Road Trip from Atlanta to Asheville (and all the stops along the way)

Atlanta to Asheville road trip, in just one weekend? Yep! And all the stops along the way.

Took a last minute road trip from Atlanta to Asheville, North Carolina and found some cool pit stops along the way. So, if you’re planning a trip from Atlanta to Asheville OR Asheville to Atlanta, be sure to bookmark this one. 

One thing I love about road trips are the impromptu stops along the way. Like a destination before the destination. Or something like that.

We weren’t in a hurry to get anywhere, so we planned ahead for a couple of places off the beaten trail and found some more along the way. The pit stops were just as much fun as Asheville itself (if not more so).

Road trips are great for that kind of thing, don’t you think?

How we broke up the drive to Asheville from Atlanta

To give you a better idea of what’s in store, we broke up the 3.5 hour drive to Asheville by stopping at some Instagram-worthy spots.

There was a giant sunflower field, an apple farm (complete with a giant corn maze to get into the holiday spirit), and Tallulah Gorge (the deepest canyon east of the Mississippi). 

We did so much, it’s hard to believe the whole trip from start to finish was just over 24 hours. Crazy what you can do with some energy and a long drive.

Click through for all the photos and my favorites spots to stop for pics, etc…

Road Trip from Atlanta to Asheville

Stop #1: A sunflower farm / field 

Made an Instagram-worthy stop at a sunflower farm (that also includes horse trails)! And the sunflowers are HUGE – taller than me.

Note: If you happen to hit this at an off time when they’re not open, you can still get to it from the road if you’re up for a little adventure. But you didn’t hear that from me. 

The horse trails are open year round, FYI.

Stop #2. An apple farm (with a giant corn maze)

We went to Jaemor Farms again. 

We went in the fall, so they had a huge corn maze up for Halloween and Thanksgiving, which was really fun. There was also tons of pumpkins, photo ops, and snacks at the market area.

But spring and summer are also great times to go. I went there over the summer a while back and was able to pick peaches, see the blackberry patches, and the apple orchards. 

It’s a cute farm with lots to explore – always a good place to stop!

Stop #3. Tallulah Gorge

Jeff and I had never been here before and we almost missed it. Luckily, I spotted the tiny sign veering us off the highway.

Tallulah Gorge is beautiful. Honestly, it’s kind of hard to show how nice it is in a couple of photos.

Jeff and I both loved this stop – it was one of the quicker ones.

Don’t forget to check out the quirky gift shop they have at the lookout area – lots of little goodies to look at. I found a new straw hat for $30!

Things to do in Asheville

Full disclosure…We were in Asheville itself for under 24 hours, so we only had time to really explore one area.

And that area just so happen to be downtown. 

Downtown Asheville Things to Do

We ate at Tupelo Honey (they’re known for their biscuits) and checked out a handful of shops… 

Horse and Hero was cute for indie art prints and small ceramics. 

We found the mural and those cute little apartments with the colorful doors right as we were driving out of the city to go back home.

Things to do in Asheville (that might be outside of downtown)

• The Folk Art Center (at Southern Highland Craft Guild) – I really wanted to check this out, but we ran out of time. Next time for sure!
• The Botanical Gardens at Asheville – I love visiting botanical gardens across the US. They’re all so pretty!
• The North Carolina Arboretum – Along the same lines of the botanical gardens, the arboretum has gardens and trails as well.
• Grove Arcade – This is Asheville’s original mall. The building is pretty and there are plenty of shops and restaurants to check out inside.
• Asheville Pinball Museum – Idk, this just seemed quirky and fun.
• Biltmore – We visited the Biltmore on a different trip. It was fun to explore the grounds there – the property is gigantic (8,000 acres). You can tour the estate itself and the surrounding grounds. Which has shops, food, a winery, even a spa. There are also Biltmore kid-friendly activities, like a playground and farmyard area.
• Breweries – There are plenty of breweries in Asheville. So if you like beer, you’ll have a good number of them to explore.
• Art galleries – There are also a decent amount of art galleries to check out, with local art in different styles. 

When we left Asheville, we stopped at one last place on the way back to Atlanta…

Greenville

On the way back home, we stopped in Greenville for about an hour.

More or less just to check out a coffee shop, called Methodical. Which I highly recommend.

And then, I snapped a few photos of a pink building on our way out (naturally) and we drove all the way through to Atlanta from there.

Conclusion

That about does it. Our trip from Atlanta to Asheville and everything in between. It was short, but we made the most of it.

And I’m excited to go back again at some point, to check out some of the stuff we weren’t able to visit this time around.

Have you been to Asheville before? What parts should I explore next time that I might have missed? 

Looking for Other Places in the US to Visit?

I have many US guides for places to travel to. Here are a handful of the most popular destinations…

• There are a surprising number of things to do in Winter Park FL. It’s a super short drive from Orlando.
• I was surprised how many cool thing there are to do in Richmond: Places in Richmond you don’t want to miss.
• If you like Asheville, you should visit Charleston too. Here’s my  Charleston travel guide.