Escaping the heat and hitting the mountain rivers of Western North Carolina is one of the best ways to beat the heat during the sometimes-sizzling summer months. Starting in June, the water is beginning to warm up just enough, making it a perfect time to make new memories in this mountain area that has something for everyone.

When you escape to Asheville, you’ll enjoy cool summer breezes, breathtaking views and awe-inspiring scenery. It’s the ideal destination for a healthy and active vacation and the knowledgeable team at Inspired Getaway is here to help you get settled in your rental and find your way to your great river adventure. 

What Are Some Rafting Rivers in the Asheville Area?

The North Carolina mountains are home to several rafting rivers. Whether you’re looking for a river that’s quiet and peaceful or one that offers exhilarating whitewater rafting, you’ll find what you’re looking for in one of these rivers:

• French Broad River. This wide river is the world’s third oldest river and a popular destination for anyone who enjoys either exciting whitewater rafting or calmer river trips.
• Nantahala River. If you’re looking for cold water to relieve the intensity of hot summer days, this iconic mountain river is a great option for a river adventure.
• Green River. There are plenty of river activity options for all levels along the Green River including tubing, canoeing, kayaking and more.
• North Toe River. This meandering river is a great destination for river enthusiasts who enjoy kayaking, canoeing and tubing.
• Pigeon River. The Pigeon River is about 50 miles from Asheville. The Upper Pigeon is filled with continuous waves for an exciting river experience while the Lower Pigeon is gentler and a better option for kids or those unfamiliar with whitewater rafting.
• Tuckasegee River. The calmer rapids of the Tuckasegee River offer the perfect location for tubing, kayaking, paddling and fishing.

Get in touch with nature on the rivers in the Asheville area. Western North Carolina is known for its beauty, and a river adventure may be just what you need to renew and refresh your spirit, while having a whole lot of fun.

Where Are the Best Outfitters in the Asheville Area?

There are various different outfitters in the Asheville area that can provide tours and supplies to meet your needs. Some options include:

• Asheville Outdoor Center.  Select a raft, kayak or canoe, and enjoy a seven-mile trip down the French Broad River floating along with the Biltmore Estates property. This is a calm rafting trip that’s perfect for beginners.
• Wai Mauna Asheville Sup Tours.  Standup paddleboarding is a great way to enjoy the river. This company offers self-guided rentals or guided paddleboard tours.
• French Broad River Outfitters.  This company provides recreational trips as well as outfitting for rafting and whitewater kayaking. Enjoy slow-flowing tubing, canoeing, standup paddleboarding and more.
• Nantahala Outdoor Center.  Experience guided family-friendly whitewater rafting or paddling at your own pace with a raft or ducky rental. Nantahala Outdoor Center offers quality gear and guidance for all ability levels. 

Start planning a river adventure you’ll remember for a lifetime and experience all the best life has to offer in the Asheville area. Be sure to check out all the properties on Inspired Getaway and book your upcoming stay today. 

Summer in Asheville, NC can bring you closer to nature or delight you with new city activities. Whichever direction you choose to go, you’ll find things to do. But to avoid the commonplace tourist destinations and the overhyped activities, your best bet is to try one — or more — of these 10 unique-to-Asheville tours. Pick the ones that resonate with your interests for a delightful experience.

10 Tours for Your Summer in Asheville

LaZoom Comedy Tours

If you don’t know where to begin, try an entertaining tour to get a feel for the landscape. LaZoom not only provides a fun ride around Asheville’s distinctive locations but also includes live comedy. It’s like a theatre on four wheels and comes highly recommended.

Asheville Wellness Tours

Unplug, unwind, and reconnect with your own, custom mini-retreat in Asheville, NC. Choose a-la-carte from a menu of options like Private Chef Services, Tarot Readings, Mountaintop Yoga Hikes, Forest Bathing Walks, Private Yoga Sessions, Winery Tours, and more or work with their complimentary concierge service to create your ideal wellness retreat.

Asheville Detours

Whether you want a one-of-a-kind bachelorette party or a scavenger hunt with your friends or family, choose Asheville Detours. Explore the city while participating in fun activities. These tours take you off the beaten path. They also make authentic Asheville gift boxes available.

