🚴Rail Trail & Greenways

What Is the Rail Trail?

South End's breweries, live-music rooms, and the New South museum all sit within a block or two of the path.

• Amos' SouthendSouth End

  Sweat-on-the-walls rock club keeping South End honest between the apartment towers.

  • 1423 S Tryon St, Charlotte, NC
• HopFly Brewing Co.South End

  Rocky Mount hazies that found a second home beside the Rail Trail.

  • 1327 South Mint Street, Charlotte, NC
  Open now · closes 10pm
• Lenny Boy Brewing Co.South End

  Kombucha and wild ales under one roof — South End's funkiest tanks.

  • 3000 South Tryon Street, Charlotte, NC
• Triple C Brewing CompanySouth End

  The rail-trail regular's reward — a Baby Maker at the end of the ride.

  • 2900 Griffith Street, Charlotte, NC
  Open now · closes 10pm
• Wooden Robot BrewerySouth End

  Good Morning Vietnam and a room full of laptops by day, lines by night.

  • 1440 South Tryon Street, Charlotte, NC
  • $$
  Open now · closes 10pm
• Levine Museum of the New SouthSouth End

  The museum that tells Charlotte's real story — between buildings right now, but the story didn't move.

  • 1800 South Blvd (new campus under construction), Charlotte, NC
  Temporarily closed
• Distro Beer HubSouth End

  A beer hall built for the taplist, not the Instagram wall.

  • 2412 Distribution Street, Charlotte, NC
• The Suffolk PunchSouth End

  South End's brewery you have to actually look for — no sign, all beer.

  • Charlotte, NC
• Mac's Speed ShopSouth End

  BBQ and motorcycles under one South Boulevard roof — it's louder than it sounds.

  • 2511 South Boulevard, Charlotte, NC
  • $$
• Dilworth Artisan StationSouth End

  A converted trolley barn turned maker studios — the streetcar's still in the name.

  • 118 East Kingston Avenue, Charlotte, NC
• Giddy Goat Coffee RoastersSouth End

  Small-batch roasting steps from the Rail Trail, if the breweries haven't gotten you first.

  • 3001 Griffith Street, Charlotte, NC
• Sycamore Run ClubSouth End

  Big free Wednesday-night social run from Sycamore Brewing's South End beer garden — 3-6 mile routes and a free beer waiting for all paces at the finish.

  • 2161 Hawkins St, Charlotte, NC 28203
• Inner Peaks South EndSouth End

  South End climbing gym with bouldering, top rope, free member yoga, and a friendly regulars scene that makes it one of the easiest sport communities in Charlotte to fall into.

  • 2220 S Tryon St, Ste 170, Charlotte, NC 28203
• South End Farmers Market at AthertonSouth End

  Saturday-morning farmers market along the Rail Trail at historic Atherton Mill — produce, fresh fish, handmade pasta, live music.

  • 2104 South Blvd, Charlotte, NC 28203
• Rudisill Gold Mine (site)South End

  The deepest of Charlotte's uptown-edge gold mines worked a lode 350 feet down; state marker L-99 at South Boulevard and Bland Street commemorates it.

  Permanently closed
• St. Catherine Gold Mine (site)South End

  The other end of the Rudisill lode: a 460-foot-deep gold mine consolidated with the Rudisill in 1830, quiet by 1887.

  Permanently closed
• Trading Path (NC highway marker L-36)South End

  A 1957 state marker at South Tryon and Morehead notes the centuries-old trading route that passed nearby, running south from Virginia toward the Catawba in Carolina.

  • South Tryon Street at Morehead Street, Charlotte, NC
  Permanently closed
• Puttery CharlotteSouth End · brunch

  South End's upscale indoor mini golf — two themed nine-hole courses with a scratch kitchen and cocktail bar; kids by day, 18+ weekend nights.

  • 210 Rampart St, Charlotte, NC 28203
• Holiday Inn Express & Suites Charlotte - South EndSouth End

  The South End budget bed — free breakfast on South Tryon in the middle of the brewery-and-rail corridor.

  • 1617 South Tryon Street, Charlotte, NC 28203
• Sun's KitchenSouth End

  Chinese street food and dim sum — lamb skewers, xiaolongbao, dan dan and fried-sauce noodles — bringing ma-la Szechuan heat to South Boulevard.

  • 3216 South Blvd. Suite 105, Charlotte, NC 28208

• Briar Creek GreenwayPlaza Midwood

  The quiet creekside cut-through on Plaza Midwood's back edge.

  • Charlotte, NC
• Toby Creek GreenwayUniversity City

  A paved cut through the woods between apartment complexes — nobody's postcard, everybody's shortcut.

  • Charlotte, NC
• Wesley Heights GreenwayWesley Heights

  A short green stitch holding the historic district together.

  • 503 South Summit Avenue, Charlotte, NC
• Anne Springs Close GreenwayDay-trips ring

  A 2,100-acre private nature preserve in Fort Mill — more than twice the size of Central Park — with hiking, mountain-bike trails, horseback riding, and a lakeside dog park.

  • 2573 Lake Haigler Drive, Fort Mill, SC 29715
  Open now · closes 7:39pm
• Four Mile Creek GreenwayMatthews & Mint Hill

  Flat, stroller-friendly boardwalk-and-paved trail along Four Mile Creek — easiest access is from Squirrel Lake Park.

  • Trailhead at Squirrel Lake Park, 1631 Pleasant Plains Rd, Matthews, NC 28105
• Little Sugar Creek Greenway (Tyvola Road Trailhead)LoSo & South Boulevard

  The signal-controlled Tyvola lot across from the Queens sports complex drops you onto 4.8 flat, paved creekside miles running south under Archdale toward I-485.

  • 2524 Tyvola Rd, Charlotte, NC 28210
• Stewart Creek GreenwayWest Charlotte

  The 2.4-mile creek path that stitches the west side to Uptown — roll it to a mill-housed taproom at the far end.

  • 528 S Turner Ave, Charlotte, NC 28208
• Little Sugar Creek GreenwayElizabeth

  The city's trunk greenway — over 17 miles from Brevard Street in NoDa to the South Carolina line, with the Trail of History's bronzes along its uptown stretch.

  • Charlotte, NC
• Mallard Creek GreenwayUniversity City

  University City's Cross Charlotte Trail segment, running with Barton and Clarks Creek and tying into the Toby Creek path.

  • Charlotte, NC
• McMullen Creek GreenwaySouthPark

  South Charlotte's long connector — part of the Lower McAlpine and Four Mile Creek network that reaches from Highway 51 out to Ballantyne.

  • Charlotte, NC
• Campbell Creek GreenwayEast Charlotte

  East-side creek path running with Upper McAlpine from Lockmont Drive out to Providence Road.

  • Charlotte, NC
• Irvins Creek GreenwayEast Charlotte

  A mile and a half of east-side path linking Idlewild Road Park toward Sam Newell Road.

  • Charlotte, NC
• Caldwell Station GreenwayDay-trips ring

  North-county path connecting Statesville Road to Bailey Road Park in Cornelius.

  • Charlotte, NC
• McDowell Creek GreenwayDay-trips ring

  The Cornelius-to-Huntersville link, ending at Birkdale Village with a couple more miles of urban trail attached.

  • Charlotte, NC

The Greenway Network

Best Skyline Views

Riding the Blue Line