In 2024, Hurricane Helene devastated the area. 80 percent of the River Arts District was destroyed…read moreand about 600 artists lost artwork and their studios. We visited in December 2025, and the Warehouse Studios was recently reopened (they said that waters had reached the second floor) and they also told me that several studios could never be reopened. This area is clearly marked with signage, a-frame signs with murals, coffee shops, studios and stores. Walk in the studios, see the artists at work, talk with them about their art. The Blue Ridge mountains, nature, and flora are prominent in lots of art, though there is so much more -- pottery, glass, textiles, photography, jewelry.... This was one of the highlights of our AVL trip.

The service is great The even have popcorn and cocoa on…read morethe house. Kid and dog friendly with a small slide for the kiddies and a fire place outside There is a food truck outside- looks like good options Decent restrooms and parking space.

City landscapes across the country are changing. Urban renewal projects have brought a new era and…read morevibe to most major metropolitans. Asheville is no exception! While much of the Street Art is concentrated in the River Arts District, it is not difficult to find sculptures and murals throughout the entire city. Being an artist myself, I am thrilled with the trend of public displays and only wish I were an art student growing up in this era of opportunity. Asheville has long been one of my favorite little cities because it, more than any other small city I've every visited, is an artist haven. Maybe that has something to do with the Black Mountain College art program that was widely successful in the mid 1950's and produced a laundry list of artists that would go on the become highly influential. THE EXPERIENCE My search for street art began at the viaduct on Merrimon Avenue below I-240. Here you can bear witness to just how paint, a brush and an idea can transform the ordinary into the extraordinary! This could have been like every other dreary inner city interstate underpass, but instead it feels like a hug and a "Hello, glad you could come!" You can keep south to see a few more displays around the downtown area or turn right on Patton Avenue and left on Clingman Avenue to find your way over to the River Arts District. The art here is currently and mostly graffiti style (which isn't exactly my favorite). However, more and more illustrative artist are making their mark and if you look carefully, you will find some amazingly detailed pieces of work amongst all the graffiti-like scribble. I hear there are also great pieces on the west side of town, but I will have to explore that on another visit as I was running out of daylight and allotted time to see all I could. FINAL THOUGHTS Asheville is rich in this Bohemian vibe, a vibe that seems full of life, creativity, acceptance and optimism. A place to experience a wide range of different tastes in music, fashion, art, and literature. I can't wait to see how the Street Art catches fire here in the future. I suspect of all the cities in America, Asheville may become one of the greatest places to view dazzling public displays! Since it is fairly close to Atlanta, I will continue to visit an update more in the future. Maybe soon they will attract internationally renowned commissioned street artists such as Natalia Rak, Etam Cru, INTI, Eduardo KOBRA, Bordallo II and Fin DAC with the most unique of these artists being Bordallo II (Google his work). Fingers crossed! 2018/70

Asheville is on fleek when it comes to the public arts! They have things down around here. This is…read moresuch an artists' town! This town can't just have a blank wall or an empty street corner here. Instead, they fill their empty spaces with wonderful murals and sculptures! It's really cool! I enjoyed the fact that so many of the arts are in the downtown area. All within a few blocks of each other you can tour a few dozen different large scale works of art. Be sure to check out the large iron on the street corner. Some of the old paintings are really, really old- like old advertisements. There's a lot of history in this town, much of which is connected to today through the art. Be sure to check out the stuff dealing with O Henry, the San Antonio short story author. If you're an arts tourist, there's a map you can find online that has a walking route planned out for you where you can get the most efficient route, and a bit of history on each piece of work.

This was a really fun place and somewhere really great where you can go with someone under 21 years…read moreold. If you're out late in downtown, your options are limited to ice cream places and only a few other options so it really checks a lot of boxes. I will say they let too many people in When I read about this place, it was something like they let 60 people in but they're 70 machines so logically it sounds like it's gonna be a good deal. However, people are people and some people never ever get off of a good game and we'll just sit on it all night. Plus, some of the pinball games are just terrible and nobody seemed to play them all night long. Still, I have gone to a number of arcade bars over the years and I would come back to this one. Also, good luck beating my high score on 1941 that's my game Just saying

Does a museum have have a velvet rope and a bouncer at the door? I'd call this an arcade, instead,…read moreand a fun one at that. $17 a person gets you an all-day wristband and unlimited playing. There's a large room with newer machines and retro ones, all set up to play, no quarters needed. Another room has video games. Your admission includes all the games, though they mentioned Deadpool and another game were extra. The machines worked well, the plungers and flippers were smooth, and the lights and sounds were in working order. They said we could leave and come back later to play, with the wristband.

