Smoky Mtns/Asheville area for wedding/honeymoon, ever been there?

[flyboy]

I think the OP disappeared. I've spent some time in Asheville... very pretty area, with a sort of young, college-type artsy crowd. Not at all the backwoods small town I was expecting.

[Max Carnage]

You may consider emailing TN*hippie. He lives in Gatlinburg and may have some insight for you.

[The Big Cheese]

Rats, here goes an abbreviated version again.

I'm getting married sometime in September probably. We're looking over honeymoon destinations, and possibly to just get married there too if it's right. I saw something about getting married on a mountaintop in the Smokies and thought that would be a nice idea. The Smoky mountains sounded like a nice area, and a friend who has beent here said she liked Asheville a lot too.

I know little about the area, just ordered some pamphlets and tourist stuff today. Was wondering if any Dopers have been there, live there, etc. (I guess TN*hippie is one). The future Big Cheesette hasn't been anywhere so anything is fine with her.

Looks like its not too far from Myrtle Beach, where we could just drive over and see the parents and let them know hell has frozen over, that I am married (and then maybe on to Charleston?).

So anything that you could let me know about, lodge/hotels, destinations or anything would be greatly appreciated. We're very flexible as you could probably tell, but looking at at least 4 days down there alone, or somewhere. Thanks.

[flyboy]

There was an Asheville thread a long time ago. You may want to try and dig that up. I'll plug the same thing I did then: Chimney Rock. I wouldn't call it Honeymoon-worthy, but it's a must-see if you're in the area and have a few hours to kill. Also, the Blue Ridge Parkway is nice.

[PunditLisa]

Love Asheville. It's a beautiful small to medium-sized city right by the Smoky Mountains. Here's an awesome place to stay if you have the $$$:

GroveParkInn

They also have lots of less expensive lodging, including some nice B&B's.

Their main tourist draw is the Biltmore Estate, which you could spend hours touring. Nearby is whitewater rafting and of course, the Great Smoky Mountains. You are also within a few hours of the beach as you know.

Now, onto Gatlinburg. I have mixed feelings about Gatlinburg. I've spent many vacations there, with family and friends, and I've had great times there. However, I must admit, Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge is kind of embarrassing. It's cheesy and tacky and filled with neon signs and wedding chapels. It's like Las Vegas minus the gambling and alchohol (used to be a dry town. Is it still?) If you want a cheap t-shirt or a stuffed black bear made in Taiwan, you'll find plenty in town. I can imagine a bride-to-be's heart would sink when you drive into town and see Tackyville in all its splendor.

However, just outside of the main strip there are literally hundreds of wonderful chalets that you can rent. (We book with Jackson Mountain Homes and have had good luck.) Most are fairly isolated and offer great views. (But be sure to ask when you call! Most rental companies are honest about the condition/location of the chalets.) You can rent anywhere from a 2 bdrm to an 8 bdrm chalet. They are great for intimate weekends away, for family vacations, or for adults only drunkfests (byob, of course). During the day you can hit the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and go hiking, fishing or picnicking. You can visit Cades Cove, an 18th century village driving tour. You can take a day trip to Asheville. You can go whitewater rafting. At night, you can sit in your hot tub in your chalet with a cocktail and enjoy the view. Or, if you feel you must, you can hit the main drag and go shopping.

There are plenty of restaurants, however, keep in mind that there is one main drag through both Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg and it is almost always very crowded. It is not unusual to spend 1/2 hour in the car in order to go from traffic light 1 to traffic light 10 (~1 mile). My advice is to park your car on the fringe of town and walk. Or, do like we do, and bring all your groceries and avoid the main strip altogether. There is also a bypass to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park that you can take to avoid the main strip if you lodge on the Pigeon Forge side.

The Great Smoky Mountains are beautiful. However, I do wish Gatlinburg was more like Aspen and less like Atlantic City. The site is sooo beautiful and has so much potential. Why did they ruin it with cheap stores and neon signs?

My advice is to either rent a chalet in Pigeon Forge (and take the bypass to the GSMNP) or stay in Asheville and avoid Gatlinburg altogether.

Good luck and best wishes!

[burundi]

I live in Asheville and here's my take on it:

Skip the Biltmore Estate. It's not worth $30 bucks a person to look at someone else's fancy house. Plus, they won't tell you any juicy family stories. Actually, if you're into furniture, it might be cool, but as a historian and a museum person, I was disappointed.

