Durham Guides & Self-Guided Tours


Durham Dining & Shopping Guide

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Durham, North Carolina, is a colorful, creative, and entrepreneurial community that is the proud home of Research Triangle Park, Duke, and North Carolina Central universities. Durham is also home to arguably the most acclaimed dining in the state, a thriving colony of imaginative chefs, and unique shopping experiences, many of which are noted in this guide.

To learn more about the great dining, shopping, and other things happening in Durham, call or stop by the Durham Visitor Information Center for the Official Durham Visitors Guide.


Downtown Durham Walking Tour

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(Two miles, 65-120 minutes)

Downtown Durham, North Carolina's first commercial district on the National Register of Historic Places, is the historic and geographic soul of a compact, 299-square-mile, single-city county of 257,947 residents.

Durham itself is also the core city of a four-county metropolitan statistical area, the Durham MSA. More than a million people come to Downtown each year for festivals and events.

More than 29,000 Durhamites live within a mile of City Center; more than 14,000 work in Downtown Durham each day and an equal number are attracted during the evenings by dining, shopping, entertainment, the arts, and spectator sports.

Downtown Durham is only four miles from the part of the City that encompasses Research Triangle Park, a special Durham County tax district and namesake for the Triangle region. Downtown is nearly rimmed by the three campuses of Duke University and is only one mile from North Carolina Central University.


Durham African-American Heritage Guide

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Durham has always been one of North Carolina's most ethnically diverse communities. In particular, Durham has a rich African-American heritage. This guide will help visitors experience and understand the tremendous contributions Durham's African-American culture has made to the State and to the Nation.

You may also want to check out the NC African American Culture Tour web site.


 Durham Visual & Performing Arts Map

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DCVB, in consultation with the Durham arts community, developed this walking/driving map of places where visitors can experience Durham's visual and performing arts. Fascinating galleries, murals, public artworks, and sculptures are scattered throughout the community. In addition, 18 performing-arts venues and numerous outdoor plazas provide artistic space for live entertainment and creative contemplation.


Self-Driving Tour of Research Triangle Park in Southeast Durham

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Durham, North Carolina, is the proud home of Research Triangle Park (RTP), Duke and NC Central universities. Known as the CITY OF MEDICINE, USA, Durham is also the pinnacle of a vast six-county, 26-city labor shed — the Research Triangle Region, anchored by Raleigh, Morrisville, and Cary to the southeast and Chapel Hill and Carboro to the southwest. Durham is also known as A COUNTY WITH MERIT for (M)edicine, (E)ducation, (R)esearch, (I)ndustry & (T)echnology.

Home to 50% of the biotech firms based in North Carolina, Durham is a compact, single-city county of 257,947 residents with a job force of 166,048. Nearly 82,000 people commute from neighboring communities to work in Durham, which has only one-half to one-third the land area of neighboring counties. Durham's economy is dominated by health care, research, education and tourism.

Four miles from Downtown, two miles from RDU International Airport and roughly midway from Raleigh and Chapel Hill, the southeast part of the City of Durham encompasses world-famous Research Triangle Park.

Along the route, for complete information, obtain a complimentary Official Durham Visitors Guide and Map at the airport, in hotel lobbies or at the Durham Visitor Information Center.


Old West Durham Neighborhood Association Self-Guided Walking Tour Around Duke East Campus

This self-guided walking tour is an enjoyable way for visitors to learn more about the area around Duke East Campus, Brightleaf and Ninth Street.


West Club Boulevard in Watts Hospital-Hillandale Walking Tour

West Club Boulevard in Watts Hospital-Hillandale is a treasure trove of early twentieth-century American residential architecture. Come take a walking tour.


Little River Driving Tour

Enjoy a visit to one of the best-kept secrets of the region: the Little River Basin in Durham and Orange counties. Your increased awareness of the historical, cultural, and environmental treasures of the Little River Basin will help you to understand the need to protect this area.