Get Woke! This Wake sculpture was commissioned as part of…read morethe Mel Chin: All Over the Place exhibition that led to this artwork being displayed in Times Square. It's supposed to be animatronic and move or something, but I didn't see it doing any moving. Maybe Wake was sleeping? It kinda looks like the person at the helm of a ship, with the parts of the helm behind them. When we came, during Pandemic, the Wake person was wearing a mask, which was most appreciated. This giant work of public art is nestled in a triangular lot right next to Burial Brewery on the South Slope of Asheville's brewing district. It fits right in with all the cool, unique weird stuff going on in this neighborhood!

This amazing sculpture was engineered and sculpted by a team of UNC Asheville students and staff…read moreand community artists. It was displayed in Times Square and has since been brought home and is on display in Asheville's South Slope. It's a beautiful piece designed to make a statement about climate change. It's 40 feet tall and the coolest part? It's animatronic! I highly recommend stopping by, visiting her and then hitting one (or three) of the brewers that are in the area. Have fun!!

The Thomas Dambo Troll Exhibit brought me back to NC for the first time in decades. And the team at…read morethe Arboretum, and the grounds as well as the exhibit did not disappoint. Made it there on New Year's Day. Bright and early. Did get lost trying to follow GPS so map it as it reads on the website. Siri thinks she knows better and I ended up in the boonies without service. Backtracked and when I had cell service again, followed instructions and got there without a hitch. The staff, mainly in the Welcome Center was great. So friendly. Knowledgeable. Genuinely pleasant. Not only providing instructions on the exhibit but shared a few stories about the process. It was cold but the walk and sun, when it came out, helped me to not freeze. In fact, by the halfway point, I had removed my outer layer. I mentioned this because it wasn't all paved paths - eventually after you pass through the garden directly outside the Welcome Center - you wander onto the packed trail. Glad I got there early as by the time I left, the parking lot was filled up fast and cars were lining up at the entrance to the park. I didn't check out anything else at the Arboretum but judging from what I did see, it's a beautiful area and exhibit. If I happen to make a return visit, it'll definitely be when it's warmer weather.

We went there later in the day but still had plenty of time to walk the red trail. Not a lot is…read moreblooming at this time of year but it was still a really nice walk. It is a dog friendly place so I feel like it is a great place for locals to come with their pups. There was even a family taking advantage of the "golden hour" lighting for family photos. We sat for a bit on one of the many benches available along the trails to take in the mountain view. And a large area dedicated for families and children with natural things to climb on and through. They have children's nature programs available as well. I would definitely go back again! And they are part of the reciprocal program with other Gardens & Arboretums around the country!!

When you're in Asheville, they say the Biltmore is a MUST! So we booked a couple tickets ($115 PP)…read morefor the regular grounds tour + wine tasting. It was the perfect day weather wise to tour through the estate inside and out. The place is massive! The closer you get the more small you feel and walking through from room to room you just can't believe how big and spacious it is. This was my first tour where they give you this phone that looks vintage or from the 80's and you click on each number and an audio guides you through each room and gives you the back story. It was quite amusing watching so many people walking around with these phones up to their ears while trying to take photos. Some of the rooms were so beautiful, the fireplaces and how well they preserved a lot of these super old things. It was a fairly busy afternoon but the pace was quite steady for a weekday so I'm glad we chose that over a weekend. After the tour inside we grab a bite and drink at the two places offered outside. Then we made our way through the gardens and just endless rows of tulips. Make sure you go through and down to go to the botanical gardens. Holy cow, this was place was insane and the plants and flowers were gorgeous. I gotta give it up for these landscapers and people that keep up with all of it. There were plants and flowers I've never seen before and then you get to one room where there's a violinist and that was such a nice touch. After that we hopped back into our car and strolled over to the wine tasting room and gift shop. They were very quick and efficient with how it was set up and with all these groups coming in at once. We got to taste 5 wines and ended up taking 2 bottles home. I would say be prepared to spend some money visiting the Biltmore Estate but it was totally worth it! We got some beautiful views and photos!

