Illini92and96
- Austin, TX
We’re thinking about moving there or a nearby town. I’m looking for someone who has lived there and could give general advice on where to look. Thanks!
Anyone lived in Asheville NC?
bdutts
- Houston, Texas
It’s on our short list for cities to move to when we retire. We’re going to hit there every season to see what to expect in terms of weather. I would love to live within walking distance to the south slope brewing district.
Everyone I know who has visited loved it. You can get better value a bit out from the city. Recommend checking out Zillow to see what’s available and what areas they are in.
Doesn’t answer your question, though, since I haven’t lived there.
Everyone I know who has visited loved it. You can get better value a bit out from the city. Recommend checking out Zillow to see what’s available and what areas they are in.
Doesn’t answer your question, though, since I haven’t lived there.
illini_minas
- Cary, NC
Never lived there but have visited many times having lived in Raleigh for 20+ years. Love doing long weekends there but would never live there. It’s become too trendy/touristy over the years. If you want mountain, look to Boone. Kind of what Asheville was like 10 years ago or so. Plus, App State is there with D1 football and basketball.
GrayGhost77
- Centennial, CO
A cousin of mine lives about 30 minutes southwest of Asheville in Sylva. He loves it there.
Illini92and96
- Austin, TX
Yeah, austin changed massively in the 25 years since I moved here. It’s not the same at all. have you been a little out of Asheville. Such as weaverville or fletcher? Is that still touristy as Asheville?
illini_minas
- Cary, NC
Sorry for the late reply, I was on vacation.
No, I haven't been to either of those places. Although with both being within 20 minutes of Asheville I'm sure there is some tourism spill over. I would suspect there are a lot of AirBnB and VRBO locations in all those surrounding areas.
I'll say it again, I love Asheville...to visit. I just wouldn't live there. Mid-spring through the fall (that place gets mobbed with folks coming to see "peak color") can get very crowded. So, even if you live 15-20 minutes away you still have to fight the traffic and crowds to do the stuff that probably drew you to the area in the first place...like all the breweries, fantastic restaurants and small artisan shops and boutiques.
I guess it all comes down to what your drivers are for moving to the NC mountains. If it's hiking, fishing and all the other outdoor activities there are places that are just as good (like Boone or Hickory) without all that comes with the trendy tourist spot of Asheville. If you are looking for a place in the mountains that feels a more urban and don't mind the tourists then there are certainly worse options than Asheville.
I'll put one more plug in for Boone. It's actually closer in proximity to both Raleigh and Charlotte (although not by much) if you want to get to bigger city activities. Boone is also relatively close to Johnson City, TN which is an underrated area of the country that most people don't know about. There are some really great places for hiking and fishing around Boone....Banner Elk, Beech Mountain, Grandfather Mountain, Sugar Mountain and Blowing Rock to name a few. And, while they don't have near the number of breweries that Asheville does, they do have a few great ones like Appalachian Mountain Brewing and Lost Colony Brewing.
Basically it comes down to what do you want. Can't go wrong, either place is pretty great much like the rest of the state which is why I moved down here 22 years ago and have no intention of leaving.
Illini92and96
- Austin, TX
Very insightful and helpful! I’ll make sure to broaden my aperture beyond Asheville.
Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
if its like it was 10 years ago, no shortage of indy coffee shops full of guys with man buns and pony tails and women with bad tattoos
bdutts
- Houston, Texas
That describes a lot of places.
Mrs. Illiniguy74 and I make an annual October up to the Smokies from Atlanta. 12 years ago, we began to have a first night stay in Sylva, Beautiful scenery. Nice little town. Speedy's pizza is pretty good as small mom and pop pizza joints go.
As for Asheville, we took a three day vacation there roughly 15 years ago to tour the Biltmore mansion. Drive was nice. Mansion was incredible. Town was nothing special. The one thing I do remember was that the local women were dowdy and wore these ugly looking sandals. Turns out they were early adopters of Birkenstocks.
Illini92and96
- Austin, TX
Ha ha. I hated Birkenstocks until my wife forced me to try a pair. They are comfortable
bdutts
- Houston, Texas
Ok, got back from Asheville yesterday. Here is my trip report:
Tourists: Yes, of course. I was one! But there wasn't a huge amount of them, the streets were not crowded, bars and restaurants were still taking reservations. In talking with some of the local shop owners, probably would want to stay away from downtown in October when the colors are changing. Otherwise, it wasn't all that crowded. And the weather was great, too. Warm, but not humid. Got a bit of rain one day otherwise sunny.
Arts: Very artsy place. My wife got a few things and we went into what seemed like every joint there (we didn't). Some of it is quite spread out (River Arts District itself is kind of spread out and it's a short drive from the downtown art galleries. Can easily kill a few days just going to galleries.
Food: We hit dinners in town Friday - Sunday and all three were really good meals. Lunch we played by ear. Had pizza at White Labs (was outstanding) and other days, we had late breakfast (Biscuit Head at their OG place and it was killer) and didn't eat lunch or had a quick snack when having a beer.
Beer: Lots of great places to have a pint or two or three or... We probably hit 7 or 8 places with many more to go. Looking forward to hitting the others.
Nature: Didn't get to hike or anything like that but the surrounding area is beautiful. I am looking forward to some hiking, kayaking on the river, etc. Need to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway as well.
The city itself was nice. Was clean, it was easy to walk from our hotel to food and beer and driving was a breeze. Everything was about a 10-minute drive from anything else so if I wanted to go to the River Arts area from downtown, it was an easy drive. Airport was 20 minutes from downtown. Yep, there were a lot of hipsters, but they are like wildlife: If you don't bug them, they won't bug you. There were a few homeless people there, but they were overall cool and really didn't harass anyone that I could see. It's not that big a city (~95k population) so set expectations accordingly.
