Located in the Southeast region of the United States

Surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the East, South Carolina and Georgia to the South, Tennessee to the West, and Virginia to its North

• Size – 53,804 square miles
• Population – 10.4 million people

Source: U.S. Census Bureau; population data represents 2020 census

• Charlotte
• Winston-Salem
• Greensboro
• Durham
• Raleigh (state capital)

We’ve identified the state’s busiest commercial airports to provide the most convenient options for starting or wrapping up your next North Carolina vacation.

• Charlotte – Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT)
• Raleigh – Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU)
• Greensboro – Piedmont Triad International Airport (GSO)
• Asheville – Asheville Regional Airport (AVL)
• Wilmington – Wilmington International Airport (ILM)
• Fayetteville – Fayetteville Regional Airport (FAY)
• Jacksonville – Albert J. Ellis Airport (OAJ)
• Concord – Concord-Padgett Regional Airport (JQF)
• Norfolk, VA – Norfolk International Airport (ORF)*

*Norfolk, Virginia represents a convenient start/end point for visitors to North Carolina’s Outer Banks region.

In the United States, daylight savings time occurs annually from early-mid March through early November (please be careful with scheduling during these months, in particular).

North Carolina falls within Eastern Daylight Time-EDT (UTC -4) or Eastern Standard Time-EST (UTC -5), depending on the time of year.

UTC, or Universal Time Coordinated, is based on the time at 0 degrees longitude; UTC represents the accepted time benchmark used globally (replacing Greenwich time). Zero-degree longitude essentially represents the United Kingdom, but even this region is at UTC +1 during daylight savings time.

English

U.S. Dollar ($)

Compare foreign exchange rates between your home currency and planned destination here!

Do you consider “holidays” when you travel internationally? For those living in the U.S. and traveling to different states, there isn’t going to be much variability here… but for those traveling to the United States from another country, it becomes crucial to know unique holidays.

Holidays can significantly impact airline, hotel, and rental car pricing and availability. They can factor into whether your favorite restaurant will be open and if you can access money at a local bank branch.

So before you book, take a look!

• New Year’s Day
  • January 1 (weekend timing may impact)
• Martin Luther King Jr. Day
  • 3rd Monday in January
• President’s Day (Federal holiday)
  • 3rd Monday in February
• Good Friday (state holiday)
  • Friday in late March/early April
• Memorial Day
  • Final Monday in May
• Juneteenth National Independence Day (Federal holiday)
  • June 19 (weekend timing may impact)
• Independence Day
  • July 4 (weekend timing may impact)
• Labor Day
  • 1st Monday in September
• Columbus Day (Federal holiday)
  • 2nd Monday of October
• Veteran’s Day
  • November 11 (weekend timing may impact)
• Thanksgiving Day
  • 4th Thursday of November
• Christmas Day
  • December 25 (weekend timing may impact)

Bank Hours – Have you visited an area only to be surprised to discover that banks were closed during certain times? We have – ugh, that was a hard lesson learned.

In North Carolina, bank opening times vary throughout the state. However, typical hours in the larger cities will range from 8:30am-9am to 4pm-6pm Monday through Friday with some branches also open Saturday mornings until noon/1pm.

For those who are obsessively curious or meticulous with budgeting, we bring you some tax highlights for your destination. Yes, this can matter, as sales taxes (or value-added taxes) can vary significantly between destinations. In addition, taxes on lodging, gasoline, and other tourism-related expenditures can factor into your financial considerations.

According to The Tax Foundation January 2024 data, the average sales tax rate in North Carolina (state+local) is 7.0% which compares to the 50 state (plus DC) average of 6.6%. There you have it, the certainty of taxes (at least now you know)!

The table below provides the state’s monthly average low and high temperatures during the past decade.