Asheville Wine Tours 

Western North Carolina is wine country. These tours take you inside the world of wineries, but the best part may be the beautiful countryside surrounding most destinations. Choose three or four of the area’s 13 wineries.

Asheville Brews Cruise 

This cruise cut to the chase of one of Asheville’s major industries: beer production. These cruises are entertaining and educational, allowing you to sample a variety of beers while enlightening you on the history, work and passion behind each sip.

Asheville by Foot

Offers guided walking tours of the city. The specialists who lead these tours know Asheville’s history and architecture better than anyone. These one-of-a-kind tours inform and delight you as you learn about the rich art, culture and history of the city and region.

Asheville Hiking Tours

These walking tours lead you to see stunning waterfalls and get you closer to wildlife while also introducing you to edible plants. Visit a world of wildflowers and exotic trees. Learn and experience nature as never before.

Asheville Rooftop Bar Tours

These tours offer a bird’s eye view of the city. Go on a magnificent tour of Asheville’s best rooftop pubs, which not only show off some gorgeous views but also offer local brews and carefully crafted cocktails.

Eating Asheville Food Tours

A delicious way to explore Asheville is these tours for foodies. The city features 3 unique food tours and many eateries with over 500 reviews on TripAdvisor and a 5-star rating. Choose a culinary experience that suits your tastes. These tours reveal fascinating historical facts as well.

Asheville Art Experience

Asheville has a history as an artist haven. These tours take you to different sites and give you a personalized map so you can choose what you want to see. Visit directly with artists and even spend time making your own art in painting, clay, glasswork and woodworking.

Springtime in Asheville bursts forth with more than vibrant flowers and fresh leaves. Lots of unforgettable experiences await you around the city, leading you to fun times that entice you to return.

Inspired Getaway makes your spring visit to Asheville unforgettable by partnering with our city’s top experience-based businesses. When you stay at a vacation rental that uses Inspired Getaway, the best of Asheville is available to you.

What Does Asheville Picnic Company Offer?

Asheville Picnic Company delivers woven baskets filled with local delights to your vacation rental or one of Asheville’s most beautiful, including:

• Botanical Gardens of Asheville, which holds 10 acres of meadows and streams
• Asheville Downtown Pack Square, an urban park with a peaceful greenspace
• French Broad River Park and Carrier Park, two parks connected by a greenway with river views and a 2.8-mile walking/biking path
• The North Carolina Arboretum features groomed hiking and biking trails
• The Biltmore Estate, with thousands of acres to explore around the USA’s largest private home

Asheville Picnic Company offers traditional or luxury picnic baskets to suit your tastes. These baskets come with everything you need for a picnic in Asheville.

What’s the Most Efficient Way to See Asheville?

Asheville has so much to see. The most efficient way to get to it all is on the seat of an electric bicycle from the Flying Bike Electric Bike Tours.  Their all-ages tour stops at Asheville’s noteworthy points of interest, including:

• The Basilica of St. Lawrence, an architectural masterpiece by Rafael Gustavino
• Historic Montford neighborhood, where Asheville’s most beautiful historic homes line quiet streets
• Grove Park Inn, featuring a magnificent view from the Sunset Terrace
• Pack Square, a park in downtown Asheville’s urban center
• South Slope neighborhood, for a rejuvenated section of Asheville

The Flying Bike Tour is a great group activity. You ride a Pedego Boomerang Plus e-bike, which is comfortable and easy to use. You can choose the level of electric assistance to get a workout or to relax.

How Can I Best Enjoy the Adult Beverages of Asheville?

Asheville Wine Tours lets you experience North Carolina’s best vineyards and wineries in luxurious comfort. The wine regions you visit with Asheville Wine Tours include:

• Hendersonville, where you can find five wineries 45 minutes south of Asheville
• Tryon, a little past Hendersonville, where you visit a group of four wineries with a viticultural history, dating back over a century
• Lake James, where there are two wineries 50 minutes east of Asheville
• Asheville, including the Biltmore Estate and Plēb Urban Winery, both offer unique tasting experiences within the city limits
• Van in Black luxury transportation for large, small or combined groups.

