Charlotte
You're flying out of Charlotte Airport, you have 90 minutes to kill, and you'd like to do better than a Pret. Good news: airport drinking has improved more in the last five years than the previous fifty. Pre-flight drinks at Charlotte Airport range from chain reliability to surprisingly polished hotel-style bars in the airport hotels. This is barsforKings's editor-curated guide to drinking better at Charlotte's airports.
Uptown · $$$
Charlotte's most awarded cocktail bar.
NoDa · $$
Restaurant-bar with a tight craft cocktail programme and one of the city's best French-influenced food menus.
Plaza Midwood · $$$
Boutique cocktail bar with a small dim-room aesthetic.
Park Road · $$
Speakeasy-membership-cocktail-bar with a serious back bar.
Want a real drink before flying? The fastest play is to get to airport hotels next door — most run polished bars that beat anything post-security. We list them at the bottom. If you've got 60 spare minutes pre-airport, see our shortlist of bars in Charlotte proper at the end.
Plays for Charlotte Airport: post-security, pre-security, lounges, and the airport-hotel cheat code.
Pre-flight drinks, hotel-bar reviews, and the openings we're watching across 200+ cities. Friday mornings, no filler.
Looking beyond Charlotte? See our guide to the best airport bars worldwide, or compare airport bars city by city.