Christmas comes to Concord! I spent the weekend enjoying lots of Christmas fun in Concord, North Carolina so I thought I’d share some ideas on things you can do as a family, on a date or even by yourself in the Concord/Cabarrus County area.
No matter what you choose, you will have a great time!
Speedway Christmas Lights at Charlotte Motor Speedway
If you’re a NASCAR fan, you know that Concord, North Carolina is where racing lives. It’s home to the Charlotte Motor Speedway, and right now for Speedway Christmas, it’s completely decked out with over 3 million lights on a 3.5-mile driving course which takes you right onto the track itself.
Turn off your headlights and tune your radio to a preset station as you wind your way through a festive holiday light show synchronized to music. It’s really pretty spectacular! (Video snippet below.)
About halfway through the drive (on many of the nights), you can park and walk into a Christmas village where you’ll find a living nativity, petting zoo, Santa Claus, marshmallow roasting, a festival of trees and snacks galore.
In the background, Christmas movies play on the big 16,000 square-foot HDTV screen. Elf was playing the night I drove through.
Speedway Christmas is open nightly November 21 – December 30. Closed Christmas Day. Check the website for details and to order tickets.
Feel the Thrill Tour – Charlotte Motor Speedway
So this isn’t exactly Christmas-themed, but if you’re in the area for Speedway Christmas, the ‘Feel the Thrill’ is a tour well worth taking earlier in the day. This non-racing enthusiast is now enthused about racing after taking the tour, so that should indicate its value. I’m actually dying to get to a NASCAR race now!
There were about seven of us on the tour, and the highlight of course, was experiencing a ride on the speedway itself. You can’t help but get an adrenaline rush from speeding along the track and experiencing the banking. We only went 60 miles per hour, and it felt soooo fast. I can’t even imagine how 100-200 mph feels. Nuts.
We stopped about halfway through the tour to stand in the winner’s circle. Woohoo!
Here’s a fun fact: The grandstand seats are painted so that when the camera pans over them, all the seats look occupied. Who knew?
Our guide told us so many interesting behind-the-scenes facts about what the drivers and crew go through. It was fascinating! Visit charlottemotorspeedway.com for more information.
Great Wolf Lodge – Concord
So getting back to the holidays… you’ll want to stop into Great Wolf Lodge and discover the magical world of Snowland. Kids and adults will delight in the daily snowfall inside the Grand Lobby during the Clock Tower Show. I visited a few days early, so they were still busy setting up all the decorations and lights. Nonetheless, it was beautiful there already!
Dinner inside the life-size gingerbread house will make your cub’s Christmas, and if you’re looking for a date night option, the Lodge Wood Fired Grill is really, really good! We enjoyed fresh cocktails, sea scallops, filet mignon and quesadillas. We were expecting standard restaurant fare, but it’s several notches above ordinary. The experience far exceeded our expectations . It was truly impressive!
Ice Skating and Christmas Shopping at Concord Mills
Considered The Carolinas’ largest shopping and entertainment destination, Concord Mills is well worth a stop. I made some really good headway on my shopping list there. It has everything from dollar stores, Old Navy and Forever 21 to Vera Bradley and Michael Kors.
You can also take a break from shopping by visiting the Sea Life Aquarium where you may spot Scuba Claus or go ice skating at the Speedpark’s ice rink November 19 – January 18.
Dine at the Speedway Club
The view overlooking the race track and the warm and attentive wait staff make dining at The Speedway Club a very special experience. We were fortunate enough to be there as the holiday-themed Egg Nog Jog 5k fun run was kicking off, so we could see the costumed runners making their way through the twinkling lights of Speedway Christmas.
After a dinner of Cherry Coca-Cola Beef Brisket and Grilled Ribeye steaks, we enjoyed a delicious ginger cake and a spectacular view of the holiday fireworks.
For more ideas on Christmas fun in Concord North Carolina check out VisitCabarrus.com.
Comments & Reviews
What a wonderful time you had there. You can definitely feel the spirit of Christmas this early in Concord.
Totally agree! Love all the display of lights!
I have always wanted to visit the Charlotte motor speedway! It must be so thrilling to watch the races right there at the stands!
I think that would be an amazing experience. Would love to see them one of these next years.
1. You have GOT TO GO to a NASCAR race. It’s awesome!!!!!
2. That is so neat about the seats being painted, I never knew!
3. Broxton has been begging to go to Great Wolf Lodge, I really been to look into the rates.
4. Now, I want to spend the holidays in Concord!!!!!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING to you and yours!
