North Carolina Nesties
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Best places to stay and things to do in Asheville, NC
DH and I are planning a trip to Asheville in November. We are on a limited budget and will most likely only be there for two nights, but where are some of your favorite places to stay and favorite things to do when you are there? I feel like the Biltmore House is a given...
Re: Best places to stay and things to do in Asheville, NC
Grove Park Inn is great whether you stay there for just visit. You can walk in off the street and look all around and relax on the patio even if you aren't a guest.
Downtown is great-- just park your car somewhere around Pack Square or the Grove Arcade and either area has a lot you can see within walking distance.
You're also right at the Blue Ridge Parkway, which is free! Take a picnic lunch and a blanket-- there are tons of great overlooks to enjoy.
I haven't stayed at any of the hotels, because I grew up right near there, but *most* of them seem pretty okay. If you stay on the outskirts in an area like Enka/Candler you're just minutes from downtown but don't have to pay the downtown or Biltmore area pricing.
Take a few hours to roam around downtown. There's lots of neat little shops, restaurants, & coffee houses. The old Woolworth's Five & Dime has been transformed into a gallery for local artists. If you're interested in architecture at all, Asheville also has more Art Deco architecture than any other city on the East coast except for Miami
As for Biltmore, I highly recommend the Behind the Scenes & Rooftop tours. They're worth the extra $15 each.
Our favorite place to stay is the Bent Creek Lodge. It's a little more than your average hotel room, but it isn't a frilly B&B. It's in an awesome location near the Blue Ridge Pkwy & the NC Arbortrum, very relaxing. I know they were running some specials (10%) for November rooms. The breakfast is AMAZING.
Other places to stay - every chain hotel you can think of is on Tunnel Road. No walking access to downtown, but most rooms are $80+. We've stayed at the Hampton Inn, Marriott, Holiday Inn and the County Inn & Suites. All are well & good. The Country Inn & Suites is the only one of those not right against I-240. Downtown hotels can be pricey unless you play the "priceline game," but they make it easy to walk to a lot of good resturants & all the downtown sights (Renaissance & Best Western, whatever you do, stay away from the old Days Inn!).
My favorite off the beaten path things to do are: visit the Blue Ridge Pkwy Visitor's Center (or Destination Center, I think that's what they call it), the Folk Art Center, walk around Biltmore Village (yummy eats and the All Souls Church is really pretty), Grove Park for sunset & Gingerbread House competition (just drive yourself in, park in the deck).
Biltmore is great, but expect to spend most of your day there (you want to get your monies worth!). If the weather is decent, take a good walk around the gardens, it is worth it. If it's not ideal, drive down to the Conservatory (easier than walking in poor weather). The rooftop tour was awesome. And don't forget the free wine tasting at the winery.
We booked a package through Biltmore to stay at an area hotel (we stayed at Doubletree). I believe we did the bed & breakfast option. You get tickets for the self guided audio house tour, breakfast, admission to the Biltmore for the length of your stay. We did not spend all our time at Biltmore, but it was nice be able to go back the second day. We felt like we did not see everything we wanted to see the first day. We found it very reasonable.
We also like walking around Biltmore Village. Rezaz is the only restuarant we have eaten at in historic Biltmore Village, but it is really good. We enjoy going into the New Morning Gallery.