36 Hours
36 Hours in Asheville, N.C.
Once a wellness haven for American elites in search of mountain air, Asheville, N.C., has reinvented itself many times over the last century. In recent years, the city, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains, has become a culinary hot spot, with multiple award-winning restaurants, and an inordinate number of breweries. Art lovers will find much to savor in the River Arts District, and bikers and hikers will have miles of trails in and around the city to explore. In the downtown area and beyond, Black residents are embracing their “Affrilachian” heritage through tours and art collectives, and creative spaces featuring the work of Indigenous artists acknowledge the region’s ties to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, on whose ancestral land the city sits.
Recommendations
- The Block, once a flourishing Black-owned business district in downtown Asheville, is reemerging as a buzzing cultural community.
- River Arts District is a collection of former warehouses and mills turned artist studios along the French Broad River.
- Shoji Spa & Retreat is a Japanese-style bath house and spa.
- Biltmore Estate includes George Vanderbilt’s 250-room mansion, set on thousands of acres.
- Hood Huggers International offers walking and driving tours of historic African American neighborhoods.
- Noir Collective AVL is a Black-owned boutique and art gallery featuring Black entrepreneurs.
- YMI Cultural Center is one of the oldest Black cultural centers in the United States.
- LEAF Global Arts is a music education nonprofit celebrating global music.
- Peace Gardens & Market is a community garden that offers a pay-what-you-can farm stand.
- North Carolina Glass Center is a glass studio and gallery.
- Foundation Woodworks is a collective of wood-working artists selling everything from wooden jewelry to custom furniture.
- Weaving Rainbows sells bead work, sculptures and hand-woven items made by Indigenous artisans.
- Benne on Eagle, in the Block district, celebrates African American culinary traditions.
- PennyCup Coffee, a local coffee shop and cafe that has a branch in the Block area, is decorated with a colorful mural by the artist Big Al Carter.
- Workshop Lounge is a cocktail bar with live weekend jazz.
- Hi-Wire Brewing AVL Beer Garden serves more than 20 craft beers on tap.
- Foothills Local Meats food truck offers local smokehouse barbecue and vegetarian options.
- Cúrate Bar de Tapas serves traditional Spanish tapas, jamón Iberico and a wide range of Spanish sangria, cider and sherry.
- La Bodega by Cúrate is a Spanish restaurant, market and wine bar from the owners of Cúrate Bar de Tapas.
- Crave Dessert Bar is a cozy lounge featuring a menu of nearly every dessert imaginable.
- Asheville Beauty Academy is a former cosmetology school turned bar and nightclub with weekly drag performances.
- Blue Ridge Restaurant offers a farm-to-table Sunday Southern brunch at the Omni Grove Park Inn.
- Grand Bohemian Hotel Asheville, a Bavarian-hunting-lodge-themed boutique hotel in the Biltmore Village enclave, is all Old World elegance, with stag antler chandeliers, velvet-tufted headboards and European, African and American art in the onsite gallery. Standard rooms from about $289.
- The Foundry Hotel, in a restored steel factory, is in the heart of the Block. Refined, industrial chic is the design principle, with exposed brick walls in guest rooms and oversize marble bathrooms. Doubles from $249.
- Wrong Way River Lodge & Cabins, recently opened, offers 16 A-frame “Scappalachian” (Scandinavian-meets-Appalachian) cabins on the peaceful French Broad River. From $135 for standard cabins.
- Search for a short-term rental in West Asheville off Haywood Street, a less-than-10-minute drive from downtown Asheville.
- While downtown Asheville is compact enough to explore on foot, you may want to rent a car to reach the many nature trails and attractions just outside of the city. Asheville’s regional airport hosts most national rental car brands, otherwise Ubers and Lyfts average less than $10 a ride to get to most Asheville neighborhoods.
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