Looks like you had an amazing time! The a Christmas village sounds like a lot of fun and I’d love to visit Great Wolf Lodge’s Snowland.
It’s been a while since my husband and I’ve visited North Carolina. We have friends in Charlotte and should steal your ideas for a day out. Thanks!
Concord sounds like a great place to visit, whether it’s Christmas or a Monday. I’d love to see it one day.
Our Great Wolf goes all out for Christmas, too! It sounds like there are tons of great festivities down there 🙂
There’s a lot to do for the kids! It’s so nice.
Oh how pretty! I would love to see those lights! They are beautiful! I can’t wait to start seeing more and more christmas lights as the season gets into full swing. We stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge in another state and loved it.
The lights and Christmas decor are beautiful! I wish NC wasn’t so far away – I would love to see this in person.
I love this time of year because of all the decorations and the events that are going on around us. Concord looks like a great place to visit!
Wow those lights look fantastic on the speedway. What an awesome way to celebrate the season. Very pretty!
That really does seem like a fun and different way to celebrate the season. I am all about some beautiful lights.
That looks like so much fun! I love that they even have the tunnel lit up.
I have always wanted to go to Great Wolf Lodge in Concord! It looks so fun and I love the holiday decorations.
Looks like you guys had a great time! That was an interesting fact about the bleachers. I have never known that either. Now I know when the cars are speeding around the track that those bleachers may or may not be filled.
Love all the light shows!
Wow! The Speedway really goes all out on Christmas. Those lights are epic! I’ve been to Concord a few times but never during the holidays. It looks like I’m missing out!
That lodge is AMAZING! Love the snowflakes hanging in that glorious, high ceilinged room.
it really looks like it would be a LOT of fun – so much going on!
Sounds like a fun holiday outing! My boys’ would love a drive on the Speedway. We have a drag strip here that they love to race on so something like that would be amazing. How cool that the stands are all painted- they do look full!
The Lodge Wood Fired Grill sounds like such a wonderful place, especially during the holidays. That Speedway Christmas with all those lights is incredible. WOW! I would love to take a drive through there.
I love what they do with the Speedway! My kids would absolutely flip over that. It looks like so much fun!
I’ve never been to Concord,NC, but it does sound like a festive visit this time of year! Being from Maine, i can’t imagine not having snow measure in feet by Christmas! lol
Everything is so beautifully decorated. I would love to drive through the tunnel of lights
Wow, this looks like such a fun way to celebrate Christmas. I am absolutely obsessed with tracking down Christmas lights so I would absolutely love to see this in person. Too bad Chicago is so far away.
What a beautiful way to celebrate Christmas! We are actually heading to the Canadian GWL in a few weeks! We have been once before in the summer, but I’m super excited about going during Christmas!
I have never been to Concord North Carolina, but I have visited other parts of NC and I love the state. That light display in Concord looks awesome – perfect for the kiddies!
SO much to be had in North Carolina. I would love the lights!
You look really happy in North Carolina! We’d love to move there some day.
This looks like such a fun time! I love all of the beautiful Christmas lights and decor.
Okay, my bag is packed! This looks like such a fun place to celebrate the holidays!
I love all the lights at the speedway. Every year we go for a nice drive and look at all the beautiful Christmas lights in our city.
This looks like so much fun! I’m ready for Christmas lights and celebration!
What a light show! I love a good display of Christmas cheer!
Concord during the Holidays sounds like a lot of fun! I’d love to visit someday. The Speedway Christmas makes everything super exciting!
Any place decorated for Christmas is just magical. Have you been to the Festival of Lights in SC? Thats where I am; it’s amazing.
This is just beautiful and looks like you had a lot of fun
Snow in the lobby and dunkin donuts breakfast at Great Wold lodge was one of our traditions when we lived in Concord!
That light show to music is awesome. We have something similar in our town, but it’s super small showcase compared to yours in Concord! This the season 🙂
We’ve done something similar also but not with this scale. It looks incredible!
What a fun adventure! the lights look beautiful.
I agree, the lights would definitely put me into the Christmas spirit. I’m so excited about the holidays.
Wow, this looks like so much fun! I love the Holiday decorations that they have set up! Nascar, never been, but my husband shoots it for ESPN!! I have been wanting to go to Great Wolf Lodge, this looks like a blast!
whoa, that’s so cool. I totally want to go to see Nascar one day!
