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Parks and the outdoors in Chapel Hill

6 parks, gardens, beaches and walks in and around Chapel Hill.

Ranked with the travel guide's picks and well-known places first.

Parks and the outdoors in Chapel Hill

  1. See

    Battle Park

    A local park which preserves a natural wooded canyon and a small creek east of campus that makes for a lovely retreat from the town. Walking trails run along the creek at the bottom of the canyon and up the hills into the residential neighborhoods lining the park. There are also a couple of historic structures in the park.

    Free

  2. Drink

    Caffe Driade

    Off-campus coffee shop set back in the woods. If coming by foot or by bike, take the Bolin Creek Trail.

    Mon–Thu 7AM–11PM, Fri Sat 7AM–midnight, Sun 8AM–11PM

  3. See

    Coker Arboretum

    A beautiful garden with a wonderful vine pergola along Cameron Avenue.

  4. See

    Forest Theater

    A scenic little outdoor amphitheater that holds occasional performances.

  5. See

    Morehead Planetarium and Science Center

    One of the oldest and largest planetariums in the United States, and the first ever built on a U.S. college campus. Traditional planetarium star shows, original multimedia productions, live science demonstration shows and more. In front of the building is a large sundial surrounded by a lovely rose garden.

    Tue-Sat 10AM-3:30PM, Sun 1-4:30PMExhibits free; planetarium shows $7.25 adults, $6 children/students/seniors

  6. See

    NC Botanical Garden

    A set of lovely display gardens, with a great native plant collection arranged to illustrate the distinct plant habitats of North Carolina, including carnivorous plants and lovely flowers and butterflies. Also has nature trails nearby.

    Tue-Sat 9AM-5PM, Sun 1-5PMFree

Listings from the Wikivoyage guide to Chapel Hill (CC BY-SA 4.0).