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The opportunities to participate in this foodtopia are endless. Check out what is happening! Asheville is being dubbed the New Nashville due to the abundance of talent heard drifting through the air while walking the historic streets of Downtown. Born from the deep roots of our mountains, old time and bluegrass music are a signature sound connected to this area.
However, that is not all Asheville has to offer. There are an array of musicians and sounds that bellow out of the music halls providing opportunities for all sorts of music lovers to be entertained.
Asheville is known for many things, which is one reason it is a wonderful place, but it has been long known as a community with an abundance of art and craft. A mecca for fine artists, performing artists, mountain crafters and folk artists whose art helps define this region.
There are studios and galleries galore that glitter the landscape with open doors for you to connect and explore with the craft of your desire. While a few popular, nationally known retail stores pepper the landscape, Asheville prides itself on sustaining a local economy built on entrepreneurial capabilities. Endless opportunities start by choosing from hiking trails, swimming in watering holes, tubing, zip lining, fishing, exploring waterfalls, picnicking on the Blue Ridge Parkway and so much more!
There are so many places to go and things to do. Just be outside. Stop by for craft demonstrations daily from March through December. Popular Wicked Weed Brewing offers free tours daily of its brewpub downtown, with samples and a commemorative glass thrown in for guests.
Free tours at Highland Brewing , New Belgium and Sierra Nevada at Mills River are temporarily on pause due to Covid precautions, so confirm they have resumed before making a special trip. An easy thirty-mile drive takes you from the bustling streets of downtown Asheville to the parking lot beside the summit of ft-high Mount Mitchell , the highest point east of the Mississippi River.
Bring a jacket — the climate and ecosystems of the Black Mountains resemble those of Canada. Numerous hiking trails crisscross the park. For an enthusiastic introduction to mountain music, make your way to Pack Square Park for Shindig on the Green. This outdoor concert series celebrates the homegrown sounds of the Southern Appalachians with fiddles, dancing and a communal sense of fun.
Mountain music — which includes old-time and bluegrass — originated in the hills and hollers of the nearby mountains, but young performers keep the sounds fresh with their own innovations — which you might just hear during an impromptu jam. Concerts are held most Saturday nights from late June through early September. Asheville sits just west of a graceful bend in the Blue Ridge Parkway, a national scenic drive that ribbons along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Overlooks, trailheads and historic sites are scattered along the mile roadway, but you won't find stoplights or any commercial distractions. Foliage along the parkway typically changes color from late September through October, depending on elevation.
Check the fall color report for the latest updates. Puck, Hamlet, Falstaff and other Shakespearean favorites take the stage every summer at the outdoor Hazel Robinson Amphitheatre in the historic Montford neighborhood just north of downtown. Players pass the hat for donations at intermission.
You can also drive to the Western North Carolina Farmers Market , which is open daily and fills several sheds on a acre site six miles southwest of downtown. Got your bike? For a quick ride only 20 miles from downtown, drive to the Bent Creek Experimental Forest , which sprawls across nearly 6, acres of woodlands in Pisgah National Forest. Research about forest management is the primary goal here, but local bikers know it's home to a network of almost 30 miles of trails.
Difficulty levels vary. There are also hiking trails here. Download a trail map from the forest service website. Big views of mountains are the reward on the Craggy Gardens Pinnacle Trail, which is also on the Parkway. Come for the craft beer and music, get distracted by the art — an unexpected treasure in this overgrown mountain town.
More than 30 art galleries cluster downtown, many of them along busy Biltmore Ave. Public art is also plentiful, with bright murals and quirky sculptures keeping the vibe offbeat.
The River Arts District plays host to the largest collection of galleries in the city.
Free Things to Do in Asheville | Asheville, NC's Official Travel Site
36 Free Ways to Explore Asheville ; The Outdoors. Hiking Near Asheville · Hiking ; Music and Theater. Drum Circle · Downtown buskers (street performers) ; The Arts. The North Carolina Arboretum is a acre public garden. There are even 10+ miles of hiking or biking trails that are pet-friendly and have a.
Free Things to Do in Asheville, NC – Tripster Travel Guide.
The trail is just under two miles long, commences in Pack Place and makes almost a complete circuit around the Downtown area before culminating not far from where it started.
Trail maps are available from the information center in Pack Square Park or downloadable online. There are thirty individual artworks in total along the trail. Among them bronze turkeys and pigs, an enormous flat iron and life-size statues of a fiddler and dancers to name just a few.
Take a camera and snap shots of the sculptures. Related tour : 2 hour Guided Segway Tour. Skip dinner and go straight for dessert at the French Broad Chocolate Lounge. All the desserts are created from chocolate made in the French Broad Chocolate Factory which, although outside of the Downtown district, is also well worth a visit. The community theater has been hosting top-class performances from local actors for over sixty years in productions as varied as Sweeney Todd, Young Frankenstein and Annie, Get Your Gun.
