THINGS TO DO IN CHARLOTTE NC – Charlotte, North Carolina is called the Queen City because it’s named after King George the 3rd wife, Queen Charlotte.
An interesting statistic about North Carolina stated that 60% of high school students who are not from the south don’t realize North Carolina is a southern state.
Charlotte is a major city and commercial hub for North Carolina. It is now home to about 750,000 southerners. They have a lot of people moving into Charlotte and for a lot of good reasons. And if you’re thinking about visiting the Queen City, you should watch our top ten places.
Tiger World
Number one up on the list is Tiger World. Tiger World is one of our favorite places here in Charlotte, North Carolina. It’s located in Rockville, North Carolina, and you’ll be shocked by the number of people who don’t know about it.
It is a non-profit endangered species wildlife preservation reserve. What they do is they go out and get these wild animals like tigers, lions, bear, kangaroos, wolves, you name it they got it.
They get phenomenal vet care. It is one of the places where you can get so up close and personal with these wild animals that are far better than any zoo that you probably have ever been to.
It comes in second only to Africa’s safari in getting up close and personal to these animals.
The U.S. National Whitewater Center
The U.S. National White Water Center is about a 25-minute drive away from downtown Charlotte. There are zip-lining, whitewater rafting, mountain biking, and more.
The U.S. National Whitewater Center is a massive 1,300-acre playground with a ton of activities, beer garden, and home to the world’s largest human-made whitewater river.
It’s practically an outdoor paradise. They also have a green area where they have nighttime concerts in the evenings. It is an outdoor dream, and it’s one of Charlotte’s jewels.
Just head up to the tower to try some zip-lining above all of the whitewater. And after you’re done with all the adventure for the day, come right next to the water as the zip liners go by to the River’s Edge restaurant, and you can have lunch.
Stoke Charlotte
All right, after a great day out, it’s time for dinner. Inside the Marriott City Center in Uptown Charlotte, you’ll find locally sourced southern dishes and wood-fired creations by a renowned chef.
One of the best aspects of the place is that you can watch everything being created from scratch in their open kitchen.
The Great Smoky Mountains
At more than 185,000 acres, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park houses more land of old-growth forests than any other place east of the Mississippi River.
It is designated an international biosphere reserve by The Allessio World Heritage Site. It also contains nine individual listings on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
Its highest peak is Clingmans Dome at more than 6,600 feet. One of the four major waterfalls in the park is Brodo Falls, and it sits on Mount Lacan. The mount is the 6th tallest mountain in the United States
Kerrigan Farms
About a 35-minute drive outside of Charlotte is the quarry at Kerrigan Farms. It is a giant watering hole that you can do cliff jumping. You can swim up to a dock, and you can also do a rope swing. There’s even a waterfall in the summer months. It is the place to come to cool off.
In the late 1960s, half of a million tons of granite stone was taken from the farm to help build part of the highway. They combined that with a natural underground spring feeding in ten million gallons of water, and you have this fantastic quarry.
Bank of America Stadium
It is a seventy-five thousand five hundred seats coliseum and the heart of downtown Charlotte. It is home to the NFL’s Caroline Panthers. Bank of America purchased 20 years naming rights for more than $100 million in 2004, but
it retains the Carolina Stadium name when hosting FIFA matches.
Each of the three entrances features two huge bronze panther statues. While the stadium has never sold out, it came close on September 9th, 2018, when 74,812 fans watched the Carolina Panthers defeat Dallas Cowboys 16 to 8.
Cars and Coffee
Another one of the great things that you’ll love about coming here in Charlotte, North Carolina, is Cars and Coffee. Every first Saturday of the month, thousands of people come together and bring their cars. It is one big fun party where everybody’s checking out everybody’s cars.
You will get everything there from Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Porsches, Rolls Royce; you name it. Almost every car you could potentially think of, you can see them in Cars and Coffee.
They change locations occasionally, so you better look them up on their Facebook page, Cars, and Coffee Charlotte. It’s usually held on the first Saturday of every month from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. It’s lots of fun.
Metalmorphosis
Another cool thing that a lot of people don’t know about here in Charlotte is a sculpture by a Czech artist called Metalmorphosis.
It’s down in Steele Creek in an office industrial complex. It’s in the shape of a human head moving parts in a watery reflecting pool.
Carowinds
For those of you who like crazy rides and getting nauseous, the city has the world-famous Carowinds. Carowinds is an amusement park. It has two of the largest steel roller coasters in all of North America.
They have a waterpark as well, so if that’s your thing, Carowinds is the place to go. Children are going to love it. One thing about Carowinds, they have about 12 or 13 colossal roller coasters making it number five in the world for the number of roller coasters located in one park. The fastest one can hit a speed of 95 miles an hour. So Carowinds is a major attraction here in Charlotte.
Lazy 5 Ranch
It is located in Mooresville. It has got wild animals, unlike the ones in Tiger World. What they have are antelope, zebra, and giraffe.
They’re free to roam around, and you sit in your car, and you drive through. You can open up your windows you can purchase food you can feed them they’ll stick their faces actually inside your vehicle. It’s a very cool place.
However, we would warn you if you have a nice car that you’re worried about. They will jump up on your car and scratch the side of it.
The place does have a wagon that you can go around the park in which we recommend if you don’t want to destroy your car.