Cary, North Carolina

One of the fastest-growing cities in the South, Cary is home to renowned restaurants, world-class shopping, booming business, top-tier entertainment, culture and arts and wide range of leisure and outdoor experiences. It’s no wonder that MONEY magazine has ranked Cary as one of the country’s “Best Places to Live.” Home of the USA Baseball National Training Complex, a hot spot for soccer with North Carolina Football Club and North Carolina Courage pro soccer teams at WakeMed Soccer Park and summer home of the North Carolina Symphony, Cary is located just 17 minutes from downtown Raleigh.

If you come hungry, you’re guaranteed to leave happy. Cary offers more than 200 dining options, including passionate mind and Master Baker Lionel Vatinet’s La Farm Bakery, a modern-day boulangerie (bakery) with three locations across the town; Ashworth Drugs, a local favorite serving up coke floats and hot dogs since 1957; and Pizzeria Faulisi, a Neapolitan-style pizza spot run by a renowned husband-and-wife chef team. The town is also at the forefront of the area’s vibrant brewery scene. The award-winning Bond Brothers Beer Company is a microbrewery and taproom that specializes in kettle sours, IPAs and stouts, and Fortnight Brewing Company specializes in traditional English-style beers that incorporate both British and American ingredients.

With its small-town atmosphere and close proximity to Raleigh, Research Triangle Park and RDU International Airport, Cary provides an impressive variety of recreational, sports, environmental, historical and cultural arts programs and services. One of the area’s larger performance venues, Koka Booth Amphitheatre, blends technology with nature, fitting a superior performing arts center in the midst of serene hardwoods and pines by Symphony Lake. Natural beauty also awaits along 35-plus greenway trails open sunrise to sunset, providing more than 70 miles of recreational amenities for walking, jogging and bicycling in a splendid outdoor setting.