Travel: Asheville Guide!

Recently I went on a trip to Asheville, North Carolina, one of my favorite places I've ever been to! I love the mountains, it's such a peaceful and relaxing place to see. I've gathered up a few places I went to and here is my top picks for things to do in Asheville!

Places to Eat:

First off is City Bakery, this is the best bakery in Asheville, in my opinion! They had avocado toast for just $2.99, which is a really great deal as here in Raleigh its usually close to ten dollars! The barista was also super helpful & kind, and made an iced latte for me just the way I like it. Another item I recommend at City Bakery is their cinnamon roll, they warm it up for you & its big enough to share with 3 people. We always grab one of those when we visit!

It was our first time trying out Vortex Doughnuts, and let me just tell you these were amazing! They have different types of doughnuts to choose from such as yeast or cake doughnuts and their menu changes almost daily as to what doughnuts they have that week. I got the Banana Chocolate Peanut yeast doughnut & my mom got the Maple Pecan Blackberry yeast doughnut. They were very sweet & airy! The only thing confusing about this place was the parking, the lot next door had a sign that said you needed to have the Park & Pay app in order to park there but the other visitors who parked there said they don't use the app.

We also really enjoy The Gourmet Chip Company, this restaurant makes chips fresh to order & they have several varieties to choose from. We shared an order of The Italiano Chips & a Pressed black and bleu buffalo style panini that came with bbq chips. This restaurant is located in Downtown Asheville. And bring quarters for street parking!

Place to Stay:

The Omni Grove Park Inn is so beautiful & family & dog friendly! Every time we go to Asheville we usually stay at this hotel. There's several HUGE fireplaces in the lobby, with tons of rocking chairs and seating, it makes the coziest and most inviting hangout space. They even have complimentary citrus water & apples for their guests. There's also about twenty rocking chairs on the front patio, making a nice space to sit and relax with family and friends.

Inside The Omni Grove Park Inn is a restaurant called The Edison, this was dinner with an incredible view! I definitely reccomend making reservations if you want to sit in the open area with an amazing view of the mountains. I ordered the grilled cheese with bacon and it came with fries & a side of tomato bisque to dip the sandwich in.This restaurant was lined with tons and tons of edison lightbulbs, great detail for this space!

Places to See:

You can't go to Asheville without stopping by the Blue Ridge Parkway. On the Blue Ridge Parkway there are several overlook locations that you can pull off onto the side to take a look at the mountain view. I recommend going at sunset to see an even more beautiful view. My mom saw three bears up in the rocky area as we were driving to the Haw Creek Overlook!

Another place to visit is the Craggy Gardens or otherwise known as the Great Craggy Mountains. This was about a 45 minute drive from the visitor's center, it was definitely worth the drive but would have been even prettier on a less foggy day. There are also overlooks, picnic tables, and water falls about ten minutes further up, the forest ranger recommended to go after a rainfall.

Things to do:

Every year we try to go apple picking on our Asheville trip, we usually go to Apple Hill Orchard in Morganton, NC but this year we went to Justus Orchard in Hendersonville, NC. It was pouring rain when we arrived, so we waited it out & explored the little shop area they have inside. When the rain stopped it was super slippery so we only picked a few apples then headed inside to choose some pre-picked apples to add to our haul. And of course an apple cider slushy, cinnamon donut, & some apple butter to bring home!

Olde World Christmas Shoppe is a really cute and festive place to go shop and see! It's filled with all things Christmas and the people who work there are so cheery, you will definitely be greeted with "Merry Christmas!" an abundance of times. This shop is located in Historic Biltmore Village.

Overall this was a wonderful trip, and I can't wait to go back again!

XO,

Megan Nicole