Asheville, NC
 

Have a chance to go to Asheville for a long weekend in the spring. The question is, is there anything for an antsy urbanite like me to do there once I've had my fill of the Biltmore Estate?. I would hope to stay in a nice but not obscenely expensive($150/night) hotel or inn (not B&B), eat some good but not necessarily fancy meals (menus w/heavy vegetarian presence preferred), drive through some nice scenery, maybe visit a 'crafty' town. <BR>So, is this a good place for me? Please say yes--I really want to go, but not to be an unhappy burden to my traveling companions! I will be grateful for any suggestions!!

I am in the middle of planning a trip to that area myself. I can't tell you about a place to stay, but for scenery you are right on the Blue Ridge Parkway which is fabulous and Ashville itself is supposed to have lots of craft areas. I would do a search on here for "Asheville" and I'll bet you'll get a lot of info. Also - I think Ashville might have it's own website.

Asheville has a nice artsy downtown district as well as being near Black Mountain which also has an artist/potter community. The Appalachian Highland Guild shop is in Asheville. The BR Parkway north and south is beautiful. Your budget sounds extremely "doable", maybe even the Grove Park Inn. The Richmond Hill Inn might be nice for a meal--it will be pricey but elegant. Go--there is MUCH to do!!

Thanks, SueOz and Gretchen.<BR>SueOz, I'd love to hear more details of your trip as you go along and/or when you get back! The search feature on this site has been acting up-- I can't seem to find previous messages on any topic I'm looking for!<BR>Gretchen: Have you stayed at the Grove Park Inn? Any details you can give me about this and other places would be greatly appreciated.<BR>Thanks,<BR>Sara

I love Asheville - you will find plenty to do! The mountains are so inviting, and so are the people who live in the region.<BR>Grove Park Inn is my absolute first choice to stay. Be sure to check out the stores located behind the hotel overlooking the golf course. Wonderful shops. Downtown is also quite an experience - wonderful antique shops, restaurants, and a great, overall shopping experience.<BR><BR>There has been much written here about Asheville in the past - hope the search engine heats up for you. Oh... and shhhhhh ... no one is supposed to know how nice Asheville really is.<BR><BR>Happy Trails,<BR>Paul

We ate lunch on the patio at the Grove Park Inn overlooking Asheville-awesome. They just built a fabulous spa there if you like that kind of thing. We stayed at the new Biltmore Estate which was really nice. Big porch with rocking chairs, etc. We had dinner at the winery which was great. The Biltmore Estate has packages for the Estate, Winery visits and Inn stays. It is smaller than the Grove Park Inn if you prefer that.

Definately take a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I prefer the drive west from Asheville, but either way is spectacular. <BR><BR>Salsa's is a carribean restaurant that you should not miss. Very creative, fruit and veggie intensive food. Also, the Laughing Seed is a pretty good vegetarian restaurant. Zambra is also great for wine and tappas (more meat oriented though)

Thanks, all of you. You're working your magic on me!

I've been planning a trip there myself and I would love to read about how other's trips have gone. So please post them! The Asheville Chamber of Commerce has a pretty good website with info on hotels, restaurants, etc. http://www.ashevillechamber.org/<BR><BR>Hope this helps!

Hi All! I was on here looking for some info on NYC and saw the postings for Asheville. I live in Asheville but I've only lived here for about 4 years now, so I don't know how much help I can be. That said, the Grove Park Inn and the brand new hotel on the Biltmore Estate Grounds are both fabulous. Most celebrities who come to town (and we have our fair share) stay at one of the two. I think you could probably get a room at one of them for $150. The Grove Park Inn has wonderful buffet dinners on Friday and Saturday nights and a brunch on Sunday. There are literally ROOMS of food. Just about anything you can imagine. I think you should make a reservation a day or two ahead of time though. Biltmore Forest (area close to Biltmore Estate) is filled with small shops, galleries and the like. Hope this helps.

