Hotels in Charlotte

Charlotte is the second-largest banking centre in the United States after New York, and Uptown, confusingly the name for its downtown, reflects that with a compact cluster of towers, museums and stadiums. The Mint Museum, the Bechtler Modern and the Harvey B. Gantt Center all sit within a few blocks of each other.

NASCAR is the other identity. The sport's headquarters and most of its teams are based here, the NASCAR Hall of Fame is in Uptown, and Charlotte Motor Speedway hosts the Coca-Cola 600. The US National Whitewater Center, meanwhile, is an artificial river complex for rafting, kayaking and climbing on the city's western edge.

The neighbourhoods are where Charlotte gets interesting. NoDa is the arts district with breweries and live music, South End has been transformed by the LYNX light rail and the Rail Trail, and Plaza Midwood is the older, scruffier bar quarter. The Blue Ridge Mountains are two hours west and the Atlantic beaches three hours east.