Asheville: A Luxury Hotel Resort Destination And A Slice Of Americana

Asheville has long been known for attracting a wealthy international traveler in search of leisure and luxury accommodations. Since the first days of Biltmore Estate, the Vanderbilt family has entertained here. And, Edwin Grove built the Grove Park Inn in North Asheville, on sales from a popular chill tonic. These early commercial giants also attracted an artistic and business class that brought cultural and economic growth and sophistication to the Western North Carolina region, which was once solely the domain of the Appalachian farmer and drover, or a tuberculosis patient here to recover.

Today, Asheville is known for being a cultural center, a place where blue grass music and other musical genres thrive. Asheville is also one of the centers of the farm to table and organic food movements, as well as green building and sustainable living just to name a few. The progressive, artistic, computer savvy and politically active residents of Asheville are known for their liveliness and expression and their high degree of tolerance for a variety of lifestyles.

Asheville: A Destination for the Sophisticated Traveler

Asheville has historically served as a fashionable resort for those wanting luxury accommodations. This began with the Vanderbilt’s construction of Biltmore Estate in the late 1800s and, it continued with the establishment of the Grove Park Inn in 1914, and the opening of Haywood Park Hotel on Battery Park in Asheville.

Yet the sophisticated traveler has even more options in contemporary Asheville. Luxury resorts and condo hotels have opened in and around the Asheville area, offering many nice amenities as well as quality accommodations. These luxury hotel amenities often include spas and concierge services. For instance, the Residences at Biltmore, just outside the gates of Biltmore Estate, pampers and delights guests with travel concierge services. This condo hotel is an all-suite property with full kitchens, whirlpool tubs and other luxury amenities such as large screen televisions and gas fireplaces. Other hotels, slated for construction in and near downtown Asheville, will offer luxury accommodations as well.

Asheville: A Thriving Cultural Center

Asheville has been called Paris of the East, and for good reason. In the 1920s, Asheville was alive with sidewalk cafés, bohemian life, artistic and fashion movements. Today, the Appalachian mountain setting makes it the perfect place for artists to coalesce, collaborate, and experiment. The River Arts District, which centers around artist studios in the warehouse district along the French Broad River, is beginning to swarm with excitement and activity.

North Asheville

North Asheville is the home of University of North Carolina Asheville and the Montford Historic District. Montford and North Asheville are filled with mansions, estate homes, and other historic sites dating to the 19th and Early 20th Century. North Asheville is very close to downtown Asheville, making it a popular place to live.

West Asheville

West Asheville, which was once the historic downtown district in the 1920s, is a hub of activity with new stores, restaurants and bars opening each year to add to the thriving inner city life that has developed there. West Asheville has been known as the gay and lesbian district. It is also filled with homes and cottages dating to the 1920s which were once used as vacation cottages and have since been converted to year round living quarters. Downtown West Asheville has some grand homes and mansions that have been rehabbed and given some new polish by the new inhabitants. The eclectic choice of second hand stores, shopping, coffeehouses, and bars makes West Asheville a great destination for the traveler in search of some local color.

South Asheville

South Asheville is where Biltmore Estate is located, and many popular communities thrive right on the perimeter of the estate property. In the shopping and historic district at the foot of the mountain beneath the Estate grounds is Biltmore Village, where workers who built the estate used to live and worship. There are numerous restaurants, entertainment and shopping choices in South Asheville.

East Asheville

East Asheville is the location of the Asheville Mall. There is also an entrance to the Blue Ridge Parkway in East Asheville. Generally known as the shopping district, East Asheville is the place to go for shopping, food and entertainment.

No matter where the traveler to Asheville is headed for food, art, or entertainment, he or she will find remnants of historical Asheville mixed in with the contemporary feel of the town. Whether it’s a local farmer’s market, or a visit to Shindig on the Green to see the best in Blue Grass downtown, the sophisticated traveler is sure to find a taste of local life here. And, if the traveler looks closely enough, he or she will see that the sophistication that built Asheville still resides here – and always has. This luxury mountain getaway has just been colored by metropolitan lifestyles of the 21st Century.