Attractions & Tours
Things to Do in Asheville
Tours, attractions, and experiences in Asheville — booking direct where we can, vetted affiliate partners where we can't.
28 attractions
Landmarks
Asheville Landmarks
10 listings
Blue Ridge Parkway
"America's Favorite Drive" — a stunning scenic parkway winding along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains right past Asheville, with endless overlooks, hiking trails, waterfalls, and jaw-dropping fall foliage. Free.
Downtown Asheville
A walkable, lively downtown with one of the Southeast's best collections of Art Deco architecture — the historic Grove Arcade, indie shops and galleries, a celebrated food-and-beer scene, buskers, and bohemian charm. Free to explore.
Grandfather Mountain
The Blue Ridge at its most dramatic — the Mile High Swinging Bridge, rescued black bears and cougars in natural habitats, and some of the most rugged ridge trails in the East. A big, worthwhile day trip from Asheville, open again after Helene.
Craggy Gardens
Wind-sculpted heath balds and rhododendron tunnels at more than 5,000 feet, a short scramble from the Blue Ridge Parkway — the closest big-view hike to Asheville, reopened in 2025 after Helene.
The North Carolina Arboretum
434 acres of cultivated gardens and natural forest near the Blue Ridge Parkway — beautiful display gardens, a renowned bonsai collection, miles of hiking and biking trails, and mountain views. A peaceful nature escape.
River Arts District
Asheville's creative heart — a district of working artist studios, galleries, and makers in former industrial buildings along the French Broad River, where you can watch artists at work and browse original art. Free to explore.
Chimney Rock State Park
An iconic 315-foot granite monolith with sweeping views over Lake Lure and Hickory Nut Gorge — reached by trails (and historically an elevator) — plus the dramatic Hickory Nut Falls. A scenic day trip from Asheville.
Mount Mitchell State Park
The highest peak east of the Mississippi (6,684 ft), about an hour from Asheville off the Blue Ridge Parkway — a summit observation deck with 360-degree views, cool spruce-fir forest, and trails. Free.
Blue Ridge Waterfalls & Forest Hikes
The mountains around Asheville are laced with spectacular waterfalls and forest trails — from roadside Looking Glass Falls to the photogenic cascades of DuPont State Forest (a film-famous landscape). Free, scenic, and endless.
Grove Arcade
A 1920s neo-Gothic shopping arcade of terra-cotta, wrought iron and skylights in the heart of downtown — free to wander, with local shops, cafes, and the Southern Highland Craft Guild's new craft gallery.
Museums
Asheville Museums
5 listings
Folk Art Center
Home of the Southern Highland Craft Guild, on the Blue Ridge Parkway — a showcase of fine Appalachian craft with exhibitions, daily craft demonstrations, and the historic Allanstand Craft Shop. Free to visit.
Asheville Art Museum
Twentieth- and twenty-first-century American art on Pack Square, with deep holdings in Appalachian craft, studio glass and Black Mountain College — plus a rooftop terrace that frames the mountains around downtown.
Moogseum
A small, hands-on museum to synthesizer pioneer Bob Moog in the city where he built his later career — play a theremin, patch a Moog, and sit under a dome that turns electricity into sound.
Museum of the Cherokee People
The story of the Cherokee told by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians on their own homelands — ancient history, the syllabary, removal and survival — in the mountain town of Cherokee at the Parkway's southern end.
Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center
A small, free downtown museum devoted to the legendary experimental college in the hills east of Asheville, where Albers, Cage, Cunningham, Rauschenberg and Fuller taught, learned and changed American art.
Historic Sites
Asheville Historic Sites
4 listings
Biltmore Estate
America's largest home — George Vanderbilt's 250-room Gilded Age château, set on 8,000 acres with magnificent gardens, a winery, and mountain views. Asheville's signature attraction and an all-day experience.
Cradle of Forestry in America
The birthplace of American forestry, deep in Pisgah National Forest — the restored campus of the first forestry school, paved forest trails, and a hands-on discovery center. Seasonal, and back for 2026.
Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site
The poet's farm at Connemara in Flat Rock — free grounds and trails, a goat barn with descendants of Lilian Sandburg's prize herd, and low-cost house tours of a home left much as the family lived in it.
Thomas Wolfe Memorial
The rambling boardinghouse where novelist Thomas Wolfe grew up — the Dixieland of Look Homeward, Angel — with a free visitor center and low-cost guided tours, steps from downtown.
Tours
Asheville Tours
3 listings
Asheville Beer Scene & Brewery Tours
One of America's great beer cities — Asheville packs in dozens of craft breweries, from pioneers like Highland to the East Coast outposts of Sierra Nevada and New Belgium. Tour the taprooms, or join a guided brewery tour.
Great Smoky Mountains Railroad
A vintage-train excursion from Bryson City along Fontana Lake into the Nantahala Gorge, or beside the Tuckasegee River to Dillsboro — the slowest, prettiest way to see the Smokies foothills.
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Mills River
The craft-beer pioneer's sprawling East Coast brewery south of Asheville — guided tours from a quick ingredients hour to a nine-sample tasting walk-through, a big taproom restaurant, and summer concerts on the lawn.
Parks & Nature
Asheville Parks & Nature
3 listings
Bent Creek Experimental Forest
Asheville's backyard trail network — miles of free forest roads and singletrack for mountain biking and hiking, a lake with a swim beach, and the oldest experimental forest in the East, 20 minutes from downtown.
Black Balsam Knob
Open, grassy balds above 6,000 feet where the Art Loeb Trail runs along the sky — a short climb to one of the most spectacular summits in the Southeast, off the Parkway south of Asheville.
Max Patch
A huge, rolling grassy bald on the Appalachian Trail with 360-degree views toward the Smokies — a short, easy loop to one of the most photographed summits in the Southern Appalachians.
Zoos & Wildlife
Asheville Zoos & Wildlife
1 listing
Outdoor Activities
Asheville Outdoor Activities
1 listing
Gardens
Asheville Gardens
1 listing
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