Asheville, NC

I've been to North Carolina a few times now, but never to Asheville, which was a town I'd heard friends rave about. The main draw seemed to be the breweries, but with a ton of hiking options also around and the hippie reputation, I decided it was worth a long weekend with my free work-provided domestic flight for the year.

I also had a couple of friends in the Carolinas, so although I originally planned my visit as a solo trip, I ended up with portions turning into reunion visits. Best of both worlds!

Day 1

Arrival & Breweries

I took a morning flight out of Cleveland and landed in AVL around 3 PM. I would say a rental isn't entirely necessary if you're down to uber, and avoiding one would save you the paid parking costs all around town, but since I was going hiking and planning to visit Greenville, I did reserve one for my trip with Budget.

If you plan to visit Sierra Nevada, I highly recommend doing it either as soon as you land or right before you fly back out, because it is just a few minutes down the street from the airport. I'd read that this was like the Willy Wonka factory for beer lovers, so it was high on my list.

I didn't sign up for any proper tours, but there is a self-guided one for free. First, I sat at the bar to get a flight of IPAs and some top-notch olives to hold me over until dinner, then chose my favorite IPA from the flight to order while I walked around. I hadn't thought I cared for Sierra Nevada, but I think I'd only tried their most popular beer at home, and I actually really loved the variety in my flight. The self-guided tour is upstairs down a hallway that takes you past the stills and production rooms, and the hallways are covered in memorabilia and awards.

Afterwards, I went out to the back patio where down the hill, they have a huge fire pit and a stage for live music. The gardens are to the right, and I'd just started wandering those when the skies opened up, so I had to go back to find cover before getting drenched. The grounds are so scenic though!

I went straight into the city from there to have dinner at a vegan spot called Rosetta's Kitchen. They had a cute patio as well, and I got the tempeh reuben on focaccia that was absolutely delicious and came with slaw on the side. I added a cup of peanut butter tofu too just to try it, but the reuben was the star.

After eating, I headed to my hostel for the night, Lazy Tiger about ten minutes north of the city. It was a really cute place. Super clean, large kitchen and sitting area in the lobby, local beers for sale, a patio out back, and dorm bunks with privacy curtains and personal lights. There was also a friendly hostel dog named Chloe.

After settling in, I headed down to Zillicoah Brewing nearby for one more beer. The brewery was like a large shed with doors open to the outside, and a hill out back leading down to the river. I found a picnic table by the water and sat to enjoy my book. I'm more of an IPA or sours girl, so since they specialize in lager, the beer wasn't so much for me, but I did like the vibe.

I was tired out from traveling and beers, so I decided to just have an early night at the hostel. Note - most of Asheville's breweries close by 10 PM anyway, so it's not really a town for nightlife.

Day 2

Catawba Falls, Cats, Books, & More Breweries

I got up to shower, check out, and grab a free cup of coffee in the hostel kitchen before starting my day the next morning. I headed to the Liberty House Cafe for breakfast which was super cute. It looks like an old house, and there's a covered wooden patio to the side with the sides open to the garden, where there are also tables on the lawn. I ordered the green goddess skillet with avocado, eggs, quinoa, kale, and broccoli, and it was so good.

I made the 45 minute drive to Catawba Falls afterwards to hike. There are so many cute hikes around the Asheville surrounds that I struggled to decide, but I love waterfalls. Just note there are no water spigots or anything in the parking lot, and there is a bathroom but no sink. My water bottle is kind of small, so I ran out halfway through the hike and had to stop a couple to ask them if they had any spare water to refill mine. Don't be perpetually unprepared like me! Stay hydrated!

The hike was completely worth it. I did the river trail going there, which has some slight inclines but is a fairly easy mile or so. Catawba Falls is gorgeous and just goes on and on.

I hopped over some rocks through the water for photos and views, but at one point I was sitting on a rock when a girl told me there was a family of snakes behind me. I jumped up so quick, and there were three of what looked like copperheads right there. They started swimming (fast) through the water as well, one of them coming toward me at one point, so I hurried out of there. Just be careful! As a snake lover, I would still not be hyped to get bit by a venemous one, and they do hang in this area.

On another wildlife note, there were tons of pretty little blue butterflies all fluttering around near the falls.

There's a huge staircase to reach the top of the falls which had me pretty winded (especially as I was out of water at this point). The views up there over the mountains are incredible, plus higher perspectives of the falls beside you.

Once you reach the top, if you don't want to backtrack, you can take the ridge trail back to the parking lot. I had thought, based on the name, that this would have sweeping views or something, but it was sadly underwhelming. It's a wide trail through the forest for about two miles with not much to look at, but overall pretty easy.

At this point, I would have driven to Craggy Gardens for a second hike, but my friend Lauren who I studied with in Northern Ireland was coming to visit, as she lives a few hours away in NC, and she had already made it to Asheville.

I drove back to the city and met her at The Radical hotel in the arts district, since I had won two nights of free hotel certificates from a Hilton drawing at work. This was a pretty cool hotel with art everywhere, colorful lights, a rooftop bar, and a cafe on the premises.

We checked in and caught up for a bit before heading to the House of Black Cat Magic in West Asheville for some kitty time. This is a small but cute shop full of occult and cat merch, with a room for adoptable cats in the back (most of them black). We spent a good half hour or more petting cats and lamenting not being able to bring them home (me).

Next up was the Battery Park Book Exchange, a cool bookshop with a bar and tons of comfy seating. We each got a champagne drink and posted up in a comfy couch area to chat for a while.

