Charlotte Travel Guide

Known to guests of Charlotte hotels as “the fun and only,” Carowinds is a 122-acre amusement park located on the border of North and South Carolina – just minutes from the Embassy Suites Charlotte-Concord Golf Resort and Spa. Every year between March and November, Carowinds draws families staying at Charlotte hotels to the park’s rides, shows and attractions.

Guests of Charlotte hotels can enjoy more than 50 rides, shows and attractions at Carowinds, including 13 pulse-pounding coasters, a 12-acre children’s area and a “splash-tacular” 20-acre waterpark – all included with admission! It’s the ideal place for families staying at Charlotte hotels to spend a day.

The Cedar Fair park, which used to be owned and operated by Paramount, has a wonderful collection of twelve roller-coasters to entertain guests of Charlotte hotels. The coasters include everything from traditional woodies – such as Hurler and the racing Thunder Road – to a bone-rattling inverted coaster, Afterburn – a little too wild for small children staying at Charlotte hotels. But Carowinds offers more than thrills.

Carowinds also offers rousing stage shows for the whole family, including some designed especially for the younger kids staying at Charlotte hotels. The Nickelodeon Central area includes meet-and-greets with popular characters from the kids’ network, as well as themed rides and shows. Boomerang Bay water park – also included with admission – is huge and includes two wave pools, a lazy river and a slew of slides that will entertain guests of Charlotte hotels for hours.

To find out more about Carowinds, guests planning a trip to Charlotte hotels such as the Embassy Suites Charlotte-Concord Golf Resort and Spa can visit www.carowinds.com; or talk to the concierge at the Embassy Suites Charlotte-Concord upon arrival.

For visitors to Charlotte hotels who love plants, flowers and gardens, there’s nothing like a visit to the campus of the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. There are exceptional varieties of horticulture represented at the gardens and visitors from Charlotte hotels, such as the Embassy Suites Charlotte-Concord Golf Resort and Spa, will find a great many rare species, as well.

The Botanical Gardens at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte consist of three main areas – the McMillan Greenhouse complex, the three-acre Susie Harwood Garden, and the seven-acre Van Landingham Glen. Guests of Charlotte hotels will find that the three areas are located together, on the east side of the UNC Charlotte campus. Each garden has something unique to offer – from the orchids, desert plants, and tropical wonders of the greenhouse…to the native wildflowers, trees, and rhododendrons in the peaceful setting of the Glen… to the intimate, artful settings in the Harwood Garden – including the Winter garden, Asian garden, Water Garden, and much rockwork throughout.

Visitors from Charlotte hotels will discover that most of the activity centers on the three-acre Harwood Garden that reaches a flowery peak in summer. During the heat, Charlotte hotel guests are advised to seek some shade in the cool seven-acre Van Landingham Glen. Don’t miss the McMillan Greenhouse complex, a collection of eight themed rooms accented with flowerbeds and a bog garden with carnivorous plants.

As a university botanical garden promoting the knowledge and appreciation of plants for educational, environmental and aesthetic purposes, the Botanical Gardens at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte is open to the public and welcomes visitors from Charlotte hotels seven-days-a-week. Best of all? It’s free!

Guests of such Charlotte hotels as the Embassy Suites Golf Resort & Spa can find out more about the Botanical Gardens by visiting http://gardens.uncc.edu. For hotel reservations, go to www.embassysuitesconcord.com.

Charlotte is a city rich in history, diversity and culture and visitors to Charlotte hotels can experience all that and more with a visit to the Mint Museum of Art – one of the city’s most prestigious institutions.

Visitors staying at Charlotte hotels will discover that The Mint Museum of Art was the region’s first branch of the United States Mint, and it coined $5 million in gold from 1836 to the outbreak of the Civil War. A grassroots community effort in the early 1930s saved the old Federal-style building from demolition and relocated it to its present site on Randolph Road, not far from such Charlotte hotels as the Embassy Suites Golf Resort & Spa. The museum formally opened its doors to the public in 1936, when it became North Carolina’s very first art museum.

A visit today will reveal to guests of Charlotte hotels a rich and diverse resource with noted collections of American art, pre-Columbian art, American and European ceramics, American decorative arts, historic costumes and accessories, African art, Asian art, historic maps, contemporary art and photography. In short, folks staying at Charlotte hotels will find a great deal to enjoy during their tour of this remarkable museum.

Enhancing the permanent collections, visitors from Charlotte hotels have the opportunity to enjoy an active schedule of changing exhibitions and education programs. The Mint Museum of Art originates and hosts major national and international exhibitions, and features a variety of public programs. Guests from Charlotte hotels can take advantage of daily tours, seminars, lectures, family day festivals, and adult and children’s art classes. For those visitors from Charlotte hotels who are so inclined, the museum’s resources include two research libraries, a slide and videotape library, teacher training programs, in-school programs and a facility rental program.

Guests of such Charlotte hotels as the Embassy Suites Golf Resort & Spa can find out more about The Mint Museum of Art by visiting www.mintmuseum.org. For hotel reservations, go to www.embassysuitesconcord.com.

Visitors to Charlotte hotels come to town to relax, have fun and get away from the pressures of daily life. Guests of such Charlotte hotels as the Embassy Suites Golf Resort & Spa have a variety of choices to make when it comes to finding things to do and, as of 2010, the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art is one of the most recent establishments to open its doors to the public.

The museum facility itself is enough to impress guests from Charlotte hotels before they even get into the exhibits. Designed by renowned Swiss architect Mario Botta, the structure is absolutely awe-inspiring. Visitors from Charlotte hotels are greeted by a soaring glass atrium, vaulted skylights and a beautiful terracotta exterior. Most impressive is the fourth floor, where guests of Charlotte hotels will find that the floor extends from the core of the building.

When visitors to Charlotte hotels go to the Bechtler Museum, they are entering a world where some of the most prominent and important works from artists of the 20th century are displayed. Guests from Charlotte hotels are treated to the works of such artists as Warhol, Ernst, Picasso, Hepworth, and many others. Bechtler Museum is especially significant, because many of the works there are privately held by the Bechtler family in Switzerland.

Visitors of Charlotte hotels have access to the museum every day of the week except for Tuesday. Guests staying in Charlotte hotels can take self-guided audio tours, or join one of the daily guided tours. Family tours are offered for those families from Charlotte hotels who want their children to experience art, as well as group and school tours. The museum also has a shop where guests of Charlotte hotels can pick up gifts, and an onsite café for snacks and lunches.

Guests of Charlotte hotels like the Embassy Suites Golf Resort & Spa can learn more about the museum by visiting www.bechtler.org. To make hotel reservations, go to www.embassysuitesconcord.com.