Alright, so I've only been to Asheville once, and only for a three-day trip, so I definitely do not claim to be any kind of expert on the area. These opinions are clearly opinions I made from our three-day trip, however, I wanted to share those opinions with you. These were my favorite stops in Asheville.

for donuts:
Vortex Doughnuts is just off from downtown Asheville, and definitely a tasty treat for breakfast or a snack. The house doughnut is the vortex, and is coated with cinnamon sugar and topped with local dark chocolate. (It was delicious!) Everything in the shop is local, which is definitely pretty neat. The coffee was good, but it always throws me off when a coffee shop doesn't have non-fat milk or artificial sweetener.

for coffee:
For coffee, I definitely recommend checking out Double D's coffee bus in downtown Asheville, just down from the Mast General Store. The coffee and service were superb. The shop is fully located inside a double-decker bus, so how cool is that? The second floor is fully accessible with table booths to enjoy your coffee. They also have fun drinks like the Kick in the Bum (coffee, espresso, mocha, and cream) or the honey lavender latte.






for lunch:
I loved the White Duck Taco Shop for lunch! The tacos are street-style, with a variety of flavors like shrimp and grits or lamb gyro. There are also more traditional varieties like steak and cheese or fish tacos. It's definitely a cheaper meal in the Asheville area, and incredibly fulfilling. There are locations downtown or in the River Arts District.





for fun: 
The Asheville Pinball Museum is amazing. When we went, wristbands were $13 a person and you could play all the games (pinball and arcade) until closing time. The prices were changing, so make sure to check out the current prices. They also sold a variety of local beers for only $3 a piece. I seriously would have stayed all night playing the X-Files pinball machine.






brewery tours:
Asheville, NC is known for its local breweries. While several of them are located in the downtown area, there are also several that are a bit of a drive off. We chose the Asheville Brewery Tours as our brewery tour company. The tour started at Bhramari Brewhouse in Downtown and traveled to four different breweries around the area. Since we attended during the gas shortage in the southeast, we didn't travel out too far, but did go as far as West Asheville. We were given four samples at each brewery.



First stop was Urban Cider Company, and I was more than excited! Cider is my favorite, and craft cider isn't overly sweet like more common hard ciders. I was such a fan of the cidery.



Next, we stopped at Hi Wire Brewery, which was a pretty neat place. Hi Wire has a circus theme, so the art was definitely cool. The brewery was large, and also has an event space out back.








Next, we stopped at Catawba Brewing Company (which is right next door to Vortex Doughnuts). They were actually having an event in the back, which was pretty cool. Here, we got a learn a little bit about hops and grains.





Our last stop on the tour was Green Man Brewery. This one was pretty neat because it was a newer facility located next to the older facility, so we got to check out both.






We had Jenn as our tour guide, and she was wonderful. She was incredibly knowledgeable about the breweries and beers in general. After the last stop of the tour, she was kind enough to drop each couple off wherever they were interested in going. We were lucky and in a small group of only six (three couples). I highly recommend the Asheville Brewery Tours. We definitely got the most out of the tour.



What are your favorite things to do in Asheville?