If you love quaint towns, incredible hiking and delicious food and beer start planning your trip to Asheville now!
When my husband and I went on our honeymoon, we spent the first week relaxing on the beautiful beaches of Aruba. We spent the second half in the town of Asheville, and honestly, we wished we had planned more days there! So, what makes it so great?
Accessibility. For us, Charlotte was our connecting flight back to Cleveland from Aruba, so it worked out really well. Plus, when we want to go back the drive is roughly eight hours from Cleveland, which is totally doable for a long weekend. Whether you fly or drive, getting there is relatively easy. It’s only about two hours outside of Charlotte.
Beer. There are a ton of breweries within a 15 mile radius in downtown Asheville. The beer is all delicious and unique. There are a ton of brewery tours to choose from, too, so you can hit as many as possible and not have to worry about driving! Another bonus, there are several breweries right outside of town where you can stop after a long day of hiking. Oskar Blues was one of my favorites!
Hiking. Asheville is literally surrounded on all sides by forests and mountains to hike, including parts of the Appalachian trail, Pisgah National Forest, Great Smoky Mountains and several state parks. We hiked Looking Glass Rock and Falls, Lover’s Leap on the AT and Triple Falls in DuPont Forest.
The amount of waterfalls, lush forests and sweeping overlooks is overwhelming. We had such a hard time deciding where all to go!
In addition to hiking and good beer, there is so much to do downtown, including book stores, boutiques and more. The food in Asheville is delicious and all reasonably priced, which I was slightly shocked by since it is a tourist town. We had dinner and drinks for under $45 a night.
So if you’re looking for a fun weekend getaway, or planning a week full of hiking, Asheville is the place for you!
I’ve heard such good things about Asheville. It looks beautiful & packed with great places to try out!
It’s such a cool area that I feel is still not as well known as some other similar destinations. Definitely worth a visit sometime 🙂
Love this, Mady! I wrote a few blog posts about my trip to Asheville if you want to check them out! http://bytravelanderror.com/climbing-hiking-kayaking-ashevillain-style/ and http://bytravelanderror.com/good-food-good-company-my-asheville-dining-experience/
Awesome!! I’m definitely going to take a look because we want to go back, hopefully this year! Lake Lure looks incredible.
Great pictures! As a resident of Asheville, you definitely captured the essence!