© Danita Delimont/Shutterstock
Top choice
The secret is out – Durham’s coolest attraction has to be this research and conservation center, home to the largest collection of lemurs outside their native Madagascar. No one could fail to melt at the sight of these big-eyed fuzzy creatures. Visits are by guided tour only, and must be reserved well in advance.
Call at least three weeks ahead for weekdays, or one to two months for weekends.
11.1 MILES
Exceptional in prioritizing the 1000 or so ‘enslaved persons’ who worked here above the families that claimed their ownership, Stagville Plantation ranks…
19.28 MILES
Expanded in 2010 with the completion of the stunning, glass-and-steel West Building, this superb museum stands 6 miles west of downtown. Ranging far and…
North Carolina Museum of History
23.29 MILES
For a comprehensive, evenhanded and engaging look at the story of North Carolina, immerse yourself in the state history museum. Starting with a 3000-year…
1.81 MILES
Set amid the Duke University campus woods, this impressive futuristic cube displays art from around the world and across the ages. Only a small portion of…
North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences
23.23 MILES
Whale skeletons hang from the ceiling. Butterflies flutter past your shoulder. Emerald tree boas make you shiver. And be warned: if you arrive after 10am…
3.13 MILES
The massive former American Tobacco factory has been transformed into a million-square-foot cavalcade of restaurants, bars and entertainment venues. Still…
1.33 MILES
Although it can trace its history back to 1838, Duke University became a university, and took its current name, in 1926, thanks to a major endowment from…
1.63 MILES
These heavenly gardens on the Duke University campus include 55 acres of koi ponds, terraced rose gardens and magnolia groves. On warm afternoons, they…
1.28 MILES
The major landmark on Duke University’s west campus, and the epitome of its neo-Gothic style, is the 210ft tower of Duke Chapel. Erected in the 1930s, the…
1.33 MILES
Although it can trace its history back to 1838, Duke University became a university, and took its current name, in 1926, thanks to a major endowment from…
1.63 MILES
These heavenly gardens on the Duke University campus include 55 acres of koi ponds, terraced rose gardens and magnolia groves. On warm afternoons, they…
1.81 MILES
Set amid the Duke University campus woods, this impressive futuristic cube displays art from around the world and across the ages. Only a small portion of…
3.13 MILES
The massive former American Tobacco factory has been transformed into a million-square-foot cavalcade of restaurants, bars and entertainment venues. Still…
3.6 MILES
After the Civil War, Confederate veteran Washington Duke returned to his farm and built an astonishing fortune, astonishingly fast. Tobacco manufacturing…
4.2 MILES
There’s something to appeal to every child at Durham’s Museum of Life & Science, 3 miles north of downtown. Its main building, stuffed with everything…
8. University of North Carolina
7.5 MILES
The imposing antebellum buildings of America’s oldest public university center on a quad lined with flowering pear trees. Pick up a map either at the…