Saturday, January 14, 2023
The 35 Best Things to Do in Asheville NC
What are some fun things to do in asheville north carolina
Whether you roll around historic downtown on a hassle-free e-bike, head out on a sunset tour that explores the cultural city of the city or head into the nearby mountains for a high-paced downhill adventure. Biking is a great way to learn more about the city and its surroundings. Overflowing with stunning views of rolling hillsides filled with forest-covered mountain peaks — not to mention picturesque cascading waterfalls — these mountains are an excellent place for hikers or those looking at getting some exercise.
For the future detectives and Amazing Race enthusiasts out there, the hidden secrets of Asheville can be uncovered on a scavenger hunt adventure. Located east of Asheville, this site features more than 60 species from around the world including red wolves, otters, black bears, and red pandas; as well as an on-site garden featuring a host of local plants and an educational center.
As a highly respected institution, the Nature Center is heavily involved in animal conservation, with all the animals cared for in wonderful habitats. Acting as the main hub of entertainment, culture and shopping, this lively district features dozens of galleries, museums and landmarks, Downtown Asheville is a must-see for any traveler looking to experience what life in western North Carolina has to offer.
While plenty of tours cover all bases, walking past the main locales like the Basilica of Saint Lawrence, Grovewood Village, the River Arts Districts and the Urban Trail, others focus on particular themes. A fan-favorite for culture vultures, the Folk Art Center is a wonderful place to explore, with visitors regularly spending hours getting lost in its winding corridors and discovering some of the most beautiful local crafts, bizarre furniture and quirky folk art from near and far.
Located about 15 minutes east of the city, this center run by the Southern Highland Craft Guild features a range of galleries filled with handcrafted pieces depicting animals, families and a whole lot more. After looking around, make sure to grab a souvenir or at least browse from the Allanstand Craft Shop, the oldest craft shop in America. Spread across , acres of lush greenery, flowing white water and more flora and fauna than you could imagine — and covering much of the north and central western mountains of North Carolina — Pisgah is a haven for hiking and exploring, offering dozens and dozens of popular and lesser-known trails suitable for all ages and difficulties.
Perfect for adrenaline junkies, the Asheville Treetops Adventure Park delivers outdoor adventure in spades, offering a range of zip lines and high ropes courses. Just 5 minutes from downtown and set in an eco-friendly forest , this park offers five levels of difficulty as far as the ropes are concerned with one dedicated to kids under It also has a treetop canopy zipline that features 11 different lines, the longest of which is a whopping 1, feet!
Smooth, faster than walking and admittedly a whole lot of fun, Segways are the perfect way to see all of the main things to do in Asheville in a relatively short amount of time. Tours will take you to the main historic spots and tourist magnets like the Thomas Wolfe Memorial and Basilica of Saint Lawrence. Segway tours take around two hours and cover all bases, from downtown highlights like Pack Square Park where a segway tour is often accompanied by street performers , up to the River Arts District and along the French Broad River.
However, every day is slightly different. Fancy a bit of a road trip? Then look no further than the Blue Ridge Parkway , a scenic drive that will take you out of Asheville and into some of the most beautiful scenery in North Carolina. As well as offering unbeatable views and plenty of photo ops , this road trip also gives you access to hundreds of miles of hiking trails perfect for getting lost among the trees and mountains.
A pre-arranged scenic drive tour is the way to go, taking care of all the organization, hassle and actual driving for you! Short on time and want to cram in as many of the main highlights as possible? With options for day tours, ghost tours, of special holiday tours like Christmas , these tours take you around the main places of interest, including downtown and Biltmore Estate, as well as providing a bit of background info and plenty of fun facts and laugh along the way.
Having a permanent collection that includes over 7, total works paintings, drawings, sculptures, crafts and photographs , the museum also welcomes temporary and traveling exhibits that dive into some of the most famous artists, past and present. Take a walk along one of the trails over 5 miles of trails in total , visit the farm and meet the animals, and stop by at the gift store for some of his best work. With the place sprawling across some 77, square feet, seldom do people walk away empty-handed.
While you can rent a board also kayaks and canoes from one of several outfitters in town along the river banks, most travelers prefer to join a guided tour that infuses adventure with a little bit of history and background! Plus, find many more award-winning chefs throughout the mountains. See our top picks for dining in Asheville. Travel back in time with historic cabins, crafters, old logging equipment, guided tours, movies, food and shopping.
Home of the first forestry school opened in in America. In Pisgah National Forest. Open mid-April through October. Visit for many festivals and gem mining. There are thousands of miles of hiking trails near Asheville, many of which are in pristine national forests or parks. We picked our favorites and created extensive guides for each with photos and details.
