See
No. 1
Biltmore Estate
Biltmore Village, south Asheville
George Vanderbilt's 250-room French Renaissance château, finished 1895, on 8,000 acres of Olmsted-designed grounds with gardens, a conservatory, a winery and Antler Hill Village. It took river damage at the lower gates in Helene and reopened within six weeks.
Book a timed house entry for the first slot and do the gardens after. The winery tasting is included with admission — the robot's favourite line on any invoice.
Find a guided tour →
Do
No. 2
Downtown, the Grove Arcade & the Friday Drum Circle
Pritchard Park, downtown
Compact, hilly, entirely walkable: art-deco buildings, buskers, bookshops and the 1929 Grove Arcade, a covered market hall with shops and a balcony. On Friday evenings from spring to autumn, drummers and dancers fill Pritchard Park (roughly 6–10 pm, weather permitting).
Bring a shaker egg or simply sway. Nobody is grading. Then dinner on Wall Street, one block up.
Eat & Drink
No. 3
South Slope Breweries
South Slope, below downtown
A former warehouse district now packed with taprooms within a few blocks of each other — Burial Beer Co. on Collier Ave and Wicked Weed's sour-beer Funkatorium among them. Asheville regularly lands on 'best beer city' lists.
Walk, don't drive: the slope is steep and so are some of the ABVs. Taprooms change hands; check hours before a crawl.
Find a guided tour →
See
No. 4
Blue Ridge Parkway Overlooks
Craggy Gardens (MP 364) & Mount Pisgah (MP 408)
The Parkway runs right past town. North to Craggy Gardens for heath balds and rhododendron tunnels; south to Mount Pisgah and Looking Glass Rock views. The Helene repairs near Asheville are done and Craggy and Mount Mitchell reopened in 2025; a stretch further north (Mount Mitchell to Linville) is still under construction, due to finish around the end of 2026.
Check the NPS road-status map the morning you go. Sections close for ice in winter and fog any time. Fill the tank first: there are no petrol stations on the Parkway.
Find a guided tour →
See
No. 5
River Arts District
Riverside Dr & Clingman Ave, along the French Broad
A mile of old mills and warehouses turned studios, where you watch potters and glassblowers at work. Helene hit it hardest of all; many buildings were lost. Studios have been reopening steadily (Cotton Mill Studios is back), though some artists are still without permanent space and infrastructure work continues.
Go on Second Saturday for the monthly art stroll, and buy something. A mug bought here is worth more to the district than any number of photographs.
See
No. 6
The North Carolina Arboretum
Bent Creek, off the Parkway (MP 393)
434 acres of cultivated gardens, a bonsai collection and trails at the edge of Pisgah National Forest. Helene felled thousands of trees here; the gardens reopened, the trails followed, and the staff are replanting with the next century in mind.
In November and December the Winter Lights show is the best after-dark plan in town. Buy timed tickets early.
See
No. 7
Folk Art Center
Blue Ridge Parkway, MP 382, east Asheville
Home of the Southern Highland Craft Guild since 1979: three galleries and the Allanstand Craft Shop, billed as the oldest craft shop in America. Open year-round, with live craft demonstrations most days March through December. Free.
The quickest Parkway fix from downtown — ten minutes. Buy a hand-thrown something and tell the potter where you're from.
Do
No. 8
DuPont State Recreational Forest
Near Brevard, ~1 hr south
Four waterfalls on one forest's worth of trails: Hooker Falls (short and flat), Triple Falls and High Falls (a moderate loop), and Bridal Veil. The forest reopened after Helene; a few trails and the Triple Falls stairs remain closed, so check the NC Forest Service closures page.
Arrive before 10 am on weekends; the lots fill. Do not climb or slide on the falls. The rocks are winning that argument, every year.
Find a guided tour →
Do
No. 9
WNC Nature Center
Gashes Creek Rd, east Asheville
A small, well-kept zoo of Appalachian animals — river otters, black bears, red wolves, cougars — operating since 1925 and reopened after Helene in 2025. Asheville has been ranking high on Google's trending-destination lists, and families are a large part of the reason.
Time it for the otters' feeding. Then the Asheville Museum of Science on Patton Ave for a rainy-day encore.
Do
No. 10
Chimney Rock & Lake Lure
Hickory Nut Gorge, ~45 min southeast
The gorge took Helene's worst: the village of Chimney Rock was largely swept away. The state park reopened in June 2025 and the village is rebuilding business by business. The view from the 315-ft rock is unchanged.
Check the park's website for current access, open trails and whether advance tickets are needed. Then eat lunch in the village. That is the whole point.
