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Mediocre? NC's mountains and beaches are easily among the most desirable in the eastern US.
NC easily has the tallest mountains east of the Mississippi; of the peaks that are at least 6,000 ft tall, NC has eight of them. Roughly half of the Blue Ridge Parkway, the country's longest parkway, lies within NC. What the Blue Ridge Mountains lack in height, they make up for in beauty with their extensive tree cover which is especially evident in fall.
And Raleigh is within daytrip distance to the Outer Banks, which is always represented on any credible list of the East Coast's best beaches. Folks from the DC/Baltimore area love the Outer Banks, and many prefer vacationing there over the Maryland and Delaware beaches which are closer.
But the beauty of Tampa's coastal location speaks for itself.
Raleigh’s location has been a real drawback for me to be honest. Yes, its somewhat close to the best mountains in the eastern US, but there’s always that “eastern” qualifier and the bar is pretty low in the eastern US. I like the western NC mountains and went there often as a kid. However, I’ve been fortunate to travel a lot and based on other places I’ve been I’d probably just rank them as a 4 out of 10. For beaches, I know the outer banks have their own unique charm but they don’t have warm azure water and palm trees.
I like Raleigh a lot and could live there, but it wouldn’t be for the mountains or beach. If I were to move somewhere for that I’d want one of them to be pretty outstanding at least. I don’t like talking bad about anywhere and I don’t think NC’s geographic offerings are bad, if we are honest though they’re just not that exceptional when you start comparing them to other mountains/beaches… I’d move to Raleigh mostly due to having some great suburbs, a good school system, and reasonable COL.
Last edited by FL_Expert; 09-12-2021 at 07:29 PM..
Now I know the OBX is rated high as far as beaches, but I always find it slightly weird that most people not from NC act like the OBX is the only beaches in NC (I mean I DO get it since it's the closest one to DMV and PA visitors(and they visit a lot) but tons of people from NC go to the Wilmington area beaches wayyyyyyy more often, and there's literally only a limited time that you can't go there and swim since it can be damn near 80 degrees in November and even Dec.
.
And honestly in regards to eastern beaches, you can actually swim in them for wayyyy longer period of the year, plenty of places are pretty around the country, but the water is sometimes on the colder side
I found the comment about 12 hrs. vs. 2 hrs. to OBX is pretty funny haha. I guess in short, Tampa definitely wins beaches, albeit Raleigh is slightly closer to the Atlantic, and has pretty decent beach access compared to the average US city/metro. Let's agree to a truce on the semantics of that, as I've enjoyed everyone's contributions and discussion so far!
I see where you are coming from on the NC Mountains not being quite as grandiose as say, Grand Teton NP, or the Amazonian Andes near Cusco (Inca Trail). That said, I still greatly enjoy them, because to me, even the mild elevation variance contrast is preferable, and to be a bigger difference/benefit vs. none at all than say, the Smokies vs. western mountains. I hiked up to Craggy Pinnacle this summer, and it was amazing to have such a vast look out and see a lake visible 3,200 feet (a full kilometer) beneath me. Also, I think the part about the foliage/lushness of the eastern mountains definitely resonates with me, as do the mountain towns/removed vibe, and the climate. I'd definitely say for a one-time visit, definitely Yellowstone/Grand Teton over Great Smoky, but for repeat visits, I'm perfectly happy with the Smokies.
As for the OBX, it's lower on my priority list because we have plenty of beaches in FL, but at the same time, I'd like to get there for a few days again at some point, as my only pass through there was brief. Not better or worse than FL beaches IMO (although FL does have far more options and variance overall due to having far more shoreline), but just different from anything we have along the FL coast, like so:
Maybe stretches of the beaches up in the Panhandle have places like this? Topsail Hill and St. George Island perhaps? But yeah, generally this is distinctive from what I usually see going to the beach in FL. Northern Jax Beaches probably call it to mind closest (Huguenot Memorial Park, for instance)
Raleigh’s location has been a real drawback for me to be honest. Yes, its somewhat close to the best mountains in the eastern US, but there’s always that “eastern” qualifier and the bar is pretty low in the eastern US. I like the western NC mountains and went there often as a kid. However, I’ve been fortunate to travel a lot and based on other places I’ve been I’d probably just rank them as a 4 out of 10. For beaches, I know the outer banks have their own unique charm but they don’t have warm azure water and palm trees.
I like Raleigh a lot and could live there, but it wouldn’t be for the mountains or beach. If I were to move somewhere for that I’d want one of them to be pretty outstanding at least. I don’t like talking bad about anywhere and I don’t think NC’s geographic offerings are bad, if we are honest though they’re just not that exceptional when you start comparing them to other mountains/beaches… I’d move to Raleigh mostly due to having some great suburbs, a good school system, and reasonable COL.
That's your personal opinion though, and that's fine. You just can't impose that on everyone by saying "we" and "us."
Culture: Subjective
Public School Systems (for those with children): Raleigh
Economy:Raleigh
Food:Tampa
Cost of living: Tampa
Crime: Raleigh
Infrastructure/transportation:Tie
Urbanity:NA
Desirable suburbs:Tie
Climate:Tie. Though they're different, I like both equally for different reasons.
Overall: Tampa. Tampa blows Raleigh away in terms of unique recreational assets, assets most metros do not have.
Culture: Subjective
Public School Systems (for those with children): Raleigh
Economy:Raleigh
Food:Tampa
Cost of living: Tampa
Crime: Raleigh
Infrastructure/transportation:Tie
Urbanity:NA
Desirable suburbs:Tie
Climate:Tie. Though they're different, I like both equally for different reasons.
Overall: Tampa. Tampa blows Raleigh away in terms of unique recreational assets, assets most metros do not have.
This is a good answer. I agree with each category and the overall.
Culture:
Public School Systems (for those with children):
Economy:
Food:
Cost of living:
Crime:
Infrastructure/transportation:
Urbanity:
Desirable suburbs:
Climate:
Tampa, along with Orlando, are the only two Florida cities I could picture myself living in. But it's still Florida, so I'd probably lean Raleigh, off the strength of preference for Rgh's weather, location, education infrastructure...
Rgh certainly isn't more urban and I don't move anywhere with eyes on the burbs. It's an extremely comfortable and livable city though, "fast paced" by Carolina standards but really relaxed and easy to find yourself here...
Idk. Hard to vote for one over the other as they’re both appealing. Here for the comments
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