For dinner, we hit Plant, a vegan restaurant where we sat on the patio. The food here was highly recommended online and did not disappoint! We shared the lion steak tostadas and crispy mushroom mole, plus I tried a mezcal and chartreuse cocktail that was equally awesome.

Since we were heading to the breweries next, we left Lauren's car back at the hotel and walked a half hour to reach Burial. I'd had all my beer enthusiast friends rave about this one, so I hate to say that for me it didn't quite lived up to the hype.

The brewery itself was very cool - loved the vibe and the great back patio with its fairy lights, local vendors, and hippie bus. But, I got two flights and tried a variety of IPAs, sours, and dark beers, and while they were good, I wasn't blown away like I expected to be.

To be fair, we went to Wicked Weed Funkatorium next, which is renowned for its sours, and I felt the same way there, so my taste buds may have just been having an off day.

The breweries were all closing by the time we finished at Wicked Weed, so we walked back to our area and ended the night at a really cool little cocktail bar called Crucible which had slight gothic vibes and a little fire pit area out back. We had a few drinks there and thankfully I was wise enough to drink an entire pitcher of the water on the bar that for sure saved me the next day.

Day 3

Biltmore Estate

If you're questioning whether or not to visit Biltmore due to the steep entry ticket (we paid $100 on a Friday, but it can vary a bit based on the day of week), just go. I've been to a lot of chateaus and mansions while traveling, and this was not only one of the best, but also a full day out.

We started the day at Butterpunk for biscuits in gravy and coffee to absorb our hangovers, then Lauren gave me a little drive-through tour of downtown Asheville before we headed out to Biltmore.

There are shuttles to take you from the parking lot to the estate, and the mansion is immediately impressive upon pulling into the drive. Absolutely huge with a sprawling lawn out front all the way to the gates. Your tickets will have an entry time to go into the house, and ours weren't until 1:45, so we had time to kill on the grounds.

We went into the market building to the right first, with cute old-fashioned shops like a candy store, toy store, bookshop, Christmas store, and large general store. There's also a carriage house cafe where the booths are in the old stalls, and outside are some other food and drink options.

Afterwards, we went to the opposite side of the estate where the gardens are. There's an Italian water garden at the top, then down the stairs you'll come to the walled garden and others.

Inside the walled garden is the conservatory with about six greenhouses full of exotic plants I've never seen before (which isn't saying much, since based on Lauren's reactions, I was asking her the names of some fairly common garden plants as well).

Once our entry time came, we headed to the house, and they gave us audio guides when we entered. This estate is incredible! Insanely huge.

The main floor has this sunken lounge area in the center full of plants...

...there's a wide balcony with loungers and views over the mountains...

...entirely separate floors for resident bedrooms and guest rooms, a library with floor to ceiling bookshelves...

...and a somewhat haunted feeling basement area with a bowling alley, old-fashioned gym, hallway of full-size dressing rooms for swimming, and a pool that I swear I felt like I had been to before in a video game or a dream.

We both totally thought the visit was worthwhile, and we drove up to Antler Village, also on the grounds after, where they have a petting zoo and a town square area with pubs and food. We had ice cream, then went into the winery whose entryway is an underground tunnel full of fairy lights.

Excitingly, they offered complimentary wine tastings, so we were happy to partake in that and sample five wines to end our day.

Lauren had to head home afterwards, so I went out to dinner myself back in town at the Nine Mile in their Montford location. It's a Caribbean restaurant and was the best meal of my whole trip! I got the meshach, which was jerk tofu on top of cavatappi pasta tossed in white wine cream sauce with cremini mushrooms, green onions, peppers, and grape tomatoes, and asked for it spicy which they fully delivered. It also came with a side of natty bread and a salad with jalapeno cilantro dressing. Everything had so much flavor!

I was worn out, so I enjoyed my free hotel room for the night and read for a bit before bed.

Day 4

Trip to Greenville

One of my college friends moved to Greenville a few years back, and since it was only an hour south of Asheville, I decided to go visit for my last day.

I had a morning to fit in a few more Asheville spots first though, so I parked downtown and walked around the Urban Trail area where there are some nice statues on the sidewalks and a large park with a little ampitheater. I also walked down the main street, into the general store, and checked out the lobby of the art museum.

There was one more restaurant I'd wanted to try before leaving, so I had vada pav and a tamarind margarita for lunch at Chai Pani, a really vividly decorated Indian street food restaurant near Burial. The food and cocktail were both great, so I'm glad I made the stop.

I got to Greenville around 2 PM and met my friend Darren at his townhouse down there. We took an uber downtown since we planned to drink and spent the day walking around the city.

Greenville is really nice! It feels a lot more upscale and bougie than Asheville. We had beers and played pinball at the Greenville Beer Exchange, walked by the river and ran across a huge black snake near the bridge, and stopped into M Judson Booksellers in the old courthouse.

Falls Park is definitely the highlight of downtown. I'd seen pictures of the city waterfalls whenever looking up Greenville, but they were much bigger in real life!

The rest of the afternoon was spent eating and drinking - beers at Mellow Mushroom, whiskey at Connoly's Irish pub, and fried green tomatoes for dinner at Soby's. We had tickets to see Weird Al at the Bon Secours Arena, which was such a fun show, and then got late-night drunk bagel sandwiches at Sully's before heading home for bed.

I changed my flight to leave out of GSP the next day, and I also have to shout out Greenville's airport for being possibly the nicest I've seen in the US. There's art and statues all over, and there's even an outdoor patio area past security where you can sit by the trees and fountains. I got Sully's again, as they have one in the airport, and enjoyed that outside.

Overall, a great little trip, and I would definitely go back to Asheville for more hiking and breweries in the future!