Skip to content

Top Navigation

Cooking Light Cooking Light
  • Recipes
  • Cooking 101
  • Eating Smart
  • Healthy Living
  • News

Profile Menu

Your Account

Account

  • Email Preferences

Manage Your Subscription

  • All Access Subscribers
  • Magazine Subscribers
  • Cooking Light Diet Subscribers
Login
Logout
SUBSCRIBE
Pin FB

Explore Cooking Light

Cooking Light Cooking Light
  • Explore

    Explore

    • 31-Day Healthy Meal Plan

      Our 31-day calendar of meals and tips shows you how to cook more and love it with fun, family-friendly meals that come together quickly and deliciously. Read More
    • Dinner Tonight: Quick and Healthy Menus in 45 Minutes (or Less)

      Hundreds of delicious recipes, paired with simple sides, that can be on your table in 45 minutes or less. Read More
    • Our Favorite Healthy Air Fryer Recipes

      Who ever said that chicken wings, doughnuts, and pizza couldn't be healthy? Read More
  • Recipes

    Recipes

    See All Recipes
    • Breakfast & Brunch
    • Lunch
    • Dinner
    • Drinks
    • Recipe Makeovers
    • Quick & Healthy
    • Diabetic
    • Gluten-Free
    • Vegetarian
    • Cooking Light Live
  • Cooking 101

    Cooking 101

    See All Cooking 101
    • Essential Ingredients
    • Cooking Techniques
    • Meet the Chef
    • Cooking Resources
    • Budget Friendly
    • Smart Choices
  • Eating Smart
  • Healthy Living

    Healthy Living

    See All Healthy Living
    • Weight-Loss
    • Health
    • Fitness
    • Home
    • Travel
    • Nutrition 101
  • News

Profile Menu

Your Account

Account

  • Email Preferences

Manage Your Subscription

  • All Access Subscribers
  • Magazine Subscribers
  • Cooking Light Diet Subscribers
Login
Logout
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. Home
  2. Health News
  3. Healthy Travel Guide: Asheville

Healthy Travel Guide: Asheville

By Cindy Hatcher October 22, 2015
Each product we feature has been independently selected and reviewed by our editorial team. If you make a purchase using the links included, we may earn commission.
Skip gallery slides
Pin
Credit: Photo: Courtesy of ExploreAsheville.com
Explore Asheville, North Carolina in about 2,000 calories and 10,000 steps, while you leisurely stroll through the city to discover its hip eateries and artisanal joints.
Start Slideshow

1 of 7

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

A Unique Guide to Asheville

Credit: Photo: Sean Pavone/Getty Images

All product featured in this content was editorially selected. We may receive commission from links in this article.

We toured Asheville, North Carolina to find the best, most nutritious restaurants the city has to offer. Here's a unique guide to good eating and great exercise for hungry travelers.

How we did the math:
This series is meant as a fun guide to experiencing a city through the Cooking Light lens. All calculations are rough estimates and should be seen as a starting point for your own adventure.

Calorie burns were estimated using this calculator. The approximations are based on how vigorous the activity level is for a 150-pound woman—for example, a stroll around a farmers’ market was calculated at a lower burn than when we tell you to pick up the pace.

We estimated steps at an average of 2,000 steps per mile walked.

All calorie calculations for the meal selections we recommend were rough estimates based on inputting similar dishes and ingredients into this calculator.

1 of 7

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 7

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Breakfast: West Asheville

Credit: Photo: Courtesy of Capital at Play

Begin your day with chicken and waffles, made Asheville-style at King Daddy's Chicken & Waffle. You can order your bird fried, of course, but opt for a simple grilled breast atop a gluten-free waffle, and then pick one of nine toppings—from bananas to salted caramel.

Now you're ready for a leisurely stroll among West Asheville's hip music venues, hipper coffee shops, and artisanal specialty food purveyors, including Asheville Bee Charmer and its honey tasting bar.

