Plan with Rovo. Drive with your favorite map.
Charlotte to 30A is the shortest drive on this list at around 615 miles and roughly 11 hours, though it's also the one with the most variety in road types — you'll mix interstate, a state spur, and long stretches of two-lane US highway. It's a realistic one-day drive if you're on the road by early morning.
From Charlotte, I-85 South runs through Spartanburg and Greenville, South Carolina, and into Georgia. Rather than fighting through downtown Atlanta, most 30A-bound drivers exit onto I-185 South at LaGrange toward Columbus, Georgia, then continue on US-431 South into Alabama through Eufaula and Dothan. From there, US-231 and US-331 South carry you the rest of the way into the Florida Panhandle and Seaside.
Cutting over to I-185 at LaGrange is worth it — it keeps you off I-285 and the worst of Atlanta traffic entirely. The tradeoff is that US-431, US-231 and US-331 through southeast Alabama are mostly two-lane, so towns like Eufaula and Dothan are your real fuel and food opportunities before the final run into Florida; don't count on much between Dothan and DeFuniak Springs.
Plan This Route with Rovo →Not if you follow this route. I-85 and I-185 in Georgia are free; the only tolls nearby are the optional Peach Pass Express Lanes on I-85 through metro Atlanta, and this route bypasses that stretch entirely via I-185.
Yes — at roughly 615 miles and 11 hours, it's the shortest and most one-day-friendly drive to Seaside of the routes covered here.
Leave before 7am to clear Charlotte's own I-85 corridor, and try to time the LaGrange/Columbus split for late morning rather than Friday or Saturday early afternoon, when Atlanta-area beach traffic backs up onto I-185.