Should a sober person go to a place so in love with craft brewing that one of its nicknames is Beer City USA? Yes. Because beer is not the only thing Asheville is enthusiastic about.
“People come to Asheville and find their passions,” Torin Kexel, who’s lived in Asheville for seven years, told me. “And they live them out, whether outdoor recreation like mountain biking, culinary entrepreneurialism, or music and art.” Kexel’s passion is introducing people to the city with his e-bike company, The Flying Bike. His whole family has also gotten involved in the old-time music community, with Kexel playing the fiddle.
I found plenty of interesting things to do in Asheville without drinking alcohol. Here are some of my top recommendations.
Try an N/A drink
Okay, if thinking about Beer City made you thirsty, let’s get this one out of the way. Asheville is aware of sober folks. Its tourism promoters have kindly compiled this handy list of top spots for mocktails. I enjoyed trying some of Devil’s Foot Beverage Company’s line of craft sodas. I didn’t get to try their ghost ginger beer, but that’s at the top of my agenda for next time.
Take a Bike Tour
Back to Kexel and his bike tours. While scrolling through Craigslist for an e-bike, he found an e-bike tour business for sale. And he went for it! Way to go, Torin. The Flying Bike offers several tours, and the fan favorite is a three-hour cruise downtown with a ride up to the giant historic Grove Park Inn. “It’s literally the tour’s high point,” he said. “We have a beautiful vista of Asheville and the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance.” Then, the tour weaves back through downtown and ends in the River Arts District—with lots of Asheville lore along the way. “It’s all about storytelling,” he said. “Our mission is that we believe in moving people. That’s why we ride powerful bikes and tell powerful stories.”
Forage for Mushrooms
No, not that kind of mushrooms. We’re talking boletes, porcini, lobster, chicken of the woods, and other culinary ingredients. Alan Muskat started No Taste Like Home in 1995. He has strong opinions on what people should eat, and at the top of his list are local, foraged foods. On a three-hour tour, you’ll meet up on private land. “We go out. We harvest stuff together. We cook up some at the end,” Muskat said. “And the rest you can take home, or you can take to one of eight restaurants to make an appetizer for free out of the wild food.” But do stay to order and pay for the rest of your meal—otherwise, the restaurateurs yell at Muskat. In addition to mushrooms, you’ll forage for edible plants such as sassafras, honeysuckle, nettles, and daylilies. Surprisingly, this is a year-round activity. Muskat even knows how to find edible plants lurking under snow.
Ride the Haunted Trolley
Like any self-respecting Southern town, Asheville is full of ghosts. Several companies offer ghost walking tours. Or you can relax on the haunted trolley while somebody drives you around and tells you about gruesome murders and accidents resulting in restless spirits. As we drove down the road in the Montford neighborhood, our guide, A.J., pointed at the large 19th-century residences once used as sanitoriums for people trying to cure their tuberculosis with Asheville’s mountain air. “The Lion & The Rose from 1897, not haunted,” she says, pointing at one grand B&B. “The Black Walnut, 1899, is haunted.” She tells us of a woman named Andrea who died of TB here but returns to write a fancy cursive A on the fogged-up mirror in her former room. Fortunately, none of those shenanigans happened in my hotel. The trolley also takes guests to Highland Hospital, where Zelda Fitzgerald—famous flapper/writer/painter/aspiring ballerina and wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald—died in a terrible fire in 1948.
Roam the Cemetery
Riverside Cemetery is one of those grand final resting places with circuitous paths and interesting headstones. I visited twice, once on a run and once for a guided cemetery tour with Sarah Ray. We learned about the cemetery’s occupants, including the famous author Thomas Wolfe. Ray told us about Mamie Reynolds, heir to the cursed Hope Diamond before it was suddenly sold to pay family debts. Mamie’s grandma had a lot of fun with the unlucky stone before having to sell it, including letting her dog wear it. “He was a Great Dane. He could pull it off,” said Ray.
Cemetery visitors can call the afterlife on a wind phone. Girl Scout Troop 10218 installed the rotary phone, which is no ordinary landline. “And now you can talk to the beyond,” said Ray. “And just tell Meemaw everything you would like to tell her when you can’t call her on the phone. She does not answer back. She just listens. And that’s okay. It’s real therapeutic for some folks.”
