North Carolina (Asheville)
Trip Summary
Mountain views, great restaurants and breweries, cool bookstores, quaint coffeeshops–what more could you want? This city nestled in the mountains of North Carolina is really the perfect mix of everything, and this makes it one of my favorite places to visit–and luckily, I have visited several times!
So I will write about the various things I saw and did there and update it each time I go (because it really is a place that deserves multiple visits!).
However, because the city is such a nice place to see, it is expensive to stay there–and one of the reasons I don’t have a lot of hotels reviewed here. I’ve tried out every kind of lodging there–from campgrounds to cabins–and I will say that out of all of those, a hotel near downtown is going to be your best bet, expensive as that is. Luckily, this last time I was in Asheville, I found a fluke-like low hotel rate downtown, and my husband and I decided to drop everything to stay the weekend!
The hotel was Four Points by Sheraton Asheville Downton, and the location was perfect as it was within walking distance of everything downtown from the shopping to the restaurants to the breweries (and Asheville is famous for those, so you want to fully experience these!). Usually, you have to pay double to quadruple the amount at a downtown hotel, so we felt that we really lucked out in getting such a low fare, so keep your eye out for good prices! The location allowed us to do so much more than if we were driving (or staying at Black Mountain where it is significantly cheaper to stay).
The hotel is not fancy, but they they did also allow dogs, so my husband and I brought our two pups. Asheville is perhaps the most dog-friendly place we have ever been to and we had planned to do everything outside during this trip, so it made sense to take them–they love car rides and we would save on boarding costs anyway!
So for its very reasonable room rate, its prime location, clean rooms, and dog-friendly policy, this hotel gets my recommendation!
Four Points by Sheraton Asheville Downtown: A
Now, let’s get to the good stuff! The attractions! The food! The drinks! The reasons why people visit Asheville!
Arguably, THE most popular place to see in the area is the Biltmore Estate. This was a place that I didn’t get to see until a girls’ trip with my sister. My husband isn’t a big fan of touring buildings and such, but my sister wanted to see it, so on our girls’ trip, it was the first thing on our itinerary! I mean, how often do you get to explore a castle–and a gorgeous one at that?
Now, I do have to warn you that ticket prices are a bit of a shock. My sister and I knew they were pricy, but it is still quite a wallop to the pocketbook. However, if you book tickets in advance, you can get a bit of a discount. Kids are free, too, and if you are a military service-member (or family member), you can get a greater discount. The price includes admission to the estate, the gardens, and winery as well as parking.
So after getting tickets, my sister and I were determined that we were going to see the whole place to get our money’s worth! So after we parked, we found the trolley that would take us to the estate.
The grounds are impressive and at 8,000 acres, the place feels like it goes on forever. It is very well kept, clean, and beautiful, and there are so many good picture-taking sites, so be sure to have your camera ready!
The main picture spot is a place near the front of the Biltmore Estate that you can climb stairs to get to and take a picture with all the grandeur of the estate in the background. The estate itself also has some nice picture spots on the balconies and in the gardens.
When you go inside the estate, you are on a self-guided tour. These tours are divided up by time slots (when you buy your ticket, you will be given a time slot for the estate tour). My sister and I went first thing in the morning, so we lucked out on getting an early tour (this is good not only to avoid crowds but also to avoid the heat as the estate is not air conditioned–lots of fans were going in each room!).
The inside is very interesting to see, and it is astonishing to see so much luxury in one place. Everything from the elaborate living spaces to the library to the swimming pool to the “Halloween Room” are fascinating and lend a glimpse into the life of this family and how they lived.
Beyond the estate are the gardens, and they are equally as impressive and are spread out over various trails along the property. Most of these gardens are outdoors, but some of them are indoors, and in the greenhouse is even a miniature version of the Biltmore Estate along with a working train that zooms around a track.
The winery is also cool to visit (and you get a free wine tasting with the cost of the ticket price). There are multiple bar areas inside where you can go through their listing of reds and whites and sample as many as you like, and there is a gift shop nearby where you can purchase the wines you enjoyed. The winery is near the Antler Hill Village which is not really much of a village–just a small museum, a restaurant, and some shops. It is also a stop on the trolley line, but you have to be a guest at the inn to ride it (some of the drivers are strict about this and some are not–more on this later).
At the estate itself is where the best restaurants are, and my sister and I decided to eat lunch at the Stable Cafe. The restaurant looked cool because each booth was in a “stall” and the whole restaurant looked like the inside of a fancy horse stable. Even though it was crowded, we didn’t have to wait long for a table and got an excellent waitress. At big attractions, I don’t expect the food to be fantastic, but this place blew me away. The food was fresh, hot, and absolutely delicious.