Eat: 795 calories
Burn: 102 calories

2 of 7

3 of 7

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Morning: River Arts District

Credit: Photo: Courtesy of ExploreAsheville.com

Make your way to the River Arts District. It's about a 2-mile hike, but you can stop along the way for a refreshment, such as one of the rotating seasonal ciders at Urban Orchard.

Keep moving until you reach the River Arts District—a cluster of former factories that now house dozens of artists in galleries mingled with shops, snacks, and, of course, a brewery.

Drink: 220 calories
Burn: 306 calories

3 of 7

Advertisement

4 of 7

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Lunch: Head Downtown

Credit: Photo: Andrew May Photography

On the edge of the River Arts District lies All Souls Pizza, where they grind grains daily to make their crusts and bake them in a wood-fired oven. Try the roasted kale and sausage pizza with a grain salad.

Now you have the fortitude (a happy belly) and the motivation (amazing local beer) for the next leg of your journey, a 1-mile trek uphill—or hop in an Uber car—to the emerging South Slope neighborhood. Just south of downtown, this is where you'll find what seems like a new brewery opening each week. They're all great, but don't miss the Funkatorium, local fave Wicked Weed Brewing's outpost that offers on-trend sour and barrel-aged beers.

Eat: 660 calories
Burn: 153 calories

4 of 7

5 of 7

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Afternoon: Walk It Off

Credit: Photo: Daniel Stein/Getty Images

You could spend the rest of your day stumbling between breweries, but we can't exactly advocate that, can we? For now, make your way downtown to the Asheville Pinball Museum, where $12 grants all-you-can-play access to decades worth of cool old machines.

Burn: 41 calories

5 of 7

6 of 7

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Dinner: Small Plates Satiate

Credit: Photo: Peter Frank Edwards/Redux

After you've worked up a hunger pummeling your pinball nemesis, stroll a half mile to seek replenishment at Cúrate, where chef Katie Button takes on Spanish tapas like sautéed spinach with apples, raisins, and toasted pine nuts; clams cooked in cider with chorizo; and chocolate mousse with hazelnut praline.

Eat: 958 calories
Burn: 41 calories

6 of 7

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

7 of 7

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Nightcap: An Herbal Antidote

Credit: Photo: Courtesy of ExploreAsheville.com

In a town known for its booming craft beer scene, it may seem odd to end the day with a cocktail, but Asheville puts a unique spin on the typical tipple, using locally foraged herbs and traditional medicinal plants at places like Sovereign Remedies.

Still, it may be best to toast this town with their Pre-Hangover Tonic, a mix of milk thistle, turmeric, alfalfa, evening primrose, prickly pear, shatavari, and coconut water. Then you can rise heartily tomorrow and enjoy it all over again.

Drink: 45 calories
Burn: 20 calories

TOTAL BURNED: 663
TOTAL EATEN: 2,678
TOTAL STEPS: 10,500
NET CALORIES: 2,015

7 of 7

Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

By Cindy Hatcher

    Share the Gallery

    Pinterest Facebook
    Advertisement
    Skip slide summaries

    Everything in This Slideshow

    Advertisement

    View All

    1 of 7 A Unique Guide to Asheville
    2 of 7 Breakfast: West Asheville
    3 of 7 Morning: River Arts District
    4 of 7 Lunch: Head Downtown
    5 of 7 Afternoon: Walk It Off
    6 of 7 Dinner: Small Plates Satiate
    7 of 7 Nightcap: An Herbal Antidote

    Share & More

    Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message
    Cooking Light

    Magazines & More

    Learn More

    • Customer Service this link opens in a new tab
    • Advertise
    • Content Licensing
    • Accolades this link opens in a new tab

    Connect

    MeredithCooking Light is part of the Allrecipes Food Group. © Copyright 2023 Meredith Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Cooking Light may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
    © Copyright Cooking Light. All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.cookinglight.com

    View image

    Healthy Travel Guide: Asheville
    this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.