I was in Charlotte just last week, stayed in Uptown. I have to say that I was very impressed with the area. Some of the highlights included:
- The streets were very active. I was there Friday night and all day Saturday, there were people out walking everywhere.
- It overall felt very clean, and not as many homeless as I've seen in other cities
- I walked through the Fourth Ward, which I believe is the oldest neighborhood, it's quiet and quaint and full of Victorian style homes , and directly adjacent to the busy downtown
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attracti..._Carolina.html
- We kind of stumbled upon Optomist Hall. It's a really cool old textile mill that has been repurposed to a food hall / public market
https://www.charlottesgotalot.com/ar...irst-food-hall
I was much less impressed with Raleigh, however.