10 While your there check out our Specials and Deals, as well as our link for Asheville Coupons. For more information go to www.exploreasheville.com. Make your planning a snap by combining Asheville’s most popular attraction, Biltmore, and your lodging with one of many Biltmore Packages.
Biltmore Packages
Let your vacation do double duty: Get some much-needed exercise and boost your health with an outdoor adventure package.
Outdoor Packages
Discover the exhilaration of mountain golf and get a deal while you’re at it. Local accommodations and courses have teamed up to offer special packages.
Golf Packages
Whether you simply want to get some face time with the kids, or plan a fun multi-generational getaway, these family fun packages will allow you to reconnect with family members.
Family Fun Packages
Get a unique view of Asheville with a Cultural Package. From live music to performances to talented artists, makes asheville a must-see destination.
Cultural Packages
Vacation Pakages
Make planning an Asheville mountain getaway easier, less expensive and, for kicks, more exclusive with these great packages, deals and coupons. Perhaps you want a vacation that actually doesn’t make your waist widen, or you want a fun weekend away to reconnect with your girlfriends, or maybe even just a way to come to town without breaking the bank. These deals will have you on your way to an Asheville adventure... any way you like it! Seasonal Packages
Come experience the spring bloom, summer fun, fall leaf season, or the holidays Asheville- style. You will find great seasonal pakages for a fun and economic getaway.
Romance Packages
Find a package just for couples and honeymooners for a romantic mountain getaway to Asheville.
Spa Packages
Start eliminating stress now by booking your lodging and your treatments in one simple step with Spa Packages.
Culinary Packages
Whether traveling as a couple or as a family; exploring a new culinary skill or just kicking back, you’ll be inspired by the extraordinary charm of Asheville and its culinary.
All content copyrighted. Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority. (828) 258-6101
Any Way You See It
Asheville North Carolina
Asheville’s seasons are a palette of colors and experiences, ranging from the enchanting holidays and spring mountains bursting with color to the outdoor adventures of summertime and the breathtaking colors of fall.In Asheville, you’ll find plenty to do no matter what time of year it is. Downtown Asheville is a rare place. Artists and street musicians converge with tourists and locals for a vibrancy rarely found in a city of this size. There is always something happening downtown. People sip cups of Joe at one of several locally-owned coffee shops, listen to live music at a local club. They go on art walks, winding their way through downtown’s 30-plus galleries. Shoppers inspect unique boutique finds, or people simply enjoy fine cuisine and people-watching. Asheville skipped the urban renewal process that stripped the character from many downtowns. Today, its rich architectural legacy with its mix of Art Deco, Beaux Arts and Neoclassical styles is the perfect backdrop to the city’s edgy energy. Outdoor recreation and outdoor adventures are seemingly endless in the Western North Carolina mountains, the outdoor playground of the Southeast. Acclaimed by numerous magazines as a top outdoor adventure destination, visitors enjoy whitewater rafting, mountain biking, hiking and experiencing the highest peaks in the entire Eastern U.S. What adventure seekers will find in the Asheville area: natural waterslides, rollercoaster-like mountain bike trails, and stunning vistas that will take your breath away faster than a Ferris wheel. Whether you’re into extreme sports or soft adventure, the mountains surrounding Asheville offer endless adventures. Outside magazine consistently ranks Asheville among its top destinations for outdoor recreation and adventures. Asheville’s thriving music scene means that literally hundreds of bands and musicians make their way through the city during the year. The best way to tap into Asheville’s live music is to experience it first-hand at one of our local venues.
What to do
The Asheville arts scene is buzzing, featuring hundreds of fine artists, performing arts venues, mountain crafters, folk artists, hip arts neighborhoods, numerous art galleries and myriads of art events. The city earned an international reputation as a premier health resort in the 1890s. By the 1920s, Asheville was a destination for the rich and famous, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford.Today’s visitors find a city steeped in history. Step back in time and experience Gilded Age elegance at America’s largest home, George Vanderbilt’s 250-room Biltmore House. Relive the Victorian era at the circa 1840 Smith-McDowell House-Museum, Asheville’s oldest home. Explore the Thomas Wolfe Memorial, the acclaimed author’s boyhood home and the inspiration for his novel “Look Homeward, Angel.” Much of the architecture in downtown was constructed by the same craftspeople who built Biltmore House. Asheville boasts more Art Deco architecture than any southeastern city other than Miami Beach. With dozens of arts and crafts galleries, retail shops and antique shops, as well as fresh finds and local food products at dozens of farmer tailgate markets in the region, Asheville is a shopper’s paradise. Every street downtown leads to a treasure-trove of uncommon businesses that could only flourish in Asheville. There is a diverse mix of shopping malls and shopping districts, along with specialty stores like clothing and jewelry stores, toy and children’s shops, and outfitters. Lose yourself in the block-long Grove Arcade, a shopping and dining destination in one location. Built as a planned community in the late 1890s, Historic Biltmore Village features peddle-dash homes once belonging to George Vanderbilt and now featuring elegant restaurants, and interesting boutiques and galleries. The Asheville area’s beautiful mountain scenery and mild climate make it in ideal golf vacation destination. Also, the Asheville area’s reputation as a destination for spa treatments and wellness dates back centuries. One of the East Coast’s only natural hot spring water sources, in Hot Springs, has been attracting visitors since its discovery in the 1700s.
