For Our Neighbors and Their Guests
A Guest's Guide to Asheville
The most common request from Biltmore Forest neighbors: where should visitors go? This is the answer, in one place. Nobody paid to be on it.
Food
Grouped by how far you'll drive from the Forest. The Village and Hendersonville Road are minutes away; downtown is ten.
Biltmore Village and Hendersonville Road
5 to 10 minutes
-
Breakfast through dinner in a Village cottage since 2004.
-
House-made pasta from the Cerrato family. Affogato, in the same building, handles coffee and gelato by day.
-
Gourmet market and wine shop in the Village: sandwiches, salads, baked goods, and sixty wines. The closest place to build a picnic. Closed Tuesdays.
-
Steaks and game inside the Grand Bohemian lodge. Walkable from the north gate.
-
Birria, pupusas, and tacos in a modest room locals quietly protect.
-
Mexican breakfast and brunch: chilaquiles, huevos rancheros, good vegan options. Mornings until 3.
-
Red-sauce Italian the whole family agrees on. A perennial reader favorite for comfort food.
-
Cat-head biscuits and a jam bar. Expect a line on weekend mornings.
-
Vietnamese and pan-Asian noodles and sushi. Easy, reliable weeknight dinner.
-
Tacos, a long tequila list, and a sunroom patio. The Biltmore Park location is the one still open.
On Biltmore Estate
Admission or an Estate pass required
-
Forbes Four-Star dinner built on estate-raised ingredients. Cocktail attire in the evening. Book well ahead.
-
Lunch in the converted horse stables beside the house. Carolina barbecue and Appalachian comfort food, 11 to 3.
Downtown and the South Slope
About 10 minutes
-
Katie Button's Spanish tapas bar, and the reservation visitors ask about first. Michelin recommended. Book early.
-
New American from the Corner Kitchen family. Brunch every day, dinner every night.
-
Japanese smokehouse: smoked meats, ramen, small plates. Michelin recommended. Dinner only.
-
Candlelit tapas and one of the deepest wine lists in town. Dinner only, and the right call for an anniversary.
-
Indian street food in a big, loud, happy room. James Beard Outstanding Restaurant, 2022.
-
Venezuelan and Puerto Rican arepas. One of three Michelin Bib Gourmands in Asheville.
-
Wood-fired Appalachian-Italian. The only restaurant in town holding both a Michelin Bib Gourmand and a Green Star.
-
Modern dim sum from an open kitchen. No reservations, so go early.
-
Family-run Mediterranean for more than thirty years. Shawarma, kabobs, slow-braised lamb.
-
Food hall inside the 1929 Art Deco cafeteria. Good when the group can't agree.
-
Counter-service breakfast and lunch, grab-and-go dinner, and the caterer we call for parties.
-
Sandwiches and salads for weekday lunch. Closed weekends.
-
Grocery, deli, bakery, and butcher stocked from local farms. Build a picnic here before a Parkway day.
-
Croissants, cakes, macarons, and coffee, open late into the evening.
-
Bakery and café from the Rhubarb family, carrying on after the restaurant closed.
-
Dessert after dinner downtown. Across the square from our office.
-
Wood-fired pizza and beers brewed with yeast from the lab next door.
-
Smash burgers and live music across three rooms by the Grove Arcade. Thursday through Saturday only.
River Arts District
About 10 minutes
-
Oysters, steak frites, dry-aged beef. Chef Matt Dawes was a 2026 James Beard semifinalist.
-
Wood-fired pizza from grain they mill themselves, with a big lawn for kids. Tuesday through Saturday.
-
Open-fire Appalachian cooking inside a hotel TIME named one of the world's greatest places. Michelin recommended.
West Asheville and Montford
About 15 minutes
-
Neighborhood tavern: roast chicken, oysters, a proper burger, Sunday brunch. Michelin recommended.
-
A cinderblock dive with a serious kitchen. Michelin recommended. Closed Tuesdays.
-
Seasonal American cooking, inventive cocktails, and an award-winning wine list. Closed Wednesdays.
-
Filipino cooking in a tiny room. The New York Times put it on its list of the fifty best restaurants in America.
-
The all-day breakfast institution. Michelin recommended, which tells you something about the biscuits.
-
Doughnuts shaped by hand and fried while you wait. Mornings only, closed Monday and Tuesday.
North and East Asheville
15 to 20 minutes
-
Scratch-made vegan dinner that converts skeptics. Wednesday through Sunday, reservations recommended.
-
Fresh Carolina-coast seafood market with a lunch counter: fish and chips, po' boys, lobster rolls. Tuesday through Saturday.
-
New York-style pies from a family that keeps winning the local pizza vote. Merrimon Avenue only now.
-
Wood-fired pizza and pasta that families have relied on since 2009. On the way to Fairview.
Drink
Beer City earned the name, but the cocktail bars are the quieter story. A few of each.
Breweries
-
The brewery nearest the Forest, with a kitchen and a patio.
