Hello,
I am taking a trip next month to the Raleigh area to see if I would like the area to live. I am planning on being there for 5 days, 3 of which I am going to be looking at apartments. Any ideas for the other 2? How far is the drive to the coast?

I also have a question regarding schools in the Wake County area. I will be looking for an apartment based schools in the area. I have two children that would be attending middle school and I am asking for honest opinions of these schools: Dillard, West Cary, and Davis Drive. Please help!!!
Thank you!

Can anyone help me? Just looking for some ideas on what to do in or near Raliegh for 2 days. Also looking for opinions on schools. Thank you

Lived in Raleigh for 12 years... My kids went to private schools. The ones you list are about as good as any public ones. Overall, we were very dissappointed with the public schools - even the better ones. Also, check into any planned redistricting. When we lived there, the kids got redistricted periodically - and people were surprised to learn the neighborhood they bought in was no longer in the school they expected.
As far as the beach, you are about 2 hours from the coast and 2 hours from the mountains. Lots of folks go right out I-40 to Emerald Isle, Wilmington area, etc.. Or you could head west to Boone area - which is quite nice. There are areas to explore in the triangle - Duke's campus and gardens, Chapel Hill, Brightleaf plaza in Durham, etc..

Lived in NC for 15 years. I agree with the two hours to the coast (and we really liked the Wilmington area), but I disagree that the mountains are only two hours away.

I'm sure I never made it from Raleigh to Boone nearly that fast--more like 3.5-4.5 hours, if I remember correctly. Can't recall the number of that road between Winston-Salem and Boone, but it could be really slow going if you got behind some farm machinery or a slow-moving truck.

Hi,

Put the word "Cary" into the text search box and "North Carolina" in the state box and you will find several threads with almost the same questions and concerns.

(I know you didn't ask about Cary specifically, but a number of the answers to these questions refer people to Cary, and it's more efficient than searching on the word "Raleigh," which will get you all kinds of questions, not just "relo" questions.)