Raleigh vs. Charlotte (Huntersville, Stanley: fit in, home, college)

[stoils]

How do the two cities compare, how are they different, what is good about one that is bad about the other.

Please be as unbiased as possible, but sell me on one or the other.

[southernpixie]

Both have great nightlife scenes. Charlotte a "little" more so than Raleigh. I have lived in both cities and I feel that Raleigh is more family friendly, family oriented. Just my own personal take is that Raleigh is more accepting of other people whether it be that the are from another part of the country, another country, another lifestyle or another culture. I missed Charlotte when I first came here because it seems to have a much faster pace but, that is what I was used to. Then after here for a while I wouldn't trade this for the world. I like Charlotte, it has some great highlights but Raleigh is much more of a "home" type city. Charlotte is a great place to experience things and say you have lived there. You may or may not stay there. Raleigh is a great place to actually plant roots and stay there. Just my opinion.

[starla]

Raleigh rocks and Charlotte sucks. Basically. Okay, just kidding.

My parents moved to Huntersville (just outside Charlotte) while I was in college, and I moved to Raleigh for a job almost three years ago. I would say Charlotte has a little more of a "scene" than Raleigh, but I like the people I meet here more than I liked the people there. Charlotte seems more "Old South", while Raleigh seems a little more progressive and liberal IMO. Charlotte has a bigger airport; it's nearly impossible to get a direct flight to anywhere from RDU. The longer I stayed in Charlotte, the less I liked it. The longer I stay in Raleigh, the more I like it. I always felt like I had to work to "fit in" Charlotte, whereas in Raleigh, you can find your niche, though it might take a while. Even my parents agree that Raleigh has much better roads than Charlotte, which makes sense since the entire state assembly has to drive around here, so they make sure we get the $$ to keep them up. Also, I think the workforce is a little more educated here than in Charlotte; my parents always had a hard time getting decent services in Charlotte, whereas I've found the service here to be pretty competent.

It's really hard to put a finger on why I feel so much more at home in Raleigh than I ever did in Charlotte. But I think it's just a little more liberal, a little more open-minded, a little more laid-back.

[Dave O]

Originally Posted by southernpixie

I have lived in both cities and I feel that Raleigh is more family friendly, family oriented

Haha. I've lived in both and came to the opposite conclusion. I guess that it depends on how you define "family friendly" and where in the CLT or RDU area you lived.

[Waterboy526]

[quote=starla;1168983]it's nearly impossible to get a direct flight to anywhere from RDU.QUOTE]

While it is a medium size airport there are plenty of direct flights from Raleigh to almost every single major city along the east coast and many to medium size cities too. I absolutely love flying in and out of Raleigh. It is SOOO easy compared to any other airport I've flown in/out of.

[jfre81]

In a nutshell and generally speaking, Charlotte has more of what Raleigh has, in spades. And for Christmas, the Queen City gets light rail. What is Raleigh getting this Christmas, besides ice on the Beltine? Wouldn't live in NC again unless I can do it without owning a car.

Not even a bowl bid for NC State? It's usually mean to get fired but it did let Chuck Amato esca---aw nevermind, that's too mean to say. Sorry.

Raleigh's not that bad. The new downtown does sound sweet - I'll check it out when I get around to it, (probably early next year) and now that it doesn't look like Baghdad with cranes instead of tanks I'm looking forward to it. But until then, I'm putting the point in Charlotte's column. Raleigh does have the hockey team that plays with the big boys and Lord Stanley's cup has kissed the soil there, and the Triangle's got better college hoops scene. So it ain't like it's not close.