36 Hours in Raleigh, N.C.

Hunting for giant trolls is the newest game visitors can play in Dix Park since a larger-than-life family of five was installed in October, part of a global project by the Danish artist Thomas Dambo. Constructed from reclaimed wood, the towering trolls are hidden throughout this sprawling 308-acre park, which was formerly the grounds of a psychiatric hospital (many boarded-up buildings remain). Most impressive is “Mother Strong Tail,” whose 645-foot tail, made from Kentucky bourbon barrel staves, winds through a pine grove. After finding “Daddy Bird Eye,” another troll lounging against a tree trunk, walk up the hill to Gipson Play Plaza, an 18.5-acre adventure playground that opened in June featuring a sensory maze, a 30-yard-long swing set, water fountains, sand pits and multistory climbing towers with rope bridges, corkscrew slides and more (free).

The current revival of the Rialto Theater began in 2023, when new owners took over the single-screen art-house cinema that first opened in 1942. After a few upgrades and a splashy new cornflower blue facade, the theater again screens movies — independent films, cult classics, documentaries — but also added regular concerts that have ranged from bluegrass, jazz, country and synth groups to a Neil Diamond cover band. If the nightly act isn’t your jam, claim a stool at Stella’s on West, a glitzy dive bar that opened in late 2024 next door to LaGana with spinning disco balls, multicolored string lights, a cow-print couch, seasonal cocktails and Pabst Blue Ribbon on tap.

The Capital Area Greenway system is a point of pride that has grown over the last 50 years into a sprawling urban trail network with more than 100 miles of walking, running and biking paths from downtown to the outer suburbs. Park at the North Carolina Museum of Art to reach the Reedy Creek Trail, a greenway segment that cuts through the museum’s 164-acre sculpture park (free entry). While parts of the museum are closed for renovations through 2028, the park remains open with its trio of 18-foot monumental rings by the sculptor Thomas Sayre (a popular photo op), steel benches made from recycled prison cell bars by Alvin Frega and blooming dogwood trees.

Allot at least a couple of hours for the State Farmers Market, a 75-acre site open daily with indoor and outdoor pavilions, a garden center, restaurants and specialty shops. Start with the outdoor farm stands selling collard and mustard greens, pecans in the shell and fresh berries. On weekends you’ll most likely also find three- and four-string guitars handmade from old cigar boxes (from about $200) by Tim Wall, who gladly demonstrates how they play. Inside, browse shops selling meat and seafood, boiled peanuts and edible specialties like “F.R.O.G. jam” (fig, raspberry, orange and ginger). Then head over to the State Farmers Market Restaurant, a busy, no-frills spot serving all-day country breakfasts with grits, red-eye gravy and baskets of warm, buttermilk biscuits that were voted best in the county (breakfast $8 to $12).

On the edge of the North Carolina State University campus, the Gregg Museum of Art & Design exhibits textiles and Native American decorative arts from its own collection alongside contemporary exhibitions from regional artists (free entry). Current exhibitions include “Stories Told by Breath: Native American Voices in North Carolina,” featuring intricate works of pottery, printmaking, beadwork, multimedia and carved wood from artists connected to the state, including Karina McMillan, Senora Lynch and Joshua Adams. If you have kids in tow, take them afterward to nearby Pullen Park, an old-timey amusement park founded in 1887 with a carousel, carnival games, a miniature locomotive, kiddie boats and playgrounds (ride tickets $2).

Head northeast of downtown to sample a distinctive trio of homegrown breweries. Beer drinkers tired of the trend toward increasingly heavy, dank I.P.A.s will delight in Edit Beer Co. This family-run craft brewery, a 15-minute drive from downtown, specializes in easy-drinking lagers and crisp West Coast-style I.P.A.s. The spacious taproom opened three years ago with arcade games, ample seating and 20 brews like All Lanes Clear, a piney West Coast I.P.A., on draft. Fans of fruit smoothies will love Funguys Brewing, a mom-and-pop operation run by Carly and Nick Brango that’s known for its Smoothsicles, such as Boardwalk Breakfast, a thick orange-and-vanilla-flavored sour. There’s also fruit on the menu at Altered State Brewing Company, a friendly brewpub serving blackberry kettle sours (a kind of tart beer) alongside rich brandy-and-hazelnut stouts.

Arriving early at Boulted Bread means shorter lines, yes, but also that the sugar-crusted morning buns, persimmon-jam pinwheels and dense loaves of Nordic rye will still be warm from the oven. In 2023, this popular bakery relocated to a larger, industrial space in Boylan Heights, but it still gets packed, especially on weekends, when there’s an expanded selection of seasonal goodies, like rhubarb croissants, lemon-jasmine-tea loaf cakes and purple-potato-and-feta quiches. Of the items that are always in the case, the best is the shatteringly flaky croissant filled with nutty Gruyère and Benton’s hickory-smoked country ham ($6.50).

It would be a shame to leave North Carolina without trying one of the state’s signature styles of barbecue, either eastern-style (whole hog smoked over wood in a peppery vinegar-based sauce) or Lexington-style (smoked pork shoulder in a vinegar-ketchup sauce). For the former, go to Sam Jones BBQ, a barbecue joint owned by a third-generation pit master whose granddad founded the now-legendary Skylight Inn BBQ in Ayden, about 90 miles east of Raleigh. At this location, which opened a few years ago, try the Jones Family Original BBQ Tray with slow-smoked barbecue pork served alongside cornbread and a heaping side of slaw ($12.99), and wash it down with a tall glass of sweet tea ($2.99).