Welcome to Asheville. The largest city in Western North Carolina. The third largest in the state behind Wilmington and Charlotte.

Home to craft beer, hippie and art central of NC and the tallest point of the Rockies. If you live nearby, or you’re just a tourist here by word-of-mouth, you’ll love the adventure and quaintness of this city!

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Having lived three years in the upper left of the USA we instantly thought this must have been the Seattle/Portland of North Carolina. They’re LGBTQ friendly (and loud and proud of it), there’s a huge art scene, craft drinks and artisan foods, beautiful hikes and the infamous Blueridge Parkway and Biltmore Estate. Even better? It’s majorly dog friendly!

It’s a simple drive to numerous locations which is why I think everyone should visit at least once. If When you do, here’s a few places to keep in mind:

Hike

Our Airbnb was clean, dog friendly and a quick drive to town.

It was about 30-40 minutes to the hikes we were looking to do. Our first hike of the trip was before sunset at Bearwallow Mountain Trail.

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This hike is fairly steep climbing but it’s quick and easy with a pretty view of the city at the top.

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We were a bit disappointed with the power plant and lines at the top but if you’re looking for a quick, easy way to get out in the fresh air with pups and kids it’s worth a visit!

Want to see all these in action? Head to my Instagram and tap on the NC highlights!

FUN FACT: While in Washington, my favorite hike was Mt. Ellinor. Ellinor was the lowest point in that range and was the same height as mount Mitchell which is the tallest point east of the Mississippi. This one you drive to the top and walk around you don’t climb.

Once we got up to the top…we saw they’d closed the trails. Again, probably due to the weather but not publicized anywhere when we researched ahead of time. We had to park at the South Toe Trailhead and walked some of the River Loop Trail.

For being an easy trail, you could tell it had been closed for a while (whoops) because it was super strenuous with rocks, roots and fallen wet leaves. This was at the end of the first week with our new puppy so even though this wasn’t our plan, it was a blast to play in the river. We saw people fishing and also an expansive campground.

Explore

We were going to go to the Biltmore-both times- but decided it’s too expensive and we didn’t want to deal with dogs or weather that loomed both times. I wish we would have even if it was just to see the outside but I know when we visit it will be to tour the inside as well and, hopefully, during Christmas when they have everything decorated beautifully!

Downtown Asheville has a Downtown Arts District and Pack Square.

You can walk around the shops, view art, try local food and drinks and unwind during the day or go out on the town for the nightlife.

Drink

Asheville has the third most breweries per capita which makes it fun to taste new beers, visit ol’ faithfuls and support the startups or lesser known brewers.

Photo credit Forbes

Wicked Weed Brewpub is not only a multi-level, popular and artsy brewery with indoor, basement and outdoor seating but it is also one of the few breweries to serve food. More on that below.

They’re a fast-growing brewery known for pushing the norm and being playful with design and adventurous with flavors. I usually look at their featured or seasonal beers first which lead me to the non-profit beer selection (such a cool idea), and Pernicious IPA or Lieutenant Dank is a go-to for my husband.

Visit their Funkatorium if you’re into sours; it’s the East Coast’s first sour beer dedicated taproom. Grab a flight and branch out!

Promise it’s cooler than this very low quality photo

A quick walk down the road from Wicked Weed is Green Man. *They have a huge building with a tasting room called Dirty Jacks.*

This was one of the most casual bar rooms of the trip and we enjoyed having a few drinks and playing darts. They’ve been around since the 90s and have ‘collections’ of beers to choose from; all different artwork playing on the same Green Man face. We suggest enjoying a pint of the Trickster IPA, Rainmaker Double IPA, Hazy Cosmic Jive or the fun Rarities collection if available.

If you cut through Green Man’s parking lot, you’ll find yourself at Catawba Brewing Co. You need to try their hazy IPAs even if you’re not an IPA person–that’s what tasters are for! You probably already recognize them from their simple and trendy, shiny cans like the White Zombie White Ale.

If you have time for a daytime visit or want to tour a brewery, may we suggest the gigantic New Belgium Brewing with the infamous bike logo.

While New Belgium was started in a basement in Fort Collins, CO it has since grown to multiple locations and a huge distribution. You can hear their story on my favorite podcast, How I Built This, and try the small batches that probably don’t reach out to where you are. Isn’t that the fun of trying new things you can’t just buy in your grocery store? They have a gigantic beer list so this is definitely a flight kinda place. If still available in the fall season, try their Atomic Pumpkin Ale–it’s a perfect spicy pumpkin beer and remains drinkable!

If I had to choose one brewery to be the hipster of the group I would choose Bhramary Brewing. They win, hands-down, for the most unique inside and most complex beers. You could easily be at an edgy restaurant (I saw they served food on a limited menu and had a late-night selection!) or art studio.

Eat

Dinner and drinks the first night (of our second visit) were at Wicked Weed Brewpub. This brewery had great food (get the chicken sandwich!) and very fast service. I would highly recommend this being one of your first stops if you’re short on time.

If you’re looking for more on Asheville or North Carolina, here’s our first visit, the beaches, Raleigh and an awesome hidden gem of a town!

Cheers!
Marin

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