North Carolina Museum of Art

The North Carolina Museum of Art, a short drive west of downtown, houses an impressive permanent collection spanning 5,000 years of art history across Egyptian antiquities, European Old Masters, American paintings, and contemporary works. Admission to the permanent collection is free; special exhibitions charge separately. The 164-acre museum park surrounding the building is as much an attraction as the galleries — five miles of trails connect monumental outdoor sculptures in a parkland setting that attracts as many walkers and cyclists as art visitors.

The museum shop is unusually good, and the museum café and restaurant serve food worth eating. Plan an easy half-day here: an hour in the galleries, a walk through the sculpture park, lunch.

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The museum's 164-acre park contains one of the largest outdoor sculpture collections in the American Southeast, with works by Rodin, Thomas Houseago, and others installed along five miles of walking trails. The park functions as a genuine public space — locals run through it, picnic beside the sculptures, and attend outdoor film screenings on the grass in summer — which is more than most museum grounds can claim.

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