North Carolina road trips

North Carolina is best seen as a road trip. US 64, the road of the phrase "from Murphy to Manteo", runs 604 miles across the state from the Tennessee line to the Outer Banks, and falls from 6,684 feet at Mount Mitchell to sea level on the islands. The ten days below follow that fall, from the mountains through the Piedmont to the coast, one direction all the way, so you never double back.

Each day is built around two or three landmarks on this site, with a night in one of the bases described in Where to Stay. Drive times are not given, because in the mountains and on the islands they depend on weather, closures, ferries and the season more than on distance; plan generously, and check the Parkway's and the ferries' status before each day.

Start in Asheville, which has its own airport, or fly into Charlotte and drive west. The first four days are the mountains. Give the first to the city and Biltmore, George Vanderbilt's house, the largest privately owned house in the United States, with its gardens and winery. On the second, drive the highest stretch of the Blue Ridge Parkway southwest past Mount Pisgah, Looking Glass Rock and Richland Balsam, 6,053 feet up, to its end near Cherokee and the Great Smoky Mountains.

On the third, head the other way to the Black Mountains: Craggy Gardens, purple with rhododendron in June, and the side road to the summit of Mount Mitchell. If that stretch of the Parkway is shut, go east instead through Hickory Nut Gorge to Chimney Rock and Lake Lure. On the fourth, move north to the High Country, with Linville Falls, the Linn Cove Viaduct and Grandfather Mountain, and sleep in Blowing Rock or Boone. On the way, the Parkway passes Moses Cone's Flat Top Manor, now a craft center, and Price Lake, the only lake on the Parkway where you can paddle.

Days five and six cross the Piedmont. Drop off the Blue Ridge to Pilot Mountain, the quartzite knob the Saura called the Great Guide, and on to Winston-Salem, where Old Salem keeps the Moravian town of 1766. On day six take I-40 east to the Triangle: Duke Chapel and the Sarah P. Duke Gardens in Durham, then Raleigh, with the Capitol and the natural history museum downtown or the Museum of Art in its park.

If you have a spare day here, Charlotte's museums and the NASCAR Hall of Fame, or a barbecue detour to Lexington, fit in easily; see Eating and Drinking.

Day seven is the long drive east to the Outer Banks, crossing to Roanoke Island for Fort Raleigh and the story of the Lost Colony, and then to the dunes where the Wright brothers flew. Day eight climbs Jockey's Ridge and follows NC 12 south past Bodie Island Light, over Oregon Inlet and through the Pea Island refuge to the Cape Hatteras lighthouse at Buxton.

On day nine, take the ferry from Hatteras village to Ocracoke and stay the night in the village. On day ten, take the long ferry across Pamlico Sound to Cedar Island and drive to Beaufort, where boats leave for Cape Lookout and the wild horses of Shackleford Banks, and Fort Macon stands across the inlet. Beaufort's historic district, maritime museum and old burying ground are worth the evening, and the Crystal Coast's seafood is the right way to end the trip. Fly home from Wilmington, Raleigh–Durham or New Bern.

Three days on the Parkway: take days one to four above and choose three, basing yourself in Asheville for two nights and in Blowing Rock for one. In October, when the color runs down from the summits to the valleys, this is the most rewarding short trip in the state, and the most crowded; book early.

Four days on the Outer Banks: fly into Raleigh–Durham and follow days seven to ten, finishing in Beaufort, or skip the Pamlico Sound ferry and drive back north from Ocracoke.

A long weekend in the Piedmont: Winston-Salem and Old Salem on the first day, Durham and Duke on the second, Raleigh's museums on the third, with trains between Charlotte, Greensboro, Durham and Raleigh if you would rather not drive.

For more time in the far west, base yourself in Asheville for two nights and Cherokee for two. From Cherokee, the capital of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, visit the Museum of the Cherokee People, founded by the Eastern Band in 1948, and the Oconaluftee Indian Village, and drive Newfound Gap Road through the Smokies to the gap on the state line, where Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the park in 1940.

Another day takes you west to Robbinsville for the North Carolina half of the Cherohala Skyway, with its balds above five thousand feet and the old-growth Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest nearby. On the way back to Asheville, follow the Forest Heritage Scenic Byway through Pisgah National Forest by Brevard and the Cradle of Forestry, and meet the Parkway at Beech Gap. The Smokies page has more on the park.

For a trip down the southern coast instead, start in New Bern with Tryon Palace and the historic districts, go on to Beaufort and Fort Macon, and end in Wilmington, with the battleship across the river, the riverwalk and Wrightsville Beach. The ferry from Fort Fisher to Southport crosses the mouth of the Cape Fear at the end. Four or five days is enough.

Every one of these trips depends on roads and ferries that weather can close. The Parkway's high sections close in winter and after storms, NC 12 on the Outer Banks can be washed over in a hurricane, and the Pamlico Sound ferries run on limited schedules. Look at When to Come for the seasons, Ferries for the crossings and Scenic Drives for the best stretches of road, and leave a spare half day in any plan that needs a boat.