well i lived in chapel hill for over 10 years, just down the raod from durham. i dunno if durham qualifies as a "nice beautiful town" but its not hickville either. i think there are a couple of hukka bars that have opened up. (if not there are some in raleigh) plenty of clubs. not much of an ethnic scene but its growing. you'll find a lot of quirky places there - odd bookshops, vintage antiques, weird eateries. has a reputation for being the "ghetto" side of the triangle (the triangle being raleigh, durham and chapel hill, together with surrouding towns that are all growing into one metro area) but that's probably because of old stereotypes of a city that has a majority black population.

for a change of pace, chapel hill is 15 mins away, and for yet more change of pace, raleigh is about 25 mins away. tons of young ppl (UNC is about 30,000, NC State is another 35,000, Duke is about 10,000). best place inthe country for college b-ball; 1 pro sports team.

but it ain't no thriving metropolitan area, though its growing fast (i think the triangle's population is about 1.3 million) won't find tons of desis in durham (like you can in cary) very affordable cost of living.