The Carolina Inn was built in 1924, and is located on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It blends elements of antebellum Southern plantation homes with Georgian and neoclassical features. Photo courtesy of the Carolina Inn

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In addition to its many collections inside, the North Carolina Museum of Art, located just outside of downtown Raleigh, is set in a 164-acre park. There, visitors can enjoy art installations by international artists, as well as colorful and contemporary gardens, miles of recreational trails, and a terraced pond. Photo courtesy of North Carolina Museum of Art

Despite — or perhaps because of — our rivalry with Tar Heels, Virginians love our neighboring state to the south.

Unlike our own capital city, North Carolina’s Raleigh, 175 miles southwest of Richmond via I-95, or 155 miles on I-85, received little damage in the Civil War.

My husband, Tom, and I — fans of Richmond’s architecture — enjoyed seeing the well-preserved Victorian homes in Raleigh neighborhoods such as Oakwood, and the city’s oldest residence (1785) at Mordecai Historic Park. The house and surrounding parkland was originally home to one of the earliest Jewish families settling in the United States.

Chapel Hill — a 10-minute drive from Raleigh — usually steals the show from the much larger capital city, but both are wonderfully walkable cities.

As lovers of college towns, Tom and I agreed we could be set down on a University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill brick walkway and swear we were on the campus of William and Mary or the lawn at the University of Virginia.

As in Williamsburg and Charlottesville, we passed an abundance of college students (or prospective students) and alumni strolling streets lined with eateries, quaint shops and drinking spots.

Arts and spa in Raleigh

When it comes to storefront boutiques, Raleigh needn’t take a seat behind Chapel Hill. The capital city’s Design District, encompassing several neighborhoods, brings downtown into focus with antique shops, art galleries, jewelers, fabric and other specialty stores, and cafes.

Like Richmond, Raleigh is replete with suburban sprawl, but we were unaware of that as we stayed away from Interstate 440 and stuck with walking around streets, such as shop-filled Peace Street and Capital Boulevard.

We were glad we stayed at the Marriott Downtown because a good business center was necessary for transacting personal business that we’d been unable to complete before our trip. Staff was readily available to help when we had fax or computer issues in the late p.m. or early a.m. The hotel’s to-go breakfasts were excellent and convenient when we were running late.

The North Carolina Museum of Art, just outside of downtown, is an impressive cultural institution, with extensive collections of American, African, Egyptian, Greek and Roman art.

Because it’s set on 164 woodland acres, forming NCMA Park, we spent time enjoying the commissioned outdoor works of Art in the Park, and the ways they’ve been placed to connect to the natural areas.

We saw signs for the Reedy Creek Greenway system — a paved, multi-use pathway between the western part of the NCMA Park and Umstead State Park and Schenck Forest — but didn’t have time to enjoy the trail as we had scheduled dinner with friends at the Umstead Resort & Spa.

Sandwiched between downtown Raleigh and the airport, the luxurious resort and spa — with extensive grounds and a dedicated art gallery — is a perfect neighbor for Umstead Park.

The resort’s newest gallery artist is Raleigh native Amy Braun. Her exhibit, “A Walk Through the Woods,” showcases her talents as a fine-art photographer and batik artist whose work is inspired by patterns of light and shade in the state’s natural landscape.

While dinner was very good — the resort’s Herons restaurant is one of only 64 Forbes five-star dining rooms in the world — our best memory remains of the resort’s commitment to its art collection, which includes glass artist Dale Chihuly.

Open free to the public, the featured works are minimalist, complementing the contemporary, clean design of the hotel. A brochure for a self-guided tour of the resort’s art is available at the concierge desk.

Thirty minutes from Raleigh is a must-see for railroad buffs, especially those with children in tow: the North Carolina Railroad Museum & New Hope Valley Railway.

Volunteers offer a one-hour, narrated ride behind a locomotive on an April to December schedule, and stage special events listed on the museum’s website, www.triangletrain.com.

We had lunch nearby in quaint, historic Apex, where Salem Street Pub lured us in with the promise of local beer, soup and salads (though burgers are its specialty — and there’s a USB port at every bar stool). Outdoor tables along downtown Apex’s streetscape provide a good spot to enjoy any lunch from the several restaurant choices.