I had gotten a burger, and my sister got the BBQ plate, and both were amazing (the pulled pork was the best either of us had ever had). Throughout the whole meal, we kept putting bites on each other’s plate and saying, “Oooh, try this, try this!” Amazingly good meal, so if you get hungry, try the Stable Cafe!
So for the beautiful grounds, great restaurants, and lovely estate, the Biltmore Estate gets high marks. I do wish ticket prices were cheaper and the trolley wasn’t divided up into hotel guests/non-hotel guests (see the What I Wish I Knew section), because for the price, we should get unlimited access to the trolley. However, all in all, the place is beautiful and worth a visit if you go.
Biltmore Estate and Gardens: A
Along with the Biltmore Estate, you have to visit downtown Asheville for a bit when you go. Downtown is very walkable, and they have a lot of parking garages where you can park and be within easy distance to all the breweries and restaurants. The variety of eateries is remarkable, and you can easily find anything from fancy food to street food and choose among all kinds of different cuisines.
A favorite place for me (and I am sure to make a visit every time I am in Asheville) is the White Duck Taco Shop. It is one of the oldest eateries in Asheville, but on the weekends and at night, you will see a line down the block just to get in…and that is a sign of a good place!
They change up their menu every now and then, but some fantastic staples are the buffalo chicken taco, lamb gyro taco, and the steak and cheese taco among others. The tacos are small enough that you can choose several different kinds and enjoy a good variety. They also have a dog-friendly outside area in the back where a bunch of tables are, and that is a nice place to sit and sample good food!
The service is always great, the food excellent, and the establishment a trusty favorite, so this place gets a great score!
White Duck Taco Shop: A
If pizza is more to your liking, be sure to stop at Pie.Zaa. They serve whole pizzas or if you prefer a (huge!) slice, you can get those as well. And they are glorious! We stopped there while we were on our way to Catawba Brewery and brought two slices to the brewery to enjoy while we tried their beers, and it was so perfect. Melted cheese, greasy pepperoni, perfect chewy crust–it was so good that all we talked about the next day was when we could go back!
So definitely stop by! It had both mine and my husband’s vote!
Pie.Zaa: A+
Of course, you can’t forget about breakfast! A place that has been recommended to me time and time again when I visited Asheville was Early Girl Eatery. So this most recent trip, my husband and I decided that we would walk down and actually try this famous cuisine!
It is a cute little cafe in a busy part of town, and they book up very fast. While there was an hour wait to eat inside (right when they opened!), the outside did not have a waiting list, so we decided to sit at one of those tables. Having looked at their scrumptious food on Instagram, I was eager to try it, so I ordered the Bow to the King which came with fried chicken and their famous cinnamon biscuits. And it looked glorious, but then when I went to eat it, it was cold which was a bit jarring as the looks and the taste did not match at all. The chicken was tough and overcooked, the biscuits were underdone, and the butter was tasteless. My husband’s meal was cold as well, and I am guessing it was because the restaurant was so busy, but the cold food, the constant forgetting of the drinks, utensils, and condiments was a little frustrating, and we ended up not eating all of the meal. It was also our most expensive meal of the trip which was surprising, because breakfast food typically isn’t so pricy.
I was genuinely sad about the experience! Everything looked so good in the pictures and so many people raved about it, so we went with high expectations, but it just ended up being a downer. I am sure the food is great when it is hot and fresh and the experience more pleasant with better staff, but I am hoping that I just came on a bad day. I really wanted to love it!
Early Girl Eatery: B-
However, there are a lot of other great restaurants to eat in Asheville. Salsa’s is a great place for margaritas and Mexican food (try their salsa sampler–it is fantastic!). Farm Burger and Tupelo Honey are also excellent.
French Broad Chocolate Lounge is a great place to enjoy an ice cream and/or sweets. Friends also recommend Rhubarb, Posana, and Curate a lot, so if you like fancier cuisine, those places are worth a try.
But I said that Asheville is famous for their breweries, right? It’s amazing that I have gone there so many times now and have gone to different breweries every time (there are that many!), but on this latest trip with my husband, I decided that we would double-down and visit ALL the remaining ones so that I could tell you which were the best to see!
So let me start with the most famous one…Wicked Weed Brewery. You will know that you’ve reached it by the massive line just to get in at all hours of the day (and night!). They have a main location and a secondary Funkatorium location that serves a lot of sour beers. We have gone to both, and I can see why the places (especially the main location) are so popular.
The seating is spacious, the beers are plentiful, the food is good, and they even offer heat lamps outside when it is cold. Compared to the other breweries, it seemed a little overhyped, so if you are not wanting to stand in a line for a long time, you might want to try one of the lesser-known places.