Where to stay Brookstone Lodge 828-398-5888
Find the right Asheville area accommodation for you, whether you like an upscale elegance of a resort, the convenience of a hotel or motel, the charm of a bed and breakfast, the seclusion of a cabin or the great outdoors at a campround. Asheville’s hotels and motels offer a wide variety of inviting accommodations, ranging from upscale four-star hotels that have received major media accolades to quaint, comfortable and inexpensive family motels. Asheville has all the elements that combine to make it the perfect resort vacation destination: majestic mountains, stunning views, an urban center that is surrounded by lush wooded hillsides. During the early 1920s, dignitaries and celebrities from throughout the world ventured to Asheville seeking sweet mountain air. It was a time when famous author F. Scott Fitzgerald enjoyed the luxury of the Grove Park Inn, along with presidents and other statesmen. Thomas Wolfe also came home to visit, and was received there. And the region’s reputation as a health resort was well established.
1899 Wright Inn & Cottage 828-251-0789
1889 WhiteGate Inn & Cottage 828-253-2553
So, put down the Blackberry, hide your cell phone and treat yourself to an idyllic experience that evokes the rejuvenating spirit of the mountains. Who wants to rush around on vacation? Rest, relax and rejuvenate at Asheville’s fourstar resorts. Asheville area bed and breakfast inns provide a warm and welcoming stay for visitors, situated in beautiful historic mansions, and providing a unique and romantic vacation experience. Do you want to stay at a B&B that was constructed by the same artisans who built Biltmore? Do you want to wake up to the sounds of waterfalls or stroll barefoot into a hot-house garden? Asheville and Western North Carolina cabin rentals offer a wonderful opportunity to escape the hectic pace of your life, while still remaining close to numerous attractions, hundreds of art galleries, fine dining and Asheville’s vibrant downtown. There are cabin rentals for any budget, and featuring a diverse mix of cabin rental amenities.
Grove Park Inn Resort and Spa 852-252-2711
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14 A bastion of cutting-edge Biltmore Estate art and technology in the Blue Ridge, the city also prides itself on its fascinating Appalachian past and celebrates this culture with annual events such as Shindig on the Green. While many cities underwent major overhauls in past decades, Asheville’s historic and architecturally diverse downtown remains beautifully preserved.
Asheville Weddings Whether your dreams of an Asheville wedding include a picturesque mountainside ceremony or a traditional rehearsal dinner in a lush garden, Asheville has all the choices to make your dream a reality. Let one of the area’s many venues inspire you and help create your perfect mountain wedding. From mountain vistas to a lake-side gazebo, the location sets the ambiance for your wedding event. Choose from hip and happening downtown, a relaxing country-side retreat, the elegance of a country club and much more.
www.exploreasheville.com
Website
828-258-6101
For those whose ceremony needs include an intimate venue for their rehearsal dinner, bridal lunch or even the wedding ceremony itself, consider a mountainside inn or a historic bed & breakfast that specializes in weddings.
Asheville had no money to invest in urban renewal projects that were so popular in other cities following Black Monday. The magnificent buildings built during the boom years were spared the bulldozer as a result of Asheville commitment to repay its debt.This is why Asheville is a snap shot of what an American boomtown looked like during the turn of the century. It isn’t unusual to find quaint mom and pop shops in elegant surroundings.
If you’re looking for the ease of hosting all of your events in one location, consider one of the following listed hotels & resorts specializing in weddings. All offer elegant settings and plenty of accommodations for your guests.
2 Asheville has always drawn visionaries, poets and explorers.George W. Vanderbilt came to Asheville in the late 1880s and quickly purchased 120,000 acres to build his grand estate. The endeavor took six years and Vanderbilt commissioned renowned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted to design the grounds and gardens, and celebrated architect Richard Morris Hunt to help him plan the house. Biltmore Estate has withstood the test of time and modern mansions are dwarfed by the regal home.Thomas Wolfe was born in Asheville and grew up in his mother’s rambling boardinghouse, known as “Dixieland.” Wolfe is one of the giants of American literature, and Asheville is the backdrop for his autobiographical novel, “Look Homeward, Angel.”