While the participants may not be full-time actors and actresses, expect a great show presented with professionalism. The museum may be small, but it has some powerful interactive exhibits which will blow any visitor away. Step inside the Hurricane Simulator and feel the full force of a storm or create rain in the French Broad River Water table display before getting up close to the skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex or a robot used to explore Mars.
The museum also houses an extensive collection of minerals in the Colburn Hall of Minerals as well as multiple displays on the geology of North Carolina. Grab a seat in the s speakeasy-style bar and wait for the party to start.
Be prepared to join in with either choosing songs for the piano players to perform or sing along when the words are familiar. Meditate among the negative ions in a cave constructed of twenty tons of pink salt blocks to recharge your spiritual and physical batteries, take a detoxifying hot salt stone massage or an aromatherapeutic salt glow treatment.
Sound healing concerts, Yoga Nidra sessions and new moon meditation are also practiced at the Asheville Salt Cave. View the entire process as the blowers transform an innate blob of glass into an incredible and unique work of art with their breath and a few twists of the rod. If the heat of the furnace brings on a thirst, the studio has an in-house tap room selling Asheville craft beers served in hand-blown glasses. Take the hard work out of pedaling and tour around Downtown Asheville on a Flying Bike.
Join the tour just outside of Downtown on Coxe Avenue, mount one of the Pedego Boomerang Plus cycles and whizz back to the district for a morning of electric-powered exploring. Then hire a Flying Bike and cycle around Downtown at your own pace. Both ways are great fun. While it isn't the Mississippi or the Tennessee River, that's one reason people enjoy it so much. The depth around three feet in most areas provides the perfect place for tubing. Riding a tube up the gentle current is something people love to do.
The National Park Service is stringent in allowing no commercial traffic on the Parkway. They realize The Parkway is more than a highway. It's an attraction in itself. Asheville is the largest city along the way. You must take an afternoon to visit the Fine Arts Center, although the weekend is good, too, since they have craft demonstrations featuring the best regional artists.
Their rotating and permanent exhibits are informative, fun, and of the best quality you'll find anywhere. Whether you're casually browsing or looking for technical information about crafting, you can spend hours there. The Biltmore Estate was not the original tourist attraction in Asheville, but it quickly became the area's central tourist attraction.
If you have not been to the Estate, you have to go at least once. America's largest private home is a throwback to a different, slower, more elegant time. Admission is not free, but there are ways to get the price to almost free, and there are plenty of freebies at Biltmore. To begin with, the Season Pass Perks make up for its price. Although I financed my original ticket to the Biltmore House with a Christmas bonus from work, I immediately upgraded to a Season Pass because it made financial sense.
The Estate is a destination itself, and that is free. Locals with Season Passes visit The Estate every weekend—or daily—to hike the trails and forests.
The gallery owners offer quality articles that are collected by serious customers. Afternoons spent browsing the galleries is what folks do in Asheville. These owners value clients who take their time before buying and will welcome you as you admire what they are offering. This is a great way to enrich your trip to Asheville with your friends.
Asheville's River Arts District may be the greatest success story in the past decade. The development has completely changed the old warehouse district into a diverse, must-visit area with incredible walkability. The restaurants, galleries, and parks provide an engaging experience for visitors and residents alike.
So whether you want to pick up lunch or art or just stroll by the River while watching artisans at work, the River Arts District is the place to go. The Biltmore Estate is by far the most famous part of Asheville, and it's well worth the time and money to visit. But you'll want to spend the day there, and sometimes all you have is an hour. When you want to visit the Biltmore Village it's an extension of the Estate, built by George Washington Vanderbilt for the Estate staff.
The Asheville Urban Trail is the perfect feature for a city full of galleries. Around 30 sculptures carefully document Asheville's history, beginning in Pack Square with bronze statues of turkeys and pigs, celebrating the crossroads that the city is built on.
Most sculptures delve into other well-known parts of the Land of the Sky, such as the bronze watch from O. Henry's Gift of the Magi and a bronzed pair of Thomas Wolfe's shoes.
But other sculptures look at Asheville architecture and lesser-known residents, such as Elizabeth Blackwell– the first female doctor in American history. The Urban Trail is a no-lose proposition for a rewarding and free afternoon in downtown Asheville.
Asheville's Drum Circle is one of those free attractions that is uniquely Asheville. This local gathering is an eclectic outpouring of creativity. As a result, it has gained national acclaim. When I took art history in college, our teacher spent the first few weeks focusing on Asheville itself. It was proof the greatest attraction of Asheville is the city itself, and guided tours are the best way to enjoy this.
These are crafted by people who have done careful research to learn the most interesting details about the city. Many of these tours like the ghost tours are available from folks who do this professionally. However, in this age of podcasts, there are numerous free tours you can enjoy.
Downloading a tour of the city and then streaming it through your headphones is a perfect way to enrich your visit to Downtown Asheville.