The week before Christmas my boyfriend and I spent a few days in Asheville to celebrate my graduation and enjoy some time together. We stayed at the cutest little Airbnb in Swannanoa, NC which was perfectly between Asheville and Black Mountain so we were able to enjoy both!

Day 1: Black Mountain

Stops: Sassafrass on Sutton

Our first night we went to Downtown Black Mountain which literally looked like a Hallmark Christmas movie during December. It was the coziest downtown filled with cute shops & free parking which is a major plus if you ask me. Our favorite shop was Sassafrass that had an amazing gift selection, books, and coffee. Every shop we visited was super cute and the Christmas lights made it even better. We picked up some peanut butter fudge and buckeyes from Kilwins to take back to our Airbnb for dessert.

 

Day 2: Asheville

Stops: Biscuit Head, Grove Arcade, Strada Italiano, French Broad Chocolate Lounge, Asheville Retrocade

The next morning we got up and went to Biscuit Head. So many people told us to go here which makes sense, it was delicious. Warning: these biscuits are massive and you can totally share one and still get full. We both got a biscuit and we got biscuit donuts so we were totally stuffed for quite a while. I got the Fried Green Tomato Biscuit and it was amazing! The biscuit donuts were good too, but really you could skip them and be fine.

 

After breakfast, we went to the Grove Arcade. The stores inside were fine, but we mostly wanted to see the architecture of the building (& the string lights & plants). It was so beautiful!

We walked around downtown for a bit afterward, but it was an incredibly windy day so we left and went to the Asheville Outlets. We had already finished all of our Christmas shopping so we mostly just strolled around, but we had fun.

For dinner, we went back downtown to Strada Italiano. I loved the atmosphere and pasta is my love language, so this was my favorite meal of our trip. We both got the Grilled Florentine Ravioli and it was really different for us but still really good.

 

I had wanted to go to French Broad Chocolate Lounge while we were in town, and it was right down the street from the restaurant so we went even though we were stuffed from dinner. We got a slice of chocolate cake (I can’t remember which one, but I would imagine they are all great).

 

Our final stop of the night was the Asheville Retrocade. This place was so much fun & so affordable. You get wristbands to play all the games you want for around $10 each and there are two floors filled with pinball, skeeball, and all the arcade games you can think of. We loved it! I had hoped for snow all week and it started flurrying when we were leaving. All we ever got were flurries, but it was still magical! This was probably our favorite day of our trip.

 

Day Three: Biltmore

Stops: The Corner Kitchen, Biltmore Village, Biltmore, Antler Hill Village, White Duck Taco Shop

For breakfast on day three, we went to The Corner Kitchen. This is a MUST stop. It was our favorite breakfast we had in Asheville. It was so good! There was a short wait, but it was completely worth it. I got an omelet and Jon got a blueberry pancake. It sounds simple, but they were both so so good.

The Corner Kitchen is located inside Biltmore Village, so we explored a little bit after we ate. They had stores like Soma and Williams and Sanoma and some specialty boutiques.

Then, it was time for us to go to Biltmore! We went last summer for the first time, but we both really wanted to see it at Christmas and I am glad we did. It was absolutely beautiful. They have a Downton Abbey exhibit going on right now and while I don’t watch the show the costumes were really something to see.

 

After we explored the house and conservatory (with a short coffee and gingerbread cookie break), we took the shuttle bus to Antler Hill Village. They had a small costume exhibit from Downton Abbey here and they also had really pretty Christmas lights.

 

For dinner, we went to White Duck Taco. The atmosphere was really fun and it looks like a cool place to hang out in the summer.

Day Four: BMT & AVL

Stops: Louise’s Kitchen & Harvest Records

The last breakfast of our trip was at Louise’s Kitchen, an old house turned into a restaurant. It was charming! I got the chocolate chip pancakes and sausage.

 

After breakfast it was time to head home, but not without a quick trip to Harvest Records! If you read my gift guide for guys you know that I got Jon a record player last Christmas. My favorite part of the record player (outside of the music) is that we get to explore cool vinyl stores. We went to Harvest Records which was so cute! We didn’t find any new records for Jon, but I found one for my mom for Christmas that was perfect.

 

We absolutely loved our time in Asheville and I can’t wait to go back. Let me know if you have been to any of these spots or if you plan to go in the future!