Located to the west of the state capital of Raleigh in central North Carolina, Chapel Hill is a historic city that makes up part of the co-called ‘Research Triangle’. Originally a small village of Scottish and English heritage dating from the 1700s, Chapel Hill is today a sizeable town of around 50,000 and is home of the oldest state-supported university.
Gay-friendly Chapel Hill plays host to two popular annual street fairs featuring arts, crafts, music, lots of food and thousands of spectators. Apple Chill lands in April, while Festifall kicks off in October.
The town is easy to get around with a profusion of bike lanes and bike-only paths, and there are several places where you can hire bicycles. There are many historic buildings and museums located about downtown Chapel Hill as well as plentiful shops and cafés. In addition, nearby Meadowmont Village and Southern Village are also worth a look.
Highlights
Museums: Chapel Hill has a couple of good museums, including the vaunted Ackland Art Museum with its fantastic collections and traveling exhibitions and the downtown Chapel Hill Museum which sits in a beautiful building.
Morehead Planetarium: was the first planetarium to be built on a US college campus and features star shows and live science demonstrations.
Halloween on Franklin street: if you are here for Halloween night, check out Franklin street, where a huge street party is hosted, with bars and restaurants getting in on the act.
NC Botanical Garden: just outside town on Franklin street and featuring many beautiful specimens from the region and beyond.
Finley Golf Course: the 11th best collegiate golf course in the nation is located on the University of North Carolina grounds and is best visited in the week.