Overall, we loved the vibe of Asheville. I will say that if all you are into is nature, etc. and not so much the beer and food scene, then I will agree with others in that you probably should move to a smaller city where it's quieter and you won't have to worry about the city. If you want the beer and food scene, then living within 20 minutes of Asheville, if not in the city itself, should be your goal. Asheville is definitely on our short list for retirement cities. We just need to figure out if we want to deal with all that comes with a city or if we want quieter. We opened up Zillow and drove around to addresses listed yesterday before we headed home. Some were not great and others were pretty good. Probably best to hire an agent and have them help us with finding a great place, once we're ready to pull the trigger. But, overall we had a great time and are looking forward to going back.
Tourists: Yes, of course. I was one! But there wasn't a huge amount of them, the streets were not crowded, bars and restaurants were still taking reservations. In talking with some of the local shop owners, probably would want to stay away from downtown in October when the colors are changing. Otherwise, it wasn't all that crowded. And the weather was great, too. Warm, but not humid. Got a bit of rain one day otherwise sunny.
Arts: Very artsy place. My wife got a few things and we went into what seemed like every joint there (we didn't). Some of it is quite spread out (River Arts District itself is kind of spread out and it's a short drive from the downtown art galleries. Can easily kill a few days just going to galleries.
Food: We hit dinners in town Friday - Sunday and all three were really good meals. Lunch we played by ear. Had pizza at White Labs (was outstanding) and other days, we had late breakfast (Biscuit Head at their OG place and it was killer) and didn't eat lunch or had a quick snack when having a beer.
Beer: Lots of great places to have a pint or two or three or... We probably hit 7 or 8 places with many more to go. Looking forward to hitting the others.
Nature: Didn't get to hike or anything like that but the surrounding area is beautiful. I am looking forward to some hiking, kayaking on the river, etc. Need to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway as well.
The city itself was nice. Was clean, it was easy to walk from our hotel to food and beer and driving was a breeze. Everything was about a 10-minute drive from anything else so if I wanted to go to the River Arts area from downtown, it was an easy drive. Airport was 20 minutes from downtown. Yep, there were a lot of hipsters, but they are like wildlife: If you don't bug them, they won't bug you. There were a few homeless people there, but they were overall cool and really didn't harass anyone that I could see. It's not that big a city (~95k population) so set expectations accordingly.
Overall, we loved the vibe of Asheville. I will say that if all you are into is nature, etc. and not so much the beer and food scene, then I will agree with others in that you probably should move to a smaller city where it's quieter and you won't have to worry about the city. If you want the beer and food scene, then living within 20 minutes of Asheville, if not in the city itself, should be your goal. Asheville is definitely on our short list for retirement cities. We just need to figure out if we want to deal with all that comes with a city or if we want quieter. We opened up Zillow and drove around to addresses listed yesterday before we headed home. Some were not great and others were pretty good. Probably best to hire an agent and have them help us with finding a great place, once we're ready to pull the trigger. But, overall we had a great time and are looking forward to going back.
Illini92and96
- Austin, TX
Helpful, thanks! We hoped to go out there this month but the wife took a darn teaching job and had to start already, so we’ll have to plan a new date. Was looking forward to a break from the endless 104 degree days.
I think I want to be on the edge of a town that is big enough to have the food, shopping, and entertainment scene so when you need it it is close. UNC Asheville would also give some sports and entertainment that comes with a college town. They even have an over 50 soccer league so I can keep pretending I am young and fit
For nature, it sound like (and looks like online) you go 20 minutes or more out and you can feel like you are in the country. Easy to get acreage and a view if you want it.
We need the first person to move there and scout out the future Asheville loyalty Illlini game watching bar. Sounds like there are plenty of choices!
When I lived out east, Asheville was one of my favorite easy weekend getaways.
Burial Beer is one of my favorite breweries in the country, and Addissae is one of the best meals I've ever had.
Burial Beer is one of my favorite breweries in the country, and Addissae is one of the best meals I've ever had.
bdutts
- Houston, Texas
We didn’t make it there since there are so many. A friend was out in Asheville last month and had a bad experience at Burial so he said to stay away. Didn’t say what was bad. Will check it out in the future, though.
GrayGhost77
- Centennial, CO
Check out Innovation Brewing over in Sylva, and say he to my cousin Dave for me. He's the brewmaster there.
bdutts
- Houston, Texas
When we drove around, we saw houses that were in a "neighborhood" on the outskirts of town that had enough land, outskirts being still in Asheville but 10 minutes or so from downtown. If you're looking for "lots" of acres, you'll have to be about 20 minutes or so outside of town. Just my observation from my first visit.Helpful, thanks! We hoped to go out there this month but the wife took a darn teaching job and had to start already, so we’ll have to plan a new date. Was looking forward to a break from the endless 104 degree days.
I think I want to be on the edge of a town that is big enough to have the food, shopping, and entertainment scene so when you need it it is close. UNC Asheville would also give some sports and entertainment that comes with a college town. They even have an over 50 soccer league so I can keep pretending I am young and fit
For nature, it sound like (and looks like online) you go 20 minutes or more out and you can feel like you are in the country. Easy to get acreage and a view if you want it.
We need the first person to move there and scout out the future Asheville loyalty Illlini game watching bar. Sounds like there are plenty of choices!
We didn't check out UNCA but yeah, if you need the sports/college town, it's got it.
There is lots of nature. If you like kayaking, there were plenty of folks doing that on the river near the River Arts district. Saw at least one spot where one could put in a kayak or canoe. Don't know how deep the river is there, though. If you do a Google Search, you'll find tons of info on hiking and kayaking/rafting, etc.