This past weekend I took a small trip up to Charlotte to knock a few things off my to-do list. Most importantly I visited one of my best friends from college to celebrate her baby girl due next month. I was also able to see my very best friend who lives in South Carolina and get to explore a new city with another great friend in between. So many memories were made this weekend, and my heart is so full.
If you are looking to take a little or big trip to Charlotte here is our itinerary for the weekend.
Thursday
6am Flight out of St. Pete/Clearwater Airport to Charlotte/Concord.
I highly recommend looking to see if an allegiant flight travels from your city to Concord. The airport is located about 30 minutes from downtown and a much quicker airport experience than you will have at Charlotte International. There are call rentals at this airport, and I would recommend having a car, as Charlotte is not the best city for public transit.
9am Breakfast a Snooze Eatery
With a few locations in Charlotte, we chose the one in South End to be close to our Airbnb. I would highly recommend Snooze as they not only have a great breakfast menu but also some really fun breakfast cocktails.
11am Shopping in the South End.
The South End of Charlotte is super walkable. There are a ton of great shops and restaurants in this area. There are also some great murals painted throughout for you to stop for a photo op. We spend most of our time in the Atherton Mill area which is home to a few boutiques, a Lululemon, Free People, Anthropology, Sephora and more. However, walking up and down the area of South End you will find some other great spots to shop.
1pm Lunch at LeRoy Fox
I love this restaurant for their fried chicken . I have it on every trip to Charlotte.
3pm Check into Airbnb
We stayed at an Airbnb in the South End. If you are looking to be able to walk to a ton of restaurants, bars, and breweries this is the place for you. However, the going out scene is a bit young and caters to an early and mid-20s crowd.
5pm Optimist Hall
An awesome food hall located in the north part of charlotte. I highly recommend The Dumpling Lady and the grilled cheese stand. If you have room get some gelato as well. There is a full-service Mexican restaurant, a brewery, and 2 full bars located at Optimist Hall as well.
7pm Comedy Show at Optimist Hall
Be sure to check the events at Optimist Hall because you might just get lucky and have a fun evening. We were fortunate enough to see a comedy show at the bar on property called Billy Sunday. Even if there is no entertainment for the evening, Billy Sunday has a great vibe and AMAZING cocktails.
10pm Ice Cream at Jeni’s
Located in the South End you will for sure be waiting in line. Everything here is good, you can’t go wrong.
Friday
8am Breakfast at Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit
A southern favorite of mine, you can’t go wrong here.
10am White Water Center
The highlight of the trip for sure. Located 30 minutes outside of Charlotte, the white water center is a great place to spend the day being active. We did ropes courses, zip lined, and white water rafted. Be sure to by the all day activity pass and schedule your zip line and white water times to guarantee a spot. I recommend the figure 8 zip line because you get to do some fun ropes courses in between. Additionally sign up for the adventure rafting if you want to have some fun and family rafting if you are going with some younger kids. There is something for everyone to do at the white water center like kayaking, paddle boarding, hiking trails, mountain biking, rock climbing and more.
7pm Dinner at Indaco
A great Italian spot with a lively atmosphere. I recommend the burrata appetizer and one of their pizzas.
10pm Wine at the Wine Loft
Wine loft was a great place to cap off the day because of the live music. My friend and I both ordered a wine flight and you got a full glass after of your favorite one.
Saturday
11am Brunch at North Italia
Conveniently located downstairs from our Airbnb, North Italia has a great brunch option as well as delicious lunch and dinner entrees.
1pm Baby Shower at High Branch Brewery
I doubt anyone reading this will make the trip our to Concord, but if you do High Branch Brewery was a fun spot with delicious beer and wine options.
7pm Dinner at Stir
My favorite meal of the trip. Be sure to make reservations though as this spot gets packed. By 7pm they were no longer taking walk ups. I highly recommend any of their cocktails, their chicken samosas and their fish taco.
9pm Drinks at BirdSong Brewery
Up in the NoDa part of Charlotte are a ton of breweries. Actually, there are just a ton of breweries everywhere. Birdsong is located close to Optimist Hall so you can hit both up in the same day.
11pm Ice Cream at Jeni’s
Don’t judge. It’s that good.
Sunday
11am Coffee and Lunch at Optimist Hall
We figured that since we had to leave for our flight around 12 it was best to hang out for awhile at Optimist Hall again. There is so much to try we wanted to go back and snack on more. Plus with cocktail bars and a brewery it was the perfect place to hang out for a couple hours
2pm Fly back to Florida
I was so sad to see our trip end but excited to visit Charlotte again. There is so much left still to do.
What did I miss that you recommend?
