Best small/midsize cities in NC? (Greensboro, Durham: restaurant, versus, shop)

[YinXyang]

Witch small/midsize city offers the best Amenities,life style,Historic Values,Culture, diversity, community,night life, shopping experience, and overall better vibe for Cities in the population of 200.000-300.000 in NC?

Greensboro: 289.679



Durham: 245,475





Winston Salem: 236,441




Fayetteville: 204,408



I'm sorry, it took me forever to find a respective picture of fayetteville...for some reason, everytime i typed in fayetteville North Carolina downtown, i got fayetteville street in raleigh -_-.

[mlhm5]

Durham is in the RTP, and according to some is undergoing a revival. Time will tell, however the RTP is where you want to be based on your criteria.

[poppydog]

I'd pick Durham, but I think G-boro and Winston have a lot of good things going on. What about Wilmington?

[emelvee]

Winston-Salem is my favorite, but it's also the one I'm most familiar with, being closest to it.

[goldenage1]

Originally Posted by poppydog

I'd pick Durham, but I think G-boro and Winston have a lot of good things going on. What about Wilmington?

Wilmington is too small for the OP's criteria. It is only about 105k in the city limits versus the 2000-300,000 he asked about.

Greensboro certainly has the most impressive skyline.

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by goldenage1

Wilmington is too small for the OP's criteria. It is only about 105k in the city limits versus the 2000-300,000 he asked about.

Greensboro certainly has the most impressive skyline.

That's not the best picture of Winston-Salem; it definitely has the best skyline of the bunch.

[BullGoodBearBad]

All of the urban crescent cities in NC are pretty similar IMO. Greensboro, Durham, W-S....all offer decent shopping, dining, nightlife, etc. Nothing that really makes one stand out over the others to me (the politics differ a bit). They're all "I-40" type cities. You do have your different proximities to major metros. Fayetteville is the only outlier and it only breaks 200k because of Ft. Bragg.

Your real differences are in the two largest cities and then the smaller cities like Wilmington, Greenville, Ashville, High Point (a stretch). Honestly I'd lump Fayetteville in here.

[poppydog]

I'm not sure why people are drawn to skylines (don't do much for me unless there's something in those buildings that I can do — like a cool restaurant, or a performing arts center, etc), but in either case, I don't think that's a very good Durham picture. I like this one of the American Tobacco Campus and downtown.



The iconic skyline images associated with Durham are the Lucky Strike water tower and Duke Chapel.

[Atowwn]

Durham. Greensboro is a close second IMO. Too bad Wilmington under 200,000. It's one of the most underrated cities in N.C.. DT Wilmington can give any of these larger cities a real run for their money.

[carolinablue]

Winston-salem, most underrated city in the state.