-
Burial's restaurant and bar in restored 1930s Civilian Conservation Corps buildings, just south of downtown. Weekend brunch, concerts in the yard. Closed Mondays.
-
The original 2013 taproom in an old transmission shop. New drafts every week.
-
The original brewpub: full restaurant upstairs, beer bar and bottle shop below. The Funkatorium on Coxe Avenue is their sour and barrel-aged taproom.
-
The East Coast brewery, with a riverside tasting room, big patio, food trucks, and tours.
-
The River Arts District institution, with a new taproom and gardens on Foundy Street.
-
Asheville's first brewery, from 1994. The Meadow out back hosts live music most weekends.
-
Lagers on the riverbank, brewed slowly and poured outdoors.
Cocktails and Wine
-
Cocktails built on house-made ingredients and foraged botanicals. Wednesday through Sunday.
-
A thousand recipes behind the bar, a seasonal menu in front of it, and live jazz on many nights.
-
Three stories of cocktails at the Chemist Spirits distillery, with a rooftop bar and a dog-friendly garden.
-
Natural wine and a small bistro menu in West Asheville. Michelin recommended.
Things to Do
Biltmore Estate is the obvious one and deserves a full day. Everything else here is for day two and beyond.
In Town
Under 20 minutes
-
The house, the gardens, the winery, and Antler Hill Village. Residents' annual passes pay for themselves fast.
-
One flat admission, about forty pinball machines and forty classic video games, all set to free play. Closed Tuesdays.
-
American art of the last century, with a rooftop terrace over the square. Wednesday through Sunday.
-
DeSoto Lounge
West Asheville dive with pinball, tabletop Pac-Man, ping-pong, and a jukebox. Open late. No website; just go.
-
Wild-food foraging walks since 1995. Partner restaurants cook what you find into a free appetizer that night.
-
Working studios and galleries along the river. Pair with lunch at All Souls or a pint at Wedge.
-
Red wolves, otters, black bears, and cougars native to these mountains. The best half-day with small children.
-
Guided tours of the boardinghouse from Look Homeward, Angel. Tuesday through Saturday.
-
The rock club Rolling Stone ranked among the best in the country. Check the calendar before guests arrive.
-
Ten free acres of native plants along Reed Creek beside the university. Quiet, and open sunrise to sunset.
Golf
-
Asheville Municipal Golf Course
The 1927 Donald Ross public course. The back nine is open; the front nine is under restoration, with work slated to begin in 2027.
-
Donald Ross golf inside the town, with tennis, pool, and dining. Private: members and their guests.
-
The 1894 club in North Asheville, golf and tennis. Private: members and their guests.
-
The Range at Broadmoor Golf Links
Forty covered Toptracer hitting bays, twenty of them heated, plus simulators and a grill. Open late.
Trails and the Blue Ridge Parkway
15 to 60 minutes
-
Hard Times Trailhead, Bent Creek
The main door into Bent Creek: gravel road to Lake Powhatan and a web of hiking and biking trails that connect through to the Arboretum.
-
Gardens, the bonsai collection, and miles of trails at the Parkway's doorstep. Winter Lights runs November into January.
-
The Southern Highland Craft Guild's galleries and shop, and the easiest Parkway stop from the Forest.
-
Rhododendron balds and the Craggy Pinnacle trail with views in every direction. Approach from the Asheville side; the picnic area is closed for now.
-
A mile-high valley with an easy loop and two waterfalls. Blueberries in August, color in October, and a full lot by nine on fall weekends.
-
A short, steep walk onto a grassy bald above 6,000 feet with views for seventy miles. The forest road to the trailhead often gates in winter.
-
The highest point east of the Mississippi, reachable from the Asheville side of the Parkway only until the northern section reopens.
Day Trips
20 to 60 minutes
-
Brewery, taproom, trails, and an amphitheater. Worth the drive when there's something on the calendar, so that link goes straight to events.
-
Farm store and butcher counter, with hayrides, pumpkins, and fresh-pressed cider in the fall. Wednesday through Sunday.
-
The monolith, the elevator, Hickory Nut Falls, and the view down Lake Lure. Timed-entry tickets; reserve before you drive.
-
Looking Glass Falls and Sliding Rock
A sixty-foot roadside waterfall, and two miles on, a natural rock slide. Sliding Rock is staffed only in summer.
-
The poet's farm: house tours, the goat barn, and five miles of trails. Grounds open dawn to dusk.
-
Orchestra, opera, and chamber music under the open-sided pavilion, June through early August. One of the summer's best evenings out.
-
The State Theatre of North Carolina. The holiday show sells out, so book early.
-
Pick-your-own apples and cider doughnuts, September into early November. Stepp's in Hendersonville is the other good one.
Oby Morgan · Biltmore Forest Realty · 18 South Pack Square, Asheville, NC 28801 · (828) 702-8033
Licensed with Ivester Jackson Blackstream, an affiliate of Christie's International Real Estate
Last reviewed . Nothing on this page is sponsored. Hours, prices, and seasonal openings change; confirm with the venue before you go.