asheville in winter

We are planning to go to Asheville by the end of December. Can you please tell us more information about activities, places to go, to eat, etc. We are a family of 6 (with 2 daughters 9 and 12) as well as my 2 in laws (69 and 60).

Thanks for the advice

Ingapirca

asheville in winter

First I would do some searching on this site, chowhound.com for restaurants and exploreasheville.com for activities and places to go.

Your daughters (and the rest of you) would enjoy the gingerbread house display at the Grove Park Inn which will be up until January.

You can try going to some of the nearby ski areas like Wolf Laurel for snowboarding, skiing.

Horseback riding

Trolley tours of town

Walking around downtown

Tour of Biltmore House

asheville in winter

The Asheville area is great for Christmas.

Cataloochee Ski Area in Maggie Valley is open, as well as Tony%26#39;s Tube World, across the road from Ghost Town. The kids would LOVE the tubing, I bet. Maggie Valley is 20 - 30 minutes from Asheville.

We enjoy going up to Newfound Gap in the National Park between Cherokee and Gatlinburg. There%26#39;s always snow and ice that time of year. Cherokee is about 45 minutes from Asheville, with Newfound Gap about another 30 minutes from there.

Have a great trip. We%26#39;ll be there, too!

BradMac must know some shorter routes or drive a lot faster than us locals but Maggie Valley is closer to 30-40 and Cherokee closer to 1 hr away from Asheville.

thank you very much for all your comments!. One silly question: Does snow in Asheville?

Thanks

Ingapirca

Yes it snows but not much and not often. Your chances of seeing snow in December are slim, the chances of it actually sticking around on the ground for more than a couple of hrs are almost non-existent. Our bigger snows are usually in Jan or Feb, if we have them at all. Higher elevations like Boone, Cashiers, Maggie Valley would see more.

Sorry, Weaverville. I guess I should have given mileage instead of travel time.

Google maps shows Asheville 35 miles from Maggie Valley. I do drive 65 mph or so, and that calculates to 32 minutes instead of 30 minutes.

Cherokee is 64 miles from Asheville, via Dillsboro. At 65 mph, it%26#39;s 1 hour, not 45 minutes.

I stand corrected. Apologies to all for the mistake.