Welcome!
There are many, many fun things to do in the Charlotte area. As a plus, the beach is 3 hrs away (I recommend Wilmington over Myrtle Beach) and the Appalachian mountains (Asheville) are 2 hours away.
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Discovery Place is a nature-themed museum Uptown (what we call our downtown) and great for kids. There is also a Discovery Place KIDS in Huntersville, north of Charlotte.
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The Mint Museum Uptown/Mint Museum of Art & Design offer multiple exhibits throughout the year--as does the
Bechtler Museum, Harvey B Gantt Center, & the
Levine Museum of the New South
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Spirit Square, Booth Playhouse, Belk Theater, and Knight Theater have Broadway and local plays/performances throughout the year.
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Latta Plantation & the
US National WhiteWater Center are awesome outdoor centers with whitewater rafting, rope course, rock walls, horseback riding, etc.
-We have 4 nice malls in the area;
Concord Mills &
NorthLake are in the northern part of the county and
SouthPark &
Carolina Place are in the southern part. Each mall has it's own "personality/feel" (i.e. Concord Mills is the fun mall that's filled with outlet versions of major retail stores). They also just opened the Charlotte Premium Outlets outdoor mall in the Steele Creek area a year or so ago.
-We have an
IKEA here

-There are multiple festivals throughout the year, like
"Taste of Charlotte" where many of the local eateries post-up Uptown and offer food.
-Carolina Panthers, Charlotte Knights baseball, Charlotte Hornets, Charlotte Hounds lacrosse, Charlotte Checkers hockey.
-We have lots of trees and a ton of parks.
-We have many great places to eat. If you want some good BBQ I highly recommend
Bobbee O's, Midwood Smokehouse, Saucemans, and
Bill Spoon's.
-Check out "
Charlotte's Got A Lot" Event calendar here:
Charlotte NC Travel & Tourism
-Like above, the
North Carolina Zoo (which is pretty big, be prepared to walk) is in Asheboro roughly an hour to the east; the
South Carolina Riverbanks Zoo is an hour and half south in Columbia.
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Carowinds is on the border of NC/SC at the southern end of Charlotte.
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Hilton Head, Charleston, Savannah (all beautiful) are within a 4 hour-drive. If you get the opportunity you should visit the Outer Banks as well.