The North Carolina Mountains

We’ve compiled the best of the best in The North Carolina Mountains - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.

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  • 1. Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site

    Connemara Farm is where the famed poet and biographer Carl Sandburg moved with his wife, Lillian, in 1945; he lived there until his death in 1967. Guided tours of their 1830s house—beautifully reconstructed in 2017—are given by National Park Service rangers. Sandburg's papers still are scattered on his desk as if he had just stepped away for a moment, and there are 11,000 of his books on shelves. Kids enjoy cavorting around the 264-acre farm, which still maintains descendants of the Sandburg family goats. There are also miles of trails.

    81 Carl Sandburg La., Flat Rock, North Carolina, 28731, USA
    828-693–4178

    Sight Details

    Rate Includes: Free, tours $5
  • 2. Cherohala Skyway

    Many motorists swear that this 43-mile National Scenic Byway rivals the beauty of any comparable stretch on the Blue Ridge Parkway. You're unlikely to encounter traffic, and the solitude found on short hikes to peaks like Huckleberry Knob, a bald with 360-degree views, may be the highlight of your trip. 

    Robbinsville, North Carolina, USA
  • 3. Flat Rock Playhouse

    This theater, the official state theater of North Carolina, is known for its high-quality productions, with sophisticated sets and professional actors. The productions are mostly well-known musicals and other classics. In a converted barn, Flat Rock holds summer and fall programs and classes for aspiring actors. The drama season, with about a dozen productions, typically runs from March to December. The theater ran an impressive fundraising campaign for its shows and arts education programs after having to postpone the 2020--21 season.

    2661 Greenville Hwy., Flat Rock, North Carolina, 28731, USA
    828-693–0731

    Sight Details

    Rate Includes: Closed Jan.--mid-Feb.
  • 4. Grandfather Mountain

    Soaring to almost 6,000 feet, Grandfather Mountain is famous for its Mile-High Swinging Bridge, a 228-foot-long footbridge that sways over a 1,000-foot drop into the Linville Valley. There are 13 miles of hiking trails and some 100 picnic tables. Part of the area is a state park with free admission, and part is private land—including the swinging bridge—with a $15 admission fee.

    Blue Ridge Pkwy. and U.S. 221, Linville, North Carolina, 28646, USA
    828-963–9522

    Sight Details

    Rate Includes: Free for state park; $15 for private area of park
  • 5. Great Smoky Mountains Railroad

    Bryson City's historic train station is the departure point for the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad. Diesel or steam locomotives take you on a 32-mile journey along the Tuckasegee River or a 44-mile trip passing through the Nantahala Gorge. Open-sided cars or standard coaches are ideal for picture-taking as the mountain scenery glides by. Trips are offered year-round, but with very limited schedules January to March. There's a café on board serving basic fare like pizza and hot dogs. Your ticket gives you free admission to the nearby Smoky Mountain Trains Museum and its room-size functional model train dioramas.   During the holiday season, the town booms as pajama-clad families arrive for Polar Express–themed rides. 

    45 Mitchell St., Bryson City, North Carolina, 28713, USA
    800-872–4681-toll-free reservations line

    Sight Details

    Rate Includes: From $58
  • Recommended Fodor’s Video

  • 6. Mt. Mitchell State Park

    This park—established in 1915 as North Carolina's first state park—includes the 6,684-foot Mt. Mitchell, the highest mountain peak east of the Rockies. At the 1,946-acre park you can drive nearly to the summit, where an observation tower provides panoramic views to as far as Clingmans Dome in the Smokies if clouds and haze aren't obscuring the horizon. The summit was named after Elisha Mitchell, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who died from a fall while trying to prove the mountain's true height. 

    2388 NC 128, Burnsville, North Carolina, 28714, USA
    828-675–4611

    Sight Details

    Rate Includes: Free
  • 7. Museum of the Cherokee Indian

    Covering 12,000 years of history, the Museum of the Cherokee Indian is one of the country's best Native American museums. Computer-generated images, video projections, and sound effects help bring to life events in the history of the Cherokee. For example, you'll see children stop to play a butter-bean game while adults shiver along the snowy Trail of Tears. The museum has an art gallery, a gift shop, and an outdoor living exhibit of Cherokee life in the 15th century.

    589 Tsali Blvd., Cherokee, North Carolina, 28719, USA
    828-497–3481

    Sight Details

    Rate Includes: $12
  • 8. Black Mountain Cider + Mead

    Most of the apples for the cider at this mill come from Hendersonville, and it's the only type of alcohol in the area that can proudly say it's made from all local produce. Mead, a historic recipe for wine fermented from fruit and honey, is also interesting to try. Sample all flavors of both while here, an altogether pleasant and family-friendly stop in Black Mountain.

    104 Eastside Dr., Black Mountain, North Carolina, 28711, USA
    828-419–0089

    Sight Details

    Rate Includes: Closed Mon.–Wed.
  • 9. Cold Mountain

    About 15 miles from Waynesville in the Shining Rock Wilderness Area of the Pisgah National Forest, this 6,030-foot rise had long stood in relative anonymity. But with the success of Charles Frazier's bestselling novel Cold Mountain, people want to see the region that Inman and Ada, the book's Civil War–era protagonists, called home. For a view of the splendid mass, stop at any of a number of overlooks off the Blue Ridge Parkway. Try the Cold Mountain Overlook, just past mile marker 411.9, or the Wagon Road Gap parking area, at mile marker 412.2. You can climb the mountain, but be prepared—the 10-mile hike to the summit is strenuous as you ascend nearly 3,000 feet in elevation.

