Finding Your Way in Asheville (Paperback)

by Cecil Bothwell; Betsy Ball (Author) "Gone are the days when our hearts were young and gay and we would drive downtown and find a parking place within three doors of..." (more)
Key Phrases: Biltmore Avenue, Battery Park, Wall Street (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The latest revision of the best-selling guide to Asheville, North Carolina. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From the Inside Flap
How to use this book:

This guide is based on the way real people really visit a city, or at least the way we think real people should really visit a city. Going to eight different places in distal parts of town in one day not only wastes nonrenewable resources and generates air pollution, it fritters your valuable tourist time. There is more to life than driving and parking. Walking, particularly in a city of Asheville's walkable scale, generates memories of gargoyles and trees and flowers and bricks and faces and sounds and smells. Real stuff. Driving generates memories of your dashboard and your windshield and your rear-view mirror and that irritating grinding metallic noise somewhere under the hood that you are praying isn't going to be as expensive as it sounds. Warning! Warning! Warning! Warning! Warning!

If your idea of a great vacation is shopping at a mall (or, shudder, an outlet mall) and eating at national chain restaurants, you have just wasted your money on this book. Now would be a good time to return to the independent bookseller where you bought it and politely ask for a refund. Yes, Virginia, Asheville has a mall and a lot of chain restaurants and if you need a guide book to find them you are in a kind of trouble that we are not qualified to address.

Look under "Counselors" in the Yellow Pages.

We are not going to direct you to national chain anything. We have mentioned tiny regional chain somethings if we decided they are unique enough to warrant it. The only exception to this rule is a local health-food grocery chain that has become a big player in its field. But we both remember when it lived in a tiny, funky storefront downtown and we share a little (unwarranted) pride in its success.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Brave Ulysses Books (June 10, 2005)
• ISBN-10: 0970012535
• ISBN-13: 978-0970012531
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #744,243 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Really fun to read! , August 4, 2005

By	Mary (Asheville, NC) - See all my reviews

This book is actually fun to read!

While it includes the sort of information you'd expect from a tourist guide, it also contains fascinating glimpses of Asheville political and natural history, and takes jabs at local icons and over-hyped destinations.

This is not the sort of guide that you'll get from the Chamber of Commerce, this one is about the real city and the reasons that we locals love it.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you're coming to Asheville, buy this book, February 9, 2006

By	Bruce Mulkey (Asheville, NC) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you're coming to Asheville and you want to really get to know this eclectic Southern Appalachian Mountain city, buy yourself a copy of "Finding Your Way in Asheville." From arts and crafts (one of the top art destinations in the country) to food (a vegetarian's paradise) to music (lots of live music venues) to the great outdoors (hundreds of miles of mountain trails and whitewater galore), the authors, both long-time residents of western North Carolina, provide details and insights that you won't find in any other publication. Plus, unlike many travel guides, they bundle it all up and give it to you in an engaging and entertaining manner.

On the other hand, if you plan to spend your time in Asheville at the Grove Park Inn golf course or touring the Biltmore Estate, save your money. You'll need it. And one final word: Please, please don't move here.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well, I beg to differ, April 4, 2007

By	S. Shanafelt - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It's not a bad book at all, although it is a bit outdated. Several of the stores and places to eat have closed since this edition, but it's still the best guide to the city there is. And to correct some of the other reviews, it does offer plenty in the way of useful advice -- like places to park, things to do, and a little insight into local culture. It's a great place to start learning about all things Asheville.