It looks like North Carolina is ready for Christmas. I love all the festive decorations.
Looks fun!! I love how many events there are for Christmas lights!
Oh how nice. I love the bright lights and holiday decore. So festive.
This seems like a hot spot for families! We do not travel much long distance but will probably consider this with all of the cool family things you can do!
I used to live in NC and would love to take my family to visit. In fact good friends of ours moved to the Frankin area, so we really need go make a trip now.
That sounds like a blast! I would love to take my kids to see the Speedway Christmas.
I love Great Wolf Lodge at Christmas!
Looks like a ton of Christmas fun! It just does not seem like it is time for the holidays already!
whoa, those lights are amazing. How incredible it would have been to see it in person, especially going down the roads with the lights surrounding you! I’ve never been to Concord… or NC in general but it sounds super fun during the holidays.
How beautiful! This looks like so much fun!
That looks like so much fun! It would be great to see it all in person.
great wolf lodge looks so beautiful
Sounds like they have so many fun things to do there, especially during the holidays!
The lights are amazing! I’ve lived in NYC for 11 years but have never been in North Carolina, Liz. When I get back to the states definitely i will visit it. Happy Thanksgiving!
looks fun, this is what I love about the holidays, the colorful decors
I love Christmas Light Display events, and that one looks amazing! We have a Great Wolf Lodge here near Seattle as well, but I’ve never been.
Christmas looks like a fun tradition in concord they really pull out all the stops don’t they?!
Such an amazing place! and it have a lot of fun. i wish i can go there
That is really an awesome light display. I would love to live near there so we could visit that display this holiday season. We don’t have anything quite like that.
Hokey smokes I am loving those lights!! Looks like a fabulous time, and a great way to get into the holiday spirit. 🙂
Looks like they have it all for Christmas. The lights are so pretty and I love the Christmas Village.
How festive! The display of lights is amazing. I’d be so interested to explore the Christmas Village.
It’s summer here now, we love spending time by the sea. My daughter loves swimming.
I have never been to Concord and thes are such unique things to do there. The speedway tour reminds me of taking drives to see oil day lights when I was a child. Interesting about painting the seats!
OH those are so wonderful displays! You won’t see such on my country at least – not now, not yet.. until December comes along, I guess. Hehe.
Wow I love lights and things like this. So this would be right up my alley, I love Christmas and decorations so this would be heaven for me. I need to get to Concord!
I would love to visit Great Wolf Lodge. I am originally from NC but moved to FL in ’02. I miss having winter’s and Christmas’ in NC.
Wow! this is really awesome, it looks like so much fun, I love the light.
This looks like so much fun! I would love all the lights and decorations. If I ever find myself in North Carolina, hopefully I can check it out at Christmas time!
I agree! My kids would love to go there! What a fun place to visit this holiday!
What a beautiful place! I would love to take my kids there, those lights on both sides of the car are super cool!
My, what a magnificent display of lights. I can’t believe it’s less than a month before Christmas.
Wooooooooow. The pictures of the lights look so beautiful. I love Xmas decoration – we don’t do them here and I think it’s so magical when a town goes all out for Christmas.
The lights looks amazing. I would love to go there and see it.
That looks like a great time! I love all of the lights.
I have to admit… I have never been to a Great Wolf lodge (though it looks like a ton of fun!) and we have NEVER been to North Carolina. I am hoping that when the kids get a bit bigger we can tour the U.S. and see some of these beautiful places!
Concord Raceway looks like so much fun, especially with all the holiday lights. Thanks for sharing so many great pix to get me into the holiday mood.
Wow they really go all out with their Christmas decor! It always boggles my mind when it’s warm outside somewhere for Christmas haha we already have snow!
This looks like a lot of fun – love the light displays! We have something similar here called the Festival of Lights and it’s really become a family tradition!
Oh wow, the lights on the speedway are so cool! I would love to take my husband here!
This looks like so much fun!! I LOVE going for drives and looking at Christmas lights. It’s the highlight of the season, for me.
WOW… Christmas in America truly is magical.. I can’t wait to one day do it! The lights are spectacular!!
Your photos are so gorgeous, it’s the next best thing to being there. I’ve only been to NC once and it was truly a beautiful state. SC was too.
I love seeing what fun things people can do around the holidays in different locations. I can’t wait to go around our neighborhood and see the lights!
There are a couple of spectacular neighborhoods here that we always try to see. It’s such much fun!
