A college town built around the University of North Carolina, with tree-lined Franklin Street at its heart. Local restaurants, bookstores, and live music create an active downtown.
Chapel Hill centers around the University of North Carolina campus, where you can walk through the stone amphitheater of Forest Theatre or watch a Tar Heels basketball game at the Dean Smith Center. Along Franklin Street, you'll find students and locals at cafes, bookstores, and music venues. The town's free buses take you to cultural landmarks like the Morehead Planetarium, where NASA astronauts learned celestial navigation, and the North Carolina Botanical Garden with its native plant collections.
Getting Around Chapel Hill
You can ride Chapel Hill Transit buses for free throughout the city, with service funded by local taxes and UNC student fees. The buses run between downtown, the university campus, and residential areas. Several Park & Ride lots let you avoid parking in the busy university area. Most people spend about 20 minutes commuting in Chapel Hill.
University Life and Culture
UNC Chapel Hill, established in 1789, has 30,000 students. You can visit the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center to experience the same star shows that taught Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo astronauts to navigate by the stars. During basketball season, students fill the Dean Smith Center to watch the Tar Heels play. The university's presence has shaped the town's education levels - 73% of Chapel Hill adults have earned at least a bachelor's degree, more than any other city in North Carolina.
Franklin Street Area
Franklin Street extends from campus through downtown, with local businesses occupying historic buildings on both sides. Students and residents gather here during Halloween and after basketball victories. When you walk west, you'll reach Carrboro, creating a mile of independent shops and eateries. You can try Southern cooking at Mama Dip's or grab breakfast at Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen.
Parks and Walking Trails
You can follow the Battle Branch Trail from Community Center Park to Bolin Creek's greenway system. Morgan Creek Trail adds hiking and cycling paths through the area. At the North Carolina Botanical Garden, you'll see collections of native plants, plus outdoor sculptures displayed from September through December. In Meadowmont Village and Southern Village, public squares host concerts and movie screenings.
Arts and Performance Spaces
Watch professional theater at the PlayMakers Repertory Company in the Paul Green Theatre. The Forest Theatre stages shows in an outdoor amphitheater with stone seating built into a hillside. Memorial Hall hosts Carolina Performing Arts' program of musicians and dance companies from around the world. At the Ackland Art Museum, you can explore rotating exhibitions drawn from its collection of 20,000 artworks.
