UNC (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) and Duke University are very close to each other—roughly 8–10 miles apart, about a 15–25 minute drive between campuses.

Basic distance (short answer)

  • Straight-line distance: About 8 miles (around 13 km) between Chapel Hill (UNC) and Durham (Duke).
  • Driving distance: About 9–10 miles by road, typically 15–25 minutes depending on traffic, usually along 15-501.

So if someone says “how far apart are UNC and Duke,” they usually mean “only about 8–10 miles.”

Travel time and ways to get there

  • By car: Around 15–25 minutes in normal conditions.
  • By bus/shuttle: There are regional bus routes that connect the universities, with travel time similar to or a bit longer than driving.
  • By bike: Some routes and trails (like segments used around the Triangle) make biking possible in roughly 30–50 minutes depending on exact start/end points.

Think of it as going from one side of a medium-sized city to the other—close enough that students, fans, and staff can move between them in a single afternoon.

Why this feels so “close” as a rivalry

  • Both schools are in North Carolina’s Triangle area (Durham for Duke, Chapel Hill for UNC).
  • The short distance amplifies the basketball rivalry , since fans and students constantly run into each other in day-to-day life, not just on game days.

You’ll often see the distance casually rounded to “about 8 miles” in sports coverage talking about the UNC–Duke rivalry.

Quick distance snapshot (HTML table)

[9][1][5] [3][1][5][7] [1][3][7]
Measure Approx. Distance/Time
Straight-line distance UNC–Duke ≈ 8 miles (≈ 13 km)
Driving distance ≈ 9–10 miles by road
Typical driving time ≈ 15–25 minutes depending on traffic
**TL;DR:** UNC and Duke are only about 8–10 miles apart, roughly a 15–25 minute trip, which is a big reason their rivalry feels so intense and local.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.