With final exams soon to be a stress of the past, it is a great time to start planning for summer fun. Summer in Raleigh provides a variety of exciting options for all personalities. 

For the outdoorsman, Raleigh’s Umstead Park provides a great venue for hiking and camping. Composed of 5,579 acres, Umstead is one of the largest of North Carolina’s 34 state parks. The park contains more than 20 miles of hiking trails. From these trails, hikers can choose between an easy nature hike and a challenging hike through the woods.  Both choices provide hikers with an excellent view of the Raleigh landscape. With 28 campsites, the park also provides numerous options for camping.  For the true outdoorsman, there are two primitive campgrounds.  For the more casual camper, there are lodges that provide drinking water, picnic tables and restrooms. 

For the young at heart, Raleigh’s Sky Zone, an indoor trampoline park, welcomes people of all ages to come and enjoy unique activities. 

Customers can choose to enjoy the Foam Zone, where one can jump from a trampoline into foam pits, or they can choose to play trampoline Ultimate Dodgeball. There is even an area designated to trampoline basketball called the SkySlam. Every Wednesday night, Sky Zone hosts a college night that offers $5 admission to college students. 

Next, The Alley, located on NC State’s own Hillsborough Street, provides an affordable means of family fun. The Alley advertises exciting deals such as Maniac Monday that offers $5 unlimited bowling. The Alley also allows college students to bowl for $3 every day before 6 p.m. The old-fashioned atmosphere of The Alley makes it unlike any other bowling alley. While bowlers do have to keep score on a retro score card, the atmosphere and price of The Alley makes it well worth the trip. 

Just a few miles down the road from Raleigh, baseball fans can catch a ball game at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The park offers the beauty of an old-time baseball park with the comfort of a more modern stadium. The Bulls have games at the park almost weekly so it easy to fit a couple of games into your summer schedule. During the summer, the park hosts Friday Night Fireworks after each of the Bulls’ Friday home games. 

With go-karts, laser tag, batting cages, miniature golf and an arcade, Adventure Landing provides customers with a variety of fun activities at one location. The amusement park has three different 18-hole miniature golf courses from which customers can choose. Each of the courses has a unique theme. The go-karts offer competitive racing on a quarter-mile track. Each race’s results are posted on a digital leaders board at the track’s finish line. The arcade holds more than 65 games that offer ticket redemption. 

For a relaxing day at the lake, Raleigh’s Lake Crabtree is the perfect spot. The lake offers areas for fishing and boating. Off of the water, Lake Crabtree also offers mountain bike trails, picnic areas and volleyball courts. 

Starting May 31, Triangle Glides will offer Segway tours of North Carolina’s capitol. These will not be like typical city tours. The Segway tour will tell the untold stories of Raleigh such as unexplained deaths and political scandals. The tour even tells the traditional ghost stories of Raleigh. 

Raleigh has all of these opportunities and more for summer fun and entertainment.