The Biltmore at Christmas is truly magical. The mansion is glowing with lights, and the…read morebeautifully manicured grounds make the entire property feel like a holiday dream. Inside, the decorations are absolutely stunning, with poinsettias and flowers everywhere and breathtaking Christmas trees in every room. Carolers and a harp player add to the festive atmosphere, making the experience even more special. The tour is very informative, and we loved learning about the history of the estate. There's also so much to enjoy around the property, including the gardens, winery, hotel, and restaurants. The gift shops are filled with wonderful keepsakes, too. This is one of my favorite places to visit and, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful examples of ornamental architecture--especially during the magic of Christmas.

me and my wife did the glass blowing experience, and could not be happier! The check in process was…read morevery easy, the staff made everything extremely straightforward and walked us through the process. The selection of colors and the things we could make was outstanding, and we were able to get a really unique piece. instructors were extremely patient, and walked us through everything, and made the process very fun and enjoyable. Great value for the experience; not only do you get to see the whole process up close, as well as participate in making something fun, but you get to take homes piece of art you helped make.

Stopped in to inquire about classes and to see the glass blowing and items for sale. Nice setup but…read moreonly a few people could fit up close and see the glass blowers at work. Person working the desk was not super outgoing but provided some information about classes.

On my recent visit to the Black Mountain College Museum & Art Center, when I entered, I was greeted…read moreand told about the history of the college. It focused on the arts and how they want to keep the legacy alive with work from alumni. Face masks are required as well as social distancing. The library downstairs is open but you cannot take the books of the shelf yourself but a staff member will gladly assist you. I like the open space of the museum and the light. I love the architecture of the older buildings and this is a perfect venue for the art. A poetry exhibit was downstairs. The museum is even offering virtual visits right now. So you can experience the museum from home.

Recent graduate from Rollins, so I loved visiting John Andrew Rice's college against Hamilton Holt!…read moreGreat exhibit featuring Mexican artists and the connection BMC had with its artistic alumni! Would recommend to any lover of progressive education. Gift shop has works and biographies of alumni and their contributions to BMC and in the artist realm.

This is a museum in progress but it was still pretty decent. I liked that they included pottery and…read moreitems from more recent times to tie in with the past. Overall I do wish they didn't cover over some of the signage with paint but it's very reading intensive. Kids probably wouldn't find this as interesting Would love more interactive parts like being able to touch beading, playing cultural songs, I loved the portion where you hear their language by syllables Really interesting and the girl at the counter was super sweet. The gift shop was kind of expensive- a sticker was $6.. overall easy parking and access.

Having visited many years ago the museum is in transition. They have taken out many items and are…read morelooking to eventually build a new facility. It was an average experience but one bit too be missed if wanting educating on the Cherokees.

Tiny but mighty! There are a few rooms here with interactive exhibits for kids. My 4 and 5 year…read moreolds could have spent a lot of time here even though at times it felt a little tight. There's a small climbing structure that my kids kept coming back to, which was a favorite. A lot of the exhibits focused on the earth. I think it was sort of lost on my kids, but the exhibits were fun to interact with. You can't really avoid the shop.

Very underwhelming, for a city known for tourism this is probably the lamest science center I've…read morebeen to. It's like 3 rooms total, all of them in basically the same space, there's probably a whole like 4 or 5 things for the kids to do that they can probably do within 30 minutes. The admission price should be like $5 for what it's worth. The lady at the front told me there was a bunch of hands on activities for babies and I'd say there was like three. The first room was a tiny room with a virtual earth, that if you touch the screen it says it will move but it doesn't work, everything else in that room is just reading/writing (made for tweens and up) and not very fun or engaging. Then there's a room full of rocks behind glass displays, not very exciting or hands on for kids (even as an adult, I felt like it was boring). There's one little section in the room where the kids can brush sand off rocks, but it was nothing special. The room with the bikes is the coolest room, but it's very small and like I said there's barely anything to do. You can look at different bikes on display, they have like 2 or 3 interactive things you can do to learn about how bikes work which take a minute to do. The there's a tiny jungle gym kind of thing that's sub-par, a water play area that's also sub-par and a sand pit where you can look for fossils which I guess would have been fun if my child was a bit older, but for little ones like mine, there wasn't much. He had a very tiny section in the corner he could play with and then he got bored. I guess I'm a bit spoiled because we live in the Triad and we have 3 of the best children's museums. It's guess it's a good thing to do to kill time if you literally have nothing else to do with your kids in Asheville but if I knew what it would be like I probably wouldn't do it again.