For something stronger, indulge in a Cultivated Cocktails + H&H Distillery Experience. You can taste locally crafted spirits at Cultivated Cocktail’s cozy downtown Asheville location. To learn more about the making of H&H spirits, join them for a tour of the distillery.

Can I Have A Wellness-Forward Experience In Asheville?

If you want to experience relaxation and self-care on your visit, Asheville Wellness Tours is your one-stop shop. You can tour everything a wellness-minded visitor needs, including:

• Fun hiking/yoga tours
• Stand up paddleboard (SUP) yoga classes
• Guided forest bathing
• Baby goat yoga
• Guided meditations
• Group tarot readings
• Massage
• Cooking classes

Asheville Wellness Tours connects you with nature, yourself, and others. All of Inspired Getaway’s seasonal business partnerships do the same to enhance your stay in Asheville. Contact us today to ensure your visit to Asheville is the best it can be.

When you arrange a short-term vacation rental near Asheville, NC, you open up a world of possibility, especially if you love to get outdoors. You don’t need to be an avid hiker, endurance athlete or motorcycle enthusiast. All you have to do is step out your front door or drive a little way. That’s why more and more people are choosing to live and vacation in Western North Carolina.

That’s the value Inspired Getaway brings to your vacation. They partner with properties such as Cedar Cliff Village near Asheville to manage rental houses in desirable locations. And in the summertime, one of the best places to be remains, the Blue Ridge Mountains that surround Asheville, where a day trip can lower the temperature by five degrees or more while raising your spirits.

What Peaks Are Near Asheville?

Mt. Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Mississippi River, is less than an hour away, near Burnsville. With a 360-degree view and pleasant amenities, Mt. Mitchell State Park is a great outing for the whole family … and cooler than back in Asheville. Most people drive to the top, except for the final ramp to the summit.

A little further away squats Grandfather Mountain, a nonprofit enterprise. It’s famous for its mile-high swinging bridge, which has delighted kids and scared moms for decades. But there’s more to do there while you’re cooling off, including hiking trails, wildlife habitats and a nature museum.

What about the Blue Ridge Parkway?

Driving up or down the Blue Ridge Parkway, which runs near Asheville, you’ll immediately feel the cooler temperatures. You’re surrounded by lush green forest way up in the mountains. If you’re interested in sightseeing, there are sights worth seeing around almost every bend in the road, such as:

• Moses Cone Park and Julian Price Park, both around milepost 295 near Blowing Rock, offer hiking and other activities.
• Linville Falls, at milepost 316, has easy hikes to waterfalls and picnic areas.
• Both Grandfather Mountain (milepost 305) and Mt. Mitchell (Milepost 355) are accessible from the Blue Ridge Parkway.
• Craggy Pinnacle, near Craggy Gardens at milepost 364 just north of Asheville, offers a short hike to a 360-degree view.
• The Mills River Valley Overlook, south of Asheville near milepost 404, is a terrific spot to watch the sunrise.
• Mt. Pisgah, near milepost 407, is visible from Asheville, but a more impressive close-up.
• Graveyard Fields, at milepost 419, offers hikes to waterfalls and resplendent autumn leaf-peeping.
• Nearby, at milepost 422, lies Devil’s Courthouse, which you can visit if you’re bold. After a tough half-mile hike, you’re rewarded with breathtaking views.
• Waterrock Knob, near milepost 451, is equally great for watching sunsets.

All along the Blue Ridge Parkway are trailheads to hiking trails that lead deeper into the surrounding forest, where you’ll find it much cooler than being in the city. You can find waterfalls and even ruins along the Mountains-to-Sea trail or on parts of the Appalachian Trail. You can even drive from near Asheville to near Boone, a quaint mountain city higher up in the hills. Boone, like Asheville, is worth a visit.

So look for Inspired Getaway the next time you begin planning a vacation to the mountains. They take care of everything so you can get out and see the sights. Inspired Getaways manages properties all around Asheville.