Asheville, North Carolina Plans New Attractions for People Traveling to the Blue Ridge Mountains

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Asheville, NC (PRWEB) March 2, 2006

There will be plenty of new reasons this year to visit Asheville, North Carolina, a favorite resort area in the Blue Ridge Mountains. According to the online travel guide RomanticAsheville.com, the Asheville area now boasts a new visitor center, more luxury accommodations at Biltmore Estate, exciting additions downtown, tours of a dream home, and adventurous rock climbing tours.

The first stop for vacationers in Asheville should be the new Visitor Center on the edge of downtown on Montford Avenue near I-240, exit 4C. Housed in the newly built Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce headquarters, the space offers greatly expanded information services for travelers. The very knowledgeable staff will help with directions and plenty of maps and brochures. Their store has the best selection of Asheville souvenirs in town.

The biggest attraction in town, the Biltmore Estate, continues to add features to compliment America’s largest house. As an extension of the Inn on Biltmore Estate, a new private cottage will make guests feel like royalty. The two-bedroom and two-bath 1896 home will open to guests beginning in April with rich hardwood floors and bold colors that make every room cozy and inviting.

The highlight of a stay at the Cottage on Biltmore Estate will be the gourmet meals prepared by a personal chef. Guests will enjoy delicious creations that showcase seasonal flavors at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Afternoon tea and a late night snack of sweets and cordials ensure that no one is ever hungry. During May, visitors can join the celebration of the 21st birthday at the Winery at Biltmore Estate with seminars, tours, tastings, cooking classes, music and more.

Downtown Asheville continues to flourish with more than 50 restaurants, 30 art galleries, and 200 local stores. Visitors in the city’s historical central Pack Square can watch its transformation into a beautiful public park featuring 6.5 acres of public space. The green will feature two performance stages, several interactive water features and original works by regional artists. An observation terrace, information desk and public restrooms will also be a part of this reconstruction.

Meanwhile on the other side of downtown, the Grove Arcade Public Market is adding an arts and crafts gallery and exhibition space on the first floor where visitors can watch artists and craftsmen work and buy their products. ArtSpace will include an area for rotating exhibits and a retail gallery space that will sell arts and crafts and memorabilia based on architectural details of the arcade building. It will occupy two storefronts on the O. Henry Avenue side of the building, which takes up a full city block on the western end of downtown. The new ArtSpace will also include a large interactive relief map of Western North Carolina that explains aspects of the region's history and culture.

To see some of the most spectacular scenery in the country, visitors can take a 35-mile drive north from Asheville via the Blue Ridge Parkway to the top of Mount Mitchell, elevation 6,684 feet. The concrete and rock tower on top will be torn down to make way for a new, lower and more accessible observation platform. For more than four decades, hundreds of thousands of people have made their way up the tower’s steps to the observation deck, the highest point on the highest peak in the Eastern United States. The $700,000 project will include changes to the summit trail that will make it more accessible. The tower should be completed by late 2006.

Each year, HGTV selects a prime location to build their Dream Home. This year it’s in Lake Lure, about 25 miles from Asheville. They will give away the home during their annual promotion. Until then, folks can take a tour of the HGTV Dream Home through April 7, 2006. Organized shuttles from the Hickory Nut Gorge Visitor Center depart every day. Private vehicles are not allowed at the home. Purchase a $20 ticket for the tour at the Visitor Center on Highway 64/74A in Lake Lure. All proceeds go to local charities.

Those looking for high adventure should head to Chimney Rock Park, located near Lake Lure. For the first time in 100 years, this privately-owned park has opened up its cliffs to rock climbers of all skills and levels. For decades, visitors to Chimney Rock Park have climbed the more than 400 steps to the top of the Rock to take in the spectacular views of Lake Lure and the cliffs of the Blue Ridge. That is all changing now that the Park has teamed with the only company in the region in which all the instructors and guides are certified by the American Mountain Guides Association to start offering for the first time ever climbing trips inside the park, taking Chimney Rock’s more adventurous visitors up the spectacular, sheer faces.

RomanticAsheville.com, a free 100-page online travel guide, contains information on these additions and many other things to do in Asheville, North Carolina, surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains and near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

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