A couple of really good downtown restaurants: Heiwa Shokudo, a lovely little Japanese place on Lexington, Zambra, a tapas/wine bar on Walnut (they have belly dancers on the weekend), Laughing Seed on Wall Street, really excellent vegetarian food. There are fancier restaurants near the Biltmore Estate and around Pack Square, but those are really for tourists. You're better off where the locals eat.

The North Carolina Arboretum and Bent Creek Experimental Forest are nice places to go hiking that aren't on the Parkway. Graveyard Fields (scary name, but no actual cemetery) is a good place to camp on the Parkway.

And I really shouldn't tell you this, because we try and keep the best spots a secret from tourists, but [looks around nervously] there's a really fantastic swimming hole just off Mile Marker 417 on the Parkway.

[Stuffy]

Can't add much, but my families in Asheville, and I've spent two summer vacations there, absolutely a beautiful town. Oh and thanks PunditLisa the wife and I were trying to remember the name of that place, we didn't stay there the last time we visited, but went there and wanted to book rooms for later this summer.

[Labdad]

Information about another great place to stay in Asheville can be found here.

[Becky]

Another wonderful little restaurant in downtown is Salsa's - sort of a mexican-caribbean type of place with the most unbelieveably tasty entrees I have ever had. My Mom used to grow habanero peppers for the owner. He was a culinary genius and happily ate the things raw.

*wistful sigh* Ah, the good old days back home ...

['Uigi]

There's no clue on time of the year for the "honeymoon", so I'd just say that anytime but "summer crowd" and "ski season" are cool there if you want to "own" the town.

G'burg and surrounding area are quite nice after the "fall enthuisast" and before hte "ski folk".

[The Big Cheese]

Wow, thanks for the info. I guess the second OP forgot to mention the time frame. Probably Mid-September until mid-October, thereabouts.

Burundi, how'd you know we were vegetarians? Mexican sounds good too. We'll bring our suits too, but we'll forget where the swimmin' hole is when we leave.

I had read Smokies are the second most visited place for weddings in the contry and was a little surprised by that, then after reading PunditLisa's definition of the wedding chapels, it doesn't surprise me. Ick. No, we're not looking for a neon Elvis impersonator to wed us. They sell fudge and salt-water taffy there I bet, sounds a lot like our Wisconsin Dells. Every state must be doomed to have a city like this I'm thinking??

These chalets/spa's mentoned were lovely, and one of them might be do-able. Asheville sounds nice, and if I remember it's got some great mountain biking trails around there, and some good music too.

[Stavia]

I live just outside of Asheville. There's really a lot to do and see here. But the one thing that is a must is downtown Asheville. Interesting people, interesting conversations. Great coffee shops especially Beanstreets.

[c_carol]

My $.02:

Asheville is a very cool city, you should definitely go there.

"not too far from Myrtle Beach" ??!! Depends on what you call "not too far," but I wouldn't describe it that way. You're looking at a long, long day's drive.

If you're in the mountains around the peak of the fall color change, a lot of the scenic areas will be packed bumper-to-bumper with tourists from Florida. It can get annoying, but the scenery is worth it.

If you can, go see the waterfalls around Highlands, a couple of hours from Asheville. Highway ...um... 64 I think it is ... has half a dozen great ones along a ten-mile stretch of road

Stavia, where outside of Asheville?

[Never to be Queen]

I live and work in Asheville. I think it is a beautiful and unique place, especially if you like a more umm.. "bohemian" crowd. There are lots of things to do outdoors here like hiking, camping and biking. There are also several good local theatre companies and bands. There are okay places to eat as well, especially vegetarian food.

I am a historian too, so was interested in burundi's post. Perhaps we know each other in "real life." Cool.

There are a lot of little cabins and cottages for rent in this area. I don't know about price ranges. It is a rather tourist economy here in the summer and fall.

I agree that Biltmore Estate costs a lot of money, but it is romantic to go to a castle in America. Especially in the summer with the rose garden and the fall with the leaves turning colors. The Grove Park Inn is also very impressive.

Nearby Hendersonville and Brevard are also unique towns, though not as happening.

