Road Trips To Take in North Carolina

North Carolina is a beautiful state, with so many different options in terms of traveling. To the west of the state you have the mountains, the middle is the rolling hills of the Piedmont, and to the east is the Carolina coast including the legendary Outer Banks. 

North Carolina is an excellent state to take a road trip. You can start in one of the bigger cities and rent an RV in Charlotte, Greensboro or Wilmington and go from there. You can also start on one end of the state and go all the way to other from west to east or vice versa. 

The following are some highlights and routes you should think about incorporating into your road trip. 

Outer Banks National Scenic Byway

The Outer Banks National Scenic Byway, which is Route 12, stretches out for 137 miles and offers beautiful beach, marsh and dune scenery. The Atlantic is on one side of this route, and the Intracoastal Waterway is on the other. 

Some of the places that the Byway takes you through include Hatteras, Ocracoke, and Bodie Island. There are lighthouses, including the famous Hatteras lighthouse which is the tallest in the country. 

Haunted Road Trip

There is plenty of history in North Carolina, and there’s a road trip route that travelers have come up with that will take you on a tour of the most haunted sites in the state. 

There’s the Grove Park Inn in the mountains, the Great Dismal Swamp which inspired the writer Harriet Beecher Stow, the Maco Lights just northeast of Wilmington, and several other places throughout the state known for their haunted history. 

Piedmont History

If you want to stick to central North Carolina, there is a lot of history to enjoy in the Piedmont region. For example, there’s Mount Airy, which was the childhood home of actor Andy Griffith, as well as Old Salem which is a Moravian village, as well as Duke Homestead. You can also visit Duke University, located in Durham. 

Mountain Road Trip

For people who love the mountains more than the beach, there’s plenty to enjoy in North Carolina as well. Asheville is a good starting or ending place for an RV road trip. Asheville is home to the historic Biltmore house, but there’s so much more to the city than that. Asheville has put itself on the map in terms of restaurants and breweries, so it’s a good place for foodies. There’s also live music and a uniquely bohemian feel to the city, as well as an abundance of outdoor activities. 

Around 40 minutes from Asheville is the town of Waynesville, which is less developed and more rural than Asheville. There are stunning mountain views, and you’ll find an entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park via through Swag bed and breakfast. 

For road trippers, the Blue Ridge Parkway Loop is another can’t miss. It’s located in Haywood County, and it takes drivers along 46 miles of the nearly 500-mile Blue Ridge Parkway. This is the section with the highest elevations, so it offers some of the best scenery of the entire Parkway. 

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