Asheville Area Attractions
The City | The Outdoors | Other Attractions
The City
Exploring Downtown
 If you can imagine our valley as a pendant, then Asheville would be
an Art Deco gem held by a setting
of blue-green mountains. It's easy to think of Asheville and Western North Carolina in artistic terms. Arts and crafts have been a way of life here since woodcarvers and quilters used their creativity to supplement farm income.
Suggested 4 Night Itinerary
Day 1- Arrive at your B&B. Relax. You need to put the work week behind you. Ask your innkeeper for dining suggestions and the weekly entertainment guide.
Day 2 - Acclimate yourself. Take the 1.7-mile Urban Trail to learn more about Asheville's history and architecture. Rent the audio tape that goes with it at the Asheville Art Museum. While you're at Pack Place, visit the museums and see what's on stage. Savor a nice lunch nearby. For a pleasant afternoon, take a walk in the woods at the N.C. Arboretum or N.C. Botanical Gardens.
Day 3 - If this is summer, there must be a festival around. Sample the food at restaurant booths and take note of places you want to try later. No festivals? Browse through the antique stores and craft shops around Lexington Avenue, or visit downtown Weaverville and Lake Louise.
Day 4 - The Biltmore Estate is a must. And so is shopping and dinner afterward. Check out the galleries and other shops in Biltmore Village, then drive up to the city's center.
Day 5 - Time to go. But take some gifts with you. Check out the shops on Wall Street, Haywood Street and Grove Arcade before you hit the road, then take a detour through a small town or two. The mall at home has nothing like this.
Asheville and surrounding villages are artwork themselves. Fine craftsmen and architects outdid each other in the days of opulence and speculation at the dawn of the last century. The Great Depression ended the boom, but the buildings lived on, escaping the urban renewal that brought a sameness to America's other cities. In Asheville, you can walk the 30 stations of the Urban Trail and learn more about the rich history of our city, from drover crossroad to the era of the grand hotels to today's colorful cosmopolitan atmosphere.
 These mountain downtowns offer unique opportunities for shoppers. Fine arts and crafts, antiques and a delicious assortment of restaurants are all clustered in central business districts of Asheville, Biltmore Village and Weaverville.
Indulge your tastebuds. The Asheville area has some gourmet specialties, including mountain trout cooked 47 ways, Southern barbecue and some of the finest microbrew beers in the Southeast. But the gastronomic attraction here is the diversity of dishes to be found, ranging from curry and couscous to Caribbean to aged steaks. Only Italy offers more varieties of Italian cuisine. As in Europe, dining in Asheville is an event where one lingers to enjoy the flavor and texture of life as well as dinner.
 Savor the contrasts. Snack on sushi before giving clogging a try at Shindig on the Green. Try on the latest hiking boots before enjoying a performance by any of a dozen excellent theatre or dance companies. Dine at a cool sidewalk table, then burn the calories off dancing at a steamy nightclub. There's a good reason that both Modern Maturity and Rolling Stone called this the place to be.
Biltmore Estate
No trip to Asheville is complete without a visit to the Biltmore Estate. George Vanderbilt's 250-room home is a monument to America's Gilded Age. When it was completed in 1895, the French chateau-styled mansion was an escape for Vanderbilt family and friends.
Today, everyone can enjoy the collection of fine art and antiques, and stroll through gardens designed by America's father of landscape architecture, Frederick Law Olmsted. Other attractions on the estate include a winery with complimentary wine tasting, a newly renovated conservatory and three restaurants serving dishes prepared from food grown on the estate. Biltmore Estate is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day except Thanksgiving and Christmas, and offers candlelight Christmas tours in November and December by reservation only.
Your innkeeper offers Biltmore daytime tickets at the gate price. Some B&Bs offer packages that include Biltmore tickets, and can help you arrange candlelight Christmas tours.
Outdoor Attractions
Suggested 4 Night Itinerary
The Great Outdoors
Day 1 - Arrive at your B&B and ask your hosts about the best trails in the area. Dine downtown; it may be the last civilization you see for awhile.
Day 2 - Get wet and wild on a mountain river. To raft, canoe or kayak, call Southern Waterways, Nantahala Outdoor Center , French Broad Rafting, or Headwaters Outfitters Take a picnic lunch or book a trip that includes lunch.
Day 3- Hit the trail. For an easy 3.5-mile hike to two waterfalls, try Graveyard Fields. For an all-day pilgrimage to a mystical quartz formation, try Shining Rock. Or just take a picnic lunch the mile or so up to Mount Pisgah.
Day 4- Feeling brave? Take a rock-climbing class. But don't worry, your guides know the ropes. Feeling meditative? Try fly fishing. Or take in 18 holes at one of the half dozen golf courses within a few minutes of your B&B. Book a massage afterward.
Day 5 - Time to go. But work in a drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway as part of the trip home. And don't forget the camera.
Western North Carolina is a mecca for outdoors enthusiasts. As the novelist and Asheville native Thomas Wolfe wrote, around us are the "soaring and lordly ranges that melt away in purple mist."
Thousands of miles of trophy trout streams wet
the wrinkles of the Smokies, the Balsams, the
Blacks and the Blue Ridge, joining into rivers
where whitewater rafters and kayakers can take
in the mountain beauty up close. Where highland valleys meet climbing hills, some of the most
beautiful golf courses in the nation challenge
all levels.
