Asheville Alone cover

United States · Available now

Asheville
Alone

A solo travel guide for women 50 and over
By Jennifer Brandt

Asheville sits in the Blue Ridge Mountains, where evenings cool even in summer. Browse Malaprop's bookstore, then catch informal live music at 5 Walnut Wine Bar in a downtown that grows quiet late.

$6.99 ebook

Buy the ebook, $6.99Read a sample

Ebook · Updated Q4 2026

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Where you might stay

  • Mid-rangeAC Hotel Asheville Downtowncentral base with a rooftop bar
  • A treatGrand Bohemian Lodge Asheville, Autograph Collectionart-filled interior and a spa

Two places to eat alone

  • Rosetta's KitchenCounter and bar seating for dinner.
  • BargelloBar seating for dinner.

SAMPLE

Asheville Awaits

The restaurants are serious. Asheville restaurants appear in the Michelin Guide’s American South edition, and two James Beard Award nominees, The Market Place and Table, operate within a few blocks of each other downtown. The wine bars are thoughtfully chosen rather than generic. Independent businesses run a substantial share of the landscape, from Plant, a vegan restaurant with a national reputation, to Malaprop’s, a downtown bookstore where staff recommend titles like friends. These are spaces designed for people who want to eat well, drink good wine, read, and think.

The River Arts District, still recovering from Hurricane Helene, houses several hundred artists in converted mill buildings along the French Broad River. The downtown galleries cluster around Pack Square, with numerous galleries and museums within a half-mile. These are working galleries where artists live and create. You can walk in, buy something small and real, and have a conversation about it.

A free excerpt from Asheville Alone.

PRACTICAL SAMPLE

Eating Alone

Asheville makes eating alone straightforward, largely for structural reasons: wine bars, restaurants with bar seating, and cafés built for one are the norm rather than the exception.

Wine bars such as 5 Walnut Wine Bar downtown and Leo’s House of Thirst in West Asheville expect solo diners. You sit at the bar, order by the glass, read, talk with the bartender, or eavesdrop. The Battery Park Book Exchange pairs books with champagne, so you can sit with a glass and a recent release.

Farm-to-table restaurants such as The Market Place, Table, and JARGON seat solo diners at the bar. Request bar seating when you book: the counter puts you in view of the kitchen, which gives you something to watch.

A free excerpt from Asheville Alone.

Inside this book

  • Asheville Awaits
  • A City Shaped by History
  • Planning Your Escape
  • The Solo Woman’s Asheville
  • Where to Stay
  • Neighborhood by Neighborhood
View the chapter contents
  • Asheville Awaits
  • A City Shaped by History
  • Planning Your Escape
  • The Solo Woman’s Asheville
  • Where to Stay
  • Neighborhood by Neighborhood
  • Days in Asheville
  • Reading the Room
  • Art, Culture & Creativity
  • Biltmore Estate
  • The Pleasures of the Table
  • Evening & After Dark
  • Books, Craft and Vintage
  • Beyond the City: Day Trips
  • Rest and Restore
  • Practical Matters

BUY THE GUIDE

Asheville Alone

Asheville sits in the Blue Ridge Mountains, where evenings cool even in summer. Browse Malaprop's bookstore, then catch informal live music at 5 Walnut Wine Bar in a downtown that grows quiet late.

$6.99 ebook

Buy the ebook, $6.99

Ebook · Updated Q4 2026

Instant download · Secure checkout by Payhip

THE GUIDE + YOUR OWN PLANS

Ready to settle your plans?

A map of 22 numbered places, with Biltmore Village and Grove Park weighed as bases.

See inside the Asheville kit →
A page from the free sample of the Asheville kitRead the free 3-page sample (PDF) →
Do I need the kit as well?

No. The guide stands on its own. The kit is a separate, optional pack of decisions, day plans and a booking list. Read the free 3-page sample to see whether it suits the way you plan.

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