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Asheville is that type of unique, special place that lingers sweetly in your mind and memories for years to come. The city’s rich architectural legacy with its mix of Art Deco, Beaux Arts and Neoclassical styles is the perfect retro-urban backdrop to the edgy energy that emanates from the locally owned-shops and art galleries, distinctive restaurants and exciting entertainment venues. Known as an art colony, a healing resort and a home to notable luminaries, statesmen and bohemians, Asheville is one of the most welcoming, vibrant cities in America.
History
For more Information go to www.exploreasheville.com
Asheville Convention & Visitors Bureau PO Box 1010 Asheville, North Carolina 28802
Address
Heather Backer 828-258-6139
Leisure Travel Manager Dianna Jackson Pierce 828-258-6108
Director of Tourism
For more Information
Asheville was a primitive outpost in 1797. Frontiersmen such as Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett traveled through in the early days. Asheville was little more than a crossroads of Indian trails on a plateau surrounded by mountains and rivers on all sides.The railroad transformed Asheville and Buncombe County into a resort and therapeutic health center when it arrived in 1880. Asheville became a Mecca for visitors searching for a mountain escape, its population climbing to nearly 30,000 seasonal residents in 1890.
Where to eat
The Dining Room 828-225-1333 Intricate carpets play off an ivory-painted room with coffered ceilings, a drystacked stone fireplace, and luminous chandeliers in this elegant establishment. You’ll dine Vanderbilt-style, graced by able servers, stunning views, estate wines, and all the appropriate accoutrements. The Biltmore restaurant plies diners with a bevy of fantastic dishes and ingredients. For example, start with a caviar service, and then shift to pastrami-crusted bison carpaccio. With such richness, you’ll be hard-pressed to choose an entree, but let yourself be swayed by roasted breast of pheasant with thyme jus, wild Tasmanian steelhead salmon with tarragon aioli, or a Black Angus filet mignon. Horizons 828-252-2711 This wood-paneled hotel restaurant, with its leather-clad chairs and patterned carpets, ranks as one of only seven North Carolina restaurants to receive four diamonds from AAA. With this recognition and other praise, Horizons stands as one of Asheville’s premier fine dining spots. Its American fare includes sauteed Muscovy duck breast, veal tenderloin with foie gras and artichoke hearts, wild striped bass with grilled asparagus and roasted lemon butter, and a Kobe beef filet mignon. Reservations and upscale casual attire are recommended for this elegant, spendy dining room.
Asheville restaurants run the gamut from Mediterranean to vegetarian, fourstar cuisine to down-home cooking. The city’s vibrant restaurant scene goes well beyond its Southern cooking and roots. Expect the extraordinary in Asheville, whether it’s organic, hormone-free beef, mountain trout caviar or sweet potato salad. Asheville’s chefs use flair and creativity to produce delicious dishes. There are several local farm to table restaurants, and Asheville is a great spot to relax at one of the many sidewalk cafes. Many restaurants also feature live music from jazz to bluegrass. Blue Ridge Dining Room 828-252-2711 If you’re looking for an impressive place to dine, the Grove Park Inn is one of the area’s finest establishments. Sophisticated diners appreciate the elegant affair, which is set against the backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains. A wall of windows lets you take in the scenery as you enjoy rack of lamb, a hearty Appalachian Paella, and Drunken Salmon with white cheddar grits. The restaurant is also known for its Friday night seafood buffet, Saturday evening prime rib buffet, and an exceptional Sunday brunch. The Lobster Trap 828-350-0505 It may run against intuition to order seafood in the mountains, unless of course it’s trout. Experts say, after all, that it’s best to fit the cuisine to the geography. However, thanks to quick shipping, folks in the Appalachians can enjoy the bounty of the sea with great regularity. And what a bounty it is at The Lobster Trap. Patrons can munch on raw oysters, broiled scallops, or steamed clams – and that’s just to start! Main course options include lobster Thermidor, cioppino, Greek lobster pasta, a pound of Alaskan king crab legs, or grilled Canadian salmon. Add in a side of roasted pumpkin or lobster mac ‘n cheese, and you’ll be more than pleased. A good supply of wines is available by the bottle or glass, and live local music every night (no cover!) is an added perk.
Market Place 828-252-4162 This long-lived establishment has been an Asheville fixture for decades, and it still takes to heart its mission of serving superb cuisine using local ingredients and supplementing with the best foodstuffs from around the globe. Seasonal menus feature dishes like roasted pork tenderloin and braised bacon with collard greens and black-eyed pea risotto, roasted young chicken with brussels sprouts and walnuts, and wild striped bass with clams, bacon, and Meyer lemon. Wine pairings are suggested, and the restaurant also presents a casual dining option: Bar 100.
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