[Stavia]

c_carol

I live in Swannanoa or as we call it, Swannanowhere

[drewbert]

A good friend of mine was married here, in Lake Toxaway, not far from Asheville:
http://www.earthshinemtnlodge.com/

I haven't been to too many weddings, so I don't have much of a basis for comparison, but it seemed very nice to me. If you have any questions about it, I'm sure I could ask my friend about it.

[rackensack]

Got married in Asheville myself (six years ago tomorrow, as a matter of fact), but it's likely that our venue, Congregation Beth Israel, isn't an option for you . Spent our wedding night at the Grove Park Inn, courtesy of one of my wife's friends. Nice hotel, but the contemporary wings where you'd most likely end up staying are nothing extraordinary (at least compared with most resort hotels). You could do much, much worse than Asheville as a place to get hitched, however. It's a lovely area, and there's tons to do close by, no matter what you enjoy. There are scads of B&Bs that happily cater to the newlywed/honeymoon trade.

I'd also suggest giving the Biltmore House a miss, at least until you've had your fill of the other activities in the area; you'll spend the better part of a day and at least $70 on it (that's just admission for two), and while it's an impressive mansion, with more than a few interesting objets d'art and furnishings, I'd been visiting Asheville for nearly a dozen years before I went for the first time, and don't feel like I missed out on anything by not going sooner. The grounds, designed by Frederick Law Olmstead, are actually more interesting to me, and while I'm sure that they'd be impressive at the peak of leaf season, you really should save your first visit for the spring, when lots more stuff is in leaf and in bloom.

[KneadToKnow]

not too far from Myrtle Beach" ??!! Depends on what you call "not too far," but I wouldn't describe it that way. You're looking at a long, long day's drive.

Depends on what you call "a long, long day's drive." Asheville to Charlotte is about two hours (I-26 East to US 74 East). Charlotte to Myrtle Beach is about three and a half (US 74 East to US 501 South).

Granted, getting through Charlotte can take anywhere from half an hour to an hour and a half, depending on when you try.

[Biotop]

Spend a day in the Craggy Mountain Wilderness Area. If you avoid areas immediately around the Blue Ridge Parkway, you'll have the woods to yourself and you new spouse. The water's cold, but a skinny dip in one of the many creeks and waterfalls is still highly recommended!

[Winkie]

We spent our honeymoon not too far outside Asheville in Hendersonville, NC. We stayed at the Claddagh Inn bed and breakfast. It was great, but is now under new management so I can't guarantee anything.

We spent a lot of our time in Pisgah National Forest. It is absolutely beautiful and was much less crowded than Smoky Mountains National Park. We spent a couple of days just driving the Blue Ridge Parkway and hiking the little trails that go off to the side. Gorgeous! We were there in early November several years ago.

[The Big Cheese]

When I said easier, I meant compared to the first leg.
Madison to Asheville is 800 miles & 13 1/2 hrs (per mapquest).
Asheville to Myrtle Beach is 300 miles & 5 3/4 hrs (It says to get to MB, go thru Columbia, SC, not Charlotte, fyi. Not that that's important right now, or Mapquest is the final authority. ) Unfortunately Cheesette doesn't drive yet, so we'll see what happens. I'm not sure I can drive 800 miles in a day.

Thanks for the suggestions. Looks like we can't go too wrong with any of these.

[Becky]

Asheville-ites, have you been to Old Europe? Little coffee shop next to Wall Street. The owners came over the pond and their pastries, made in-house, are nearly to die for. Every time that I'm lucky enough to be in town, I swing past and get a double mochaccino and a piece of tiramisu. *droooooool* Absolutely THE best.

[burundi]

Ooooh, love Old Europe. And Salsa's is awesome, too. Hector I-forget-his-last-name owns both Salsa's and Zambra. Asheville is a great place for vegetarians, The Big Cheese. You shouldn't have any problem finding tons of great places to eat.

Never to Be Queen, I'm sadly not employed as a historian at the moment (damn state budget crisis), but as a temp worker. Stupid, no-good Master's degree... (you'll have to forgive me for being just a leeeetle bit bitter).

[RTFirefly]

Originally posted by The Big Cheese
Asheville to Myrtle Beach is 300 miles & 5 3/4 hrs (It says to get to MB, go thru Columbia, SC, not Charlotte, fyi. Not that that's important right now, or Mapquest is the final authority. )

If you decide to do both Asheville and Myrtle Beach, you have the route right: I-26 from Asheville NC to Columbia SC, then the obvious beeline from Cola. to Myrtle Beach.

