach house with plenty of space to spread out even when you can’t go out to the beach.

The house was just right for our large group with a nicely laid out variety of bedrooms and a large, open floor plan on the top level for socializing and dining together. Decks on bedroom and top level overlooked the pool, hot tub, and ocean, in addition to the decks facing the street. It was easy to have alone time or socialize throughout the week. We barely used the basement at all beyond the second refrigerator, but if there had been bad weather or kids with us the video game setup, pool table, and foosball would have been used. I would recommend spending the extra money to turn on the pool heater for your week; we opted for it partway through the week and really appreciated the extra warmth. The owner and everyone we interacted with such as the pool man and linen service were friendly and quickly responded to our requests. We are already talking about our next trip to Castle by the Sea.

When pulling 4 families from 3 states with 6 little ones under 10; it’s so refreshing to have all the amenities required at your fingertips. Private beach access, pool, hot tub, even a toddler pool - what more can you ask for? Each family had a suite of rooms for privacy too. From crab chasing at night to watching them catch sharks from the shore - what a fabulous vacation. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay.

The house truly is a castle by the sea! The initial veiw of the house is a breath taking blue. It's wide steps welcoming the weary travelor home. From the outside to each inner wall any guest can see a lot of time, thought, and detail went into this palace. Due to traffic I arrived at night after my family who lit the lights. It was gorgeous and so pretty, brightly shining against the dark night sky. I found myself in awe as I climbed the steps and entered the home. I decided to start at the top for the begining of my exploration, so I immediately climbed the stairs to the left of the entrance. Huge windows that gave a perfect view to the ocean greeted me as I reached the last of the steps to be at the highest point. A beautiful deck sat beneath the windows inviting me to get fresh air and to truly appreciate being beside the ocean. The roar of the waves was a welcome note. Inside you could barely hear what was happening outside. All the rooms are beautifully decorated with their own unique design. My whole family was unanimous in is the perfect vacation home. To live there forever would be very pleasant indeed! If I could I definitely would and I would be perfectly happy. This house had so much space and was so quiet between floors and walls that even though we had so many we felt at peace and even alone at times! Our group has multiple families with a total of 8 children from teens to toddlers and we only found each other if we wanted to. Everyone had plenty of room and space to spread out and safely explore without seeming too enclosing to the little ones. The pool was perfect for our mixed aged children, a wading pool for our tiny tots and a larger pool with varying levels of depth. Hot tub was awesome for night time as it got cold out. When inside you would find the kids and teens in Billard hall in the basement either playing pool, foosball or on the arcade 4 player game system. Sometimes in the library upstairs.This castle saw to our every need and the different types of people in our families. Had a fully stocked kitchen with everything you could want/need. The best part is on the walkway to the ocean a large wooden stairwell led us away from the castle to the Sea, however halfway there is a sweet spot where you can look back upon the balconies and beautiful blue home.

Beautiful views.. The views are magnificent from the deck.. we thoroughly enjoyed sitting and watching just the water and the helicopters go by.. the house is very very spacious but there is a ton of stuff that needs to be updated and the house was not very clean at all when we got there... there were two people for the cleaning crew only and they left an hour before check-in because we did get there early and they went ahead and left early we had to go behind and clean a ton of stuff up from just the cleaning crew... and the vacuum cleaner did not work... I was told there were two in the house but only found one.... so we went out and bought one ourselves... we had to re-wash dishes from the previous people who stayed there because there was food that was still on the cookware so we had to scrub dishes before we were able to use... there was a lot of glassware instead of plastic which made us nervous because of having children but we made it through that... the pool is beautiful it’s one of the bigger pools in the area but just there is a ton of stuff to the house and to the outside pool area that really do need to be modernized and updated other than that as far as the owner communication was a bit iffy... I felt that the owner was very upset with me and told me it was our problem basically if the house was a mess that we were the ones bringing in dirt.. so I wasn’t real happy about that... they never came to clean the pool or clean the hot tub we had to add water ourselves... I was told a person would come over and look at the vacuum cleaner never saw that person the pool we paid to heat the pool of almost $500 for a week which I thought was outrageous but we had small children and I did not want them getting sick and we had to actually call in a maintenance person because the pool the next day after day two felt a lot cooler than day one and that’s the only time we saw the pool person was for the heating no one ever came to clean the pool.. no one ever came toclean the hot tub so just the cleanliness and the response of getting someone there if you have an issue was a problem.. I called first thing in the morning on the pool no one came till late afternoon for the heating of the pool... I would say the house on a basis of 1-10 space and the views are magnificent at a 10.. the cleanliness of the house & response time of the owner and maintenance/repairs as far as anything that may need to be done I would write that as a 4

This property was absolutely perfect. Stunning views from every room, decks galore, fully stocked, very organized kitchen. The property owner responded to questions quickly. Plenty of space for everyone. Right on the ocean....we would absolutely stay there again, and again....

Excellent

We spent a week with friends and family at the end of the 2020 season during pandemic. It was a great way to travel safely and be away from the pressures of Covid.The house is mostly as advertised. There are no gross inaccuracies in the description, but it is obviously a full-time vacation rental and the house is a bit “tired.” The owner was incredibly responsive when the pool broke on the first day and had everything repaired within 24 hours. However, we were disappointed to find that at this price we felt nickel and dimed on the small stuff. There were not nearly enough linens for the house, none for the basement sleeper sofa even after request, and really a scarcity of floor mats that are so crucial to keeping sand out of a beach house. The Beach toys are present but mostly broken, carpets very worn thin, no broom, and no working vacuum. This was all overshadowed by having a private boardwalk to the beach and a pool that is in the afternoon shade. Overall, a lovely time if the niceities can be forgiven.