    Blue Ridge Pkwy., Waynesville, North Carolina, 28785, USA
    828-298–0398-parkway information line
  • 10. Cradle of Forestry in America

    The home of the first forestry school in the United States is on 6,500 acres in the Pisgah National Forest. Started in 1898 by Carl Schenck, who came here to work for the Biltmore Estate, the school trained some 300 foresters. Today you can visit the school's original log buildings, a restored 1915 steam locomotive, three miles of interpretive trails, and a visitor center with many hands-on exhibits. It sits on a scenic byway that connects with the Blue Ridge Parkway near Mt. Pisgah.

    11250 Pisgah Hwy., Pisgah Forest, North Carolina, 28768, USA
    828-877–3130

    Sight Details

    Rate Includes: $6, Closed mid-Nov.–early Apr.
  • 11. Craggy Gardens

    At an elevation of 6,000 feet, Craggy Gardens has some of the Blue Ridge Parkway's most colorful displays of rhododendrons, usually blooming in June. You can also hike trails and picnic here. Craggy Pinnacle trail offers stunning 360-degree views.

    364 Blue Ridge Pkwy., North Carolina, 28711, USA
    828-775–0976

    Sight Details

    Rate Includes: Free
  • 12. Cullasaja Gorge

    West of Highlands via U.S. Route 64 toward Franklin, the Cullasaja Gorge (cul-lah-SAY-jah) is a 7½-mile gorge passing the Cullasaja River, Lake Sequoyah, and several waterfalls, including Bridal Veil Falls, Dry Falls, Quarry Falls, and the 200-foot Cullasaja Falls. The gorge and falls are in the Nantahala National Forest. Rocks around waterfalls are slippery, and it is dangerous to try to cross the top of the falls.

    U.S. 64, Highlands, North Carolina, 28741, USA
    828-524–6441-Nantahala Ranger Station, Nantahala National Forest

    Sight Details

    Rate Includes: Free
  • 13. DuPont State Forest

    Between Hendersonville and Brevard you'll find this 10,400-acre state forest with four major waterfalls, five lakes, and 80 miles of dirt roads to explore. It's ideal for biking, hiking, or horseback riding. Fishing and hunting are permitted in season.

    U.S. 64 and Little River Rd., Cedar Mountain, North Carolina, 28718, USA
    828-877–6527

    Sight Details

    Rate Includes: Free
  • 14. Folk Art Center

    As the headquarters of the prestigious Southern Highland Craft Guild, the Folk Art Center includes shops and daily craft demonstrations from March to December. It regularly hosts exceptional quilting, woodworking, and pottery shows.

    Blue Ridge Pkwy., Asheville, North Carolina, 28805, USA
    828-298–7928
  • 15. Highlands Botanical Garden and Biological Station

    In the center of Highlands, the Highlands Botanical Garden, run by Western Carolina University, is a 30-acre biological reserve of native plants. There's also a small nature center, open seasonally.

    930 Horse Cove Rd., Highlands, North Carolina, 28741, USA
    828-526–2602

    Sight Details

    Rate Includes: Free, Daily, dawn to dusk
  • 16. Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest

    One of the last remaining sections of old-growth forests in Appalachia has incredible 400-year-old yellow poplars that measure as large as 20 feet in circumference, along with huge hemlocks, oaks, and sycamores. Don't expect sequoias, but you're still likely to turn a corner on the trail and gasp with amazement at the scale of these behemoths. If you haven't seen a true virgin forest, you can only imagine what America must have looked like in the early days of settlement. A two-mile trail, moderately strenuous, takes you through wildflower- and moss-carpeted areas. During June, the parking lot is an excellent spot to see the light shows of the synchronous fireflies, which blink off and on in unison.

    5410 Joyce Kilmer Rd., Robbinsville, North Carolina, 28771, USA
    828-479–6431

    Sight Details

    Rate Includes: Free
  • 17. Julian Price Park

    Park (National/State/Provincial)

    Green spaces along the Blue Ridge Parkway near Grandfather Mountain include this park, which has hiking, canoeing on a mountain lake, trout fishing, and camping.

    BRP, MM 295–298.1, , North Carolina, 28605, USA
    828-298–0398-Parkway information line

    Sight Details

    Rate Includes: Free
  • 18. Linville Falls

    A half-mile hike winds through evergreens and rhododendrons to overlooks with views of cascades tumbling into Linville Gorge. There's a visitor center, a campground, and a picnic area.

    U.S. 221, Spruce Pine, North Carolina, 28777, USA
    828-765–1045

    Sight Details

    Rate Includes: Free
  • 19. Linville Gorge Wilderness

    Some of the most challenging hikes and climbs in the South are in Linville Gorge, often called "the Grand Canyon of the East." The gorge is part of a 12,000-acre federal wilderness area in the Pisgah National Forest, and there are about 39 miles of trails here. Free backcountry camping permits are available from the Grandfather Mountain ranger's office in Nebo, which also has maps of the gorge and its trails.

    Blue Ridge Pkwy., Nebo, North Carolina, 28761, USA
    828-652–2144

    Sight Details

    Rate Includes: Free
  • 20. Looking Glass Falls

    Getting to this waterfall is easy, as it's right beside the road in Pisgah National Forest, though parking is limited. Water cascades 60 feet into a clear pool, where you can wade or take a swim. There's a parking area and a sometimes slippery walkway down to the falls.

    U.S. 276, Brevard, North Carolina, 28712, USA
    828-877–3265

    Sight Details

    Rate Includes: Free

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