NC State, UNC, NC Central and East Carolina in 3 Days: A North Carolina Drive Trip
A parent-first plan for seeing NC State, UNC Chapel Hill, North Carolina Central and East Carolina from one hotel in Raleigh: official tour sign-ups, visitor parking at every campus, meals between tours, things for siblings and weather by season.
The Old Well, UNC Chapel Hill (Aug 2013). Photo: William Yeung · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons · resized and cropped
Last checked Oct 27, 2026. Every fact comes from the pages listed in Sources at the bottom. Some hotel and tour links are affiliate links (disclosure).
Check before you go. Tour times, sign-up rules, parking and seasonal closures change often, sometimes weekly. Every campus section below links to that school's official visit page and shows when we last checked it. Confirm there before you book or drive. College Visit Guides is not affiliated with or endorsed by any college or university. Names are used only to identify them.
The short version
Trip at a glance
Schools
North Carolina State University, Raleigh · University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill · North Carolina Central University, Durham · East Carolina University, Greenville
Days
3: NC State, then UNC and NC Central on the same day, then East Carolina before you fly home. Arrive the day before.
Fly into
Raleigh-Durham International (RDU), about 28 minutes and 16 miles from the hotel with no traffic.
Best base
The StateView Hotel on NC State's Centennial Campus, about 7 minutes by car from NC State's visitor parking deck.
Car or transit
Plan on a car: UNC is about 29 miles from the hotel, NC Central about 25 miles and East Carolina about 86 miles.
Registration
All four schools take visit registration online. NC Central requires it, limits families to five guests and takes no walk-ins.
1. Who this guide is for
This plan is for parents with a high schooler, and maybe younger siblings, who want to see four Division I universities in eastern North Carolina in one trip: NC State in Raleigh, UNC in Chapel Hill, North Carolina Central in Durham and East Carolina in Greenville.
Instead of changing hotels, you sleep at the StateView Hotel every night. It calls itself steps from NC State's Centennial Campus, and NC State's Main Campus, where visits begin, is a short drive away.
Why this order
Day 1: NC State's admissions information session and student-led campus tour start at Talley Student Union; expect to be on Main Campus for about two hours.
Day 2: UNC's two-hour visit has a welcome session and student panel, then a campus tour with a Carolina student. NC Central, about 26 minutes away in Durham, runs walking tours led by student guides.
Day 3: East Carolina's in-person campus tour is led by a student guide. Greenville is about an hour and a half east of Raleigh.
Book UNC in the morning and NC Central in the afternoon
UNC is about 42 minutes from the hotel and NC Central is about 26 minutes from UNC's Ram's Head Deck with no traffic, so the two fit in one day.
NC Central asks you to arrive 15 minutes before your tour; guests who arrive 20 minutes late are moved to a self-guided tour. Check both calendars before you book.
Tour availability varies by season.
East Carolina's Fall Open House is Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026.
NC Central says its spring 2027 campus tours are now open for registration, and tours run in rain, cold and humid weather.
The hotel's outdoor pool is closed for the winter from Dec. 1, 2026, through Feb. 28, 2027.
At Morehead Planetarium, the UNC-owned lot in front of the building is reserved on home football game days.
2. The suggested 3-day plan
Drive and walk times are no-traffic estimates from OpenStreetMap routing, using addresses geocoded with OpenStreetMap Nominatim. Rush hour around Raleigh and Durham can make them longer.
East Carolina says Greenville is about an hour and a half east of Raleigh and about the same distance west of the Crystal Coast beaches.
Arrival day: fly into RDU and check in at Centennial Campus
RDU → The StateView Hotel (2451 Alumni Dr., Raleigh)
Driving (no traffic)
~28 min, 16.4 mi (no-traffic estimate)
Walking
Drive (rental car)
The front desk is staffed 24 hours; call 919.743.0055.
The hotel has on-site parking: $12 overnight or $8 for a half day.
