Start from 29 curated places around Winston-Salem, NC, then choose the recommendations that fit your guests.
Restaurants & cafés
Mozelle's Fresh Southern Bistro
Winston-Salem's most beloved neighborhood bistro in the West End — a tight dining room and sidewalk tables with a genuine local-living-room feel. The tomato pie, shrimp and grits, and meatloaf have been practically sacred among regulars long enough to be considered tradition.
Mission Pizza Napoletana
Pizzas fired in a handmade Stefano Ferrara oven at 900°F, with 80% of ingredients imported directly from Italy, in the Downtown Arts District. Food & Wine, Thrillist, and the James Beard organization have all taken notice — this is the best pizza in the city by widespread agreement, and the full osteria menu of pastas and antipasti is as serious as the pies.
Trails & outdoors
Salem Lake Trail
A 7.1-mile multi-use loop around Salem Lake on a well-maintained gravel-and-paved surface — the hidden diamond of Winston-Salem fitness culture. Equestrians, runners, cyclists, birders, and families all use it daily, and the lake views are continuous from nearly every point on the loop.
Hanging Rock State Park
The city's most rewarding day-trip hike, 30 miles north of downtown in the Sauratown Mountains — an isolated ridgeline that rises dramatically from the Piedmont with five named waterfalls, the 3.7-mile Hanging Rock summit trail, and Blue Ridge views. Locals treat it as a half-day escape; tourists stick to the main summit trail and miss the waterfalls entirely.
Things to do
Art Crush — Third Friday
A monthly arts block party on Trade and Sixth Streets in the Downtown Arts District, running April through December on the third Friday evening. Vendors, musicians, live performance, open studios, and extended gallery hours all happening simultaneously — it's designed as a community event, which is why locals actually show up rather than just tourists.
The Ramkat
Winston-Salem's flagship music hall — 1,000-person capacity, two levels, and sound quality that makes national touring acts choose it over larger Triangle venues. The Gas Hill Drinking Room attached to the venue is open on non-show nights and is one of the better bars in downtown on its own terms.
Landmarks & sights
Old Salem Museums & Gardens
The actual 1766 Moravian settlement — not a reconstruction but surviving 18th-century buildings still standing in place — covering 75 acres with working tradespeople, heritage gardens, and Moravian cooking demonstrations. The St. Philips Heritage Center here preserves the oldest standing African American church building in North Carolina and documents the African Moravian community that most visitors overlook entirely.
Reynolda House Museum of American Art
The 1917 R.J. Reynolds estate turned into one of the Southeast's most comprehensive American art museums, with works spanning colonial era through contemporary. The surrounding Reynolda Village — converted estate outbuildings turned shops and restaurants — is genuinely worth a Saturday morning even if you skip the museum, and library cardholders can get free admission.