Continental Breakfast at Holiday Inn Express & Suites, Southport, NC

Bolivia, NC, June 5, 2021Photo by the author

If you want to take a trip out to the Oak Island beach area in North Carolina, chances are you’ve made a list of what kind of place you want to stay. For me, it was searching for a dog-friendly hotel that had a pool. One thing that wasn’t on my mind at all, however, was the Continental breakfast. Sure, I checked that there would be one, but I was expecting a bagel with plain cream cheese, a cereal station, and some coffee.

I was pleasantly surprised to see the lavish spread of choices (which is helpful when you can't eat dairy and it leaves you with a plain bagel and coffee at most Continental breakfasts.)

Impressive Continental Breakfast

I got up on Sunday morning and went down for a bit of breakfast and ended up talking with the serving staff and manager about their impressive Continental breakfast.

To begin, let’s see what yummy options awaited me that morning:

The Food Options

The food was served buffet-style but the patrons didn’t touch any of the food. You can see the nice lady in the picture above, who asked each patron what they wanted and prepared the plate for them. Here’s a bit of what food and drink options were available, and yes, all was free and included in the Continental breakfast.

Drink Options

• Cranberry juice
• Water
• apple juice
• orange juice
• milk
• Full, self-service coffee bar (with hand sanitizer available)

Food options

According to the kitchen manager, the hot food bar is rather new, developing in October of 2020 as the hotel worked to find ways to make their serving areas more Covid-safe. Staff began serving the food and hot-serve options were added to the menu. The result is a variety of food options and a nice sit-down breakfast if you prefer that to grabbing a quick bit of fruit on the go. (Though, on-the-go options are still available.)

• Cinnamon rolls
• Oatmeal with walnuts, brown sugar, raisins for topping (this was SO good!)
• Cereal / milk
• Fresh waffles made for you
• Catering-style hot-serve options (which varied on the second day I had breakfast)
• Eggwhite & veggie omelet
• Cheesy omelet
• Turkey sausage
• Pork sausage
• Sausage gravy & biscuits
• Muffins
• Fresh fruit
• Hard-boiled eggs (Ask a kitchen staff member for them because they store them in the refrigerator in the kitchen.)

Continental breakfast, June 5, 2021Photo by the author

The Seating Area

The seating area was bright, clean and inviting with a view of the swimming pool on one side and the lobby with a fish tank on the other side. The television was set to local weather so visitors could plan their day while getting a meal.

Some visitors opted to take advantage of the wi-fi and work on their laptops while others had debates about just which sites to go and see first.

Lobby fish tank, June 5, 2021Photo by the author

After Your Continental Breakfast, Try Visiting Some of These Nearby Sites

• Oak Island Beach
• Southport area for shopping and leisure experience on the edge of the Cape Fear River
• Visit the Oak Island Lighthouse
• Take a ferry over to Bald Head Island to see “Old Baldy,” the lighthouse there
• Visit Wilmington’s Airlie Gardens for hours of sensory pleasure
• Check out these fun things to do in Bolivia, NC

Happy travels to you and say hi to all the wonderful folks at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites at Bolivia...they were all fantastic!

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