Things to Do in Charlotte

Whitewater Center is the best place to go if you are looking for water-related things in Charlotte. This place is the world’s largest human-made whitewater river, and you will have a choice of various activities in the water. These activities include kayaking, stand-up paddle boarding, and whitewater rafting. The Whitewater Center is known to be one of the best whitewater rafting tours in North Carolina. This famous attraction is also home to various land activities. If you prefer to stay dry here, you can indulge in mountain biking, rock climbing, and zip-lining activities. You can also plan to hike here as this place has plenty of running trails and obstacle courses. 

Thrill rides and deep dives are among Charlotte's best things to do. These activities are best organized at Carowinds. Carowinds is one of the finest amusement parks in Charlotte, North Carolina. This adventure park will offer more than 60 world-class rides, the best water parks, live entertainment, Camp Snoopy, and downhome Carolina cuisine. You can embark on rides such as Afterburn and Air Racers. The former ride includes high-flying maneuvers of fighter jets.

On the other hand, Air Racers allow you to hop in a vehicle of your choice and race and roll through the obstacles. These obstacles are recreated from heroic tales of ace pilots of Carolina Sky. Such rides make travelers visit Carowinds again and again. 

You can visit Discovery Place Science while exploring Charlotte with your kids. Visiting this Science Museum is one of the best things in Charlotte.  This museum is a kid-friendly play area, a great place to spend a day with your family. Your little ones can have fun in the KidScience section area of this museum. This area is dedicated to kids of early childhood. It consists of soft building blocks, a water table, and a sound wall where they can discover different new objects. Moreover, this place consists of exhibits related to various scientific concepts such as physics, earth science, and the human body. These exhibits are more relevant to your age. 

The NASCAR Hall of Fame is one of Charlotte's most popular car museums. This museum is not just for cars but is also dedicated to world-renowned car drivers. It consists of high-tech exhibits, racing simulators, and a 278-seat theatre. If you are planning your things to do in Charlotte, consider visiting this museum of cars. You will delve into the world of cars during your trip to this museum. This museum's exhibits will engage you deeply amidst notorious cars and world-famous drivers. One of the exhibits worth talking about is Heritage Speedway. This exhibit details the history of NASCAR for seven decades by using authentic artifacts and educational films. Such exhibits will get you completely involved if you are a car enthusiast.

Films and music festivals are the heart of Charlotte. Charlotte is complete with this feature. You should include attending these films and festivals in your list of things to do in Charlotte. The Freedom Park of this city features some of the great musical performances and films for free. This park becomes a site for the five-day festival every September, which attracts over 100,000 visitors. This festival is tagged as a Top 20 event by the Southeast Tourism Society. Besides, this park boasts a line of events planned throughout the year. It is ideal for official events, marriages, and private parties. You can also feel this park's beautiful landscape and attend its events here. It is located at 1900 East Boulevard, between Charlotte’s historic Dilworth and Myers Park neighborhoods. 

One of the places worth visiting in Charlotte is the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art. In this museum, you will gain in-depth knowledge about 20th-century events after World War II through the depictions of modern art. These depictions are from Andreas Bechtler, a Charlotte resident and native of Switzerland. He inherited and assembled more than 1400 works of art in this museum. Major figures of 20th-century modernism created these artworks. This collection of Bechtler reflects the most important movements and schools from the 20th century. You will see mid-century modern art by artists such as Alberto Giacometti, Joan Miro, Max Ernst, Andy Warhol, Jean Tunguely, Barbara Hepworth, and Pablo Picasso. The works of these artists are organized with particular themes at the Bechtler Museum. 

Looking at the wide collection of American Art in the Mint Museum is one of Charlotte's best things to do. You will be able to come across a wide collection of works by famous artists in the two buildings of this institution. In other words, the museum consists of two buildings, namely The Mint Museum of Randolph and the Mint Museum Uptown. These buildings hold the largest public collection of Charlotte-born artist Romare Bearden’s work. It depicts works of other artists such as John Singleton Copley, Gilbert Stuart, Thomas Sully, and Hudson River School painters such as Thomas Cole and Sanford Gifford. You will also come across portraiture from the Federal era, 19th-century landscapes, and other paintings. 

Harvey B. Gantt Center is one of the largest institutions where you learn about African-American people's lives, history, and culture. This institution celebrates the contributions of Africans and African Americans to America in various spheres of life. Their life is portrayed in multiple art forms such as music, dance, theatre, visual art film, arts education programs, literature, and community outreach. To explore this institution theme, you can attend events such as Please Trouble and Carry Me by Christopher Myers. This event explores varied mythological, spiritual, and historical relationships between Black bodies, diaspora, and water. Tasting delicious food at nearby restaurants will make your visit to this city more pleasurable. These restaurants are Brown Bag Seafood, Jinya Ramen Bar, and Rein’s Fine Foods. A trip to this museum is one of the must-have things to do in Charlotte. 

If you want to escape Charlotte's hustle-bustle life, then you can enter the peaceful surroundings of the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden. Spending a day in this botanical garden is one of the best things to do in Charlotte. This botanical garden is spread across 30 acres and encompasses annual and perennial plants and trees, various fountains, walking paths, a tropical plant and orchid observatory, and a children’s garden. There are various other gardens within the boundaries of this Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden. These gardens showcase popular plants of the late 19th and early centuries and entertain children of all ages with a theater, sunken pond, moonkeep, play spaces, and more for imagination. You can attend major events such as Butterfly Bungalow to learn about the native butterflies of North Carolina. 

Enjoying a day trip at Lake Norman can be considered in your list of things to do in Charlotte. This human-made lake enables you to feel the cool breeze while enjoying meals or drinks at lakefront restaurants within the area. Besides, the lake allows you to engage in mountain bike trails. You can also rent pedal boards, kayaks, paddleboards, and canoes to engage in various water activities. This lake is about 15 miles north of Charlotte and is surrounded by multiple worthwhile towns. One of the towns of Davidson is popular for its liberal arts college, Davidson College. On the other hand, the city of Cornelius is well known for Ramsey Creek Park and Jetton Park. You can plan to visit these towns along with your trip to Lake Norman.