We love Asheville and our daughter is a student at UNC-A, so we go up there quite a bit. Grove Park Inn is very nice, and the views are spectacular. You can literally stand (if you have a Joan of Arc tendency) in the fireplaces, they are so huge. Rocking chairs, ahhhhh. But don't be so quick to discount B & B's. There are some excellent ones that will not impose upon your privacy.<BR><BR>Our favorite place to eat is Barley's Tavern downtown. My husband is a microbrew aficionado (spelling?) and their food is excellent and plentiful. I usually order the vegetarian pita wrap and it is so good that I have a hard time deciding between it and the many varieties of pizza and spinach lasagna. Prices are very reasonable and it is very laid-back and just a fun place to go.<BR><BR>Have fun. Asheville is great!<BR>

I beg your pardon. It is Barley's Tap Room - not tavern.<BR><BR>

Thank you all for your info so far--here's the problem now: Now that I was really psyched to stay at a place like the Grove Park Inn or Richmond Hill or the , it turns out that the dates I'm looking at (anytime in April) end up costing closer to $300 a night for a room ( I know, I know, what did I expect??) <BR><BR>Do any of you kind, savvy people (especially those of you in Asheville) know of any way to get any 'deals'/'promos'/'specials'/'good-deal packages' at either of those places to bring my room rate down to say $200 night average (for a long weekend stay, probably Friday night through Monday)???? <BR><BR>OR<BR>any other truly special places in the area to stay. I realize that my 2 top choices are very different (500 rooms, spa and Arts & Crafts furniture vs. small elegant inn) but they both seem nice in their own way. <BR>What I really don't want is to stay at a frilly, 'precious' B&B. I KNOW you guys can think of the perfect elegant 'reasonable' place for me, right??? Thank you again for your indulgence and your expertise!

ttt

Sara,<BR>Try this site for info on Asheville B&B's. There are LOTS of them around here.<BR><BR>www.ashevillebb.com<BR>Kim

Oops! Sorry the site is <BR><BR>www.ashevillebba.com<BR><BR>Kim

Thanks Kim. I've actually seen the site. They mostly look nice but none of the places listed 'stood out' and some are quite small, 4 or 5 rooms-- I feel more comfortable in larger inns, rather than B&Bs, though I know that some of the smaler ones can be very nice<BR>If you, or anyone else, can personally recommend a specific one or more, that would be great. <BR>Thanks again, all

from 83 to the top

If it makes you feel any better about the rates at Grove Park, my impression of the place is that it caters very much to the senior set. I sent my 60ish parents there, they loved it, but I would not choose it...it's the kind of place that has gingerbread house compititions in the lobby. Also that old-school attitude of the more we can charge you the better we must be. Spa adds on 20% to your service like you don't have the manners to tip yourself.<BR><BR>That said, you might consider going there for breakfast on the terrace for the view. <BR><BR>Try Haywood Park. It's right in downtown, you could walk to almost all shopping, dining, night life from there.<BR><BR>Personnaly, I always stay somewhere dirt cheap and spend the savings on restaurants and shopping. Spring in Asheville will not find you spending much time at the hotel!

Thanks for the 'update', Danna.<BR>I've been trying to shift my expectations to a more modest place<BR>because as you mentioned I probably won't end up spending much time in the hotel/inn--I envision beautiful flower filled drives on the Blue Ridge Parkway instead!<BR>Is Heywood Park the place downtown that used to be a department store? If so, it looks intriguing and is definitely on my list of possibilities. I don't want to give up completely on my idea of staying somewhere more country-like as I'll be there to escape the big bad city!!. Again, if you can continue to suggest some other not too frilly places to stay<BR>either in/right outside Asheville or even within 25 miles or so, I would appeciate it. I've been doing some more research using different guidebooks and I'll come back here with some specific places for you to critique, OK??<BR>You guys are great!