Charlotte Metro

Cities

Principal city

• Charlotte

Greater than 50,000 residents

• Concord
• Gastonia
• Huntersville
• Mooresville
• Rock Hill

Fewer than 50,000 residents

• Belmont
• Bessemer City
• Cornelius - 12,000 (+/-)
• Davidson - 7,000 (+/-)
• Fort Mill
• Harrisburg - Historic town founded in 1765, home to Harrisburg Town Center, a lovely shopping district surrounding the new Town Hall and public commons.
• Hickory
• Huntersville - 24,000 (+/-)
• Indian Land
• Indian Trail
• Kannapolis
• Matthews - 22,000 (+/-)
• Midland - A historic railroad town founded in 1913, home to Reed Gold Mine, site of the first documented gold find in the United States.
• Mint Hill - 15,000 (+/-)
• Monroe
• Mount Holly
• Mount Pleasant - Home to Gold Hill, a mid-1850s gold rush town, the Eastern Cabarrus Historic Museum and the Mount Pleasant Collegiate Historic District.
• Pineville - 3,500 (+/-)
• Salisbury
• Shelby
• Statesville
• Tega Cay
• Union Grove - Home of the Ole Time Fiddlers and Bluegrass Festival.
• Wadesboro
• Waxhaw
• York

Get in

By plane

• Charlotte Douglas International Airport — Main airport serving the Charlotte Metro with numerous domestic and international flights.
• Concord Regional Airport — A smaller, less-used airport with cheaper flights to major destinations like Atlanta, New York and south Florida.

By train

There is an Amtrak station on North Tryon in Charlotte, on bus route 11 (North Tryon). Charlotte is the southern end of the Carolinian and Piedmont lines, which head north to Raleigh, with the Carolinian continuing to New York City. It's also a stop along the Crescent between New York City and New Orleans. There are also stations along the line in Gastonia at Hancock Street and Kannapolis at Main Street.

By car

The Charlotte Metro is best accessible by car. There are two main interstate highways that run through the area as well as numerous smaller highways connecting Charlotte to the suburbs and neighboring counties.

• Interstate 77—(north-south) From Rock Hill north, through Charlotte and to Mooresville.
• Interstate 85—(northeast-southwest) From Kings Mountain north, through Charlotte and to Kannapolis.

By bus

• Greyhound. The station is just northwest of Uptown Charlotte and is served by buses 1 (Mount Holly), 8 (Tuckaseegee), 34 (Freedom Dr), and 7 (Beatties Ford).
• Megabus. Service from Atlanta, Athens, Durham, Richmond, and Washington, D.C.. Buses arrive and depart along Whitton St between Dewitt Ln and South Blvd, near the Scaleybark LYNX station. Fares from $1 and up.

Get around

While parts of the Charlotte Metro, especially areas like uptown and suburban communities like Matthews and Rock Hill are easily accessible by foot and bicycle, the region is best accessed by car. Whether it's a taxi or your own personal car, it is the necessary form of transportation to experience the entire area. If you are just starting in Charlotte's central area, there are bus routes as well as a light rail train in and around Charlotte's central area. See Charlotte page for details on bus routes and train stations.

Go next

• North Carolina Mountains
• Metro Atlanta
• Piedmont Triad
• Research Triangle