Day 1: NC State, then downtown Raleigh
Hotel → Coliseum Parking Deck pay lot (enter the lower level from Cates Ave.)
Driving (no traffic)
~7 min, 2.4 mi
Walking
Drive
Coliseum Parking Deck → Talley Student Union (2610 Cates Ave.)
Driving (no traffic)
Walk
Walking
~5 min walk, 0.2 mi
Coliseum Parking Deck → NC Museum of Natural Sciences (11 W. Jones St.)
Driving (no traffic)
~6 min, 2.1 mi
Walking
Drive
NC Museum of Natural Sciences → hotel
Driving (no traffic)
~10 min, 3.8 mi
Walking
Drive
Check in at the Campus Visits Office, Room 2121 on the main floor of Talley Student Union.
On weekends and holidays, when there are no tours, you can pick up a brochure from the bin outside NC State's Joyner Visitor Center.
Day 2: UNC Chapel Hill, then NC Central in Durham
Hotel → Ram's Head Deck, UNC (Ridge Rd., Chapel Hill)
Driving (no traffic)
~42 min, 28.7 mi (no-traffic estimate)
Walking
Drive
Ram's Head Deck → Frank Porter Graham Student Union
Driving (no traffic)
Walk
Walking
~8 min walk, 0.4 mi
Student Union → Lenoir Hall (lunch)
Driving (no traffic)
Walk
Walking
~2 min walk, 0.1 mi
Ram's Head Deck → North Carolina Central University (Durham)
Driving (no traffic)
~26 min, 12.2 mi
Walking
Drive
NC Central → Museum of Life and Science (433 W. Murray Ave., Durham)
Driving (no traffic)
~13 min, 4.9 mi
Walking
Drive
Museum of Life and Science → hotel
Driving (no traffic)
~41 min, 29.7 mi (no-traffic estimate)
Walking
Drive
Printed copies of UNC's self-guided tour are in the Frank Porter Graham Student Union, Monday–Friday 8:30 a.m.–5 p.m.
At NC Central, confirmed tour registrants can park in the Latham Parking Deck. Tours are walking tours, so wear comfortable shoes.
Day 3: East Carolina, then RDU
Hotel → East Carolina Main Campus Student Center (1001 E. 5th St., Greenville)
Driving (no traffic)
~1 hr 39 min, 85.6 mi (no-traffic estimate)
Walking
Drive
Main Campus Student Center → Whichard Building (self-guided tour copies on the porch)
Driving (no traffic)
Walk
Walking
~6 min walk, 0.3 mi
East Carolina → RDU
Driving (no traffic)
~1 hr 51 min, 93.0 mi (no-traffic estimate)
Walking
Drive
Buy visitor parking ahead through East Carolina's Parking Portal with a guest account; you'll need your license plate, make and model.
Leave plenty of time for the drive back to RDU; it's close to two hours with no traffic.
3. Campus by campus
Memorial Belltower, NC State (Apr 2009). Photo: Suzie Tremmel · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · resized and cropped
Campus visits for students who haven't applied yet are an admissions information session plus a student-led campus tour, Monday through Friday, starting at Talley Student Union. Plan on about two hours.
There's no waitlist. If a tour is full, pick another date or check back later for openings.
If you can't make a guided tour, you can register for a self-guided visit and explore at your own pace.
Visitor parking
Visitor parking is the Coliseum Parking Deck pay lot, 2452 Cates Ave.; enter the lower level from Cates Avenue.
Visitor parking is $3 for the first hour and $2 for each additional hour, with a $15 daily maximum, plus a 35-cent ParkMobile fee. Cards only. Permits are required Monday–Friday 7 a.m.–5 p.m.
Getting there
About 7 minutes and 2.4 miles from the hotel by car with no traffic.
Wolfline, NC State's bus service, is fare-free and open to the public; no ID, pass or fare is needed.
What to know
Main Campus is home to the Brickyard and the Court of North Carolina; Centennial Campus has the Hunt Library and more than 130 businesses, labs and agencies.
