3 North Carolina Cities To Visit – Asheville, Charlotte, & Raleigh – Restaurants, Breweries, Distilleries

North Carolina has some great cities, each kind of themed with their own NC culture. There are times when we plan a lot of the details of our traveling, and then there are other trips where we just show up in a city and experience it on the fly. We recommend both, or a mixture, planning some things, but leaving room for some spontaneous opportunities. Here are three cities in North Carolina that you should definitely experience:

Asheville – this mountain town has become a favorite of many over the last 10 years. Some blame it on the “quality of life,” or they want to “escape the rat race” of a bigger city that they lived in previously. So they visit Asheville, the mountains, waterfalls, the great outdoors! And that’s not all. Amazing restaurants huddle on every end of town. From little hole-in-the-wall eateries to fine cuisine, they have it here. You can see these Asheville Independent Restaurants and also the Asheville Foodie Community page on Facebook for some tasty places to eat your way through town. West Asheville is another growing community and you can check out this list of Westside Restaurants to visit if you’re on that end of town. Looking for craft beer? Check out Green Man Brewing, Wicked Weed Brewing, and New Belgium Brewing. And if you are interested in craft distilleries, Asheville has some incredible ones such as Eda Rhyne Distilling, Chemist Spirits, Rye Knot, Cultivated Cocktails, and Dalton Distillery. Each of these places offer a great unique experience of their own. Bonus: also see this article… 10 Places To Visit In & Around Asheville.

Charlotte – this town is the center of all of the action in the State of North Carolina! The restaurants are extremely diverse and equally amazing. Restaurants such as Futo Buta, Haymaker, 300 East, Supperland, and the list goes on & on. See these restaurants and more on Southern Living. There are several distilleries that you may want to check out including Seven Jars Distillery, Dragon Moonshine, Oaklore Distilling, and Great Wagon Road Distilling. And the breweries are galore here, and with that said, you must see this list of Charlotte NC breweries & taprooms!

Raleigh – we have had so much great experiences here, and then add Durham to the mix and wow, completeness! This area is home to many great distilleries including Old Raleigh Distillery, Young Hearts Distilling, and Raleigh Rum Company just to name a few. Breweries? Yes! Of course you have to stop by Raleigh Brewing Company, then head on down to Crank Arm Brewing, and after party at Burial Beer, a brewery that originated in Asheville North Carolina. Hungry? So am I! Raleigh Magazine did an article featuring 25 of the Best Restaurants in the area, and we are definitely using this as our guide this Spring.

Where else in North Carolina should we travel to in 2024? See you there!

*article by Moonshiner Gary