We recently travelled to Asheville for Christmas weekend with family, and had the best time! I’ve visited Asheville a handful of times for personal and work trips and always find another thing I enjoy about the town. This year for Christmas we all agreed to no presents, and spending time together in a new place! Whether it’s a holiday weekend, or a random long weekend Asheville is such a fun place to visit. Keep reading for some of my top Asheville suggestions!
Where to Stay
AirBnB
This trip we stayed in the cutest AirBnB up in the mountains for the weekend. I figured what better way to experience Asheville as a family than to be all together cozy in a cabin? We had 5 bedrooms, so plenty of space for everyone to spread out. One of the biggest benefits of staying in an AirBnB is that you have a full kitchen to cook meals in! We made Christmas brunch and a dinner at the cabin, and enjoyed that as much as we did going out to eat.
Here is the link to the AirBnB we stayed in if you’re interested!
Hotels
As you can imagine, there are a ton of really great hotel options in Asheville. If budget is not of concern or you’re wanting to plan a really special weekend, the Omni Grove Park Inn is spectacular! They have one of the best spas I’ve ever seen, and it is surrounded by the most beautiful scenery. I’ve also stayed on property at The Biltmore with work, and that’s another experience that’s hard to beat. They have a few different stay options that you can check out here. Truth be told, you won’t miss with any of these! Downtown Asheville has a ton of different hotels that you could choose from as well that are more affordably priced. No matter what style or vibe you’re looking for, I promise it can be found!
Check out Tripadvisor’s list of top Asheville hotels to start your search!
Food & Drink
Breweries
Asheville is known for all of it’s exciting food and drink options. As soon as you start looking into Asheville, you’ll notice they have a ton of breweries in town. Some of my favorites are Wicked Weed, New Belgium and the enormous Sierra Nevada brewery. If you only pick one to visit, please make it Sierra Nevada! It’s more of an experience than a brewery and is super family friendly!
Restaurants
I’m a little surprised to say that I’ve never been disappointed in any restaurant I’ve tried in Asheville. It might be because most restaurants, regardless of “type”, typically work really hard to have easy options for everyone included on their menu. This last Christmas weekend, we tried a great place downtown called The Black Bird and it was incredible! I’ve also eaten on property again at The Biltmore, and they have tons of options from casual to black tie. Referencing the Omni Park Grove Inn again, they also have a really highly rated restaurant and a brunch that’s supposed to be to die for!
Check out Tripadvisor’s list of top Asheville restaurants to start planning your stops!
What To Do
The Biltmore
If you go to Asheville, you absolutely MUST take time to visit and tour The Biltmore. It’s stunning at Christmas time, and I’ve also been in the Spring and it’s just as great. The tour of the home itself can be self guided or guided with a member of the staff, and should be an Asheville bucket list item for everyone. Carve out at least 2 hours, maybe more depending on if you also want to spend time walking the grounds after seeing the house.
Outdoor Activities
Asheville is right in the middle of some of the most beautiful mountains I’ve ever seen. You can really take advantage of that by riding bikes along the trails or hiking through the mountains themselves. Depending on the time of year you visit, you may have more or less outdoor options. When we were there for Christmas it was bitterly cold, but we were still awestruck by the scenery around the cabin. I would really encourage you to look at a list of top hikes around the Asheville area to take advantage of the mountain views while you’re there!
Breweries
I know I mentioned all of the different breweries around Asheville under Food and Drink, but they are a great activity to keep in mind! These Asheville breweries are not only about drinking beer. Because these are a lot of company’s headquarters, they’ve gone above and beyond to create a really great experience for customers! Most, if not all, of the breweries are very family friendly and have games and activities to keep kids entertained. They also tend to have really great food to choose from, so you could make this a full afternoon affair if you wanted to!
That’s my quick guide to Asheville! If you’ve got some of your Asheville favorites, please leave them in the comments down below!