When I told people I was visiting Asheville in the spring of 2025, everyone wondered if the city was still struggling to recover from Hurricane Helene – a category 3 storm that hit the area in the fall of 2024.   Besides the debris along the edges of the city, the biggest impact I saw of the storm was with the positive and resilient mindset of the local residents.  Every local I talked to brought up the hurricane but also talked about how grateful they feel to be able to rebuild. Shop owners thanked me for visiting and talked about the future of the city.  Asheville is definitely open and ready for you to visit. The food and art culture of the city is enough for me to want to come back in the future. 

I stopped at the visitor center to get some information for my whole stay and when I asked about parking options in the downtown area, they told me I could just park there and walk everywhere from there.  When I heard this, I thought that it meant that my visit to the downtown area would be short and sweet; four hours later I was back at my car completely floored by the depth of the city. 

Asheville embraces and honors its history through its architecture and art. The Asheville Urban Trail brings people through the city with 30 sculptures and informational plaques that work together to talk about the history of the trade routes, commerce, people, culture, and inventions in the city.

Several of the alleyways are painted with vibrant and inspiring murals – including Chicken Alley. Many of the beautiful art deco buildings have been restored and used to house food halls, shops, and artist stalls.  

The first one I visited was the Grove Arcade. Designed by Asheville entrepreneur E.W. Grove as the “most elegant building in America” in 1928, The Grove Arcade offers five stories of shops, offices, and residents. The glass ceiling and the stone work invite you to look up. On the weekends, vendors also set up outside the building in vintage cart style stalls. 

I also ventured into Citizen Vinyl that still makes records in house, the art deco S&W Cafeteria that now serves as Asheville’s first food court, the Kress Emporium that features beautifully curated and decorated artisan stalls, the Woolworth Walk that features many of the River Arts district artists, and the Mast General Store that still features all the great elements of a general store.

Asheville’s shopping scene surprised me with not just the plethora of local art, but also the focus on local, sustainable, and affordable goods.  Several of the clothing stores design and print their clothing on site; others highlight the material and origin of their clothing; and most were within a reasonable budget – something I’m not used to in city boutiques.  

The specificity of their stores – like the retro candy store Rocket Fizz, hot sauce emporium Pepper Palace, and the neurodivergent universe Madam Clutterbuckets – make shopping an experience.  Each shop I entered engaged me in conversation and made me feel welcoming into the city. Even the Center for Craft offered hands-on activities like loom weaving, chainmail, and hook rugs. 

After all the walking around, I was happy to come across the wide open expanse of the Pack Square Park.  Separating the court house and city hall from the main streets of the city is a large lawn with a covered stage to bring entertainment to the city, water fountains to cool off in the summer heat, and Adirondack chairs and benches to take a well needed break.