I recently moved to Mooresville, NC. I'm looking to go for a day/night there with my fiancé this weekend or next. I've never been there before. Hotel we were recommended was Aloft. Looks nice. Bit expensive though at about $400 per night. I've found others for around $200 a night which is more reasonable. I don't know which are in good walking distance to restaurants and bars etc. I'd like to be in the more local part with smaller restaurants, bars etc.

Any recommendations or certain area that is best to stay?

Thanks!

 

There are two scenes in Asheville: Biltmore Estate and downtown and you'll need a cab to get between them.

I don't know much about the greater Biltmore area (other than the Estate - it's amazing, and you need minimum of one full day to tour the estate alone)

As for downtown, my wife organized a trip for my 40th birthday (3 years ago - ouch). We stayed at the Indigo hotel. It is very nice if you like contemporary, just 3-4 blocks from center-city, and easy walking to everything. They even left me a birthday card and couple beers in the ice bucket for us. If you want to walk, be careful not to stay on the other side of the tunnel (it's long walk through exhaust and horn-blowing jackassery).

Other Downtown Suggestions:
- Take your fiancé to The Chocolate Fetish.
- Have a beer at Jack of the Wood
- For dinner I recommend The Lobster Trap. I highly recommend the cioppino and oyster stout. - Tupelo Honey is extremely popular for breakfast and the wait is normally 1-2 hours. IMO, good, but not worth the wait.

 

Awesome. Thank you for the info! That hotel looks really nice! Maybe we'll go on Thursday instead of Friday. Hotel is half the price for Thursday night instead of Friday. Looks like lots of bars and restaurants all around there so location definitely looks really good!

 

I go up there 3-4 times a year, I love Asheville and the mountains.

Aloft is nice, and it is in downtown, but I think you have a lot of other good options. Indigo is another cool hotel. There are plenty of nice B&Bs like Princess Anne (15 min walk to downtown), or AirBnBs you can stay at, depending on what you want. The Grove Park Inn is north of dt and very nice, but won't be much cheaper. There's also Biltmore Inn to the south, but you'll have to drive into town.

One thing about Asheville - almost all the restaurants are great. I think Asheville and Durham have some of the best restaurants per capita in the state. Some places you may want to try:

Some options:
Chestnut
Chai Pani
Jerusalem Garden
Isa's Bistro
12 Bones
Farmburger
Sunny Point
Rezaz
Table
Limones
Salsa
Tupelo Honey - one of the 'originals', but always crowded, and you can go to the one in Charlotte now.

Biscuit Head
Early Girl

You may want to check out the Bier Garden, Arcade, Social Lounge, Tressas, 5 Walnut Wine Bar...

One word of warning - if you try for breakfast, be prepared to wait an hour to eat - people love to go out for breakfast there. This may be a good reason to stay at a B&B instead.

I've driven to AVL just to get food, but there's also a lot you can do in terms of drives. You can make quick trips on great roads to the Parkway, Lake Lure, Hot Springs, etc.

 

Thanks so much for all the suggestions!! I think we won't be able to go until next week. Pricing is really cheap during the week in comparison to friday and saturday so we may just go next Thursday. I saw there is a brewery tour there you can go on. Ever been on it? Goes to 4 local breweries I guess.

 

I cannot remember why we decided against the tour. There's a lot about that day I don't remember. I think we didn't like the schedule. We made our own tour. There are several breweries within walking distance and many more a short cab ride from downtown. Tip: Asheville Brewing opens first.

 

Lots of good breweries there. I think New Belgium just opened too, or will soon... not sure exactly.

 

Biscuit Head for breakfast was one of the best things I;ve ever eaten. Well worth the 45min wait in line out the door.

 

Well, since I live here let me give you the real 411 -

Yes, hotels downtown are expensive. Hence the reason they are building 17 new ones over the course of the next 2 years.

Stay: Indigo Hotel. It's really be best bang for your buck - More so than Aloft or even Downtown Inn & Suites.

Eat Breakfast: Biscuit Head or Sunny Point Cafe, West Asheville

Eat Lunch: Braxton Hall BBQ, South Slope and enjoy a Catawba Brew next door.
Early Girl - Don't let the name fool you.
Mela - Indian lunch amazing-ness.

Eat Dinner: My personal favoring is 9 Mile in Montford. Check out the historic homes and eat some Jamaican inspired goodness.
Fancy - Curate or Zambra for Spanish Style Tapas
Southern Comfort - Carmel's
Tourist - Sierra Nevada, Mills River. The Drive up alone is sweet and you can Park your S2000 in "Low Emission Vehicle" spaced

Beer - Park South Slope and hit Catawba, Twin Lead, the Funkitorium, and then finish at Ben's Tune Up.

Drive - Parkway, duh.

Desert - Chocolate Lounge is crowded and over rated but pretty much any restaurant has great desert as well -

Let me know when you plan to come up and maybe a few of us S2Ker's can meet up - there's never a stranger at 8-9,000 RPMS!

 

GUTI007 is pretty well spot on with his recommendations. Curate is fantastic but you may have trouble getting a reservation as they tend to book up early, but you might be OK if it's a Thursday. If you like ribs 12 Bones is absolutely delicious but is only open for lunch. I would also recommend hitting Wicked Weed for a beer or two, I've really liked everything I've had from them. I've heard the Sierra Nevada brewery is incredible but I haven't made it out there yet.

Where we differ is our opinion of the Chocolate Lounge, though it may well depend on what you get. Their baked goods are quite good but their hot chocolate and milkshakes are amazing. I'm not much into sweet stuff but my wife, who takes dessert very seriously, insists we stop there every time we're in town. Just my $0.02.