The Best Hotels to Book Near Hillsborough Riverwalk, North Carolina

All things to everyone, this contemporary arts space includes an art deco hotel with terrazzo floors, high ceilings and large, light-giving windows. Before you explore Bull City, scope out all of the local art below. Galleries are not your scene? You don’t need to be an admirer of art or a connoisseur of cuisine to appreciate the pineapple upside-down parfait and other dazzling dessert plates at Counting House bar and lounge, but you will need a sweet tooth.

Fans of old-school romance love this 18th-century plantation house with cozy gas fireplaces, polished half-tester beds and in-room coffee service. Need a little extra privacy? The wood-burning fireplace and double spa whirlpool tub in the log cabin will help you turn up the heat, while the garden cottage adds a veranda for stargazing in private. The cherry on the cake? Chef’s picnic baskets for grazing in the lovely landscaped magnolia-filled grounds.

Say benvenuto (welcome) to a Tuscan-inspired stay among marble floors and stately columns. You don’t need to cross the Atlantic to get a taste of rustic Italian cooking at Il Palio. Your suite is just as international of an affair with cappuccino-colored furnishings and Belgian chocolates waiting on your pillow every night. The only thing better than feeling like you’re in Italy? Being within smoke-smelling distance of the Pig.

A world of academia is your backyard among the leafy grounds of the Elon University campus. You can’t help but feel scholarly in stately and sophisticated suites in caramel tones with richly upholstered headboards. Separate seating areas overlooking the university’s grounds are the perfect places to catch up on your studies, even if this means sipping a glass of craft bourbon sent up from the bartenders at the in-house restaurant, the Mark.

This historic hotel has welcomed Tar Heels since the 1920s, but first-time visitors will also find themselves in good company among the vintage photos of the university and four-poster beds. Slide into a seat at Crossroads for pulled pork smoked while you were sleeping, or mosey up to the bar for a Carolina Brewery craft beer. Follow your new friends to Kenan Memorial Stadium, and your blood will run Carolina blue by half-time.

Streamlined studios with cleverly defined spaces for work and play come with queen or king beds. Halfway between Chapel Hill and Durham, you can drive to UNC and Duke University within minutes after a dip in the indoor pool. Don’t fill up on too much bourbon and barbecue during the day; you’ll still need to fit into your red sweater when you see the Carolina Hurricanes take the ice at PNC Arena in Raleigh.

Twenty minutes from the Hillsborough Riverwalk, this color-led contemporary hotel puts you just outside Durham and Chapel Hill. The hot and hearty breakfast will fuel your hike around surrounding state parks in Hillsborough. You might want to grab a few snacks from the Bright Side Market if you plan on spending all day out following the Eno River. If you need to warm up after a wintery walk by the water, the indoor hot tub is always bubbling.