シャーロットのツアー&アクティビティ

Ranked by traveller reviews: 1) the Southern Charm historical city cart tour of Uptown, 2) the Segway tour of the historic neighbourhoods, 3) the comedy history bus tour, 4) the Carolina History and Haunts ghost walk, 5) the NASCAR Hall of Fame, 6) the U.S. National Whitewater Center, 7) Carowinds amusement park, 8) the Trolley Pub pedal tour, 9) Discovery Place Science and 10) the breweries of NoDa and South End along the Rail Trail.

Plan one to two days. Day one: a cart or walking tour of Uptown, the NASCAR Hall of Fame, the Mint Museum or Bechtler, Romare Bearden Park and a South End brewery crawl. Day two: rafting or ziplining at the Whitewater Center, Carowinds in season, Lake Norman, or the Charlotte Motor Speedway tour in Concord. With a third day, drive to Crowders Mountain, Chimney Rock or Asheville.

Walk the Rail Trail through South End’s murals and breweries, watch the fountains in Romare Bearden Park, spend an afternoon in Freedom Park, hike the free trails at the Whitewater Center, tour the Billy Graham Library, take kids to ImaginOn, browse Optimist Hall and Camp North End, join NoDa’s First Friday gallery crawl, and time your visit for the free concerts at Truist Field and the Uptown skyline lit at night from the Rail Trail bridges.

Charlotte Motor Speedway and Concord Mills (25 minutes), Lake Norman for boating and the Lazy 5 Ranch (35 minutes), Crowders Mountain State Park for a summit hike (40 minutes), Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden (35 minutes), Winston-Salem’s Old Salem (90 minutes), Chimney Rock and Lake Lure (two hours), and Asheville with the Biltmore Estate and the Blue Ridge Parkway (two hours).

Take the ghost walk or the haunted golf-cart tour, join the Trolley Pub, catch live music at the Neighborhood Theatre or the Evening Muse in NoDa, hop the breweries of South End (Sycamore, Wooden Robot), see a Hornets game at the Spectrum Center or a Panthers game at Bank of America Stadium, watch the Knights at Truist Field with the skyline behind, or head to the rooftop bars of Uptown such as Merchant & Trade and Fahrenheit.

Winter is mild (highs in the 50s°F). Carowinds runs WinterFest with lights and skating from late November to early January, the Charlotte Motor Speedway hosts one of the country’s largest drive-through light shows, the Whitewater Center opens an ice rink, and the Panthers play through January. Indoors there are the NASCAR Hall of Fame, Discovery Place, the Mint Museum and the Billy Graham Library.

Discovery Place Science, Carowinds (with Camp Snoopy for younger children), the Whitewater Center’s rafting, ropes courses and ziplines, the NASCAR Hall of Fame racing simulators, SEA LIFE aquarium in Concord, Freedom Park’s playgrounds, the free ImaginOn children’s library, the Charlotte Knights baseball games and the Lazy 5 Ranch drive-through safari at Lake Norman.

April to May and September to October, with warm days, blooming dogwoods in spring and mountain colour in autumn. May brings the Coca-Cola 600 race weekend. Summer is hot and humid but Carowinds and the Whitewater Center are in full swing; winter is mild and quiet.

Yes — even for non-fans, the Glory Road ramp of historic cars, the pit-crew challenge and the racing simulators make it the most engaging attraction in Uptown, and it takes about two hours. Pair it with a Charlotte Motor Speedway tour in Concord if you want to see the track itself.