Great place for a picnic or just to hang out. The pavilions picnic tables are all over the place... some of the pavilions you have to rent but the empty picnic tables against the lake our first come first serve. Great playgrounds for kids. Great place to do a party or just have a picnic. There are many fishing opportunities and boat rentals as well. This is a great park staple in South Asheville. read more

Open limited hours. Things to do: fishing, picnic areas, playground, frisbee golf, and water access on 300 acre lake The grounds are well kept, but most of the grounds are closed. We did see several people fishing and picnicking. read more

Lake Julian Park - Parks Near Me - Arden, North Carolina

Ah, a park. What better way to work off pizza and feel unencumbered by life's tasks? Take me to a park, which I envision as paradise, even in the middle of industrial parks. Yep, you heard right. Read my reviews on Olympia and Crystal Lakes in Jersey. Happiness can be found in hidden natural areas. So, we park. We see a playground, a pavilion, benches here and there. We notice that you can rent small boats, which is really cool. My husband points out Duke Energy's coal-fired plant. Hmm. A bit concerning. But I can zone it out. Now, zoning out people is a whole other matter. My kids were enjoying the radiation-tinged ducks. They were chill, and my kids were chill. A few adults ruined the peace by letting their brats step in front of my brats and scare the ducks off. Talk about rude. We walked away. I inwardly prayed that one of the ducks had mutated into an extreme nipper that goes after destroyers of equilibrium. We approached the playground. One of the aforementioned adults was on a swing, preventing waiting children from swinging. Hey, I'm all for it when kids aren't around, but I would never deprive a kid of one for a minute, as I always recall Robert Louis Stevenson's fine words regarding childhood moments. There was another set of adults- or kids just entering adulthood with kids of their own- who were so oblivious to kids not their own that they would just walk through the invisible "no walking" zone that exists under standard monkey bars. The monkey-kid has to wait for rude people to pass so that they can pass. Maybe a crossing guard is needed. One kid told my daughter that she could not go down the double-run slide because he was waiting for his dad to come up and complete the mission with him. My daughter backed quietly away. As we left, a young couple was letting their toddler throw sticks at a duck. I waited to see if the child would fall in the water, or if the duck would remove his left eye. Nothing happened. I felt forlorn. This park is a semi-paradise. The domesticated mammals mar the wilderness, resulting in questions within myself that have to answered through investigation during a future visit. read more

Great little place to take your kids, pets and boats for a good time. Small location but quite a bit to offer. Definitely worth a visit, just remember it is pretty compact and a lot of people like going. read more

After years of living in Asheville, I made my first trip to lake Julian Park for my canoes maiden voyage. This park was very close to home, and has a $8 bring your own boat day fee, so it was the perfect spot to see if our animals wanted to canoe as well. The park itself is kind of compact but it has a lot to offer. Lake rentals, disc golf, playgrounds, pavilions and more. My favorite thing was the canoe launch, I'm not sure if this is normal or not but they have a plastic canoe/kayak launch that allows you to stabilize your vessel before pushing off into the water. For us, with the animals, this was amazing. Our dog jumped right into the boat, and I think I have this stabilizer to thank for it. At first, you have the site of the Duke energy plant, which is not favorable, but it was soon out of sight for a majority of our trip. I was impressed with the size of the lake which is tucked away off a busy area of south Asheville. There were a lot of coves to paddle throughout, and wide open spaces as well that we had to ourselves. I throughly enjoyed our day on the lake, and so did our dog and cat! No swimming here though so I have to take off a star, my dog was reallllllly wanting to play in the water. I will definitely be back on the days where I want to get out on the lake with the animals, but don't want to have to travel to do so. read more

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We visited Lake Julian for the fireworks, this fourth, having never been there before. We were unaware the lake water is considered unsuitable for swimming or wading, and our daughter was quite disappointed by this. The middle of the lake is occupied by a factory that uses the lake water for cooling their plant, and apparently, swimming has never been allowed. The park itself seems well maintained, although the Fourth of July crowds had left a fair amount of litter strewn about. Although the surrounding environs is fairly nice, the Fourth of July crowd was atypical for this Asheville area, littering and generally disrespectful to the park. We will visit the park to wander the walking trails another day, but will not likely return for the fireworks display again. read more

Lake Julian Park - Parks Near Me - Arden, North Carolina

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I took my two dogs here, they liked it, but they are not picky. This place has some nice walking areas. Nothing too great. Some interesting walkways over water. Disc golf can be played here. The water was not much to look at, rather mucky in some places. I was here off season, I'm sure it looks nicer in the spring/summer. read more

Went for 4th of July with 6 in our group. Unfortunately, my wife got hurt after a kayak ride. Staff pointed us to help. Came back after urgent Care trip. After that, we had an absolute blast. Great staff made ALL the difference! They helped us with our table, dinner, more boating, parking, and GREAT seats for the fireworks show. Just can't say enough about how kind the staff were on a SUPER day. Been going here for 20 years, but won't consider anywhere else now. So great! read more