Wicked Weed Brewery: A-
A little farther into town is Burial Beer Brewery, and they had a nice seating area where you could sit outside or even on a deck overlooking everyone else if you wanted to sit and people-watch.
This place also had an extensive kitchen and offered up some delicious burgers if you were hungry. My husband and I decided to split one, and it was so good and juicy that I had wished we each got our own, ha! So big props for their food, and they have a nice notification system set up where they text you when your food is ready.
The beers left a little to be desired, though. They serve a lot of stouts which my husband and I both like, but the ones we got were way thicker than what we were used to, so we ended up just having one before we went to the next place. It could have just been the beers we ordered, but when you hear about beer you can chew, this was it. It was little much for us, though, so just know that the beers are super rich when you order.
Burial Beer Brewery: A
Another fun place was the Hi-Wire Brewery. They have much more limited seating (and a longer wait outside), but their beers were good, and they allowed dogs inside.
The outside is also painted a fun mix of colors, so be sure to take a pic before you go inside–they make for fun Instagram pics!
For its beers, good staff, and dog-friendly policy along with a very fun brewery-front, it gets good marks. The only drawback was the limited seating which made for a very long wait to get inside.
Hi-Wire Brewery: A-
But the best place in all of Asheville is a brewery called Catawba Brewery! We actually went there twice on this last trip because the beers were so good. They have a huge assortment of light and dark beers, indoor and outdoor seating, and the staff is absolutely fantastic. We enjoyed our first visit so much that when we met a couple at Hire-Wire Brewery, we were all talking about where to go next, and we said that we knew just the spot…Catawba! And we ended up staying there for the rest of the night until closing!
They have some really unique coffee beers that taste lovely and a rotating set of seasonal beers that are excellent. Most of the beers were free our second night…and I’ll tell you why! When we visited, they were operating under state restrictions on capacity due to COVID-19, and a customer wanting to be seated started becoming irate and began yelling and harassing the host about the restrictions. My husband stood up for her saying that she had no power over state restrictions and that she was just doing her job. That’s when things just exploded. The guy completely lost his mind and at one time, I thought the police were going to have to get involved, then the guy finally left…still screaming about how we were all a bunch of socialists, and then there was finally some quiet as everyone kind of looked at each other, stunned.
When the dust settled, we were ushered to a table, given a gift card, then weren’t allowed to use it as the bar kept comping us drinks as soon as they recognized my husband, ha! We seriously didn’t expect anything, but it was a nice and generous gesture and goes to show you that breweries and restaurants probably have to deal with idiots like that a lot, and I am sure that it has to be so frustrating. So if you go, give them your business, because not only are they being safe and following guidelines like they should, they have the best beers in Asheville, and it is honestly the best spot to sit, enjoy some music, and talk with new friends!
Catawba Brewery: A+
Granted, this post would grow to be a hundred pages long if I gave a detailed summary of every brewery in town, so I’ll just rate the best ones and give you a quick overview of the rest. Green Man Brewery was okay–they have very limited seating outside, and the beers and ciders were bland or had strange aftertastes, so we didn’t stay long. Bhramari Brewery was actually good, and they served some good flights. They also served food, so it was good spot to chill and relax. One place I will tell you to avoid, though, is Urban Orchard Cidery...wow. I was excited to try this place as I love ciders, but when our overpriced flight was ready, we sat at a table and tried them and got more and more disgusted as we took a sip of each one. Pungent with chemically aftertastes, they were just awful. My husband decided to get a hot cider, thinking that would surely be better, but that was the worst of them all! I don’t know what kinds of spices are being put into these, but they just do not work, and the hot cider was the biggest proof of that. We both sipped it, then my husband just stood up and said, alright, we are outta here…so we left. Such a disappointment, so if you are a cider fan, maybe get a cider at one of the breweries–all those were better!
Whew, I know breweries aren’t for everyone, so if that is not your thing, there are plenty of other sights in Asheville! The bookstores are a ton of fun to visit. Malaprop’s Bookstore and Cafe and Battery Park Book Exchange are perhaps the most famous ones, but if you have time to browse, they are good to see.
As you are walking around downtown, be sure to visit the more famous Instagram spots!
Double D’s Coffee and Desserts is a big red double-decker bus that is a fun spot to hang out and people watch.
The Grove Arcade is an indoor mall with gorgeous architecture and fun shops where you can wander and buy trinkets for your friends at home. Central United Methodist Church also has a lovely exterior that makes for excellent photos.
