A Road Trip Through North Carolina’s Reinvented Core
3:57 pm, Tuesday August 9th, 2022
3:57 pm, Tuesday August 9th, 2022
The Piedmont region extends from the coastal plain to the Blue Ridge Mountains, and includes farmland and rolling wooded hills, especially on the 1-40 stretch near Hillsborough. I started in Raleigh, then drove the short distances to Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and Charlotte. My road trip through those key cities revealed what the buzz is all about.
Raleigh may have a slow pace, but thanks to great food, art, and music, it’s no sleepy state capital. You’ll find restaurants from celebrity chefs like James Beard Award–winner Ashley Christensen and Top Chef alum Katsuji Tanabe, as well as more than 140 public-art installations and murals and contemporary art museums like CAM Raleigh. Take a food tour with Taste Carolina or Triangle Food Tours to sample some of the city’s best eats. What’s tasty food without a drink? The Raleigh Beer Garden serves the world’s largest draft beer selection.
For music lovers, there are big events such as International Bluegrass Music Association’s Bluegrass Live weekend (the self-proclaimed largest free urban festival of bluegrass in the world) and rapper J. Cole’s Dreamville Festival, as well as live-music restaurants and clubs. Enjoy freebies like the African American Cultural Center and North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame.
Book Now: Heights House Hotel
Go for big-name accommodations and treats like the new Heights House Hotel, an elegant 1858 mansion in a downtown Raleigh neighborhood, and the nearby Wye Hill Kitchen & Brewing, where the patio has a view of the city skyline. I could have lingered all night looking at the twinkling lights. It’s a very Raleigh spot. Cosmopolitan, but comfortable. That’s the city’s superpower.