A few weeks ago I headed to Greensboro for my friend Emily’s wedding. I knew I’d be driving and it was a solid 5+ hours. While checking the maps a few weeks prior to heading out, I noticed a city on the way that I’ve been dying to visit, Asheville. It’s been on my bucket travel list for a long time as I’ve heard AMAZING things about it. From the great food, breweries, foliage and The Biltmore, there’s so much to do. I asked Lauren if she’d like to join me on a little roadtrip and thankfully she said yes. From Atlanta, this was a really great few days and super easy drive. We drove the 3.5 hours to Asheville and stayed there for 2 nights, then drove the 2ish hours to Greensboro and met up with Kristin for the remainder of the weekend. The drive back from Greensboro was a cinch too. It’s 85 S all the way making it super easy. Keep on reading to see what we did on our North Carolina road trip!
Asheville is famous for their incredible foliage. We were probably one week too early but trees were starting to change. The drive up was absolutely stunning. It was rolling hills and mountains full of lush trees all beginning to turn yellow and red. I wish we had more time here as I would’ve loved to have done a hike.
The Biltmore was a highlight of our Asheville trip. We spent hours there and wish we went even earlier to explore more. There’s so much to see and do that I recommend really planning your day out to make the most of it. More details on what to do below!
The super pretty and modern AC Hotel Downtown Asheville lobby.
Where To Stay
AC Hotel Downtown Asheville – Right in the heart of downtown, we loved the location of this hotel. We walked absolutely everywhere which was great. Right across from it was Green Sage Cafe where we grabbed a spiced apple chai cider every morning. It’s also a few doors down from Over Easy where we had breakfast one day. I loved that everything was super walkable which was one of my favorite things about Asheville.
The lobby smelled amazing and whatever they’re lighting or spraying they should sell in their gift shop. The lobby was big and modern with these fun giant chairs. The hotel also has an awesome rooftop bar called Capella on 9 with great views and yummy cocktails. Highly recommend it for a little night cap and some live music. The food menu looked great as well, but we were so stuffed the one night we went up there after eating at Cùrate that we just opted for a cocktail.
O.Henry Hotel Greensboro – The sister hotel to where Emily was getting married, this was a traditional southern beauty. We loved the little red bikes they offered to take around town. We also did high tea one afternoon and sat outside in the courtyard. It was such a beautiful day and were shocked more people weren’t out there. We asked the server if maybe they just didn’t offer tea out there and we were just being high maintenance and her response was too funny. She said “no we serve tea out here too, I just think most people like to do tea indoors”. Maybe so, but this gorgeous fall weather was too good to pass up.
This hotel also offers one of the most epic complimentary breakfast buffets to all its guests. As in, biscuits and gravy, cheese grits, eggs, meats and more. It was a serious spread and it made our mornings so much easier not having to get ready and leave to grab breakfast.
High tea at O.Henry. This was such a fun way to enjoy the afternoon before heading to Emily’s wedding.
WHERE TO EAT
ASHEVILLE
Table – Order the fried chicken for two
Curate – Incredible tapas, the fried eggplant was our favorite
Green Sage Cafe – Good for quick sandwiches, spiced apple chais and coffees
Trade & Lore – Our favorite coffee shop, we went every morning
Early Girl Eatery – Probably my favorite breakfast in a while
Over Easy Cafe – Delicious, but Early Girl Eatery was my favorite
Wicked Weed Brewery – Beer tastings and good snacks
Capella on 9 – Rooftop cocktails for the win
GREENSBORO
Crafted The Art Of The Taco – Great queso and tacos
Crafted The Art Of Street Food – Phenomenal thai food
Gibbs Hundred Brewery – A fun brewery to hang out at
The Baker & The Bean – Great sweets & coffee
Four Flocks & Larder – Mule heaven!
Hush – A unique speakeasy behind Baker & The Bean
THINGS TO DO
ASHEVILLE
Breweries – We visited Wicked Weed, but there’s also New Belgium, Asheville Brewing Company, Burial Beer and so many more.
Biltmore – This place is MASSIVE. Plan to be there all day and wear comfortable shoes. All tickets include a visit to the winery so I recommend making a point to visit it. And fun fact, the road you drive down to get from The Biltmore to the winery was the road Forrest Gump famously ran down “run Forrest run!”. We Uber’d to the Biltmore and then paid to take their shuttle from the estate to the winery.
Hikes & Trails – Our trip was barely 48 hours but plan to go back and explore the mountains more.
GREENSBORO
Breweries – Visited Gibbs Hundred Brewery and Preyer’s was highly recommended.
Civil Rights Center & Museum
Antique Market Place
A FEW GREENSBORO HIGHLIGHTS
This was my first time ever in Greensboro as well as Asheville. I was excited to see the city that Emily and Nick live in and get to explore. Similar to Asheville, it has several great breweries (which has become my new favorite weekend activity) and a great foodie scene. We went to Crafted, both the taco joint and thai street food, who is owned by chef Kris Fuller. We had the pleasure of meeting her while dining at The Art Of Street Food. She was super cool and beyond passionate about her food, which you could easily tell by trying her dishes.
One afternoon we popped into The Bakery & The Bean to get a coffee and sweet treat. I discovered this cute spot while browsing on Instagram (a favorite way to find some fun spots while traveling to new places). While in there being annoying and taking all the photos, the owner came out and said hello. She showed us around and gave us a tour of the speakeasy in the back called Hush. It was the coolest little bar ever. Then we walked two doors down to Four Flocks & Larder which was also stunning in it’s own right. We decided to ditch the coffees and get onto the hard stuff. They had a huge selection of mules and juleps to choose from so we all got a different one to try. It was such a fun way to spend the morning (damn it really was morning to be honest) before heading to high tea at the O’Henry.
Thank you to a few people for helping to make this road trip absolutely amazing.
Greensboro Convention & Visitors Bureau
Local Toyota Dealers – We had the opportunity to try out the new Toyota Avalon Touring for this trip. I have to say, it was one comfortable ride. The car was also full of incredible technology making a road trip super easy and comfortable.