Wolfpack Outfitters, the official NC State bookstore, is in the main lobby of Talley Student Union.
The two-hour visit for prospective students has a welcome session and student panel discussion, followed by a campus tour with a Carolina student as your guide.
There's also a self-guided tour; printed copies are in the Frank Porter Graham Student Union, Monday–Friday 8:30 a.m.–5 p.m.
Visitor parking
UNC recommends visitor parking at $1.75 an hour: metered spaces at 120 Country Club Rd., the Highway 54 Lot at 580 Raleigh Rd., or Ram's Head Deck (330 Ridge Rd. in Apple Maps, 33 Ridge Rd. in Google Maps). Pay with the ParkMobile app.
On weekends, parking is free in many areas of campus.
Getting there
About 42 minutes and 29 miles from the hotel by car with no traffic.
Franklin Street, the center of town, is a short walk from campus.
What to know
The Old Well, Carolina's most famous landmark, was the University's original water source; The Pit is the stage for speeches and performances; and Coker Arboretum has hundreds of plants native to North Carolina.
Morehead Planetarium was the first planetarium on a U.S. university campus, and astronauts trained there for the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs.
Campus tours are led by NC Central's student tour guides and give a general overview of the university and the admissions process. Every group must pre-register, and walk-ins aren't accepted.
Families are limited to five guests. Students under 17 must come with a parent or guardian. Arrive 15 minutes early; guests 20 or more minutes late are moved to a self-guided tour.
Visitor parking
The tour page says confirmed registrants can park in the Latham Parking Deck at $1.25 an hour or $10 a day.
NC Central's parking office lists visitor rates of $2 an hour or $15 for a daily permit, bought through its Parking Portal or the Cashier's Office.
Getting there
About 26 minutes from UNC's Ram's Head Deck and about 36 minutes from the hotel by car with no traffic.
What to know
The tour is a walking tour of NC Central's hilly, green campus; comfortable shoes are recommended.
Durham's Museum of Life and Science is about 13 minutes away by car.
Contact
Campus tours: campustours@nccu.edu, 919-530-6097
Last checked Oct 27, 2026. Tour and admissions details change often, so confirm them on the school's official visit page before you go.
In-person campus tours are led by a student guide. If a tour is full, a waiting list is available.
For a self-guided tour, download the map or pick up a printed copy at the Mendenhall Suite G20 kiosk or on the porch of the Whichard Building.
Visitor parking
Visitor parking is $5 a day, $5 for a weekend pass, $10 a week, $2 an hour in the parking garage or $1.50 an hour at pay-by-space stations.
Register your car online with a Parking Portal guest account, or at the Parking Office, 305 E. 10th St., (252) 328-6294. For weekend parking, get authorization before 4:30 p.m. Friday.
Getting there
About 1 hour 39 minutes and 86 miles from the hotel, and about 1 hour 51 minutes to RDU, with no traffic.
What to know
Greenville sits next to the Tar River, with a greenway system for biking, walking and running, and is about an hour and a half west of the Crystal Coast beaches.
Contact
Admissions: admissions@ecu.edu, 252-328-6640
Last checked Oct 27, 2026. Tour and admissions details change often, so confirm them on the school's official visit page before you go.
One hotel for every night means no repacking. NC State is minutes away, UNC and NC Central pair up as one day trip to the west, and East Carolina is a day trip east on your last day.
5. Meals between tours
Hours change, so check before you go.
At the hotel
Eat
Flask & Beaker
The StateView Hotel, 2451 Alumni Dr., Raleigh
Farm-to-table restaurant with views of Lake Raleigh. Breakfast Monday–Friday 6–10 a.m. and weekends 7–10:30 a.m.; dinner 5–10 p.m.; room service available.
UNC's largest dining hall, near the Pit, with buffet-style international, vegetarian and vegan options; about a 2-minute walk from the Frank Porter Graham Student Union.
