Asheville Trip Overview
Expert tour guide takes you to America’s most diverse and busted National Park. The trip can vary by season, however your guide will ensure you see and experience a fantastic day to remember. Leave the driving, picture taking, and guiding to us!
Additional Info
Duration: 8 to 10 hours
Starts: Asheville, United States
Trip Category: Cultural & Theme Tours >> Cultural Tours
Explore Asheville Promoted Experiences
What to Expect When Visiting Asheville, North Carolina, United States
Expert tour guide takes you to America’s most diverse and busted National Park. The trip can vary by season, however your guide will ensure you see and experience a fantastic day to remember. Leave the driving, picture taking, and guiding to us!
Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product
Stop At: Oconaluftee Visitor Center, Us-441, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, TN 28719-8249
Talk to a ranger about the park and pick up park maps (free) and pamphlets on the different sections of the park here. The visitor center also features a three-dimensional relief map of the park and geology and history exhibits. Get your picture taken with The Smoky Mountain National Park Sign. In the mornings and evenings Elk roam near here.
Duration: 10 minutes
Stop At: Mountain Farm Museum, U.S. 441 at Oconaluftee Visitors Center, Cherokee, NC
For hundreds of years, Cherokee Native Americans lived and farmed in the Smoky Mountains in permanent settlements. Under the Indian Removal Act of 1830, the U.S. government forced the Cherokees to move to the Oklahoma Territory in what became known as the Trail of the Tears. Non-Indian settlers trickled in over the years as railroads and commercial logging transformed the area.
Today, you can glimpse into the settlers’ lives in the past. Behind the visitors center, stroll along the peaceful Oconaluftee River to a historic farm complete with barns, a chicken coop, tool shed, homestead and gardens.
Duration: 30 minutes
Stop At: Mingus Mill, 1/2 Mile North of Oconaluftee Visitor Center, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, NC
A historic gristmill can be found a couple of miles up the road from the Oconaluftee Visitors Center.
This turbine-powered gristmill from 1886 features demonstrations of grinding corn into cornmeal. This stop is available April to October and weekends in November.
Duration: 20 minutes
Stop At: 7 miles off US-441 on the Clingmans Dome Road About 19.6 Miles from Sugarlands Visitor Center, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, TN
This 6,643-foot round-top peak sits at the top of the park—and the state of Tennessee. To tag the high point, drive the scenic access road (closed December through March) from Newfound Gap and walk a half-mile to the summit. Don’t miss the view from the spaceship-like observation tower up top. This stop is ONLY available April- November. Alternative stop will be made.
Duration: 1 hour
Stop At: Devil’s Courthouse, Blue Ridge Parkway Milepost 422.4, Pisgah Forest, NC
Hike the Devils Courthouse Trail to exceptional views from the summit of this jagged, rocky, towering mountain. The mountain’s views are easily some of the best off the Blue Ridge Parkway near Asheville.
Devil’s Courthouse, legend holds, is where a devil holds court in a cave deep within the mountain – and is also thought to be named for the summit’s face-like profile with malevolent-looking features. Regardless of legend, the mountain’s landscape is simply gorgeous, and the breeze carries the sweet scent of fresh air, balsam, and rich forest. Moss, fern, and rhododendron line the trail’s sides as it continues the climb to the summit.
Duration: 45 minutes
Stop At: Graveyard Fields Hike & Waterfalls, Milepost 418.8 on the Blue Ridge Parkway, Canton, NC 28716
This oddly-named area is wild, rugged and exceptionally beautiful. Sunlight streams through dense thickets of rhododendron and mountain laurel, the forest’s gnarly branches casting an array of dappled light on the trail. The hike visits two beautiful waterfalls, the multi-tiered second falls and the tall cascades of the upper falls. And the trail winds through a stream-filled valley with a memorable knobby, mounded terrain that’s filled with wild blackberry and blueberry bushes that burst with fruit in the late summer months. It makes for one amazing, unforgettable hike.
Duration: 45 minutes
Stop At: Pisgah Forest, Pisgah Forest, North Carolina
Beautiful vistas from The Pisgah Inn and short hike to the top if you choose.
Duration: 20 minutes
