Charlotte Facts

Dubbed " The Queen City," after Queen Charlotte, the wife of King George III, Charlotte is an undeniably historic American city. Today, it is one of the top 20 fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the United States, and home to an endless array of interesting attractions, popular restaurants, and raging late-night hotspots.

Uptown

Known for its fine dining and great nightlife, skyscrapers line the streets and provide a "big city" feel to this charming Southern metropolis. If you're visiting Charlotte during football or basketball season, be sure to grab tickets for a Carolina Panthers game at Bank of America Stadium or a Bobcats game at Charlotte Bobcats Arena. Before you walk though...

...has been sprouting skyscrapers, including the 40-story, trapezoidal steel-and-glass tower of the Bank of America Plaza and the stunning 46-story Hearst Tower, which was completed in 2002. The city has attracted and taken to heart a professional football team -- the Carolina Panthers -- that was good enough to get to the Super Bowl in 2004 and nearly pull off an upset against the favorite, the New England Patriots. Suburban districts have mushroomed, with landscaped housing developments and enormous shopping malls springing up in every direction. This is the New South, built squarely on the foundation of the Old South.

The largest city in the Piedmont, Charlotte was named for George III's wife,...