Hike to Yoga Class
Asheville Wellness Tours will lead you on an easy hike to their outdoor yoga studio, aka the Blue Ridge Mountains. You’ll roll out your mat in nature. You can yoga hike on weekends year-round. You can watch the sunset over the Blue Ridge Mountains from May to October while downward dogging. Spectacular!
Eat Local Ice Cream
Like all civilized places, Asheville has local ice creameries. I visited two (one of them twice) to sample the vegan flavors. I especially liked The Hop, which makes both traditional flavors and out-there options like blueberry kale and sweet beet. Non-dairy is a growing part of The Hop’s business, and it’s been experimenting with bases of oat, pepita, hemp and almond milks, and banana cream. The Hop also features a peanut butter and banana frozen yogurt for dogs.
Sunshine Sammies was doing a brisk business on the summer night I visited. It specializes in ice cream sandwiches made to order with your choice of seasonal ice cream flavor and homemade cookies. For example, how about blueberry and lemon ice cream between two sugar cookies?
Visit a Cat Café
Asheville has two cat cafes! First, I visited Cats at Play Cafe, which is downtown and easy to access from most hotels. I drank a delicious oat milk chai latte while trying to get the attention of a dozen cats. It was late in the day, so the cats had probably had enough of humans by then.
I also visited my favorite cat café concept ever, the House of Black Cat Magic. It’s a magic/witchcraft supply shop in the front and a cat lounge in the back. “Our main goal here is to save black cats’ lives,” worker Jackie Wilterding told me. “They’re the first to be euthanized in shelters. We work with rescues in the area and shelters in the area and take from them before that can happen.” Since opening in June 2023, the enterprise has found homes for more than 270 cats.
Wilterding says that witches are especially likely to adopt black cats. “I think they’re also coming from a place where both types of community have been oppressed and have had a lot of backlash and judgment put onto them. So we wanted to create a safe space for not only black cats but also people who practice.” Wilterding wants guests to understand that pagans are people and look beyond the spooky stigma. I spent a lovely half hour with a dozen primarily black cats (the café doesn’t discriminate and will take in non-black cats if it has room). You can also sign up for black cat yoga every other week.
Float the French Broad River
Since I try to paddle every place I go, I was thrilled by the accessibility of the French Broad River. I Ubered to French Broad Outfitters from my downtown hotel for a six-mile paddle/float. The tour is self-guided. You show up, and a shuttle driver takes you and your gear to the starting point, helps you put in, and tells you where to get out (remember to count five bridges and pull out just past the RV park). The current will slowly take you down the river, or you can paddle and go a bit faster. On my trip, I floated through the grounds of the 8,000-acre Biltmore Estate, the US’ largest private home. I got an occasional glimpse of stable or other structure, but mostly, I saw trees. The water was pretty bumpy in places as I inched over logs. It took about two hours and was a beautiful paddle.
Navigate Little Rapids on the Nantahala River
If you like outdoorsy stuff and can arrange transportation, check out the Nantahala Outdoors Center. Located in Bryson City, about 77 miles southwest of Asheville, NOC offers guided paddling trips, rental kayaks, ziplining, and hiking. Plus, tons of people just hang out by the river or eat at NOC’s restaurant.
I joined a group of about 15 on a guided ducky tour. Duckies are inflatable one-person kayaks that you paddle over small rapids. This was exciting for me, as my experience is primarily flatwater kayaking or guided raft trips where somebody else is steering the raft. This time it was entirely up to me to avoid flipping. The rapids were little class I and IIs until we got to the finale—a trip over Nantahala Falls! I didn’t flip, but I still have water up my nose from that drop. It is a super beautiful river with knowledgeable guides.
As you can tell, I was too busy doing fun things to dwell on the beer in Beer City.
About Teresa Bergen
Teresa Bergen had the great good fortune to quit drinking very young and has enjoyed long-term sobriety. She lives in Portland, Oregon and travels all over the world as a travel writer. She also works in the oral history field, helping to document and preserve history. Learn more HERE.
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