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I'd like to point out that the OP said nothing about trying to meet someone. He simply asked which would be better for a single person. IMO, Charlotte is the most entertaining city (in NC) for someone who is single. Neighborhoods such as uptown, Noda, Southend, Plaza Midwood, Dilworth, Elizabeth, Midtown, and Madison Park has plenty of non-family oriented entertainment. Even the YMCAs in uptown and Southend don't allow the entry of kids under 16 during the business week. Almost everything in central Charlotte is geared towards young single professionals; this includes the type of real estate in central Charlotte. The apartment highrises downtown are not being built with kids in mind. Uptown/Southend is a young-adult district; which is nothing like the college town vibe that is found in other adult districts in NC.
Thanks for all the responses so far. I understand that lumping Raleigh and Durham together is like combining Ireland and England, but just like the UK, the research triangle area is stronger together. IMO all the aforementioned cities are terrific and worth living in but in many instances it's difficult to try to compare a city the size of Durham or Chapel Hill to Charlotte. For instance, when its the Research Triangle verus Charlotte and comparing areas most frequented by hipsters I think many would agree that NoDa/Plaza Midwood is a worthy adversary to Durham. That said, I think "urbancharlotte" brought up a great point. My question was in a very general sense but I consider myself to be a pretty average guy with standard taste. Although probably inconceivable I would say I'm cross between a bro and hipster so I don't really have a particular type. I think while people certainly have their preferences in dating there are some universal requirements that most can agree too.
Thanks for all the responses so far. I understand that lumping Raleigh and Durham together is like combining Ireland and England, but just like the UK, the research triangle area is stronger together. IMO all the aforementioned cities are terrific and worth living in but in many instances it's difficult to try to compare a city the size of Durham or Chapel Hill to Charlotte.
I believe the point people made is that your question was, "Which CITY: Raleigh-Durham or Charlotte?", and "Raleigh-Durham" is not a "city", it's a metro, like Dallas-Ft Worth or Minneapolis-St Paul. If you called DFW a "city" I imagine you'd get the same kind of response. And if you're planning on moving here, people will correct you every time you claim Raleigh-Durham" is a city If you want to speak of metro areas, say "The Triangle".
Anyway--I don't think any city/metro in NC is "known" for being particularly "better" for singles or "worse" for singles presuming you're comparing similar populations. An area of 1 million people will have a certain number of singles. What you'd want to avoid is a heavily suburban area like Cary (which is a "town" of over 100,000).
In The Triangle, at least you'd have choices between Raleigh AND Durham, not to mention Chapel Hill, while Charlotte is Charlotte. I would guess the "scene" is what you make of it in any place, especially if you're a "regular guy", so I would base my relocation on other factors such as job, geography, etc.
I'd take downtown Raleigh over Charlotte Uptown/Epicenter any day. Is there a better concentration of nightclubs somewhere in Charlotte I'm missing?
There's several party areas uptown, and in the city of Charlotte as a whole. The city's best reggae club for example, is on The Plaza Rd between Noda and Plaza Midwood. Some of the better late night bars are in the Madison Park neighborhood along Park Rd. The Music Factory area dominates the 4th Ward section of Uptown. The best "Grown and Sexy" spot in my opinion is located on North Tryon Street uptown near Rock Bottom brewery. There's a fairly large and popular club near the Tyvola Rd light rail station; I think it's called club ONYX. There's another popular club on Brookshire Blvd and I-85. McBonies is a popular spot in the Oakhurst neighborhood of East Charlotte.
Epicentre caters to a dress-up type of crowd. People who enjoy going out without a dress code will NOT like Epicentre. However, Epicentre is far from being Charlotte's only night spot. Even Ballantyne has some bars and late-night spots to check out.
There's several party areas uptown, and in the city of Charlotte as a whole. The city's best reggae club for example, is on The Plaza Rd between Noda and Plaza Midwood. Some of the better late night bars are in the Madison Park neighborhood along Park Rd. The Music Factory area dominates the 4th Ward section of Uptown. The best "Grown and Sexy" spot in my opinion is located on North Tryon Street uptown near Rock Bottom brewery. There's a fairly large and popular club near the Tyvola Rd light rail station; I think it's called club ONYX. There's another popular club on Brookshire Blvd and I-85. McBonies is a popular spot in the Oakhurst neighborhood of East Charlotte.
Epicentre caters to a dress-up type of crowd. People who enjoy going out without a dress code will NOT like Epicentre. However, Epicentre is far from being Charlotte's only night spot. Even Ballantyne has some bars and late-night spots to check out.
Thanks for the info. Although I was mostly thinking nightclub in the "mainstream" sense (so for example a reggae club would not qualify, because it is too specific / a niche club). To me for an area to qualify as a club scene there needs to be multiple dance clubs (i.e. not just bars or lounges) in nearby proximity (preferably walking distance) of each other, like the Epicentre or DT Raleigh, as opposed to individual clubs scattered throughout the city (driving distance of each other). Not that there's anything wrong with the latter, but if I take in all of the various clubs across Charlotte I think have to compare it to not just DT Raleigh where there's a cluster, but also Durham, Chapel Hill, etc.
For example I looked up Rock Bottom brewery, from what I can tell it's more of a restaurant/bar than what I would call a club. Now that I think about it I think I may have commented from the perspective on which has the best cluster of clubs (i.e. if I could only spend one or two nights in one of the cities to go clubbing, which would it be). To me having multiple choices without driving around all over would be important criteria, but it may not be important to everyone.
I guess it's like someone else said, really depends on what you like and what you consider a good club.
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If you want to speak of metro areas, say "The Triangle".
