Asheville for a week

[aspentosh]

Looking at doing Asheville for a full week during spring break (early April). Is that too long if we want to take advantage of hiking as well as cultural stuff (like the Biltmore, food, etc)? It'll be H, DD (8), me, and our dog. 

We're in NoVA so will drive down, so if a week is too long, is there another area that would be good to split the time between them?

[orval]

I think a week is ok if you are willing to make that your home base and drive a little.
In Asheville, Biltmore, Western NC Nature Museum wildwnc.org/ (also near Highland Brewing), Sierra Nevada Brewing, New Belgium Brewery (tour- they have a slide on the tour!). These are all kid friendly.
A hour drive or so -- Smokey Mountain National Park -- hiking, history.
Waterfalls in Brevard - Sliding Rock (doesnt open until Mem. Day for sliding) but still pretty), Looking Glass Falls many others in Pisgah National Forest about 30 minutes from Sierra Nevada.
Grandfather Mountain is popular in the mountains about 1.5 hours away.
grandfather.com/

[CrazyLucky]

How much do you like hiking? You could easily spend a week in Asheville if you like hiking. I think early April is fine. The Biltmore gardens probably won't be at their most beautiful, but the house is still pretty amazing.

[aspentosh]

CrazyLucky, a lot. Like, H and I spent our 10th anniversary hiking in Utah and Arizona. And DD is great up to about 5 miles.

Definitely willing to drive some. We're looking at staying a bit outside of Asheville (closer to Pisgah for access to trails), so thanks for the info orval!

[sexycarrot]

I agree not too long if you are willing to do some day trips out from there. You could go to Grandfather Mountain and do both hiking and the more touristy things like the swinging bridge and animal habitats.

8 yo may be a bit old for Tweetsie Railroad, but there may be other things in the Blowing Rock/Boone area that would interest you.

Asheville gets a lot of good concerts as well, so you may want to see who will be there when you are and get some tickets if interested.

[erbear]

Too long, IMO. I could do Asheville for a week but I'd spend a lot of time in the breweries, which might not be that fun for a kid.

[jwright]

In addition to all the spots mentioned, you should add a kayak trip on the French Broad to the list. We use French Broad Outfitters. It will be too cold for tubing. I haven't done it but there's a couple of zipline companies. Also, spend a day in downtown Asheville, there's a lot of funky shops, Pinball museum, great food, LaZoom comedy bus tour, etc most of the breweries are kid (and dog) friendly.

[scout8]

I moved to Asheville two weeks ago, so definitely not an expert yet! As long as you like to hike, I think there is plenty to do for a week. You may want to double check the Blue Ridge Parkway. It seems like you need to drive on it to get to some of the good hikes and it closes down for the season. I'm not sure when everything reopens again.

[aspentosh]

Thanks all! We decided on 5 days. I don't think we'll have a problem filling the days with all you guys listed above and I am sure there is more. Super excited!