And of course, there is hiking! You can’t visit Asheville and not hike, so for sure check out some of the trails nearby–there are waterfalls everywhere, and if you are willing to drive a little further, the whole area has some amazing hiking available. A little more than an hour outside of Asheville is a place called Max Patch, and if you only hike one trail while you are in the area, let it be this one!
My students actually told me about it, and when I looked it up, it looked like a gorgeous open spot overlooking the mountains, and I knew we just had to visit! It is also close to the halfway point between Knoxville (where we live) and Asheville, so it made sense to make the stop and see what this place was all about!
The road up the mountain is pretty rugged, so I would recommend a sturdy vehicle (we took my husband’s truck, and it was useful in getting around the potholes and downed trees). Depending on how obstructed the road is, it might make for longer traveling time, but oh, it’s worth it when you reach the top! The trail itself isn’t too long or strenuous, but when you reach the top, you are just surrounded by beauty!
We just sat down up there and took in the views for the longest time. It was so peaceful, and the views looked even better than the pictures! I know the camping used to be permitted, but I think they have since stopped allowing campers, but you can still hike (and camp nearby). Stargazing is supposed to be very good on the mountain, too, so consider coming by for a visit at the very least! It is so gorgeous!
I am always finding more spots to see in Asheville and will undoubtedly be back, so if you have suggestions, drop me a line, and I will add them to my list!
Favorite Experiences
As grumpy as I was about the costly ticket price of the Biltmore Estate, I think it stands out as one of the best parts of an already amazing city. The castle is just breathtaking in its splendor and is unlike anything else in the world. Having been to a lot of castles in Europe, this was impressive but had a different feel to it in its modernity and extravagance. The grounds are also beautiful, and my sister and I spent the vast majority of the day there (at first, I was skeptical that the place would take up much of the day, but there really is a lot to see and appreciate).
The other favorites that stand out are the restaurants and breweries. I review the stand-out ones here, but everywhere you go is going to be a great experience, because it is a foodie paradise! Every cuisine you can think of is here, and every place I tried had excellent food!
What I Wish I Knew
Having researched hotel prices before going to Asheville every time, I knew lodging prices were ridiculous, but I wish I had set up alerts so I could snag deals like I did at the Four Points hotel! All of the other places we stayed from campgrounds (unsafe) to cabins (wayyyy too expensive and a lot of false advertisements as our “secluded cabin” was in the middle of a busy neighborhood) were not good, so I recommend the rare, cheap hotel route.
Secondly, I wish I planned better when getting the Biltmore Estate tickets, because then I could have saved a bit of money. When my sister and I were thinking of visiting, we were still debating on what to see and didn’t decide until the day of to see it, so we didn’t buy advance tickets and thus had to pay full price.
Also, Biltmore Estate has a trolley that takes you from the parking lot to the estate itself and has a second trolley that takes you to the inn and the winery. However, to use the second trolley, you have to be a guest of the inn to ride (which I find strange because access to the winery and village is included in the ticket price–it would just make more sense to let everyone use the trolleys to see the places they paid to see). My sister and I were waved on the trolley when we went to the winery but then when we took the trolley back to the estate, the driver gave us a hard time about not having our key cards to the inn. The tickets don’t say anything about the trolley rules, so just know that when you go.
If I had more time to spend in Asheville, I think I would explore a bit more. Omni Grove Inn looks like a gorgeous place to see (be sure to google images of the spa–the photos are mesmerizing!). The Arts District also looks like a neat place to walk around with all the murals and art to see. Unfortunately, I am never in Asheville for more than a day at a time, so I haven’t had time to see these places yet, but if you go and have time, check them out!
Lastly, and this is more of a new development, but be aware of your surroundings when you explore the city, especially toward the evening. The first few times I went, I was with my husband or a group of people and everything was completely fine. However, on my trip with my sister, I didn’t feel as safe because several times, we had some creepy men following us around even when we tried to lose them in a store or a restaurant. At one point, one man was following us through several streets even after we made a few abrupt turns, so I finally just took my mace out and started walking with it in my hand, ready to use it before we finally lost him. So if you are alone, be aware, stay in populated areas, and don’t let that ruin your trip. Unfortunately, that is good advice regardless of where you go as a traveler, but even so, I saw the need for heeding that advice recently.
All thoughts aside, Asheville is still one of my favorite places, and one that I plan to revisit again and again, because every time is a great experience! I am always up for new suggestions of more places to see/eateries to visit/attractions to explore, so if there is a spot in Asheville I need to check out next time, let me know!
I also post reels and TikToks regularly of all the places I’ve reviewed on here, so if you want to see some videos of what to expect, check out my social media here:
TikTok: @touristyteacher
Instagram: @touristyteacher
Facebook: @touristyteacher
Happy travels!
