I’ve been wanting to go to Asheville for a long time so glad to have finally made plans to do it. Might also check out Blowing Rock and Boone while we’re in the general area. Have fun @eyemamom if you go!
Meeting is set for July, so we’re staying an extra day so we can tour Biltmore.
I’m in Asheville now. Saw the Chihuly exhibit in the gardens today and will tour the house tomorrow morning. I have to be honest, besides the Biltmore I don’t really get the love for this place.
What have you also had the chance to see, concerns you have? We are going in November so hope for a good visit. But, we are going for Biltmore , and also the brewpubs, shops, exploring towns in the general area, etc.
Im here primarily for work. I could probably spend 3 days at Biltmore but I don’t have time. I’m not sure this is an area I’d care to explore. A couple of shops, strip malls and highways. We are in a decent hotel across from the Biltmore. Some of the buildings remind me of Busch gardens German area. German inspired but new architecture.
I’m thinking the downtown area might be more interesting in terms of more art, interesting shops , breweries and restaurants. At least I hope so! Enjoy the rest of your stay in Asheville and don’t work too hard! 
All the fun outside of the Biltmore itself is downtown - shops, street performers, restaurants, etc.
I knew there had to be more, I just didn’t know where. We’re staying by the Biltmore and going towards the hospital so we weren’t near downtown. We will probably be back in a few months and will go over there next time.
Downtown is interesting - but so is out-of-town. If you’re an outdoors person, the scenery and the trails near Asheville, Hendersonville, and Brevard are gorgeous. They don’t call that area the “Land of the Waterfalls” for nothing.
There are beautiful hiking trails with waterfalls along the blue ridge parkway, the folk art center, the very first forestry school http://www.blueridgeheritage.com/attractions-destinations/cradle-of-forestry, vortex donuts, french broad chocolates, the microbreweries, street musicians, folk art, good restaurants, etc. Have fun!
My son and his wife just moved to Asheville, so I will be getting to know it well. After one trip, I can say I really enjoyed the Biltmore and believe it is worth a trip to see that alone. If you’re into hiking, I think it’s a great area. Unfortunately, I’m not, but my son and his wife enjoy it. Downtown has some interesting architecture, a few cute shops, a few good restaurants, and some art and music venues, but I haven’t found anything that is outstanding. It seems like many restaurants feature southern cooking, which isn’t my favorite.
We had fantastic meals in Asheville - only one was southern and it was "new’ southern so not traditional southern. We ate the best french dinner we have ever had and had a wonderful vegetarian meal (although we are not vegetarians). I was actually surprised at the variety of places to eat - Indian, Middle-eastern, Dim Sum, Italian, Tapas, Cuban, Greek, Seafood (that one made me wonder - no ocean nearby?), etc. There are also tons of bars (not my thing, but they were all overflowing on Saturday night). Many places with outdoor seating (so you can people watch while you eat).
We found many restaurants downtown that weren’t southern cooking - we ate tapas, Mexican, middle eastern, etc.
I’ve just visited Biltmore and Hearst Castle in the last few weeks. Biltmore is easily bigger but Hearst is more beautiful from the setting, to the art, to decor. Hearst Castle uses live guides which makes for a better tour as opposed to the audio guides at Biltmore. The gardens at Hearst are smaller but are gorgeous. And of course the pools at Hearst are stunning as opposed to that dreary underground pool at Biltmore. Just my 2 cents.
Asheville’s history is very interesting. The Great Depression hit the area very hard. Eight local banks failed and only Wachovia was able to stay open. Up until the depression, the city and county incurred over $56 million in bonded debts, which was the highest per capita debt in the nation. The city never did default and paid the debts back over a fifty-year period. This caused economic growth to be very slow until about 1990. Because of this, there wasn’t money to tear down old buildings, so most are still standing. After Miami, Asheville has the largest concentration of art deco buildings in the country.
I’m not really there for sightseeing, so I have to just do what I can. In fact our meeting got cancelled, then got reinstated last minute so I didn’t really have time to really plan much. The people who work at Biltmore are very well educated on the history of it all, they did tours in the afternoon, but we only had 2 hours in the morning to see the house. I’d go back and do one of the tours behind the scenes. We had a few hours in the afternoon the day before to see the gardens, but it wasn’t open in the evening. I imagine the sculptures are fabulous lighted up. But for $7k I could have bought a bowl from the gift shop. I had visions of the dog running past with her swooshing tail. The sales lady told me it came with a plexi glass box and lighting suggestions.
The interesting thing to me is that the Vanderbilt’s no longer have money, the house is the business. It’s a for profit business, doesn’t get special tax cuts, doesn’t have special inheritance taxes, etc. A few of them live on the property, which is much smaller, though still enormous. While at first I was surprised by the $75 ticket price, once I saw it all I got it. Usually families end up selling, so it is something they all still own. Well it is divvied up between the house, the gardens, the farms. Tons of corn planted right now, I wondered if their people farmed it or if it was outsourced.
All in all, I’m just not a huge fan of Asheville. I’ll try and go downtown next time, I’m probably going to be going twice a year. If I had to pick a place, I’d choose Greenville SC over Asheville.
I’ve been to both Greenville and Asheville and like them both for different reasons. Greenville has a very nice downtown and feels like a place a family would live. Asheville feels more like a retirement/resort town to me. The downtown Asheville area is quite nice and for the size of the city has a lot to offer with restaurants, live shows, museums and the climate is nicer than Greenville as you’re over 2000 ft above sea level. There is a good bit of al fresco dining in Asheville and even in the summer months it can be cool enough to enjoy eating outside. Other than the Biltmore there is the Grove Park Inn with it’s Gustav Stickley furniture and a true Arts and Crafts feel. The other thing to enjoy in Asheville is the outdoors. The Blue Ridge Park way is near by and makes for a wonderful drive. You can visit the Folk Art Center, Craggy Gardens or Mt. Mitchell the highest point east of the Mississippi. If you like hiking there are a huge number of opportunities. Nearby Asheville are places like Black Mountain and Montreat (which to me feels a bit like I’m driving into a Tolkien novel). It was home to Billy Graham.
How much you like Asheville depends a lot on how much you like mountains, woods, an arts and crafts feel and a bit slower lifestyle.