Asheville NC - what's it like?

[Anonymous]

My wife and I will be visiting Asheville NC from DC this spring with our two young kids (3 and under) for about a week. According to travel websites it looks interesting and we're looking forward to it. I want a better sense of the 'vibe' there, however. I've been told it's fairly 'granola', which is encouraging based on our leanings. Should I expect something similar to Charlottesville VA? If that's far off base, where else is similar? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

It's artsy. I never thought of it as crunchy though artsy and crunchy have some common elements. Like, I think of Takoma Park as crunchy, but it's not artsy. I can't think of any place around here that I would describe as artsy.

[Anonymous]

I love it. It reminds me more of Ithaca than Charlottesville. (I think of Charlottesville as kind of preppy.) Asheville is cool - great restaurants, bars with good live music, cool warehouse arts district along the river. It has a really good food scene. I love 12 Bones bbq down by the river (get the BLT with a fried green tomato); and Tupelo Honey Cafe (amazing for breakfast; for dinner, try the shrimp & grits, also the rosemary lemonade). Early Girl eatery was very good for breakfast. There's a cool Indian restaurant in the downtown area that was fun, can't remember the name. Have fun!

[Anonymous]

Hippy heaven.

[Anonymous]

First time visitor this fall, and I have to say, I was a bit underwhelmed--mostly because of the high expectations I had based on what I had heard from others vs. what I experienced. I was there for a weekend and felt like I could have (and did) explore the whole down town area in a couple of hours. The down town area is pretty quaint and artsy as others have described. There were some nice shops with handmade art and things like that.

I'd also agree with crunchy. We arrived on a Friday afternoon and there was a drum circle that formed in the park across the street from the Tupelo Cafe. Lots of people singing, dancing, playing hackey sack, and generally having fun. It is also close to a college, so there was a lot of younger folks dressed in very eclectic outfits (we saw a young man dressed as a nun riding a unicycle). Not saying this is a snooty way--there were also a lot of homeless people and transient-looking folks who look like they were backpacking across the country.

We ate at the Tupelo Cafe and it was very tasty. It is a pretty informal, but well-executed cafe/bistro-ish place, not really a "celebrate your anniversary place."

With that said, it is in close proximity to some very beautiful mountains, so if you are planning on doing some outdoorsy activities, you may come away with a different experience. We were there for a wedding, so we didn't really get to utilize the natural resources to the fullest. A week is a long time, so you will probably want to have some outdoor activities lined up for the kids--especially because they can't really partake in the vibrant micro-brewery scene that draws many to the city.

As a local example, it kind of reminded me of historic Frederick (where the restaurant Volt is) with some more artsy shops.

Not a bad city at all, just less than I was imagining.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, PP's, that's the kind of info I'm looking for.