The Blue Ridge Parkway, one of America's most stunning highways, carries travelers more than
400 miles along ridgelines unmarred by billboards, trucks or any buildings other than the occasional information center. Take a drive north to Mount Mitchell, highest peak east of the Rockies, and
maybe Grandfather Mountain, a tourist attraction featuring a mile-high swinging bridge and
small zoo.
 Trailheads along the parkway and other mountain roads beckon hikers to waterfalls, balds and escarpments where rock climbers test themselves against the mountain. Steep trails at two county
parks challenge mountain bicyclists.
An hour or so to the west of Asheville by Blue
Ridge Parkway or U.S. 74, Great Smoky Mountains National Park contains more plant and animal
species than any other park in America, and offers visitors a chance to see bears, elk and other
animals in the wild, as well as see how pioneers
lived in a re-created mountain community.
 DuPont State Forest, North Carolina's newest, features easy trails to several magnificent
waterfalls. Whitewater and calmwater enthusiasts alike find their own degree of thrill and scenery
on the French Broad, Nantahala, Pigeon, and other rivers. Other outfitters offer fly-fishing trips,
rock-climbing classes, guided nature hikes and
even llama treks.
Your bed and breakfast hosts will be glad to put you in touch with just the adventure you seek.
Chimney Rock Park
 Chimney Rock Park, located 25 miles southeast of Asheville, offers spectacular 75-mile views, numerous hiking trails and a 404-foot waterfall featured in the movie Last of the Mohicans. The rock for which the park is named rises straight above the limits of the Piedmont, giving an aerial view of Lake Lure and points east. Visitors have the choice of hiking challenging trails or taking an elevator to the observation area. Admission is charged to the park. Open daily 8:30a.m to 6 p.m. Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day.
Straight west of Chimney Rock about a half hour away is Flat Rock, home to the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site. Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Closed Christmas Day.
Flat Rock Playhouse, one of several respected theatres in the area and the State Theatre of North Carolina. Ask your innkeeper for more information about the plays of the season.
Other Attractions
Great Smoky Mountains Railroad
 Great Smoky Mountain Railway offers round-trip excursions through some of the most spectacular scenery in western North Carolina, including views of the Great Smoky Mountains and Fontana Lake. Steam- and diesel-powered trains carry visitors along 53 miles of track, through two tunnels and over 15 bridges. Excursions include half day to full day round trips, dinner trains, mystery theatre dinner trains, and raft/train combos. Your hosts can help arrange your trip.
Cherokee
Suggested 5 Night Itinerary
Day 1 - Arrive at your B&B and read up on the Biltmore. Enjoy a leisurely dinner, and follow it up with a cocktail as you watch the sunset at the Grove Park Inn.
Day 2 - Explore downtown Asheville in the morning, and walk the Urban Trail. See why George Vanderbilt decided to build his monument here. After lunch, go to the Biltmore and take the self-guided tour. Book a specialty tour for the next day and get your ticket validated. Stop at the winery before you go.
Day 3 - Return to the Biltmore early, and take one or so specialty tours. After lunch, drive to Chimney Rock Park and enjoy the views and short hikes. If time permits, consider a sunset cruise on Lake Lure.
Day 4 - Go west. Visit Cherokee and the Oconaluftee Village. Be sure to leave in time to ride the 1:30 excursion aboard the Great Smoky Mountain Railway. If it's summer and you aren't too tired, take in a performance of Unto These Hills.
Day 5 - Take a half-day trip via the Blue Ridge Parkway to Penland to see the crafts. Stop on your way at the Folk Art Center. Take U.S. 19 West to Mars Hill, then N.C. 213 to U.S. 25-70 and Hot Springs for a soak and a massage. You'll get back to your B&B in time to go out for dinner.
Day 6- So much to see, and so little time. Before heading home, have lunch on Wall Street or at the Grove Arcade and imagine life here as it was decades ago.
 Cherokee is not so much an attraction as home to a collection of attractions worth a day trip. It is the westernmost point on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and esternmost edge of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Foremost, Cherokee is home to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and their reservation.
One attraction is Oconaluftee Indian Village, a re-created Cherokee Village of the 1750s. Regular tours by Cherokee guides present history, crafts, early homes and many mountain forest demonstrations of beadwork, pottery, blowguns, and much more in a beautiful forest setting.
Another cultural attraction is the Museum of the Cherokee Indian, which details the advanced culture of the tribe. At the time before the tribe was split and marched on the Trail of Tears, its members excelled in weaving, pottery and agriculture, and had their own written language. Their story is told in an outdoor drama, Unto These Hills. Harrah’s Cherokee Casino provides yet a different attraction for those who feel lucky.
Shopping and Soaking
If you have a room or two to furnish, the Furniture Mart in Hickory is less than two hours away, and offers a full day of decorating ideas.
For those on an aesthetic search who can't pack a sofa, try a visit to Penland School of Crafts about an hour away near Burnsville, the creative incubator for many of the mountains' artisans.
Another trip worth a 50-minute drive is to Hot Springs, an oasis on the Appalachian Trail where hikers and armchair hikers alike can soak in secluded private Jacuzzis in the woods. The baths are fed by natural hot mineral springs. Ask your innkeeper for more information.
FUN FACT
Closer and to the south, Transylvania County boasts the greatest concentration of waterfalls in the Southeast, many of them visible from roadside overlooks.
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