Visit Raleigh Introduces Wander App to Encourage Outdoor Adventures
Monday, October 20, 2025, 7am
Partnership With Triangle Trails Initiative, Wander and Wake County Municipalities to Emphasize Vibrant Parks and Trails Across the County
Raleigh, N.C. (Oct. 20, 2025) – Outdoor adventure seekers and casual explorers alike now have a new way to explore the beauty and breadth of the area with the launch of the Wander Wake County app. This free, easy-to-use mobile app highlights the destination’s extensive network of more than 300 miles of greenways and trails and over 138,000 acres of open space land.
The county-wide initiative centralizes data between the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau (Visit Raleigh), Triangle Trails Initiative (TTI) and parks departments throughout Wake County, aimed at delivering an integrated trail mapping experience that helps residents and visitors explore and enjoy our beautiful public spaces, alongside local businesses and other community amenities. Users can utilize the new interactive map to search and save areas of interest and create park itineraries across Wake County.
Visit Raleigh incorporated its hospitality partner listing data alongside the trail information into this countywide map. Participating partners adding and updating trails are Wake County, Town of Cary, Town of Zebulon, Town of Wake Forest and Town of Apex. They are providing open data for the app to enhance the user experience in those municipalities. All trails within Wake County municipalities will be included in the app, utilizing available open data.
“Collaborating to leverage a shared destination app allows our organizations to transform strategic plans into action to enhance regional connectivity and parks values into an accessible, co-branded platform for both residents and visitors,” said Rashawn King, Director of TTI.
Key app features include:
- Mobile-friendly format, so trail information is in the palm of your hand
- Filter results by location and activity-type
- Park and trail descriptions (including nearby points-of-interest)
- Optimized route planning
- Integration with Visit Raleigh’s restaurants and things to do
The Wander Wake County app launch is just one component of Wake County’s Destination Strategic Plan to strengthen the area’s destination product and increase overnight visitation to the region. When the plan launched in 2018, it identified Quality of Place as a key focus priority. This priority emphasizes assets in the community that residents love, that can also be positioned for visitors to experience. Wander enhances the visibility of Wake County by connecting community assets like parks and trails to highlight the extensive scenic beauty in the area, making it not only a wonderful place to live, but also an exciting visitor destination.
Wander is available now on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Visit wandermaps.com to learn more and download the free app and Wake County map, or download via QR code here:
About the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau (Visit Raleigh):
As the official destination marketing organization for Wake County, Visit Raleigh is responsible for promoting Wake County as an attractive travel destination and enhancing its public image as a dynamic place to live and work. Through the impact of travel, the organization strengthens the industry and community's economic position and provides opportunities for people throughout Wake County. Raleigh, N.C./Wake County welcomes 19 million visitors annually, whose spending tops $3.4 billion. The visitor economy supports more than 26,000 local jobs in Wake County and generates $321 million in state and local tax revenues, saving each Wake County household $720 in taxes annually. visitRaleigh.com
Media Contact:
Visit Raleigh
Dana Goodwin
Public Relations and International Tourism Manager
919.830.1289
dgoodwin@visitRaleigh.com
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