Areas & Neighborhoods in Raleigh
If Raleigh is the heart of North Carolina, then the districts that sprawl from Raleigh’s civic center are the state’s lifeblood. Whether you long to soak up the history of the South Atlantic States or wander an art gallery in an up-and-coming enclave, there's a neighborhood for you.
Downtown Raleigh
A mere 20-minute trip from Raleigh-Durham International Airport, Downtown Raleigh pulses with more than 165 restaurants and bars serving up everything from classic Southern fare to Italian-style pizza. Oak-lined streets bustle with retail boutiques and the reverberating rhythms of live entertainers spill out of historic music halls.
Moore Square Historic District
Cobblestone streets snake their way around one of two of Raleigh's original city parks in the Moore Square Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. More than a commercial center, Moore Square is home to Artspace, where 25 iconoclastic art studios are housed inside a transformed car dealership.
Warehouse District
Find yourself surrounded by converted red-brick buildings in a former industrial section of the city and you've likely landed in Raleigh's Warehouse District, an off-the-beaten-track destination for foodies, art-lovers, and everyone in between. Not to be missed is the CAM Raleigh—the city's leading contemporary art and design space.
Things to See in Raleigh
If entertainment is what you’re after, there are a plethora of things to see in Raleigh. For an upscale evening out, head to the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts. Inside, watch dancers pirouette about the stage in a performance by the Carolina Ballet, or settle into seats in the Meymandi Concert Hall to hear the renditions of the North Carolina Symphony. If your tastes tend more toward the avant-garde, visit Kings for live music or the Burning Coal Theatre Company, a small theater institute that stages Shakespeare plays and American classics like Inherit the Wind and Enron.
Sightseeing in Raleigh
Much more than a point on the Research Triangle—the region anchored by North Carolina State University, Duke University, and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill—Raleigh beckons with a bevy of things to do. Visit the esteemed North Carolina Museum of Art, which dates back to 1956. Learn about the state’s natural history—from prehistoric to present-day—at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. For a walk on the wild side, stroll the Xeric Garden at the JC Raulston Arboretum surrounded by plants from the American Southwest. Or, if seasons allow, catch a Wolfpack game at NC State—just be sure to reserve your tickets well in advance, as home games often sell out.