About an 8-minute walk from Lenoir Hall. Open Friday 2:30–6 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.–6 p.m. and Sunday 1–6 p.m.; closed to the public Monday–Thursday. A show plus admission is $16.95 for adults and $14.95 for children; children under 3 are free.
About 13 minutes from NC Central. Open Tuesday–Sunday 10 a.m.–5 p.m. (closed Mondays from Labor Day to Memorial Day), with free parking. Admission is $24 for adults and $19 for ages 3–15.
At NC State, use the Coliseum Parking Deck pay lot; pre-pay with ParkMobile. It's $15 a day at most.
At UNC, park at Ram's Head Deck or another visitor lot for $1.75 an hour with ParkMobile.
At NC Central, confirmed tour registrants park in the Latham Parking Deck.
At East Carolina, buy visitor parking through the Parking Portal before you go.
Tour day comfort
NC State and UNC visits run about two hours, and NC Central's tour is a walking tour, so wear comfortable shoes.
At NC Central, arrive 15 minutes early; walk-ins aren't accepted.
Weather by season (1991–2020 NOAA normals: Raleigh-Durham International Airport)
Spring: April averages about 73°F highs and 49°F lows.
Summer: July averages about 91°F highs and 70°F lows, with about 5 inches of rain.
Fall: October averages about 73°F highs and 50°F lows; November highs drop to about 63°F.
Winter: January averages about 52°F highs and 32°F lows, with about 2.6 inches of snow.
Parent checklist
Register for all four visits online: NC State, UNC, NC Central and East Carolina. NC Central caps families at five guests.
Book UNC in the morning and NC Central in the afternoon of the same day.
Book the StateView Hotel for every night, and call to ask about NC State-affiliated rates.
Set up ParkMobile for NC State and UNC, and an East Carolina Parking Portal guest account.
After each visit, take five minutes to jot down what stood out to your student.
8. Student-athlete recruiting visits
For families whose student hopes to play a college sport. Rules below are the NCAA's; each school's links were checked Oct 26, 2026.
Coaches arrange the recruiting part of a visit, not the admissions office. The tour sign-ups in this guide are for the regular family visit. An official (school-paid) visit is offered by the school, and contact with coaches follows NCAA rules that vary by division, sport and grade level.
Start with your sport's questionnaire, then email the coaches. The NCAA suggests emailing coaches with your achievements, highlight videos and interest in their program, including your name, position, NCAA ID and graduation year.
Unofficial visit: any campus visit you or your family pay for. You can take as many as you like; in Divisions I and II each one has to come after the first permissible date for your sport.
Official visit: a visit paid for by the school. Each school can offer your student only one. Before a Division I official visit, your student must be registered with the NCAA Eligibility Center, be on the school's institutional request list, and the school must have their high school transcripts.
Division I (North Carolina State University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina Central University and East Carolina University): on an official visit the school can pay for travel for the student and up to two family members, lodging, up to three meals a day for the student and up to four family members, and up to $60 a person in entertainment, including five home-game tickets. On an unofficial visit there are no free meals, but the school can give up to three home-game tickets. Division I uses recruiting calendars with contact, evaluation, quiet and dead periods; in a dead period, no in-person contact and no visits.
Rules change. Confirm with the coach, or check the NCAA's recruiting page and recruiting calendars, before you plan dates.
Planning around the season
Check each school's athletics schedule (linked above) before you pick dates, so a coach meeting doesn't land on a road trip or game day for your sport.
Our recommendation, not a school rule: ask the coach whether they can line up an admissions session or tour around your meeting. If not, book the regular family tour yourself through the official sign-up links in this guide, and leave time between the two.
Add your dates and how you're getting there, and we'll pull this guide into one plan: tour sign-up links, the hotel base, parking or airport notes, the route and meals.
Coming soon
Planning more college trips?
Visit-season reminders and new trip guides from College Visit Guides. Newsletter coming soon.
Sources
All checked Oct 27, 2026. Tour schedules change constantly, so always confirm on each school's official sign-up page. Photo credits are under each photo and on our About page.
