Best Things to Do in Asheville, N.C.

You simply can’t come to Asheville without visiting the Biltmore Estate. Formerly owned by railroad tycoon George Vanderbilt, the 250-room mansion is the largest privately owned home in the U.S. Reminiscent of a French chateau, you can easily spend a whole day touring the mansion and grounds, which were designed by renowned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted and architect Richard Morris Hunt. A short drive from the estate is the affiliated Biltmore Estate Winery, Inn on Biltmore Estate and Grovewood Village, a working artist studio complex located in the former site of Biltmore’s weaving and woodworking operations.

Housed in the former 1920s Renaissance-style Pack Library, Asheville Art Museum features 20th– and 21st-century American art and a broad range of educational programs, classes, workshops and events in a state-of-the-art three-story facility. The museum has approximately 15 permanent exhibitions spotlighting the artistic heritage of Western North Carolina, including the Black Mountain College collection. It also has a modern glass entry atrium, collaborative MakerSpace and rooftop sculpture terrace with beautiful views of the city. 

Originally opened in 1929 and renovated in 2002, Grove Arcade is a historic architectural landmark with an eclectic mix of restaurants, shops, galleries, offices and apartments as well as an outdoor Makers Market. It’s a premier shopping destination where you can enjoy a variety of activities like architectural tours, dining on Restaurant Row and pampering your feet at Wake Foot Sanctuary.

Asheville Music Hall is a popular local hangout spot and premier live music venue in the heart of downtown Asheville. The complex has welcomed a diverse range of artists, from Ghostface Killah to Disclosure, and contains The One Stop, a music hall with a dance floor, a live music bar and kitchen. Regular events include a Tuesday night Funk Jam and weekly open-mic nights.   

Voted one of the best bars in America by Esquire magazine, Citizen Vinyl is a record-pressing plant, café and bar, recording studio and a record shop all rolled into one. Located in the historic Citizen Times building, Citizen Vinyl has met the vinyl record resurgence, pressing nearly one million records, for artists including Moses Sumney, MF DOOM and Angel Olsen, since opening its doors in 2020. It also has a small stage for in-store performances.

One of Asheville’s most unusual spots is the Asheville Pinball Museum, a traditional arcade offering all-you-can-play retro games for $15. Choose from dozens of pinball machines, classic video games and retro consoles like Nintendo. 

Buxton Hall is Asheville’s most celebrated barbecue joint. The restaurant works closely with sustainable meat purveyors to use only pasture-raised pigs, and the name of the hog cooked each day is written on the chalkboard. In addition to traditional pulled-pork dishes, Buxton serves several sides, sandwiches, desserts and smoked menu items, including smoked turkey and gravy, smoked trout dip and smoky fried catfish. Don’t forget to garnish your meal with some of the restaurant’s Badass Chilli Sauce.  

For quintessential Appalachian cuisine, head to Rhubarb, a contemporary restaurant serving farm-to-table meals sourced from local farms. The restaurant aims to replicate the feeling of dining at the family dinner table with menu items like cider-braised pork belly and peanut and butternut squash soup, and Rhubarb has a private event space for workshops, cooking classes and private events as well as the companion Rhu, a bakery and cafe.

With a focus on Black and African Southern foodways, Benne on Eagle highlights Asheville’s Black history and community in its menu and its decor. Located on Eagle Street in The Block historic neighborhood, the restaurant’s menu has evocative items like fried green tomatoes with pimento cheese and chow chow and drinks like the Mo’ Benne Blues cocktail and McBride Sisters Wine.

Literally meaning “tea and water,” Chai Pani brings the culture of Indian street food to its two locations in Asheville and Decatur. Serving fusion dishes like sloppy jai, crispy masala fish rolls and matchstick okra fries, the casual Indian restaurant has won a James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurant.

Biscuit Head is a celebrated local joint where mouthwatering biscuits are its pièce de resistance. It’s hard to choose from a menu of options like mimosa fried chicken biscuits and biscuit French toast. The restaurant also sells its own apparel, cookbook and biscuit mixes, so you can make your own versions at home.

French Broad Chocolate makes decadent chocolate treats like chocolate crème brûlée, artisanal bonbons and their popular Liquid Truffle drink. You can dine in their lounge or shop for ready-made desserts in their boutique. All of their chocolate is sourced from their nearby chocolate factory.

Taking its name from the seven clans of the Cherokee Nation, 7 Clans Brewing follows the long tradition of women within Indigenous cultures crafting fermented beverages. The company has seven uniquely crafted beers and has a local taproom with indoor and outdoor space for lounging.

Pleb Urban Winery produces organic, natural and minimal-intervention wines using more than 20 locally sourced varietals. Centered on sustainable practices, the company limits the use of certain modern winemaking tools to achieve what it calls transparency in quality wine. The winery has a tasting room serving wines on tap as well as an online shop selling wines like foot-stomped Noble Carlos and biodynamic Seyval Blanc Tête. 

Not only is Grand AVL Asheville’s first Black-owned coffee shop, but it’s also a co-working and event space that uses coffee as a unifier between businesses and the community. In addition to coffee, the shop’s beverage selection includes tea and other beverages like mint mocha matcha, hot chocolate and strawberry lavender lemonade.

Pink Moon Bar is Asheville’s most mysterious local spot. To enter this undercover natural wine and vermouth bar, guests must furnish the secret codes posted on the company’s Instagram stories. What happens at Pink Moon stays there, so you’ll have to go and see for yourself.

If you’re looking for an activity that combines local Appalachian food with nature, local outfitter No Taste Like Home offers several wild food tours. After wandering through woods and meadows with expert guides, enjoy a cooking demo in which your finds will be prepared at one of Asheville’s top restaurants.

Spend a day driving along the Blue Ridge Parkway, known as “America’s Favorite Scenic Drive.” The parkway meanders through the Pisgah National Forest, a 500,000-acre hardwood forest that contains Mt. Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Mississippi. Also accessible along the parkway are The North Carolina Arboretum, numerous overlooks and several hiking trails, including Mt. Pisgah, Catawba Falls, Black Balsam Knob, Sliding Rock, Craggy Pinnacle and Tom’s Creek Falls.

Shoji Spa & Retreat combines traditional Japanese baths with a beautiful forest setting. Guests are outfitted with traditional yukata and sandals and can partake in amenities that include outdoor salt tubs, massage therapies, a treetop sauna and a savasana room. The retreat embodies serenity and gives new meaning to Japanese shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing.

One of the most unique things to do in Asheville is visiting the Asheville Salt Cave. Choose from a number of wellness modalities, including therapeutic massages and salt and sound therapies. To help you drift into your own meditation, ambient music fills the space while you sit in a zero-gravity chair.

Located on the outskirts of town, Asheville Glamping has unforgettable accommodations that include luxury domes, cabins, treehouses and the newly constructed Mirror Hotel (expected to open in April), which contains 18 luxury mirrored cabins that blend seamlessly into the natural landscape. With so many options, you’re sure to find the perfect place to sleep under the twilight of the stars.

Windsor Boutique Hotel is an all-suite property in the heart of downtown Asheville. It has 14 bright and airy suites with full kitchens, washers and dryers and living rooms with sleeper sofas. Housed in a historic building dating from 1907, the hotel is a short walk from downtown restaurants, shops and breweries.