Travel to Chapel Hill

University of North Carolina Chapel Hill

We were in Raleigh, or actually Cary, North Carolina to see my nephew play on the USA baseball team during summer 2004. From there, it is easy to travel to Chapel Hill, part of the “triangle”. Chapel Hill is home to University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, and the Carolina Basketball Museum. It’s a fun experience just to visit the beautiful campus and walk, or drive, around.

We also spent time in the nearby town of Carrboro, which has a lot of great restaurants and bars. If you wander down West Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, you will find a great selection of restaurants and bars.

Thai Station Carrboro
UNC Chapel Hill baseball
Dingo Dog Brewery

Highlights

Before you go

  • Research Triangle Park (RTP) is a business area full of tech companies including IBM and Lenovo
  • The triangle refers to the three universities in the area, Duke in Durham UNC Chapel Hill and NC State university
NC Basketball museum
Michael Jordan Memorabilia
UNC Chapel Hill

Transport

  • Raleigh-Durham airport (RDU) is the main airport serving the area.
  • If possible, renting a car or taking a taxi/Uber is better than trying to use public transport
  • Walking is okay in specific areas like the main street of Chapel Hill, but the area is too large to get around only on foot

Accommodation

  • For this trip, we stayed at an AirBnB in the Apex area. It was great because there were 6 of us with four bedrooms. With a car, it was easy to travel to Chapel Hill and Carrboro.
  • I’ve also stayed at the beautiful Washington-Duke Inn in Durham, and that is not a far drive from Chapel Hill.
  • As usual I recommend checking reviews on Booking.com or using AirBnB
Beers at Dingo Dog Brewery, Carrboro
Thai Station in Carrboro- prawn cocktail
Thai Station in Carrboro crab curry
Thai Station in Carrboro pineapple fried rice
Thai Station in Carrboro pad thai shrimp

Food

Mama Dip’s Kitchen a long-standing favourite for southern food on West Franklin Street. A couple of bars on the same street are Carolina Brewery and Beer Study. The area in general is great for food and drink.

Thai Station in Carrboro was one of our favourite meals of the trip. It was recommended to me by a local colleague. The setting is very cute as it is in an old rail station, and some of the tables are inside the old rail cars. The food is amazing, and the dishes are beautifully presented. We also felt that the flavours were more unique than standard Thai restaurants.

Nearby the Thai Station in Carrboro, we also found a number of cosy, local breweries including Steel String Brewery and Dingo Dog Brewing Company. We spent a rainy afternoon in the Dingo Dog Brewery, and it was kid friendly. Of course they had beers, and they also had gourmet sodas and both alcoholic and non-alcoholic ice cream.

Alpaca Peruvian chicken was recommended by my foodie colleague and the menu is simple and delicious. Obviously, their specialty is chicken.

Finally, one last recommended restaurant is Napoli Pizzeria & Gelateria for authentic Italian cuisine.


FAQs

Q: Do I need a tour guide?

A: No, you can find the places of interest easily.

Q: Do people speak English?

A: Yes, almost everyone speaks English

Q: Is it a walkable city?

A: No, it is very spread out and you probably need a car to get around. The public transport is not very convenient

Go to USA

Go to Country Map

Sharing is caring!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *