Asheville, NC
Ah, the beautiful city of Asheville! This city is known for it's abundance in art, stunning mountains, and rich architecture. For those of you who are not familiar, Asheville is city located in North Carolina. If you’re driving from Atlanta it will take you about 3-5ish hours depending on traffic. My boyfriend and I recently took a trip here for a weekend getaway and we had a blast! The biggest takeaway for me was the food, OH MY GOD, the food. Since it was all so amazing I’m going to break it down... just because I want to. FOOD: So I’m not going to list every single place that we went to. However, I am going to include our top 3 favorites: Biscuit Head, Tupelo Honey, and Wasabi Japanese.
Tupelo Honey
So when we got to Asheville it was starting to get dark when we decided that we were starving and had to find something. One of our places we wanted to check out was Tupelo Honey. We found a parking deck and we were on our merry little way. Welp, even with our handy Waze app helping us, we got lost and couldn’t find the place. Asheville for those of you who aren't familiar has many, many side streets. It is a little confusing at first but I promise you will get it down by the time you leave. Anyways, after about 15 minutes of searching at night and in the rain we found it! Seeing that glowing Tupelo Honey sign was a beautiful sight. Now, let’s get down to business. So all in all, this place was solid. From beginning to end, this meal was fantastic.
I highly recommend this place. The food was great throughout, the atmosphere very cool, and our waitress was super chill. That being said the only thing I will warn you is that it can be expensive so just watch out for the bill at the end of the night.
**Disclaimer**- due to exhaustion, we didn't really take the best or many pictures while there. So I apologize about not having a glamorous display for you all.
Biscuit Head
The first thing you will notice when you arrive is the insane line. When we arrived, the line went almost out of the front door. We almost turned around and left because of that, but we decided to stay and I am SO GLAD we did. The line moves fast and the atmosphere is great. There is cat art everywhere and it has a very nice homey feel to it. Once our order was in, we snagged a small table in the very back. As we made our way to our little spot, we were very surprised to find a bar full of homemade jellies/jams. If you aren’t a huge fan of jellies or jams, I understand. I used to not be. You might want to consider trying one here though. They were the best I have tried thus far in my life. Later when our food arrived it was piping hot and delicious!
Folks, let me just say that the Jalapeno Pimento Cheese is where its at. We were blown away by how good it was. If you are in Asheville you definitely should try and make it to this place. For more information about Biscuit Head, check out their menu here!
Wasabi Japanese
This place is a great sushi restaurant right in the middle of town. On one of the days out, we were walking around aimlessly when we found this place. If you’re in the mood for some sushi then this place is a must. The food was delicious, the service was on point, and the price isn’t too bad.
The food was clean and crisp and everything that my soul needed that day. If sushi is your jam, like ours- I would highly recommend checking this place out. If you are wanting more information about Wasabi Japanese, go see for yourself here!
I know I said I would list our top three but I would feel guilty if I didn't mention this place: Old Europe. It is this teeny tiny coffee shop that serves desserts as well. If you are needing a coffee fix then this place is rockin'. Since I am not a fellow coffee drinker, I am going by Jonathan's recommendation. Over the course of our trip, we found ourselves there quite a few times... just saying.
Now that I’ve spent the majority of this post talking about food, let me go over the attractions. Since it was December when we visited the weather was a mixture of snow and rain. With that in mind, our options for venturing out were limited. So I’m going to list the main two spots we visited: the Biltmore House and the Shoji Spa.
Biltmore House
Alright so let’s get into this whole Biltmore experience. If you are going in the dead of December and it's going to be cold outside, do not do what I did and wear a dress. Even if you have accessories to help keep you warm, don’t do it. I chose this outfit due to Biltmore being fancy and plus it was a date weekend- so why not? Welp, I regretted this decision about 20 minutes into our walk through the grounds. You will be freezing and distraught while trying to look at everything, trust me. However, despite my attire, we had a great time!
When you roll up, which by the way you will be doing since you cannot walk between locations. Well, you could I guess but a car is the way to go considering the estate is MILES long. You will check in at the security post then select the path you are wanting to take. It will all depend on what building you are visiting. Next, you will be directed to certain parking areas and go from there. For our visit we had selected the evening ticket package. With that package, we could visit the grounds during the day and come back at night to tour the inside of the house.
During the day, we visited the shops and toured the gardens. Even if you are not into the whole plant thing you do not want to miss the greenhouses on the property. They are magnificent and breathtaking. The size of some of those plants were incredible! Later that night we returned to the main house for our night tour. Overall, both myself and Jonathan really enjoyed our time at the Biltmore. There is a lot of history behind the property and the shops are delightful. For the tour itself, I would recommend getting the audio headset. Without them you will miss out on information about each room. I will warn you now that the Biltmore is super crowded with us tourists. If you are not into crowds, you might want to consider visiting during the off season. We went in the dead of December for the Christmas decor and it was still packed. If you are wanting more information on the Bitmore House, please refer here.
My main takeaways about the Biltmore House are:
Bring more money than you think you need. (for food and trinkets)
Walk slower through the first level of the house on the tour. You will want to rush through due to crowding, but just deal with it. It will be worth it. The first floor is spectacular.
Do not skip the greenhouses- which were my favorite parts of the whole experience!
Shoji Spa
If you ever get a chance to “pamper” yourself then this is the place for you. I will go ahead and say that yes it was expensive and yes we had made a point to save up for this experience. However, let me just say it was wonderful. I had never experienced going to a spa so I was very unsure what to expect. I don’t know how to explain it other than feeling excited and anxious. Meanwhile, Jonathan was nothing but thrilled.
Anyways, when we arrived it was snowing lightly as we made our way to the check in area. You will receive a robe, some sandals, and a clipboard to fill out some basic info about yourself. When filling out the clipboard be specific about what you like and don’t like. You will also have the option to select a male or female masseuse, the choice is yours! Just be sure to check off your preferences on the form they give you.
After that you go shower, put your stuff in a locker and then are whisked away to a private hot tub. For those of you who are interested, we opted for the “Double the Fun Package.” For this option, you soak in a hot tub for an hour and then get a massage for an hour. The hot tub is enclosed with a great view of the mountains around, it's very beautiful. The only question to ask yourself is, to be naked or not to be?
That is entirely up to you and what you are comfortable with. After the hot tub time, you will go back inside and shower again and then await for the massage. Once your masseuse comes to grab you you are taken up a narrow stairwell to a “quiet zone.” Massage time: this is where you relax and enjoy. From my experience, I opted for a woman to massage me and it was great. She was friendly and kept making sure I was okay throughout. Sadly I cannot remember her name however I’m sure that everyone there is awesome at what they do!
Once the massage is over, you go and take yet another shower. Yeah you’re going to leave feeling like you are a reborn baby after it all. When we left we felt super relaxed and very, very clean. I would highly recommend that if you are able to shell out the money then you should check it out. Check out the Shoji Spa here for more information, if you are interested.