About Asheville
Folks who are considering coming to Asheville always ask if there's anything to do here besides the Biltmore Estate. Is there ever! Asheville is an informal town, with an unusually diverse population. With its outdoor venues and delight in the performing arts, it has almost a European feel (it's one of the many towns called Paris of the South
).
The Asheville area is home to an astonishing variety of activities and attractions. We're just going to touch on a few here, and offer a few links. You can find out more at the Asheville Convention and Visitors Bureau website and the Asheville.com website. The most overwhelming and comprehensive website is AshevilleUSA. For a written guide, try Lee Pantas' Ultimate Guide to Asheville and Hendersonville, the best-selling guidebook to Asheville, Hendersonville, and the Western North Carolina Mountains.
The Biltmore Estate is the most famous attraction here. We offer a bit more information on its own page on this site.
Right behind the estate is the Blue Ridge Parkway, America's longest national park, following the the Blue Ridge Mountains from Virginia to the Great Smoky Mountains. Near Asheville are some of the best Parkway sites: Grandfather Mountain, Mount Mitchell, Linville Falls, Craggy Gardens, Graveyard Fields, and Mt. Pisgah. All of these areas offer wonderful trails for hiking. The Folk Art Center, located just east of the heart of Asheville on the Blue Ridge Parkway at Milepost 382, is a center for one-of-a-kind, handmade crafts that are a part of the very fiber of the mountains. It's also a main office for the Parkway.
Tops on anyone's list is the fall color season. Essentially, that is the month of October, although it spreads out, with a little at the end of September in some years, and into the first few weeks in November, when we're lucky. When it gets closer, usually you can get color updates through the Forest Service. If you want to stay in the Asheville area in the fall, book early and expect to find three-day minimums in October.
Outdoor activities of all kinds have gotten Asheville a top ten designation from Outdoor magazine. Among them: Fishing, Gem Mining, Golf, Hiking, Horseback Riding, Hot Air Ballooning, Llama Trekking, Mountain Biking, Paddle Sports, Rock Climbing, Skiing, Tennis.
Asheville's Urban Trail is a walking tour through what amounts to an outdoor museum. Much of Asheville's historic architecture has survived and been restored, making it a vibrant, living city that is a feast for the eyes. We keep maps of the trail for our guests.
The Thomas Wolfe home in downtown Asheville has finished a long renovation after a devastating fire, and reopens Memorial Day weekend. For more writer history, visit the Carl Sandburg Home in Flat Rock. And you can visit the current residences of several great writers, including O Henry, at the Riverside Cemetery in the Montford Historic District.
Just off the Parkway is Sliding Rock, a treat for mountain-goers for a hundred years. The ice-cold mountain stream spreads over a rock that has been worn glassy-smooth by the posteriors of hundreds of thousands of eager kids (and adults). Bring your old jeans and a buck to get in. Also on the road with Sliding Rock is the Cradle of Forestry, home of George W. Vanderbilt's highly successful school of forestry management, the first of its kind in this country when it was established in the late 1800s.
Gardeners should enjoy the enormous variety of plants in the area. There always seems to be something in bloom here. The North Carolina Arboretum is located at the edge of the Pisgah National Forest, a short distance from Interstates 26 and 40. Also the Western North Carolina Nature Center with its gardens and greenhouses, next to the campus of the University of North Carolina at Asheville.
For theater buffs: Flat Rock Playhouse is one of the finest local playhouses in the United States. There's also SART (Southern Appalachian Repertory Theater), and the Asheville Community Theater.
Chimney Rock Park is a privately-owned scenic attraction near Asheville. You can climb to the top, or take the elevator. Some of the spectacular scenes from "Last of the Mohicans," and has incredible views, a 404-foot waterfall, hiking trails and more.
Waterfalls — there are more than 250 waterfalls near us. You can get a personal guided waterfall tour if you wish.
Shopping: Asheville offers lots of interesting shops. There is a great collection of antique shops and malls around the intersection of Walnut and Broadway, as well as along the Swannanoa River Road near Biltmore Village. There are also 32 galleries-how do we support them all? Most stores are concentrated in easy-walking areas: Biltmore Village--Constructed in the 1890s to house workers at the Biltmore Estate, the historic cottages of Biltmore Village have been converted to a variety of unique shops, restaurants, and boutiques. Downtown Asheville has nearly 150 retail stores where you will find everything from handmade pottery, jewelry and antiques to specialty outdoor sporting gear, handmade quilts and evening formal wear - all within easy walking distance of each other.
Great Smoky Mountains Railroad: Year-round scenic train journeys across fertile valleys, through tunnels and across river gorges in the Great Smoky Mountains. Tuckasegee River Excursion (3½ hour round trip), Nantahala Gorge Excursion (4½ hour round trip) and the Gourmet Dinner Train (2½ hours).
Bele Chere Festival, happening July 25-27 this year, features all kinds of music all over downtown. There are also the obligatory food and crafts booths. Bele Chere has gotten huge, and you'll see a fascinating cross-section of locals and visitors (the festival draws more than 300,000 people). For some reason it always rains at some point during Bele Chere, so make sure you bring an umbrella.
We're very excited about the Asheville Film Festival, which will be November 4-7 this year. The weather should be good, and the event was a great success in its first year.
The Asheville Tourists minor league baseball team should ring a bell for those of you who watched "Bull Durham" all the way through-the hero ended up managing the Tourists at the end of the movie. The team's games are well attended at McCormick Field. Some of Major League Baseball's most legendary players, such as Ty Cobb, Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth, all played at the field in the early years. Baseball Hall of Fame member Willie Stargell was a member of the phenomenal 1961 Tourists team that produced an astounding thirteen major leaguers from a single roster.