Before you fully accept these temperatures as being every bit as reliable as your local 7-day forecast, we’d mention some nuances to consider:

• These are state-wide averages, so know that temperatures can fluctuate significantly throughout the state (and that whole global warming thing is going on, too).
• Elevation change can create meaningful variability. Experts suggest that every 1,000-foot elevation change translates into a four-degree temperature change. The mountain community of Boone sits at elevations higher than 3,000 feet, while North Carolina’s capital city of Raleigh has an elevation of only several hundreds of feet above sea level.
• As you move closer to an ocean, temperatures will be milder in both summer and winter (cooler in the summer, warmer in the winter). For vacationers looking to package a state-wide North Carolina vacation, the temperature extremes may vary significantly between the mountainous west and the Outer Banks barrier islands.

Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; data reflects 2011-2020 averages

Unless you qualify under the Visa Waiver Program, tourism visas (category B-2) are required. Travelers from 40 countries can travel visa-free in the U.S. for up to 90 days. A complete list of these countries is available from the U.S. State Department. Citizens of Canada and Bermuda also have separate agreements that waive visa needs.

Before traveling, please check the U.S. Department of State – Bureau of Consular Affairs for current passport and visa requirements.

1. Experience a college basketball game at Duke or the University of North Carolina
2. Attend a NASCAR race at Charlotte Motor Speedway
3. See the Biltmore’s magnificence at Christmas-time or when Spring flowers bloom
4. Horseback ride on the Outer Banks beaches
5. Take the ferry and spend the day on Ocracoke Island
6. Drive the Blue Ridge Parkway during the Fall
7. Spend time hiking in the Smoky Mountains
8. Eat Eastern or Lexington-style barbeque in North Carolina
9. Explore the restaurant scene in Asheville
10. Walk across the swinging bridge on Grandfather Mountain

Let’s begin with a special thank you to President Woodrow Wilson, who established the National Park Service in 1916, putting a single department in control, and protecting a unique and diverse group of national parks. This system includes national parks, monuments, preserves, historic sites, historical parks, memorials, battlefields, cemeteries, recreation areas, seashores, lakeshores, rivers, parkways, and trails.

There are 60+ designated national parks, and yes, they are fantastic. But do NOT limit yourself to only these locations, as the national park system has hundreds of additional parks in its large network. Here’s the current list of park locations falling within the state:

• Appalachian National Scenic Trail (North Carolina)
• Moores Creek National Battlefield (Currie, NC)
• Guilford Courthouse National Military Park (Greensboro, NC)
• Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site (Flat Rock, NC)
• Fort Raleigh National Historic Site (Manteo, NC)
• Wright Brothers National Memorial (Kill Devil Hills, NC)
• Great Smoky Mountains National Park (North Carolina)
• Blue Ridge Parkway (North Carolina)
• Cape Hatteras National Seashore (Nags Head, Buxton, Ocracoke, NC)
• Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail (North Carolina)
• Cape Lookout National Seashore (Harkers Island, NC)
• Trail of Tears National Historic Trail (North Carolina)

To be named to the UNESCO World Heritage list, the location must stand out among ten selection criteria with a particular emphasis on critical cultural sites. Approximately 80% of the 1,200+ globally designated areas are culturally focused, the remainder being natural sites. There is only a small percentage of UNESCO locations within the United States.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the only UNESCO World Heritage Site in North Carolina

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration designates approximately 200 roads as national scenic byways to recognize their unique archaeological, cultural, historical, natural, recreational, or scenic significance.

Indeed, it’s quite the primer for all those RVs hitting the road every summer (but also a friendly reminder for the rest of us ordinary folks just driving a sedan).

Here’s the list. Please visit the DOT website linked above for additional details.

• Blue Ridge Parkway
• Cherohala Skyway
• Forest Heritage National Scenic Byway
• Newfound Gap Road Byway
• Outer Banks Scenic Byway

We love a good factory tour… so why not expand the definition further? Many great tours of modern plants, operating facilities, or historically significant factories exist. This is how you get your science, technology, and history knowledge in one visit.

Our list goes well beyond just a factory, though. We include mining and agricultural operations, utility infrastructure and drilling rigs, government currency and monetary sites, sports arenas (under exceptional circumstances), and scientific facilities and laboratories.

