Map view
Carolina Mountain and Bent Creek Trail, North Carolina Arboretum
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-early Nov
Cost: $
- Arboretum and botanical garden located within the Bent Creek Experimental Forest of the Pisgah National Forest
- It includes many hiking and bicycling trails, a bonsai collection, a holly garden, and a stream garden
- Its tree collection includes a set of Metasequoias planted in 1950, and now said to be the tallest in the south (over 100 feet (30 m) in height)
Biltmore Estate Path Loop
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-early Nov
Cost: $$
- Historic house museum in Asheville, it is a Châteauesque-style mansion built for George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 and 1895
- It is the largest privately owned house in the United States, at 178,926 sq ft (16,622.8 m2) of floor space
- Still owned by George Vanderbilt's descendants, it remains one of the most prominent examples of Gilded Age mansions
#20 in Best Landmarks in the USA
North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Museum that is the oldest established museum in North Carolina, located in Raleigh
- The collection contains more than 1.7 million specimens of amphibians, reptiles, birds, fish, mammals, invertebrates, invertebrate and vertebrate fossils, plants, geology, and meteorites
Bodie Island Lighthouse Boardwalk, Nags Head
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- The current Bodie Island Lighthouse is the third that has stood in this vicinity of Bodie Island on the Outer Banks in North Carolina and was built in 1872
- There are 214 steps that spiral to the top, and the structure is one of only a dozen remaining tall, brick tower lighthouses in the United States — and one of the few with an original first-order Fresnel lens to cast its light
#33 in Best Beaches in the USA
North Pond Wildlife Trail, Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- National wildlife refuge located on Pea Island, a coastal barrier island and part of a chain of islands known as the Outer Banks, adjacent to Cape Hatteras National Seashore
- The refuge's objectives are to provide nesting, resting, and wintering habitat for migratory birds
- Offered programs focus on interpretation, environmental education, wildlife observation, wildlife photography, and fishing
Carowinds
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Amusement park located in Charlotte, opened to the public in 1973, and home to roller coasters, including Fury 325, the world's tallest and fastest giga coaster, as well as more than 60 rides and attractions
#20 in Best Theme Parks in the USA
Sarah P. Duke Gardens Path
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- The Sarah P. Duke Gardens consist of landscaped and wooded areas at Duke University located in Durham
- There are 5 miles (8 km) of allées, walks, and pathways throughout the gardens
- The gardens are divided into four areas, the Historic Core and Terraces, the H.L Blomquist Garden of Native Plants, the William Louis Culberson Asiatic Arboretum and the Doris Duke Center Gardens (including the Page-Rollins White Garden)
Iron Horse Station, Hot Springs
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-early Nov
Cost: $
- Iron Horse Station is an 1890's hotel, restaurant, and tavern with 31 artist and craft shops
- It is part of the Historic Inns of Hot Springs, and is set on the Appalachian Trail
Ocracoke Lifeguarded Beach
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Highly reviewed beach that is part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, with nearby rental outfitters
Airlie Gardens, Wrightsville Beach
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Public garden located in Wilmington, noted for the Airlie Oak, a 500-year-old southern live oak
- In 2007, Airlie Oak was 128 feet (39 m) tall, and had a trunk circumference exceeding 21 feet (6.4 m)
- At that time, it was designated the largest live oak in North Carolina
#38 in Best Beaches in the USA
The Ugly Dog Public House, Highlands
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Cozy, classic tavern with a live music lineup, and a menu of pub food, plus Sunday brunch
Old Lighthouse Beach
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Once the sight of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, which was relocated, now what is left is a circle of granite stones marking the original perimeter of the lighthouse's base
#14 in Best Beaches in the USA
Springer's Point Nature Preserve, Ocracoke Island
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Preserve that encompasses more than 120 acres of maritime forest, tidal red cedar forest, salt marsh, wet grasslands and sound front beach
- At the end of the sound-side beach is an overlook, Teach’s Hole—the place where Blackbeard the pirate was killed in 1718
