Charlotte – the city of queens and mills

Our trip from Israel was horrible. It was at the start of the Coronavirus crisis. Israel already banned flights from China, but the rest of the world seems fine, so we decided to keep going with our plans. Liat was invited to a conference in Wilmington, and we thought it would be great to spend some more days in North Carolina. Unfortunately, there are no direct flights from Israel to Charlotte. So we had to take a connection flight. It took us 20 hours to reach Charlotte – and all that time, we wore masks. Finally, we arrived at our hotel exhausted, just to find that there was a problem with our reservation. I booked the hotel via the British Airways club because I wanted to use our points. But the hotel never got it. Because there was a Basketball conference in the city – it took them two hours to find an alternative hotel and another 20 minutes' drive to finally reach it.

After the long flight, we took our first morning slowly and headed into Uptown. We spent around two hours at the Levine Museum of the New South, a fascinating and often difficult look at the South after the Civil War, discrimination and the struggle for civil rights. The museum has since left the Seventh Street building we visited and is preparing a new home in South End. Check its current exhibitions, events and locations before planning a visit.

After around two hours at the museum, we stopped for lunch at 7th Street Market. We then followed a self-guided map from the visitor centre along Tryon Street through Uptown, passing landmarks from the city’s history.

On that 2020 trip we also visited the Wells Fargo museum. We enjoyed the story of a Gold Rush-era delivery business that grew into a banking giant. This is a memory of our visit, not a stop to assume is still open today.

We continued to the Mint Museum and enjoyed the art, craft and design. The wonderful Dutch installations belonged to a temporary exhibition, so check what is showing during your visit.

We made a coffee break, waiting for our evening plan – an NBA game! I'm an NBA fan since childhood, and I always dreamt of seeing a live NBA game. So right after I booked the Tickets to Charlotte – I looked for a Hornet's game and found that they are playing against the Knicks on our second night in Charlotte. Perfect. Liat joined me – she was curious about it, even though she's not a basketball fan. However, she enjoyed it very much. An NBA game is much more than basketball – it's an entertainment event when each 30-seconds break is used – cheering, dunking contest, kids game on the 5 minutes break, dancing, and more. It was awesome. A fantastic way to spend the evening.

The following day we took a walk in the University botanical gardens – a small but pleasant garden. It's good for an hour or half an hour walk, including the greenhouse.

We drove to the NoDa neighborhood – which considered being a popular arts district. It looks like the place is waken late because at noon everything seems really sleepy. We took a walk on the main street and sat for lunch at Heist Brewery – one of the many local breweries in Charlotte.

Afterward, we decided to visit another famous district: the historic South End. The neighborhood hosts some Breweries, art installations, murals, galleries. Shopping and fine-looking houses.

Then we headed to the Duke Mansion and took a nice walk over there.

We spent the afternoon in the Premium Outlets of Charlotte. We ended the day back in the NoDa district, visiting two breweries. No doubt that the night is the time to visit NoDa.

For a guided introduction, browse Charlotte tours on GetYourGuide. These are additional options, not tours we took.

Although Charlotte is a significant and populated city, It's full of green spaces, inside and outside the city. So we decided to take a morning trip to Reedy Creek Park. With marked routes and beautiful lakes, it was a heartwarming trip. The quiet, disturbed only with birds' tweets, was terrific and enviable. If you like – there are also places for a picnic and for fishing. All free of charge.

After this excellent morning trip, we drove to the historic village in Minthill. Unfortunately, we did not know that a visit must be arranged in advance. But we were lucky, and due to an internal site volunteer event, some of the places were open, and we could take a peek. It was great.

The lovely lady at the reception also recommended we visit the Reed Gold Mine -where the first nugget of gold was discovered in the USA. The museum tells a great story on the role of gold for the human culture and finding and digging of gold. The visit includes a short self-guided trip into an underground mine.

For stops outside the centre, compare rental options on DiscoverCars, including insurance, cancellation and collection terms.

After Charlotte, we spent three days in Wilmington and returned for our flight home.

Before our flight home, we visited the Charlotte Museum of History. The Alexander Rock House, completed in 1774, made a lovely final stop. Entry inside the house requires a guided tour; exploring the grounds independently is a different experience. Check tour times and admission arrangements before visiting.

It was an absolutely great ending to our tour to Charlotte.

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