We spent a week with friends and family at the end of the 2020 season during pandemic. It was a great way to travel safely and be away from the pressures of Covid. The house is mostly as advertised. There are no gross inaccuracies in the description, but it is obviously a full-time vacation rental and the house is a bit “tired.” The owner was incredibly responsive when the pool broke on the first day and had everything repaired within 24 hours. However, we were disappointed to find that at this price we felt nickel and dimed on the small stuff. There were not nearly enough linens for the house, none for the basement sleeper sofa even after request, and really a scarcity of floor mats that are so crucial to keeping sand out of a beach house. The Beach toys are present but mostly broken, carpets very worn thin, no broom, and no working vacuum. This was all overshadowed by having a private boardwalk to the beach and a pool that is in the afternoon shade. Overall, a lovely time if the niceities can be forgiven.

Our first family vacation including kids and 9 grandkids. Great, quiet location right on beach with large pool, kiddie pool and hot tub! Very spacious living quarters and amenities. Other than a little interior updating and minor deck repairs, property is great.

Property was covered in sand from a recent storm. We had to shovel and sweep for half of the first day. Roof had leaks and tarps had been secured, but one fell down in front of the great room windows, obstructing the ocean view. Hot tub never got to comfortable temperature to use. Owner did offer a free extra night, but our schedule could not accommodate. It would have been nice to receive a discount.

The Castle by the Sea is an excellent and very fitting name for the property! Excellent location within several miles for sightseeing of Currituck Lighthouse, wild horses, numerous excellent restaurants, shopping villages and many more, more than fulfilling for the entire week! Beautiful property on Whalehead Beach Oceanfront!!

Great house and oceanfront location. The cleaning service did a substandard job of preparing for our visit. We had to wash some of the linens ourselves. Having beach chairs and toys provided was nice. No beach towels were provided as delineated in the contract and you are penalized extra cleaning charges if you use the bath towels at the beach. I would recommend all who stay here to bring BOTH beach and bath towels. What is provided at the time of this review is not sufficient. The owner, while responding to emails same day, made no initial contact with us to greet us or see if we had questions about the property and use of the facilities. I usually expect this when paying a high price for a VRBO like this one. 11 thousand dollars plus for a week in July.. Bill was apologetic when we had issues and made every effort to correct the problems.

Easy and Professional experience

The house is Hugh. We had 5 couples for 5 days and everyone enjoyed themselves. Plenty of room for relaxing, eating, gathering and getting away. The pool and hot tub are great. Loved watching the sunrise from the top deck. The walkway to the beach is great with seats at the top of the dune. Overall, very clean and well kept. Kitchen fully stocked of dishes, utensils and pots and pans and 2 coffee makers. The men enjoyed the pool table while the women enjoyed the hot tub. Breakfast room was great for late night card games.

Would stay again if in the obx. Owner is great to work with and very responsive.

We thoroughly enjoyed staying at Castle by the Sea for a long weekend in early May. We were in Corolla for a wedding. Several families rented the house and it was a perfect space for us!

What an awesome 7-day experience the Castle by the Sea was for us! The ocean view was spectacular! If you are looking for a breathtaking place to sit and watch the sun rise, while drinking your coffee, you’ve come to the right place. Alternatively, you can watch the stars from either the window inside the house or sitting on the deck in the evening. The home is tastefully decorated with multiple bedrooms and bathrooms for large family gatherings. The bedroom mattress was extremely comfortable, which is important to my husband, who suffers from back issues. The 2-person whirlpool bathtub was exhilarating and available in virtually every bathroom connected to a bedroom. The house was spotless with everything you possibly need. My husband and I loved playing several games of pool in the recreation room. Additionally, if you enjoy running on the beach or running on the sidewalks in Corolla, this is the place to be. Also, it was nice to wash our laundry, before our departure home. Bill and Patrice are “Superhosts” in our books! They were so gracious and kind, even writing a “Happy Birthday” greeting to me, which I received upon our arrival. They were available by phone in the event of any need and were attentive to ensure we had a wonderful vacation. We look forward to staying again in the future! .

We have vacationed at Castle By The Sea for 2 weeks each year since 2015. We are looking forward to staying for two weeks again this summer. The Castle is a spacious oceanfront home with spectacular views and amenities as well as a great location! Watch the sun rise and shine from the back deck. Enjoy a lovely sunset on the front deck. Use the private walkway to get your toes into the sand and the surf of beautiful Whalehead Beach. Take a break from the beach and go for a dip in the pool or relax in the hot tub. The location is very convenient to shops, restaurants and activities for adults and children. Many are within walking distance or a bike ride away. The Castle is well equipped and very comfortable for the entire family. The owner is responsive to any questions/concerns that may arise. He welcomes input from guests. We are very pleased to see that some of our suggestions have been implemented over the years. It's easy to see why our family keeps returning to Castle by the Sea!

We were so looking forward to a full week at the beach, but Florence had other plans. After one day on the beach, mandatory evacuation. Hoping to get back again for our real vacation. The owner is a pleasure to work with, very clean home with a very functional set up. Well stocked.

Plenty of room for everyone to do their own thing. The kids enjoyed the nice pool while the adults enjoyed the beach just over the dune. I also never knew how nice two dish washers could be.

We loved the ocean views from the balconies. The swimming pool was gorgeous. When we had a problem with air conditioning; the owner sent a contractor right away. We would definitely stay here again and recommend it to anyone thinking of staying here.