In late June, I was lucky enough to be able to go on a work trip with Joe to Lake Oconee, GA. We decided to drive home, partly because I prefer road trips to flying and partly so that we could stop in Asheville, somewhere I’ve been wanting to go for years (actually, since I started reading Sarah Addison Allen’s books!). So, we drove to Asheville from Atlanta, about 3 1/2 hours, (the drive into Asheville was stunning) and arrived around 1 pm. After receiving a text from Bunn House that we could have an early check in, we headed straight there to drop off our bags and check out the room. First of all, Asheville and its surroundings are stunning. The mountains are visible from almost anywhere you are and the view is incredible and the mountain air feels so fresh!
Bunn House was built in 1905 by Albert Bunn, a brick manufacturer and contractor from Birmingham, England. In 2013, the current owners bought it and turned it into a boutique hotel focused on refined luxury while maintaining its historical charm.
How cute is this sign at Bunn House with ideas of things to do around Asheville?! They have it hung in their common room!
After dropping off our bags, checking out the common room where we grabbed some water, snacks, and a map, we decided to drive to the Biltmore and see if we could tour it. Just the drive in was pretty impressive- there’s a really cute little “village” of what looks like shops and restaurants built around the estate and a little gift shop at the entrance/exit. We were disappointed to find that touring the Biltmore wasn’t really in the cards for us- it was a pretty expensive tour at a minimum of $75 the day we arrived (the price of admission varies from $55-$85 depending on the day and time of year) as we were expecting something similar to the other historic estates we’ve toured for typically $30-$40 and it was a very lengthy tour. The drive itself from entrance to house was about a half hour and then the tour could be up to 2 hours plus time to view and tour additional sites such as the farm, restaurant, etc… which you might as well do if you’re paying $75 per person! Anyway, it was definitely something we want to do in the future, it just didn’t make sense for the price and the amount of time that we had this trip.
After stopping at the Biltmore gift shop & picking up a small print of the estate (fun fact: we try to get a memento from everywhere we go but particularly the historic homes we visit- we have an illustration of The Breakers in Newport, the Greenbrier in WV, a copy of a book by Edith Wharton from The Mount in the Berkshires, and nothing of note from Hildene in VT but we’ve been there, too!) we drove into downtown Asheville. Bunn House says that it is walkable from the hotel but it looked like rain and we were a little short on time. We parked (super simple, by the way! Nothing like parking in Philadelphia!) and walked around the town and into a few shops. We didn’t buy anything but instead went and had a beer at a local brewery called One World Brewing (you can still see our highlights of Asheville/Bunn House saved on my Instagram stories!) and it was really cool (more pictures in my stories!).
Asheville is known for its vibrant arts and music scene (and the food scene is pretty amazing, too!), so it was really cool to see a lot of art galleries around and to hear music pretty much anywhere we walked, we even heard some live music!
From One World Brewing, we walked next door to Salsas for dinner because it smelled really good and I wanted Mexican and IT WAS DELICIOUS! If you like Mexican and are ever in Asheville, go here! It was one of THE BEST meals I’ve ever had. I didn’t even look to see if there was dessert, I was that full and it was that good.
Because I didn’t get dessert at Salsas, of course I wanted it the minute we got back to our room. So, we texted the concierge at Bunn House (there is no concierge at the actual hotel, everything is done via email and text, which is actually really nice) and asked if there were any walkable ice cream places. She suggested Ultimate Ice Cream so we walked there and it was really good, too!
After getting some ice cream, we had a glass of wine (that Bunn House provided!) on the rooftop deck and watched the sunset… or what we could see of it. It was really cloudy and a little drizzly but the mountain views were breathtaking nonetheless. I love how clean mountain air smells and feels when you breathe it!
The bed was so comfortable and I really appreciated that they had L’Occitane en Provence lavender pillow spray and toiletries.
There’s also Nespresso coffee machines and almond milk (and regular milk) in the room and it was really nice to be able to make and enjoy good coffee in the morning (Keurigs just don’t cut it for me!)! We woke up early and made ourselves some coffee to enjoy while packing the car and walking the grounds while taking in the mountain views before we left to make the drive home.
We both really enjoyed this trip, drive and all. Joe and I both enjoy road trips so even though it took us about 10 hours to get home, we didn’t think it was bad at all. If I had to make a recommendation for the amount of time you needed for a trip to Asheville, I would say that 1 night is ok but 2 would be better, especially if you want to do the Biltmore- I would reserve a full half of a day just for that. Then you’ll probably want some time to walk around the city, eat, grab some drinks, etc. If you have a little more time to stay, Asheville is also known for it’s outdoor activities such as hiking, water activities, mountain views, waterfalls, and more. So, we absolutely will be back, Asheville!