I still can’t believe it’s almost Christmas!! This is a great Christmas display!!
The lights look amazing, I love visiting Winter Wonderland where I live in London this time of year, it has rides, games, food, drink and christmas markets.
Looks like it was an amazing time – celebrating the holidays in Concord. We love attending drive through holiday lights – we go each year to New Hampshire Motor Speedway and we will be doing it again this year.
What a great video! I would love to spend more time in North Carolina, I usually just pass through.
Oh wow, that looks incredible – what a fun place to enjoy Christmas!
I really want to take my boys to Great Wolf lodge. I’m not sure it will happen but we will see. 🙂
The lights at speedway are pretty too.
Beautiful! I’ve never been to North Carolina! The city looks so joyful!
Those are really gorgeous lights! I am thinking to visit this place during the holidays. I never thought how beautiful this place is during the holidays.
Looks Like you had a lotof fun in Concord. The food looks awesome. My husband has done a ride along at PIR where he got to be in a NASCAR a couple of years ago. He had fun, but said the ride along as way too short.
The place looks like it’s pack with fun! It’s great to see it in person.
I love the Concord Great Wolf Lodge. I have some great memories from there 🙂
I like the light display at night there, it really looks awesome. the lodge can really remind you of the Christmas season fast approaching
The display of lights is amazing!! I love to go there!!
That’s a great idea, I wish more speedways would do something like that for the holidays, looks fun! 🙂
Those Speedway lights look amazing! I’ve always wanted to take my kids to Great Wolf Lodge. That would be a fun family getaway that isn’t too pricey. Thanks for sharing!
The best part of the year is definitely Christmas with lot of fun & celebration all around. The Great Wolf Lodge looks fabulous & looks like a wonderful place to visit with kids during Christmas. The pictures are beautiful enough to pull you there.
Our local quarter mile track used to do the drive through christmas lights. Three million lights though! Wow
We love visiting our local displays-it is so much fun
I’ve never been to North Carolina,… I would love to see more Christmas activities and decorations in my area
When I drove down to visit family and friends at Ft Bragg one year, everyone was talking about going to the musical light show at Christmastime. I’m just going to have to set aside a week to return to North Carolina and see all the things you’ve listed above.
The lights are spectacular indeed and the decorations in that lodge are gorgeous! We’re in North Carolina too, but I’ve never been to Concord yet. I would love to go there right now!
Love the lodge photos. Looks so warm and cozy. We have a lights display similar to that close to our place. Haven’t been there in a few years but it is lovely.
This looks like such a fun time. My friend just moved pretty close to Concord and I am wondering if she knows about this. I love that they have a petting zoo!
Looks so great and fun to visit. Christmas decoration is so cute, especially the lights.
I love all the lights and the decors and it is indeed a happy Christmas now and Its really fast approaching. I think Concord is a beautiful place and I wish to go there someday
WHOA those Christmas light displays are unreal. I would love to visit there one day – especially at Christmas. Omg how pretty! Thanks for sharing
Wow! Those Christmas lights are magnificent! Driving around looking for good Christmas lights are one of my favorite holiday traditions, but we have never been to a place with that many incredible lights.
oh wow this is absolutely spectacular, I wish I could visit it and experience it for myself. I love the speedway lights, so beautiful
I love the holiday season! I’ve never visited Concord, North Carolina but this post is making me want to visit during the holiday season. These activities look great!
That is awesome. My husband and kids would love to go through the speedway full of lights. Plus, Elf playing?! So cool!
Okay – those drive through lights are amazing! I wish I had something like that in my area.
Oh my I have never seen anything like this before! It is like you were driving through a light tunnel at one point! So cool!
These pictures are so gorgeous! Christmas time is the best – no matter where you go, everything is decorated and looks SO gorgeous! Thanks for sharing, I’m so excited! : )
xo Adriana – Daily Dose of Design
This looked like such a fun outing! I love Christmas decorations and places that are themed Christmas! How fun!
Our speedway does a Christmas lights thing too and it’s amazing! We went last weekend, we just couldn’t wait any longer!
Oh wow, that looks like so much fun. I’m going add this to my places to visit. Love it.
Wow. That looks incredible and so much fun.
the lights look spectacular ! My little one would loved them!
Wow Looks like such a blast. Cant wait for the lights near us this year. Thank you for sharing.
I love all of the Christmas festivities. The Speedway looks awesome!
WOW! Now I want to go to Concord with my family for Christmas! That speedway looks really cool.