Les Jones

Travel > Daytrips to Asheville, North Carolina

Driving time from Knoxville: 2 hours
Where to point your car: East on I-40

Asheville's downtown is amazing. It's an example of a downtown that's been revitalized, but it's also an example of a downtown that was never completely de-vitalized. Some of the shops have operated continuously for over 100 years, and everything is well-kept and prosperous-looking.

There's no shortage of shops, restaurants, coffeehouses, and book stores. On the weekends there's a hippie arts and crafts market at Bio-Wheels on Biltmore Avenue. While Melissa shopped in the Oak Grove Arcade on Monday, I got online at Malaprop's bookstore and cybercafe at the intersection of Haywood and Walnut.

For lunches we indulged in Asian food at the Noodle House (best wonton soup we've ever eaten) and Doc Chey's (great noodles and great interior). For dinner we took SouthKnoxBubba's advice and drove down to Tunnel Road to eat at the Greenery, which was excellent. The wine selection is especially amazing.

We visited Biltmore House for the candlelight Christmas tour. For Christmas they light the fireplaces (all 65 of them) and candle aubras, and decorate the house with holiday ornaments. The candlelight tour includes the behind the scenes tour of the basement, with its pantries, kitchens, laundry rooms, twin bowling alleys, and the indoor swimming pool, which was one of the first to have underwater lights. (I still think the coolest thing in all of Biltmore estate is Napolean's chess set.)

Asheville is a great daytrip from Knoxville, but the night tour of Biltmore meant making a weekend of it. We stayed at the Days Inn on Patton Street downtown. Not the greatest hotel, but cheap at 45 smackers and within easy walking distance to everything downtown. Josh and Kerry recommend the downtown Best Western (nicer, but 65 smackers, and you'll have to drive more).

For the return trip we took the scenic route through Hot Springs, North Carolina, a cute little town on the French Broad river. Besides the natural hot springs, its other claim to fame is that the Appalachian Trail goes right down the town's main street. The scenic route also passes through downtown Newport, Tennessee. It seemed just as fast as the interstate, so unless the weather's bad take the scenic route.

Other daytrips from Knoxville:

Chattanooga, TN
Crossville, TN
Jonesborough, TN
Townsend and Walland, TN

Looks like I've got some extra space down here to talk about the photographs. The long shadows would lead you to believe that these were taken early in the morning. In reality, all of these pictures were taken at mid-day between 11:00 AM and about 2:00 PM. The reason for the long shadows is the date: December 22, just one day after the winter solstice, when the sun is lowest in the sky. Between now and the summer solstice (June 21) the days will get longer and the sun will get higher in the sky.