Graduate Chapel Hill

Just about every college town in America could use something like this: a modern boutique-style hotel, preferably campus-adjacent, with enough personality to be memorable while also appealing to all sorts of guests, from college-age travelers to parents, alumni, and visiting academics. For the University of North Carolina, that hotel is Graduate Chapel Hill, set on Franklin Street a short walk from campus.

In typical Graduate style it’s tailored to the setting, and in the case of UNC that means a healthy dose of Tar Heels basketball, including plentiful tributes to alum Michael Jordan — the most extravagant of which is a detailed reproduction of his on-campus dorm room, circa 1983.

Hotel guests, thankfully, can expect something a little more spacious and stylish than a dorm room. Carolina blue is much in evidence, and the headboards, playfully, are styled to resemble basketball backboards. But with their sunny décor and vintage furnishings, they’re several steps up from student digs, and some even come with balconies.

Social life is just as important, and at Graduate Chapel Hill there’s the Trophy Room restaurant and bar, serving pub fare and Southern classics in an indoor-outdoor space. Borrow a bike for a self-guided spin, or hit this compact town on foot.