Hi ladies! I am so excited to share the second installment of my new travel series, “My Perfect Day.” I’m asking my blogging friends to share their perfect day in the city they live in. I hope this series will give you some great inside tips from real locals! Today Kate Bryan of The Small Things Blog is walking us through her ideal Saturday in Raleigh, North Carolina. Enjoy!

My Perfect Day: Raleigh, NC with Kate Bryan

I’m originally from outside of Chicago but have been living in the South for over 12 years! I met my husband in college and we moved to Raleigh, North Carolina only 3 months after we were married.

We had been living only two hours east, so it wasn’t a dramatic change for us and I was certainly excited to be in a larger city.

My experience in Raleigh has been really great. I think there is a lot to do, it’s fairly easy to get where you need to go with the highway that circles around the city, there are great restaurants and parks, and generally the people are friendly and helpful.

If you are visiting soon or are simply curious as to what Raleigh has to offer, I thought I’d run through what I would do on an ideal Saturday in Raleigh.

If the weather is tolerable, I’ve love to start at the Farmers Market. We have a huge Farmers Market with so many local farms selling nearly every fruit and vegetable imaginable. There is also an entire section dedicated to plants, both indoor and outdoor. I bought a lemon tree from the Farmers Market a few years ago that I unfortunately killed, but to say there is a range to choose from is an understatement.

From the Farmers Market, I’d head straight downtown to get some coffee. One of the more popular coffee spots in downtown is called The Morning Times. It’s a tiny little storefront with an upstairs to sit in with your drink. There are also tables outside that are always full of coffee lovers enjoying their drinks.

Downtown Raleigh is going through a bit of a rebirth. There are so many great restaurants with even more to come. If I had the kids, I’m sure we’d head over to Marble’s Kids Museum or the Museum of Natural Sciences to let them play and explore a bit. If I was solo or only with my husband, I’d love to walk around Cameron Village, which is a little shopping district near the university.

Cameron Village has a few restaurants, lots of retail shopping, a large library and a Fresh Market. I could easily spend a few hours wandering around the squares.

If I had a good bit of the afternoon left, I’d head to Lake Johnson for a walk around the lake. There are so many beautiful parks in and around Raleigh that make it easy to stay active. Plus a lot of them are shaded with trees so it’s a good choice on a hot summer day.

I’d love to get pizza at Lilly’s down in Five Points. This is a small area downtown that is at an intersection of a few busy roads. There isn’t much here, but Lilly’s Pizza is one of my favorites.

After pizza, I’d have to head over to downtown Cary to get Fresh Local ice cream. It’s some of the best ice cream I’ve ever had.

If it was date night, I’d love to end the night seeing a movie at the outdoor film event that happens every weekend in the summer at the NC Museum of Art.

If I was with the kids, I’d probably suggest burning off some of the ice cream energy at a nearby park. Pullen Park is an enormous park downtown that has a train, a kid-friendly boat ride, and a lot of different structures for the kids to play on.

While I was thinking through these activities and restaurants I had to resist sharing the other great options. There truly is a great variety of things to do here, making it the kind of city that has something for everyone.

I hope you liked the second installation of my new travel series! Make sure to stop by The Small Things Blog and say hi to Kate! Are there any locations or bloggers you’d like to see next?? Let me know in the comments!

P.S. If you missed the last installment, you can check out Grace Atwood of The Stripe’s guide to Brooklyn, NY!

xox

photos by The Small Things Blog