Search Holidays
North Carolina Mountains
The majestic North Carolina Mountains in the west of North Carolina offer a hive of outdoor activities including exploring the miles of lush national parks or forests by hiking or biking and visiting the picturesque towns offer an ideal base for activity holidays in North Carolina. Natural attractions and outdoor activities abound.
Driving from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Smoky Mountains National Park offer the best opportunity to see the beautiful landscapes North Carolina has to offer. The national park is the most visited in the state and offers a variety of walking trails, including part of the Appalachian Trail that traverses the park on its way from Georgia to Maine. The Blue Ridge Parkway also leads to the holistic centre of Asheville where the Biltmore Estate and Winery, an enormous chateau-styled mansion built for the incredibly rich Vanderbilt family, is located.
Blue Ridge Parkway
The four hundred and sixty nine mile road connecting the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in the North Carolina is called the Blue Ridge Parkway. Running through the Southern Appalachians, most of the roadway follows the spine of the Blue Ridge Range providing stunning scenery and magnificent vistas of distant mountain peaks, twisting through mountainous country that would otherwise be inaccessible. It was begun in 1935 to link the parks and also to provide employment during the Great Depression, and today the parkway attracts more than 20 million visitors annually. Its main attraction is the endless dramatic viewpoints overlooking forested mountains and valleys, and the rich autumn colours that blaze in October that are the highlight of the year, drawing crowds of motorists. The parkway's highest elevation of 6,047ft (1,843m) at Richland Balsam Overlook has magnificent views. The road provides access to many hiking trails, including a section of the Appalachian Trail that follows the parkway from Mile 0 to Mile 103, as well as unusual rock formations, impressive waterfalls, wild flowers, lakes, and camping and picnic sites. Along the way are visitor centres, food and modern lodgings nestled in striking mountain scenery.
Telephone: (828) 298 0398 or (828) 271 4779; Website: www.nps.gov/blri; Transport: As no commercial traffic is permitted, private transport is essential. The road is marked every mile beginning at Shenandoah National Park in Virginia (Mile 0) and ending at Great Smoky Mountain National Park (Mile 469); Opening time: The Folk Art Center is the Parkway's only year-round visitor centre at MP 382 in Asheville. During extreme weather conditions sections of the road may be closed, but campgrounds, visitor centres and picnic areas are generally opened from May to October; Admission: There is no fee for using the parkway
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Located on the border between Tennessee and North Carolina is the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which is home to a vast array of natural attractions and is one of the most beautiful national parks in the country. The Smoky Mountains, named for the blue smoke-like mist that frequently hovers in the air (caused by the natural oils and water vapour released into the air by the plants), are the oldest mountains in the world. The mountainsides are covered in an unparalleled diversity of wildflowers, plants and trees, and the park is renowned for its multitude of birds, fish and mammals, particularly black bears. Within its vast wilderness are streams, rivers and waterfalls, acres of virgin forest and miles of hiking trails, including part of the Appalachian Trail that runs along the crest of the mountains through the park. Remnants of Southern Appalachian mountain culture can be discovered in the numerous historic buildings around the park, many of them found in the isolated mountain valley of Cades Cove that features cultural history as well as many recreational opportunities. Barns, churches, farmhouses and a gristmill preserved from the pioneer settlers of the 19th century can be viewed along the one-way loop road that is the most popular way to visit the Cove. The land was once sacred to the Cherokee who were brutally removed from their ancestral home in 1838 to Oklahoma along the Trail of Tears, but some remained hidden in the mountains and the Quall Indian reservation was later formed, sharing part of the park's southern border. On the edge of the park the town of Cherokee (North Carolina) and Gatlinburg (Tennessee) offer extensive visitor facilities, and the smaller towns of Bryson City (North Carolina) and Townsend (Tennessee) are more pleasant but with limited services. During summer and autumn, accommodation can be booked up for weeks and roads leading to the park become jammed with traffic. The headquarters of the North Carolina side of the park is the Oconaluftee Visitor Center near Cherokee.
