Raleigh Travel Forum

I am looking at taking a job in raleigh, north carolina, but I've never been there. Right now I live in Minneapolis. What are the good and bad things about N.C.?

Raleigh is a !great! city with a friendly southern influence. I love the totally moderate seasons in Raleigh as well. As in temperate and beautiful; none are really extreme. It has a big downtown with some great museums, a few colleges, good restaurants, great shopping. It's central enough that you can head for the beach or the mountains in a matter of hours. A fun Raleigh-based Web site for ya:
http://www.shesheme.com

living in Raleigh, you'll only be a few hours away from the mountains, and the beaches. you'll only need to take I-40 from Raleigh to go right to Asheville and the surrounding mountains, which is nice.

North Carolina does not have nearly as much snow. you do get 4 seasons... it's not THAT mild... and you do get snow and ice sometimes, but it's warm most of the year. one bad thing is that most people here don't know how to handle the snow, the roads don't get cleared very well, and a lot of accidents can happen in just a few inches.

there are a lot of other cities west of Raleigh, so you won't feel as if you're in the middle of nowhere... which you can feel that way in other parts of NC.

i love North Carolina, i grew up here, and just returned after 8 months living up north. hope it all works out for you!!! :-)

Raleigh is nice...just try not to live in Durham. There is a lot to do in the surrounding area, so you will never run out of things to do. Sports, Museums, Shopping, etc. 3 major universities are in the area (NC State, UNC, and Duke). Let me know if you have any questions.

I have a dear friend from Platteville who went to St. John's (MN, of course) who lives in Raleigh. How to say, it ain't the south there anymore. It seems half the people are from New York and New Jersey. Traffic is utterly terrible. There are some wonderful antiquing places, and the countryside in the surrounding area is very pleasant. Nag's Head is a very nice beach, the Blue Ridge is about three hours away and makes for a very nice day's drive. I agree with the previous poster, you probably don't want to live in Durham, nasty crime rate there. Cary has a Whole Foods, from which you can figure the demographic of that town. Chapel Hill seems quite nice, though I don't know it well. I will take a Minnesota winter over theirs: lots of ice storms and the occasional hurricane in the summer.

The traffic alone is enough to drive you crazy. Raleigh isn't a bad town, but I would highly reccomend Chapel Hill. It's a quaint college town with an active social scene. Plenty of things to do without the headache of "city life"

Hi,
I live in Berkeley, CA now, but I grew up in that part of the country. Right now I am very hungry so I will say one of the good things about NC is bbq. Oh how I miss it! Allen and Sons on 86 N of CHapel HIll is the best! I miss other things about the south too. The weather is nice and there are some great swimming holes. It is very pretty country. People are overall friendly and caring. And the lifestyle is pleasantly slower than it is in either the North East or the West (I can't say for Minnesota). On the other hand, I left the south for a reason. Not everyone is a bigotted, closeminded, racist, NASCAR loving, pack a day smoking, fundamentalist Southern Baptist, but that group of people is much more represented than in other areas of the country like say Minneapolis. I got kicked out of a party once for kindly suggesting that all of the Mexicans (meaning any one of latino background) shouldn't be kicked out of the country immediately. On the other hand, I really miss having debates. For the most part people were more interested in my opinions there than they are in Berkeley. Also the Raleigh area is a little more progressive than the town I grew up in across the border in VA. Plus there are a lot of non southerners in that area now too. Still though, southern politics and the southern pace can take a little getting used too.