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Charlotte, North Carolina is not a city to be put in a corner. As a finance hub (it’s the number two banking center in the U.S.) with an ever-evolving dining scene, a boom in craft brewing and incoming transplants soaking it all in, the Queen City is more than just a place for doing business. Among its neighborhoods, this North Carolina city has plenty of options for play, with cultural, social and outdoor activities easily filling up a long weekend or more. Here are some must-do activities to bank on doing while in Charlotte.

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Ditch the car

Photo: charlottesgotalot.com

The Lynx Blue Line light rail service has 26 stations linking Charlotte’s South End neighborhood to UNC Charlotte’s main campus in University City, and throughout other neighborhoods including Uptown, NoDa and Sedgefield. Meanwhile, running partially along the LYNX Blue Line in South End, Charlotte’s Rail Trail is a 3.5-mile paved trail that intertwines with works of art and along sections where you can get off the trail to stop into a café or bar or rest on a bench.

Dine where mills became markets

Optimist Hall

Charlotte’s defunct work mills are getting a second life as food halls and marketplaces. A turn-of-the-century textile mill, Optimist Hall, is a hotspot with culinary tenants like local favorite The Dumpling Lady, along with restaurants serving everything from fresh coffees and smoothies to Italian, Mexican and Southern fare. Another mill turned marketplace is the Atherton Mill and Market in Charlotte’s South End, featuring a mix of cafes and curated stores. There’s also 7th Street Public Market in Center City, which is not in a former mill, but serves as an incubator for small food businesses. It holds a mix of up-and-coming culinary entrepreneurs and artisans, making this venue a happening lunch spot.

Root for the home teams

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North Carolina has a number of major and minor league sports franchises, with a few making their HQs in Uptown Charlotte. The NFL’s Carolina Panthers have their home games inside Bank of America Stadium, the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets shoot hoops at the Spectrum Center and the Charlotte Knights, a minor league baseball team that’s a Chicago White Sox affiliate, goes to bat at BB&T Ballpark. In East Charlotte, the Charlotte Checkers, an AHL affiliate team of the Carolina Hurricanes, plays hockey at Bojangles’ Coliseum.

Rev it up!

Photo: charlottesgotalot.com / Kyo H Nam

Whether or not you’re a fan of sanctioned stock-car racing, make a pitstop at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Uptown, which delves into the history of the sport using displays of vintage cars once driven by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and other racing legends. Along with a film on the sport’s history and NASCAR-related artifacts, get your hands on the wheel by designing your own racecar or settling into the driver’s seat of a simulated car race.

Marvel at mansions

The Fourth Ward

The Fourth Ward is both a northwest quadrant of Charlotte’s Uptown area and a historic district dating back to the 19th century, when its prosperous residents included ministers, merchants and physicians living in spacious Victorian homes. After that, the neighborhood took a sharp decline until 1970, when locals stepped in to revitalize the area; these days, historic houses stand alongside modern high-rise condos. Every December, a neighborhood association schedules a holiday home tour while year-round you can head to Alexander Michaels, an American tavern house inside a building that once held a grocery store dating back to the 1800s.

Rise and shine French style

Photo: charlottesgotalot.com / Kyo H Nam

Amelie’s French Bakery and Café boasts multiple locations, but has its flagship in NoDa, where it’s open 24/7. Its interior decor is a fun assortment of eclectic furnishings, making your morning, afternoon or evening meal cheerful. The ambience pairs nicely with its French-inspired café offerings that include sweets (get a Macaron, salted caramel brownie or a slice of one of their delectable cakes) or savory (made from scratch soups and tartines).

Head up to a rooftop bar 

Fahreinheit-Charlotte

For drinks and overhead scenery, Charlotte’s got various rooftop bars that offer different viewpoints. Above Uptown’s Skye Condos, Fahrenheit Charlotte has linear fire pits, New American cuisine and a strong wine list. At the Epicenter, Rooftop 102 takes up the third floor and buzzes on weekends with live DJs. The rooftop bar at Whiskey Warehouse in Plaza Midwood has a forward-thinking menu that’s all about its namesake spirit.