While living in Bristol VA/TN, my wife and I spent a few anniversary weekends at cottages on the TN side of the Smokies - near (but not in) Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge. We enjoyed it. There's hiking, shopping, and restaurants close enough to get to if hot-tubbing and related pursuits become too monotonous, but far enough away so you can enjoy the feeling of pleasant isolation.

[Tygr]

I grew up in West Asheville (Enka/Candler, precisely). I popped the question to the now-Mrs. Tygr at Craggy Gardens.

We got married at Pisgah View Ranch, in the shadow of Mt. Pisgah, on a pristrine spring day four years ago. The ranch has a pond, and the pond has an island, on which our ceremony took place (while being serenaded by the local wildlife).

We had our reception dinner in the dining room of the main house. Dinner was served "family style" and was some of the best home-cookin' I've gotten outside the home.

We could have spent our wedding night in one of the cabins, but decided to forego the extra expense.

All-in-all, it was very reasonable, even giving a deposit for the indoor location, in case of bad weather.



_{No, these are not our pictures. I found them at a total stranger's website. Thanks, whoever you are!}

[Tygr]

NOTE: Y'all are gonna hafta cut & paste the geocities URLs. (Hey, don't complain to ME - it's their stoopid policy...)

But believe me, they're worth it.

[Morgainelf]

Since you're thinking about going through Columbia, why not stop there for a night? There's a great little B&B called the Chestnut Cottage that is very romantic. Columbia has some really nice restaurants, and pretty good nightlife both in Five Points and the Vista.

Personally, I'd give Myrtle Beach a miss and go straight on from Columbia to Charleston. If you think Gatlinburg is cheesy, you ain't seen nothin' 'till you've seen Myrtle Beach.

That would give you more time to visit beautiful Charleston, and possibly Hilton Head. Besides, the ride to Myrtle Beach is horrible. It's all back roads through some pretty depressed areas.

[The Big Cheese]

My parents live in Myrtle Beach, would be nice to see them if I'm in the vicinity. I know how tacky it is, but I do love those go-carts.... I didn't know about the ugly roads though. I know MBeach is in need of another highway or three. The tourist stuff is coming in, seem to be quite a lot chalets, condos, etc in G'burg. I hate decisions, wish Cheesette was here to make the decisions-men aren't good at making wedding plans.

Nice site Tygr.

[PunditLisa]

They sell fudge and salt-water taffy there I bet, sounds a lot like our Wisconsin Dells.

What is it with salt water taffy and fudge shops? Are they barometers for tackiness or what?

And you're right, of course. DT Gatlinburg has taffy and fudge shops at every corner. It also has a wax Elvis museum, a Ripley's Believe it or Not museum, and air brush t-shirt shops. And if you're looking for suede fringe boots, you've come to the right place.

And, in the name of all that is holy, avoid Cherokee at all costs. It makes Gatlinburg look downright sophisticated. It is a sad little town that is largely inhabited by Cherokee Indians. In order to eke out a living, they've sold out their proud heritage and reduced it to a flea market. Here you can purchase every tacky "american indian" souvenir imaginable: dream catchers, mocassins, you name it. Very undignified.

:sigh:

[Morgainelf]

Yes, a highway from Columbia to MB would cut the trip in half. I don't know why they haven't built it yet. I didn't realize your parents were there - at least the trip from MB to Charleston is pretty, and fairly short.

When you get to Charleston, take one of the mule drawn carriage tours of the historic district. It's obviously a very touristy thing to do, but it really orients you to the area and you learn alot about the architecture and history. There are some great walking "Ghost Tours" that leave right from the fountain at the waterfront park. You can make reservations online or some will allow you to just show up and pay on the spot.

[Never to be Queen]

Charleston, SC is so romantic and those ghost tours are so spooky. I would love to go there on a honeymoon. They would have to drag me out of Asheville, though. By the way, Asheville and nearby towns like Hendersonville and Brevard are really in the Blue Ridge Mountains section of the Appalachian Mountain Range, not so much the Smokey Mountains. It is not a long drive though to the actual "Smokies."

Becky- I have not been to Old Europe. I'll have to check it out!

burundi- A Master's degree in History and no job? Been there, done that, got the emotional scars.... Actually it is amazing, as excellent as this area is for recreation and out-doors fun, the job situation is horrible. As you know....