Things to do in Raleigh, splurging
Bhavana's dim sum, Bida Manda's Laotian dinner, and the NC Museum of Art's park.
This is Raleigh for people who eat and drink seriously: Brewery Bhavana's dim sum, Bida Manda's Laotian cooking, an underground cocktail bar, and enough design and culture to fill the hours in between. Three days across downtown, the museum corridor, and Oakwood to North Hills, with no filler stops and no early nights.
Day 1: Downtown and Brewery Bhavana
Start with bagels and coffee on foot, take in the performing arts complex, then spend the afternoon between top-level dim sum and Dorothea Dix before a Laotian splurge dinner and a nightcap underground at Watts and Ward.
- 9:30 AM
- 10:30 AM
Artspace
Free open studios over two floors where you can watch about 30 working artists and buy straight from them.
Map - 12:30 PM
Brewery Bhavana - Downtown
Dim sum, a Belgian-style brewery, a florist and a bookshop under one roof; order the soup dumplings and a saison.
Map - 2:30 PM
Dorothea Dix Park
Raleigh's 308-acre central park: big lawns, the Gipson Play Plaza and the best skyline view in town.
Map - 7:30 PM
Bida Manda
The Nolintha siblings' Laotian room on Blount St: crispy rice lettuce wraps, pork belly soup and sticky rice.
Map - 9:30 PM
Watts & Ward
Speakeasy-style cocktail bar down a flight of stairs on Blount St, with a long whiskey list and low lighting.
Map
Day 2: Northwest Raleigh and the museum corridor
A morning at one of the best free art museums in the South, Japanese lunch at Tenko in northwest Raleigh, a six-mile greenway ride back toward the city, and sushi at Sushi Mon to close.
- 10:30 AM
North Carolina Museum of Art with Ann and Jim Goodnight Museum Park
5,000 years of art plus 164 acres of trails and sculpture. Core admission free.
Map - 12:30 PM
Tenko Japan
Cheap hibachi plates of steak, chicken or shrimp with fried rice, near the art museum.
Map - 2:30 PM
Art-to-Heart Trail
6-mile walking and cycling route linking the NC Museum of Art park toward downtown through greenway and city streets.
Map - 7:30 PM
Sushi Mon
Small Glenwood Avenue sushi bar; regulars order the truffle tuna and the kiss of fire roll.
Map
Day 3: Oakwood, North Hills and the arboretum
Historic Oakwood and the Museum of Natural Sciences fill the morning, Cucciolo Terrazza and the JC Raulston Arboretum the afternoon, then RH Rooftop and Sixty Vines.
- 10:00 AM
Historic Oakwood
Victorian houses under old oaks; walk on to Oakwood Cemetery, laid out in 1869 on the neighbourhood's edge.
Map - 11:15 AM
North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences
Free: whale skeletons overhead, a dinosaur hall and a butterfly room a block from the Capitol; shut Mondays.
Map - 12:45 PM
Cucciolo Terrazza
Rooftop-terrace Italian at North Hills from the Cucciolo Osteria team; handmade pasta and a spritz in the sun.
Map - 3:00 PM
JC Raulston Arboretum
Free NC State garden of trees and shrubs from around the world, with long borders and quiet paths.
Map - 7:30 PM
RH Rooftop Restaurant Raleigh
Dinner under the glass roof and chandeliers atop the RH gallery: the truffled fries and the lobster roll.
Map - 9:30 PM
Sixty Vines
Wine-on-tap bar with sixty-odd pours by the glass; try a flight of three before calling it a night.
Map
Where to stay
The Longleaf Hotel
The Longleaf is the design pick downtown: closest hotel to Brewery Bhavana, Bida Manda, and Watts and Ward, so nights one and two end with a short walk.
Renaissance Raleigh North Hills Hotel
Renaissance Raleigh North Hills puts you at the center of day three, steps from RH Rooftop and Sixty Vines, with the full-service finish this itinerary earns.
Make Raleigh your trip
Swearby drafts the days from places people swear by. Swap any stop, then invite the crew by text, even friends without the app. Vote on dates, track costs as you go, and everyone gets one number at the end.
Get Swearby on the App StoreBefore you go
Book ahead
- Marbles Kids Museum: a few days ahead
- Red Hat Amphitheater: weeks ahead
- Lonnie Poole Golf Course: weeks ahead
- Tobacco Road Golf Club: weeks ahead
- Heritage Golf Club: a few days ahead
- Pinehurst Resort: months ahead
Skip these
- Fayetteville Street alone is not downtown Raleigh. The life is one block east in Moore Square and City Market and west in the Warehouse District.
- The State Capitol is handsome and free but a 30 minute visit, not a half day.
- Chain dining at North Hills or Crabtree Valley Mall wastes Raleigh's food advantage. Crabtree is not a visitor destination.
- Do not pay for a generic downtown tour before the free museums and Oakwood walk. Mordecai House is the one paid add on.
The full Raleigh travel guide: when to go, safety, getting around