<p>I will be visiting Duke for about a day and doing the information session/campus tour and I would love some suggestions of places to visit that I might not see on the tour. Any suggestions of restaurants or must-see stops to get a real feel for Duke and Durham would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>The Duke Gardens. Really. You will understand once you get there.</p>
<p>As I recall, East Campus was not on the tour, but that is where you will live Freshman year. The bus ride is quick and easy.</p>
<p>Then, after East Campus, go to 9th street, adjacent to East Campus. This is where you will find Elmos (giant burritos) and other walking distance restaurants. You probably won’t have time to visit the other areas close by. But Brightleaf Square and several other areas are within an easy walk.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for your input. Anybody else have suggestions??</p>
<p>I second the Duke Gardens. I’m not even a nature person but I make a point to walk through them whenever I can. They are STUNNING.</p>
<p>I would also recommend going over to East Campus, but keep in mind that it is not the beauty but rather the community of East that makes it truly special. Believe me, East will pale in comparison to the beautiful gothic architecture of West, but you don’t actually care about that when you’re a student.</p>
<p>If you’re looking for places to eat:
On-campus: not much is open during the summer but the Refectory or the Loop are good choices. Or if you feel like splurging you can check out the Washington Duke Inn.
Off-campus: Elmo’s, Mad Hatter’s, Parker and Otis, Local Yogurt (a very popular frozen yogurt place that many students frequent)</p>
<p>As a student tour guide for Duke Undergraduate Admissions, I also agree the Duke Gardens is a must-see (and very close to the admissions office… the staff or a tour guide will be more than happy to give directions). I would also recommend going inside the Duke Chapel… it is open to the public during normal business hours unless there is a wedding or special event. Finally, I would recommend spending some time in the library. Although we do have a tour stop at the library, it doesn’t give it justice. There is a very nice reading room on the 3rd floor of Bostock (although unfortunately, there was recently a fire in there so it isn’t as nice as it used to be), and the Gothic Reading Room on the 2nd floor of “old Perkins” is quite nice too. I also recommend a stop on East Campus since that is not part of our tour.</p>
<p>Thank you all so much for your help. I can’t wait to visit!</p>
<p>I haven’t taken a formal tour of the campus, so i don’t know if this is included, but if you’re a basketball fan, I would check out the Duke Basketball Museum.</p>
<p>BTW, the Duke Basketball Hall of Fame is in the Schwartz-Butters building (tall tower) adjacent to Cameron Indoor Stadium. It is usually open to the public during the day. I do recommend a visit if you are a basketball fan.</p>
<p>Oh, and you may want to check out the Nasher Museum of Art. Not the Louvre, but it is still a decent art museum.</p>
<p>When I visited in November, we were not allowed to see a dorm room. Definitely inquire about that…</p>
<p>For information on specific groups/organizations, you may want to visit the following areas:
[ul][<em>]Women’s Center (in Few, a residence hall near the bus stop on West)
[</em>]Mary Lou Center for Black Culture (next to/over the plaza on west)
[<em>]LGBT Center (under the student plaza on West)
[</em>]Study Abroad office (in the Smith Warehouse near East campus)
[<em>]Greek Life office (on the lower level of the Bryan Center on West)
[</em>]Hillel (on Campus Drive near East campus)
[li]Any of the religious organizations in the Chapel basement[/ul][/li]I am not sure if they include the gym on the tours, but visiting Wilson (West) and/or Brodie (East) would be a good idea as well.</p>
<p>Tours used to be pretty weak about covering Science Drive – if that’s still the case, Fitzpatrick, French Science, and the LSRC are all well worth a look (all are on the back side of West).</p>
<p>The Duke Coffeehouse (which, contrary to its name, does not serve coffee as its primary function) on East is worth a look - they have a lot of cool concerts throughout the year. </p>
<p>As something fun to see, you might want to visit the primate center in the Duke Forest, which has the largest collection of prosimians outside Madagascar. Unfortunately, they require you to schedule a tour in advance.</p>
<p>I am not sure about them honoring a room inspection request - East campus is currently swarming with TIPsters.</p>
<p>We are currently required to show a dorm room in Few during our tours of West Campus. Also, a tour of the Fitzpatrick Center is now included, and I even show families the French Family Science Center if it’s not too big of a group.</p>