Find hikes for all skill levels in the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains. Since the late s, tourists have flocked to this tiny railroad town of residents. Main Street has many longtime businesses, including fantastic galleries and restaurants. A must stop is the Pace's "old time" General Store that is part museum. Since is Thompson's Store and Ward's Grill. Learn about the Saluda Grade at the Depot. Raft and tube on the Green River.
Video Tour Save to Trip. Swim, boat, camp and fish in the pristine waters, near Robbinsville. Find the best places to tube down a river on a hot summer day, including the French Broad River through Asheville, Deep Creek in the Smoky Mountains and Green River Gorge - with rentals and shuttle services.
We are lucky enough to have six rivers near Asheville that are good for rafting and kayaking. Find professional companies that provide rafting guides, so no experience is necessary. You can even learn how to kayak in the rapids or paddleboard on a lake. Of hundreds of waterfalls near Asheville, we picked the most spectacular falls that are easy to find.
Some can be enjoyed with a short walk or even roadside. Others require a scenic hike. See full descriptions for each, with plenty of photos! Find much to do! Ride the train on the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad before you explore their downtown shops and galleries, or paddleboard down the river. Nearby Deep Creek in the Smokies features camping, hiking, trout fishing, and the ever-popular tubing.
Raft the Nantahala River. And that's just the beginning! Some working artists have set up shop in the River Arts District.
Drive a little, walk a little to visit studios and galleries. Find an amazing variety of art and see how the artists create it. It's just a few miles from downtown Asheville and Biltmore Estate. Shop 'til you drop with a huge variety of stores, galleries and outlets in the Asheville area. Find plenty of local, unique shops with items you won't find anywhere else. See the best areas to hit. Drive the Parkway north or south from Asheville and quickly climb the Blue Ridge Mountain ridge to see breathtaking vistas.
Our mile-by-mile guide of the Parkway covers the mile section near Asheville. Along the way, plan to stop to visit the Folk Art Center or discover one of the other fun things to do along one of the most scenic drives in the United States.
Spend a day exploring downtown, with hundreds of locally-owned shops and galleries, museums, restaurants, breweries, and pubs. See our favorite things to do! Gem mining has been a favorite activity for visitors to the mountains of North Carolina for many years. Most gem mines in the Asheville and Franklin areas are open from spring through autumn. The trail can be walked in an hour, but you will probably end up spending a whole day enjoying historical corners, little restaurants, breweries, and coffee shops.
If you are looking for a beautiful secluded spot for leisure, Botanical Gardens at Asheville can become your perfect escape from the city fuss. You will find collections of about species of plants native to the Southern Appalachian Mountains with about species of wildflowers, trees, vines, sedges, aquatic plants, mosses, lichens, and more.
A walking trail makes a half-mile loop crossing bridges, streams, and woodland ridge. The garden is beautiful in summer and fall, with different seasonal plants growing. The Pisgah pronounced PIZ-guh National Forest is a gem of Asheville with high peaks, forest-covered slopes, and waterfalls occupying over The nearest access point to Pisgah is ten minutes from downtown Asheville.
The territory is a popular destination for hiking and camping, with miles of diverse trails crossing the Pisgah National Forest. Besides hiking, rock climbing, biking, and picnicking dare to slide down the foot Sliding Rock to a natural swimming pool, watch the Looking Glass Rock on feet, and enjoy the beauty of untouched nature in Cold Mountain.
This is one of my favorite day trips from Asheville , hands down! Asheville is not only a historical and cultural experience about downtown or hiking in the national park. It is an extreme rush down the French Broad River on kayaks to experience Asheville waterways. Before kayaking on the river, guests are instructed and trained with the basics of Watersport to make you feel confident when boating.
The tour of the French Broad River lasts 2. Asheville Food Tours may compete with any cultural tour about downtown because it includes all the gastro centers and the must-try Asheville dishes. Guests are welcomed to the best restaurants and cafes to test local food and enjoy Asheville from a different perspective.
It will be a mile long stroll with six stops with a myriad of dishes and stories about the town. You will taste ethnic appetizers, meat and cheese assortments, handmade chocolates, beer and wine lists, and many more tempting names.
This is one of the best restaurants in Asheville and is a must for all itineraries! Tired of restaurants and cafes? Take a tour with No Taste Like Home , and you will have a bunch of impressions. No Taste Like Home is the first wild food and foraging tour company operating since The tour offers seasonal foraging walks into the wild, where you can explore more than species of wild edibles.
The expert guides will lead you through fields and forests, searching for mushrooms, wild fruit, berries, wood nettle, and more. A minute food walk is held in the Omni Park Grove Inn. The more extended 3-hour tour will take you to the Blue Ridge area. Designed by Rafael Guastavino, a Spanish architect who worked on the Biltmore Estate, in , it is a mark of the 20th-century prosperity that the city and its wealthiest residents enjoyed.
