Travel Green in Asheville, NC

When we talk about sustainable destinations we can draw inspiration from Asheville, N.C. Asheville is the largest city in Western North Carolina located in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains and known for its natural beauty.

Cool stuff abounds and you won’t have trouble finding it. On most street corners you can find a Green Building Directory and Local Food Guide. Here’s some of what we enjoyed on an overnight trip a few weeks ago.

I like coffee – organic, fair trade preferably. In Asheville you can drink your coffee in places like this.

Double Decker Coffee Company

I also like beer. Asheville is now known as a beer destination and has “become the craft-brewing center of the Southeast“. Asheville’s brewing scene has garnered so much enthusiasm that it was named the winner of the Examiner’s “Beer City, USA” poll in 2010. We checked out their newest brew pub the Lexington Avenue Brewery and the Asheville Brewing Company and can’t wait to go back and visit the rest. Try the Brews Cruise to see them all, get tanked, and not have to drive.

I also like good food. ExploreAsheville says “Expect the extraordinary in Asheville, whether it’s organic, hormone-free beef, mountain trout caviar or sweet potato salad” and “We believe food can be naturally grown, artfully produced and lovingly prepared, all within one vibrant community. We believe that good food is sustainable food, with farm-to-table meals that feature seasonal ingredients from local fields. I found this all to be true and was fascinated with my culinary experiences. We enjoyed the Tupelo Honey Cafe, Laughing Seed Cafe (vegetarian), Early Girl Eatery, and Lexington Avenue Brewery. Can’t wait to try the rest.

Gotta take home some gifts and souvenirs, right. In Asheville they can be local, organic, sustainable.

Music, yeah, in Asheville you’re likely to find some of the best bluegrass in Appalachia.

Local arts and crafts are abundant and easy to find. Organizations like Handmade in America have been supporting the craft community for years and creating a model for other communities.

We stayed at the newest hostel – the Sweet Pea Hostel – which has a number of green features and is downtown in easy walking distance to pubs and restaurants. There’s also a lot of cool B&B’s in Asheville.

The cool thing is that Asheville is situated in the mountains of western N.C. so just outside of the city you’ll find easy access to low impact activities like hikes, paddling, biking, etc. for nature and adventure lovers.

So there’s just a few reasons why I think Asheville is cool based on my experiences there. Can’t wait to go back again to gain additional inspiration and share examples of sustainability with other Appalachian communities.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 19th, 2010 at 8:23 pm and is filed under Blog, TGA's Travelogues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Travel Green in Asheville, NC”