• Moog Music | Musical Instruments | Asheville, NC
• French Broad Chocolate | Chocolate | Asheville, NC
• Grady-White Boats | Boats | Greenville, NC
• Homeland Creamery | Dairy | Julian, NC
• Built to Last | Furniture | Moyock, NC

Here’s where we get into the “spectating” aspects of travel. Some of our best travel experiences have involved sporting events, food-oriented festivals, state fairs, plays, and outdoor musicals. Off the top of my head, I remember patriotism at a rodeo during the Montana State Fair, an outdoor variety show in North Dakota, an outdoor musical in Missouri, sampling foods at a Chicago festival, watching professional ultimate frisbee in Montreal, seeing Ronaldo score a goal at the World Cup in Moscow, and witnessing the monumental Saudi Arabia upset of Argentina in Qatar’s World Cup.

Admittedly, it’s probably not the first thing you think about when planning a trip, but honestly, this North Carolina Travel Guide hopes to move them near the top of the list! And because these events are often held at a specific time of year, a particular time each week, and a precise time of day, these must be accounted for at the front end of your travel planning process.

Let’s start with some potential festivals (and always remember that state and local tourism websites will offer much more detail and timing specifics). Hopefully, these options will give you a starting point and make you consider all the great possibilities.

APRIL

• North Carolina Azalea Festival (Wilmington)

MAY

• Artsplosure – Raleigh Arts Festival (Raleigh)

JUNE

• Taste of Charlotte (Charlotte)

JULY

• NC Peach Fest (Candor)

AUGUST

• Beer, Bourbon and BBQ Festival (Cary)

SEPTEMBER

• NC Folk Festival (Greensboro)
• NC Apple Festival (Hendersonville)
• Festival in the Park (Charlotte)

OCTOBER

• North Carolina State Fair (Raleigh)
• Lexington Barbeque Festival (Lexington)
• North Carolina Seafood Festival (Morehead City)

In this section, we spotlight grand, attractive, or distinctive venues where you can see a performance, an opera, symphony, ballet, orchestra, dinner theatre, musical, variety show, play, etc. Essentially, any live performance. If you will be traveling to one of these cities/regions during your vacation, pop onto the venue’s website and see what’s happening that week or that night. You might end up turning a vacation evening in front of the hotel television set into something far more memorable.

• The Lost Colony (Manteo)
• Barn Dinner Theatre (Greensboro)
• Unto These Hills, Mountainside Theatre (Cherokee)
• The Carolina Theatre (Durham)
• Raleigh Memorial Auditorium (Raleigh)
• Blumenthal Performing Arts Center (Charlotte)
• Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts (Raleigh)

This might be our favorite section. We love sports. All types of sports. From the most significant sports events held worldwide to lower-profile sports to events that might only be significant locally. And even if you’re not a sports fanatic, don’t pass on the opportunity to soak in the atmosphere and local culture, partake in those traditional stadium/ballpark/arena foods, or simply engage in that age-old sport of people watching (there might be someone in our family who does precisely this at most sporting events).

We’ve searched the most relevant sports across professional and collegiate platforms, using relative attendance and performance history as our screening tools for inclusion in the table below. We hope we haven’t excluded a critical event or team, but if you think so, please drop us a line (and correct us). We’d hate to miss an opportunity to witness (or suggest) something great!

For this article’s purpose, this is not the place to highlight specific restaurants, roadside diners, or the finest culinary opportunities. Instead, we want to signal several key factors to consider: tipping protocols, approximate time range for meals, and most importantly, gaining a clear understanding of the foods a particular state is known for (i.e., maybe, just maybe, we’d remind you to order pizza when visiting Chicago).

When dining in the U.S., we suggest lunch around noon-1 pm and dinner between 6-8 pm. Tipping at restaurants is expected, and you should plan on 15-20% of the bill amount (we let this percentage drift higher into the 20-25% range amid the current environment to more appropriately reflect the work of servers).

For North Carolina, the food specialties are very much going to depend upon what part of the state you’re visiting, but of course seek out pork BBQ with vinegar sauce, sweet potatoes and blue crab. Right now, I can’t think of anything that sounds better!