Guastavino worked with fellow Biltmore architect Richard Sharp Smith to create what he felt the city needed: an opulent and grand Catholic church. Religious artifacts live inside, from German stained glass windows to Italian statues and even a marble frescoed high altar. Keen to explore other areas of North Carolina? Why not check out some of the places to visit in Greensboro, NC? The reason Pink Dog Creative is one of the best artistic Asheville attractions is that artists here open their studios for two days every week.
It is an interactive location that is one of the most fun things to do in Asheville, North Carolina. It showcases artifacts and information regarding the life and times of Bob Moog, or Robert Arthur Moog, who had a huge impact on the electronic music scene with his synthesizers. He would also invent concepts for the synth, like envelope generation, voltage control, pitch wheel, and modularity — all key fundamentals now! Moog began working on his synthesizer back in and it quickly skyrocketed to popularity — especially in , when it was used in a Grammy-winning album.
Moog passed away in and, a year later, his family established the Bob Moog Foundation to retain and pass on his legacy.
Exhibits are interactive and involve multiple senses, with visualization showcases, playable exhibits, and educational info about how electricity can make sound. For unique activities and unorthodox stuff to do, check out the Asheville Mystery Museum. It is made from a collection of curiosities set up by Joshua P. Warren, a paranormal investigator whose name you may recognize from his fictional counterpart in The Conjuring series of horror movies. This museum in North Carolina shows off photographs of alleged paranormal activity, exhibited items and memorabilia that tell the tales of said paranormal activity, and plenty of interesting creepy artifacts.
It is said that a woman named Helen once lived either at the mansion or close to it with her daughter, who she loved dearly.
Thomas Wolfe actually included the bridge in his famous novel, Look Homeward, Angel, because he walked under it so often in his youth. It was created thanks to John Andrew Rice, who had been dismissed from his Florida teaching spot in an allegedly unjust manner.
At this time, the Nazi Party antagonism led to intellectuals fleeing Europe as the Great Depression swung harder than ever. Rice and some European artists found themselves with a similar goal, and they holed up in this little wooded area of Asheville. Since then, it has relocated and grown to encompass 6, square feet, with two floors, a library, and a bookstore. Exhibitions showcase all sorts of historical, meaningful works and rotating events are often fun and unique.
The museum is housed in an old hotel that is actually on the National Register of Historic Places. It is home to over 20 classic arcade video games, 30 vintage pinball tables, and it charges only one fee for you to enter and play many of them! Each and every single machine has a plaque that contains product information and stories about its impact on the world of gaming.
The goal is to provide Carolina-style barbecue authentically in Asheville in a modern and more fun manner. It focuses on smoked wood-cooked whole-hog barbecue, including chicken, pork, ribs, and even catfish.
All sorts of side dishes from the south accompany the mouth-watering meat that gives you the lovely taste of Asheville and its surroundings. Biltmore Industries has a storied past, as evidenced by the fact that so many things connected to it are among the best things to do in Asheville. Check out the fine art exhibits at the Asheville Art Museum , find vintage games at the Pinball Museum yes, you can play! Intimate music halls, unassuming neighborhood bars, and even the streets of downtown play host to some of the best in local and national touring musicians.
Immerse yourself in one of Asheville's many music festivals taking place throughout the year. Get up close and personal with your favorite artist at one of Asheville's many iconic music venues.
Tour the Moog Music Factory and visit the new Moogseum! Bob Moog was a pioneer of electronic music and a resident of Asheville. He gave the world its first synthesizer, an innovation that is still hand-crafted in downtown Asheville to this day.
Watch these incredible instruments being made and take one home for yourself. Each season they perform a blend of timeless compositions along with more contemporary arrangements.
Built for the ages, this iconic Inn has adorned Sunset Mountain for over a century, and offers an amazing view of the western mountains. Built with giant boulders collected from the surrounding mountainside, this glorious lodge has welcomed ten U.
Presidents, it boasts the largest collections of arts and crafts furniture, and it's listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. Watch the sunset while dining al fresco, take in a round of golf on the Donald Ross-designed course, or unwind in their subterranean spa experience.
Asheville is a special place for craft-brew enthusiasts. The secret ingredient is the mountain-filtered water, making for some of the most sought-after ales, stouts, and sour beers in the southeast. Explore the beer scene by foot or on wheels. Many breweries are within walking distance from each other around downtown, but the Brews Cruise will deliver you to the more remote breweries. Plus they can get you a behind-the-scenes peek at the operations.
You can also pedal for beer on a people-fueled pub-cycle. Before you head home stock up on local flavors at our specialty beers shops. Stop by the Asheville Visitor Center when you get to town, and the knowledgeable staff can provide further recommendations.
By Del Holston.
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