River Arts District & Downtown Asheville

Asheville rewards an unhurried day spent within the city itself — a morning in the River Arts District among the working studios along the French Broad River, then a slow afternoon across Pack Square and through the downtown blocks of independent shops, the Grove Arcade, and the Lexington Avenue food and arts corridor. The River Arts District has over 200 working artists in residence across converted industrial buildings; the studios are open for drop-in visits with no admission or pressure, and the art ranges from fine craft to painting to glassblowing. Lunch on the deck at the RAD Brewing taproom or one of the riverside restaurants transitions into the downtown afternoon. The Grove Arcade — a 1929 commercial arcade in the center of downtown with ornate Gothic Revival stonework and independent food and retail tenants — is one of the most distinctive pre-war commercial buildings in the South.