Things to do/see around Greensboro NC

[rjsob58]

Going there for a week. Any suggestions on interesting things to see or do there? Could be within a 1 or 2 hour drive too.

 

[JoeWras]

A few ideas:

- Greensboro Grasshoppers baseball. Minor league at its best. Nice park, right downtown.
- Guilford Courthouse National Battleground park. History. Find out about the much forgotten southern campaign of the Revolutionary war. Big turning point in the war.
- NC Zoo in Asheboro. World class zoo. Built "new mode", i.e. animals are in large environments. Within 1 hour.
- Old Salem in Winston Salem. Get your 250 year old history fix and live experience. Within 1 hour.
- Like the outdoors? Like to hike? Hanging Rock state park is about 1 hour drive. Nice views if you are willing to hike up to the rock. Price is right: FREE.
- Raleigh NC has a few world class museums, 1 1/2 hr.
- Near Burlington (1/2 hour) in the interstate are a few outlet type malls, if you like that kind of thing.

 

[rjsob58]

Great. Thanks Joe. I''l push my luck: Any "must try" restaurants?

 

[H2ODude]

Restaurants: our favorite for lunch is MJ's, dinner is 1618 Seafood. 1618 pricey but IMO one of those that's worth it.

Great trail system around the water supply lakes, and the Science Center just opened a new aquarium. Not been yet, but heard it was quite nice.

 

[rjsob58]

Thanks Dude.

 

[steelyman]

I went to Natty Greene's for beer and dinner a few weeks ago - fun and popular pub.

 

[FUEGO]

Don't know much about Greensboro, but I know Raleigh, Durham, and Charlotte are both under 2 hours away. Plenty of museums, night life, fancy restaurants, shopping etc if you find Greensboro lacking. Raleigh in particular has a lot of museums and historical sites.

Old Salem in Winston salem (30 minutes away??) is a popular tourist attraction though I haven't been there yet.

+1 on zoo - pretty neat and you can spend a day there. Fairly affordable, ~$8-10 IIRC.

 

[mpeirce]

I also went to Natty Greene's last time I was there visiting. Nice place, especially if you sit outside on a nice evening.

 

[NC 57]

If you like museums Winston-Salem has Reynolda House (American art) in the RJ Reynolds mansion as well as the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art. The Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts at Old Salem is excellent.

Charlotte is 2 hours south of Greensboro on I85 and is a vibrant growing metropolis with many big city amenities. The North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer (between Greensboro and Charlotte) could be a day trip. Charlotte has an aviation museum at the airport. If you like amusement parks, Carowinds is on the NC/SC border south of Charlotte. Charlotte also has the Mint Museum (an art museum with two locations).

A long, but worthwhile day trip, is to take I40 west to Asheville and the ride up the Blue Ridge Parkway to the Boone/Blowing Rock area. Have a nice meal in Blowing Rock (several good restaurants) and then take US421 south to I40 at Winston-Salem and take I40 to Greensboro. Or do the Parkway in reverse starting in Boone and ending in Asheville. Stay overnight in Asheville, visit Biltmore House the next day, as well as the shops and galleries in Biltmore Village, and then drive back to Greensboro. Many good restaurants in Asheville.

 

[martyb]

My hometown is only a little over an hour from Greensboro, but I've gotten some good ideas here from you folks and will be checking some of them out very soon....thanks! Oh yeah, as far as the Asheboro Zoo, it's a nice place, but I can tell you from experience it's already too doggone hot for me to walk that place! Hope you enjoy your visit to my Tarheel state!

 

[DougViages]

NC wine country is west, down I-40. Some good wineries to visit, including Raffaldinis.