Raleigh is Awesome. I nearly moved there 3 years ago when I was out of work. It's a very "hip" town.
I'm currently vacationing in Savannah GA. its about 20-25 minutes south of Charleston. it's an interesting place if your in to the old coastal city stuff. Beautiful homes and the river front is pretty cool by that's about it.
HOWEVER-
The traffic sucks, people are weird as hell and overly superstitious, the streets and weather are NOT CAR FRIENDLY. The ghetto is everywhere too.