On to Chapel Hill

The Carolina Inn, dating to 1924, was the anchor for our visit to Chapel Hill — and again art was part of the reason we loved staying there, along with the fine cuisine and service.

Aside from historical murals on lobby walls in the dining area, a long-lost painting of the inn by Richmond native and UNC alumnus Jeff MacNelly hangs in the lobby.

An impressionist oil-on-canvas executed by the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist in the late 1960s, it was returned to the university in 2009 after having been purchased at a yard sale in High Point, N.C., in the early 1990s. The purchaser recognized the signature and contacted MacNelly, who sent a hand-written letter authenticating it. The inn acquired the 1992 letter on MacNelly’s personal “Shoe” stationary (his cartoon strip’s name) along with the painting, and the two hang together.

Rates for the 185 guestrooms and suites start around $160 depending on month and day of week. Suites are more expensive. But book at least 30 days in advance to save 30% off the best available rate.

The nearby Ackland Art Museum, 60 years old this year, houses a permanent collection of more than 18,000 works of art, a premier collection of Asian art and works of art on paper, plus significant collections of European masterworks, twentieth-century and contemporary art.

We learned years ago to ask before pencil-sketching works in art museums (some museums don’t allow it in specific galleries). But Tom was welcomed to stay there and sketch for a couple of hours while I visited boutiques on historic Franklin Street and at University Place.

Afterward, on West Franklin Street, we got a close-up look (and tasting) at the only certified organic distillery in the South: Top of the Hill Distillery, makers of the hand-crafted TOPO Vodka, Piedmont Gin and Carolina Whiskey.

The distilling equipment, including the shiny copper-pot still and the 32-foot copper distillation column, are works of art in themselves. The wheat used comes from fewer than a hundred miles away. Tours run most Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays; reservations required.

Also on Franklin Street (but East Franklin) is the restaurant Il Palio, where we enjoyed superb food during our second evening in the city. (Don’t miss the roasted chestnut soup and roasted Sicilian eggplant.)

This area of North Carolina, Orange County, is home to more than 600 farms offering products and activities straight to the consumer or through five local farmers’ markets. Chapel Hill is one of those, as are markets in the nearby towns of Carrboro and Hillsborough, two must-see towns (see below).

The large number of farms is undoubtedly the reason that every restaurant we visited featured farm-to-table cuisine.

The annual Piedmont Farm Tour, where 30 to 40 farms open to the public for a two-day period, is a major agritourism event. This year, it was held April 28 and 29. See www.visitchapelhill.org/agritourism to learn more.

Two large attractions that got short-shrift from us are well worth seeing: the Morehead Planetarium & Science Center, where we enjoyed one of its many planetarium shows (http://moreheadplanetarium.org/visit/exhibits) and the North Carolina Botanical Garden, comprising more than 1,000 acres, including 10 of display gardens and a number of natural areas. It’s free and open Tuesday to Sunday.

This Piedmont garden, with its Piedmont Nature Trails and Green Education Center, is especially relevant for central Virginians interested in all manner of plants and vegetation.

For sports fans, there are always attractions, if not games, in Chapel Hill. Carolina Basketball Museum — which chronicles the history of UNC Basketball and includes nearly 500 artifacts, hundreds of photographs, and videos of various players, coaches, championships and historic moments — is newly renovated and includes interactive exhibits. It is open Monday to Saturday and is free.

Carrboro and Hillsborough

Carrboro is home to the historic Carr Mill Mall, a vibrant marketplace and site of the former textile mill listed in the National Register of Historic Places under its original name, the Alberta Complex.

We added to our purchases at the specialty stores and outdoor and home décor shops, and enjoyed the coffee/tea bar as well as the local favorite, Elmo’s Diner.

Weaver Street Market, with a large open front lawn, is a community gathering place and event site as well as a food co-op store.

Hillsborough is a 264-year-old town on the National Register of Historic Places, featuring a 1.8-mile scenic Riverwalk, where we strolled along the Eno River.

A short drive from Chapel Hill, Hillsborough’s Churton Street features art, jewelry, wine and chocolate shops. A historic museum, an antebellum school, and a Federal-era plantation house will have to wait until our next visit — though we somehow found time for Mystery Brewing Company in West Hillsborough.

To learn more, contact the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau at (919) 645-2676 or see http://www.visitraleigh.com.

The Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau can be reached at (919) 245-4320 or http://www.visitchapelhill.org.