Southport Waterfront Park, Bald Head Island
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Downtown park with a fishing pier, Cape Fear River vistas, and a long line of porch swings and benches
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Motorsport complex located in Concord, that features a quad oval track that hosts NASCAR racing including the prestigious Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend
- The speedway was built in 1959, and is considered the home track for NASCAR with many race teams located in the area
- Alongside the drag strip is a state-of-the-art clay oval that hosts dirt racing
Greensboro Arboretum
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Arboretum located in Lindley Park, in Greensboro, that features landscaped grounds with plant collections, annual and perennial flowers, an arbor, gazebo and a lighted fountain
- Some of the collections include: Hosta Collection (approximately 200 hostas), Vine Collection & Perennial Border, and Wildflower Trail
Lake Loop Trail, George Poston Park
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Park with sports fields, trails, a lake, picnicking, and mountain biking
Wright Brothers Walkway, Wright Brothers National Memorial
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Memorial that commemorates the first successful, sustained, powered flights in a heavier-than-air machine
- From 1900 to 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright came from Dayton, Ohio, based on information from the U.S. Weather Bureau about the area's steady winds
- They also valued the privacy provided by this location, which in the early twentieth century was remote from major population centers
Clingmans Dome Observation Tower Trail
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: June-Nov
Cost: $
- Mountain in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina
- At an elevation of 6,643 feet (2,025 m), it is the highest mountain in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the highest point in the state of Tennessee, and the highest point along the 2,192-mile (3,528 km) Appalachian Trail
- Built in 1959, a 45-foot (14 m) concrete observation tower features a circular observation platform accessed by a spiral ramp
Looking Glass Rock Trail, Pisgah National Forest
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-early Nov
Cost: $
- Looking Glass Rock is a pluton monolith in the Appalachian Mountains, located within Pisgah National Forest
- Named for the way its granite face reflects the sunshine, it rises from the valley floor to an elevation of almost 4,000 feet (1,200 m)
Nuwati Trail, Grandfather Mountain
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-early Nov
Cost: $
- Mountain and North Carolina state park near Linville
- The mountain is famous for its rugged character, and is home to many hidden caves and significant cliffs
Cape Hatteras Lighthouse
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Lighthouse where Atlantic currents in the area made for excellent travel for ships, except just offshore at Cape Hatteras
- Nearby, the warm Gulf Stream ocean current collides with the colder Labrador Current, creating ideal conditions for powerful ocean storms and sea swells
- The large number of ships that ran aground because of these shifting sandbars gave this area the nickname "Graveyard of the Atlantic"
- It also led the U.S. Congress to authorize the construction of the Cape Hatteras Light
Hickory Nut Falls Trail, Chimney Rock State Park
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-early Nov
Cost: $
- Hickory Nut Falls flows on Fall Creek through the Hickory Nut Gorge, and is part of Chimney Rock State Park, a park that was privately owned until 2007
North Carolina Museum of Art
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Art museum in Raleigh, opened in 1956 as the first major museum collection in the country to be formed by state legislation and funding
- Today, it encompasses a collection that spans more than 5,000 years of artistic work from antiquity to the present, an amphitheater for outdoor performances, and a variety of celebrated exhibitions
- The Museum features over 40 galleries as well as more than a dozen major works of art in the nation's largest museum park
Buxton Woods Trail, Cape Hatteras National Seashore
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Cape Hatteras National Seashore preserves the portion of the Outer Banks of North Carolina from Bodie Island to Ocracoke Island
- Once dubbed the "Graveyard of the Atlantic" for its treacherous currents, shoals, and storms, Cape Hatteras has a wealth of history relating to shipwrecks, lighthouses, and the US Lifesaving Service
- The islands also provide a variety of habitats and are a valuable wintering area for migrating waterfowl