While Raleigh is mostly known for its great suburbs, affordable homes, and comfortable family living, people often forget that it also offers a fun and bustling downtown experience.
Here’s a quick tour of main interest points you’ll appreciate knowing about downtown Raleigh.
Being located close to major schools like NC State, Duke, and UNC-Chapel Hill and with major companies being based here, downtown Raleigh has evolved into a mid-size American metropolis, full of fantastic restaurants and bars, nightlife, and attractions for all ages and families. Raleigh has it all!
Get Familiar with Main Roads and Areas
- Hillsborough Street runs through the main areas of downtown Raleigh and the NC State campus and is home to all sorts of great international food options. If you have a late-night craving for pho, Indian food, or dumplings, Hillsborough street is a great area to check out.
- The Five Points area is known for beautiful, large historic Southern homes. Take your friends out for a huge slice of cake at Hayes Barton Cafe, and walk the streets to see the brightly lit homes that feel like they’re right out of a classic Southern novel.
Museums: Raleigh offers some of the best children’s museums in the state and is a convenient drive for any parent living in the surrounding suburbs.
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- You can spend hours at Marbles with hands-on exhibits, Mommy-and-e classes, play areas, and more. Marbles also have an IMAX theater with both educational films and mainstream releases, and a cafe for a mid-trip snack.
- The North Carolina Museum of Natural Science, also located right in the heart of downtown, offers an impressive display of dinosaur bones, aquariums, a butterfly room (with a resident sloth), and an interactive Storytime with Animals in which your little ones can touch and pet exotic animals. There is also a room for little ones to play with educational toys, touch animal pelts, dress up, and play with a large magic sand feature. It’s even more impressive that this museum has free admission! With an onsite cafe, this is a one-stop-shop for engaging educational experiences for all ages.
- The Durham Life and Science Museum is just a short drive away from Raleigh, combines an outdoor zoo of lemurs, bears, and wolves with an indoor display of exhibits on space and other topics, as well as various live animals. With an outdoor train for families to ride, an expansive treehouse, and a creek built in the last five years, this museum provides hours of fun. Don’t forget to check out their Christmas Santa Train and other fun holiday activities in November and December.
Parks: Raleigh is surrounded by dozens of beautiful lakes and thousands of acres of forest – much more than your average American city.
So many of these areas offer hiking, exploring, and camping!
- Lake Johnson Park has 5.4 miles of trails around a lake that offers beautiful views with picnic areas.
- Umstead Park, Raleigh’s most visited park, also offers trails around a lake, with beautiful chainsaw art carved into a large fallen tree! Jerry Redi and Randy Boni of Smoky Mountain Art carved animals into a 25-foot log that is sure to impress. With 5500 acres, it has enough biking and walking trails for any outdoor enthusiast.
- Pullen Park is another fun park for families. With a historic carousel listed in the National Register of Historic Places, kids will also love the kiddie boat ride, miniature train, playgrounds, and a real train car to tour! Their cafe also offers the famous local Otter Pops, with fun flavors and even a dairy-free option. You can also rent paddle boats on the scenic lake and enjoy the music over the speakers as you walk the scenic brick paths.
- Dorothea Dix Park offers an off-leash dog area and is famous in the area for its sunflowers! Raleigh residents flock there for the perfect sunflower Instagram picture or backdrop for their family photos.
Popular Fun City-Life Activities
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- The Farmers Market and Flea Market on weekends shows at Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts featuring national and international artists from ballet to bluegrass–there is a lot to see and do!
- Speaking of enjoying performing artists, you won’t have a more unique experience than rocking out or dancing to your favorite performers at Red Hat Amphitheater. Yes, we have an amphitheater right in the heart of downtown! Summer concerts easily roll into instant city crawls.
- Go catch a women’s soccer game with our winning NC Courage championship team, or a Hurricanes hockey game, and see just why they are Stanley Cup champs or go see the Durham Bulls hit a home run! Raleigh offers great events for sports fans.
- Each community center and park also has childrens’ programs and adult continuing education. Kids can participate in team sports; art, music, and dance classes all at a discounted rate. Adults can take anything from painting to computer classes, as well as join in social clubs.
Desirable Gram-worthy Downtown Restaurants
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- Craving your southern food fix? Look no further. Beasley’s Chicken and Waffles and The Pit BBQ has it all. Mandolin offers its modern take on Southern food-you’ll love their dishes, locally sourced ingredients, and fun cocktails.
- As previously mentioned, Raleigh offers a great array of international food options. O-Ku Sushi has the best sushi in the area with fun appetizers and even better drinks. The ambiance is upscale and the service impeccable.
- Morgan Street Food Hall is a fun place for everything from curry to pizza to lobster rolls to Japanese rolled ice cream. If your family or group of friends can’t agree on a restaurant, this is the place to go!
- St. Roch’s Fine Oysters + Bar is another great option for seafood, southern dishes, and drinks. And if you’re asking, “Where can I get good crab legs?” Read newcomer Kim’s story.
Downtown Desserts and Baked Goods to Satisfy Sweet Cravings
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- Yellow Dog Bread Co is a fun local option for baked goods and has a great selection around the holidays! If you don’t feel like baking for that upcoming gathering, give them a try! They have the best coconut cake and sweet rolls around.
- Two Roosters Ice Cream has a fun rotating menu of novelty ice cream and some of the good ol’ classics. Even take a pint to go!
- Lucettegrace has a nice ambiance and the best macaroons in town. Their baked goods, chocolate desserts, and cakes have both a beautiful presentation and rich taste! It’s the perfect spot to end a date night.
After Sundown Fun Downtown Raleigh Nightlife and Bars
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- Raleigh has great nightlife. The Whiskey Kitchen, The Raleigh Times, Watts & Ward, Trophy–go out with your friends after a stressful work week and these places won’t disappoint.
Enjoy a Unique Downtown Experience
Raleigh is the perfect blend of trendy and historic. With its beautiful Southern homes, large historic city buildings and monuments, and fun restaurants, it checks all the boxes for a fun place to live. Its residents are both natives but also a lot of transplants from up north or out west looking for a more affordable cost of living and a good place to raise a family. There’s a reason the founders called it The City of Oaks–despite being a growing metropolis it still is surrounded by trees, which adds so much beauty and charm to this great Southern city.
Sources:
“Incredible Chainsaw Art in William B. Umstead State Park.” VisitRaleigh, 20 Nov. 2020, https://www.visitraleigh.com/plan-a-trip/visitraleigh-insider-blog/post/incredible-chainsaw-art-in-william-b-umstead-state-park/. Accessed 11 Feb. 2021.
“Pullen Park | Raleighnc.Gov.”. raleighnc.gov, https://raleighnc.gov/places/pullen-park. Accessed 11 Feb. 2021. Accessed 11 Feb. 2021.
Raleigh City of Oaks Walking Tour – Tobacco Road Tours. https://tobaccoroadtours.com/tours/raleigh-city-of-oaks-walking-tour/. Accessed 11 Feb. 2021. Accessed 11 Feb. 2021.