Tap into sudsy creations

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There’s a brewery for everyone in Charlotte, but here are some to check out first: The female-owned Bold Missy Brewery names their beers after trail-blazing women, with a list that can range from the on-tap Rocket Ride American IPA, as a tribute to astronaut Sally Ride, to the seasonal variety Princess Punch, a Carrie Fisher-inspired fruited wheat ale. The Munich-style Olde Mecklenburg Brewery is Charlotte’s oldest, while Heist Brewery has gotten rave reviews for its weekend brunch and craft cocktail offerings. Sycamore Brewing has a beer garden while Wooden Robot is an urban farmhouse brewery inspired by Belgian breweries.

Pose for a selfie

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The official title for this 17-foot whimsical-looking sculpture outside of the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art on Tyron Street is “The Large Bird of Fire on the Arch.” She’s better known as “Firebird” and museum visitors or just passersby are encouraged to take a photo with her. She was installed in front of this mid-20th century museum in 2009 and her 10th birthday was commemorated there in 2019 with an indoor exhibit.

Get a different take on retail

Common Market

With locations in South End, Oakwood and Midtown, the Common Market makes shopping much more fun, seeing as it’s a retail store with a twist. It not only sells funky gifts and trinkets among its whimsical décor but also boasts a deli, which caters to any diner’s needs (including vegan) and a full-stocked bar.

Hang in Charlotte’s hippest ‘hood 

Photo: charlottesgotalot.com / Kyo H Nam

Named for its main street, North Davidson, NoDa is a district full of live music, street art and places for getting a bite to eat. Fans of the TV show Friends can get some java at the Smelly Cat Coffee House & Roastery, where numbered signs are plastered with cast members’ faces (think of Chandler as an identifier). And head straight to the takeaway window at Reigning Doughnuts for daily flavors and tasty specials.

Go white water rafting—without leaving the city

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Hit the waters in Charlotte at the U.S. National Whitewater Center, which contains the world’s largest manmade, recirculating whitewater river at its base along the Whitewater Center Parkway. Go SUPing or kayaking, or be on terra firma at its more than 1,300 acres of woodlands where you can go ziplining, do a ropes course or go mountain biking along a 40-plus mile trail system.

Settle into parks

Freedom Park in winter

It’s easy to find other outdoor spaces in Charlotte with parks, greenways and gardens all around. Between the Dilworth and Myers Park neighborhoods, Freedom Park is known as Charlotte’s Central Park and features 98 acres full of looping walking trails, tennis courts and baseball fields, plus links to the Little Sugar Creek Greenway. McDowell Nature Center and Preserve encompasses 1,132 acres with over seven miles of trails and a connecting trail to adjacent Copperhead Island. UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens has a greenhouse and 10 acres of outdoor gardens with a largest selection of plants in one location.

Bite Into barbecue

Photo: charlottesgotalot.com / Kyo H Nam

Craving a meal of meat and threes? Find some finger-licking barbecue styles throughout Charlotte. Bill Spoon’s Barbecue in South Charlotte practices East Carolina style, which incorporates a whole hog chopped with a vinegar sauce finish. Noble Smoke is the brainchild of Chef Jim Noble, who went fully in-depth in studying the various Southern and Southwestern barbecue methods for preparing Carolina and Texas style servings. Mac’s Speed Shop is a trifecta theme of bikes, beer and barbecue with St. Louis and Kansas City style ribs and Carolina beef brisket.

Learn Charlotte’s history

Photo: charlottesgotalot.com / Kyo H Nam

The Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture is named for the city’s first African-American mayor and is a treasure trove of visual, performing and literary arts symbolizing the African diaspora. The Levine Museum of the New South delves into social, economic and political changes in the South after the Civil War; admission is half-off every Sunday. The Charlotte Museum of History examines just about every facet of Charlotte with a historically preserved home known as the Hezekiah Alexander House, while the Billy Graham Museum consists of a large library dedicated to the religious leader, plus his original home with tours.

Where to stay

Charlotte Omni Hotel

Fifteen minutes away from Charlotte Douglas International Airport, the Charlotte Omni Hotel is in Uptown district and near the four towering statues by artist Raymond Kaskey at the corners of Square and Tryon. Its Coin Bar takes a page from the Carolina Gold Rush as a seasonally open outdoor bar and grill, while the Trade Restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner with a bar pouring selections from Olde Mecklenburg Brewery.

Travelocity compensates authors for their writings appearing on this site; such compensation may include travel and other costs.

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