A Five-Day Dog-Friendly Itinerary in Asheville

Wagbar

First Walk, Best Walk

After checking into a pet-friendly base, step straight into downtown. Kimpton Hotel Arras charges no pet fee and leaves a dog bed and bowls waiting in the room; Aloft Asheville Downtown is a short walk from the action; and the riverside cabins at Wrong Way River Lodge & Cabins put you right on the French Broad.

Begin in Pack Square Park, the green heart of downtown, for a first stretch of the legs. From there, pick up Asheville's Urban Trail, a self-guided loop of about a mile and a half marked by dozens of sculptures and plaques that trace the city's story, from its railroad and Gilded Age boom to its arts renaissance. Part art walk, part history lesson, part sniff safari.

Patio Time

For lunch, settle onto the patio at Botiwalla, the Indian street-food grill from the James Beard-winning team behind Chai Pani, set in Chai Pani's original Battery Park Avenue storefront. Order smoky kababs and masala smashed potatoes with a Lime Rickey or a mango lassi while your dog holds down the sidewalk. Craving something sparkly? The patio at Battery Park Book Exchange & Champagne Bar, inside the 1929 Grove Arcade, pairs wine and champagne with floor-to-ceiling shelves of used and antique books, and keeps water bowls at the ready.

Off-Leash Energy

In the afternoon, drive up to Wagbar in Weaverville, the original off-leash dog-park-bar. Kendal and Kajur Kulp hand-built it in 2019, and it has grown into 25,000 square feet of fenced play space with ramps, tunnels, and a permanent pool for the dogs, plus a walk-up bar, rotating food trucks, and covered patios for you. Your dog runs off the energy; you get a local beer or a wine slushie. (Dogs need proof of vaccination to enter; humans just need to be 18 or older.)

Biltmore Village Dinner

As evening settles in, head to Biltmore Village and grab dinner at Hillman Beer, where the Hillman family, who started out brewing in a garage, pour house beers beside a roomy patio. Your only job is keeping your dog off the table when the burgers arrive. For Mediterranean comfort, the patio at Jerusalem Garden Café is another easy option.

Black Balsam Knob

Coffee Before the Climb

Start the morning at Rowan West, the West Asheville outpost of Rowan Coffee on Haywood Road, a cozy cafe with roasted coffee, local pastries, and sidewalk seating where dogs are welcome. Grab a latte or a cold brew and let your pup take in the Haywood Road scene before you head for higher ground. Here are some other great coffee shop options to check out. While you're on the west side of town, swing by Patton Avenue Pet Company, a locally owned shop where the treat counter is stocked for four-legged customers and your dog is welcome to browse the aisles right alongside you.

Windows Down, Ears Up

Today is about elevation, the scenic kind. Point the car onto the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Depression-era ribbon of road that crews spent decades carving into these ancient ridgelines, and pick a direction.

North of town, the Craggy Pinnacle Trail is a short climb through a tunnel of wind-bent rhododendron to a bald summit with 360-degree views. South of town sit two Parkway classics: the Graveyard Fields Loop, which drops into a high open valley (the eerie name comes from old tree stumps that once resembled gravestones) and follows the creek to two waterfalls, with wild blueberries ripening along the boardwalks come August; and Black Balsam Knob, a 6,214-foot treeless bald on the Art Loeb Trail with wide-open, wildflower-strewn views. Leashes are required throughout.

South Slope Refuel

Back in town, aim for Asheville's South Slope, downtown's dense brewery district. Grab lunch or an early dinner at the Wicked Weed Funkatorium, Wicked Weed's dedicated sour and wild-ale house, where barrel-aged funk and a full kitchen make it more than a tasting room. The outdoor seating is dog-friendly, and the energy runs lively without tipping into overwhelming.

Biltmore House

Regal Morning Stroll + Tavern Lunch

A grounds ticket gets you and your leashed dog onto the 8,000 acres of gardens and trails at Biltmore, laid out by Frederick Law Olmsted, the landscape architect behind New York's Central Park. Walk the Lagoon Trail, a flat, paved path (three to six miles depending on your route) that runs along the French Broad River to Antler Hill Village, with postcard views of the back of America's Largest Home. Cap the morning with lunch at Cedric's Tavern, named for the Vanderbilts' Saint Bernard, where dogs are welcome on the covered patio and Cedric's own pale and brown ales are on tap.

Trails Through the Trees

Next, head to the North Carolina Arboretum, 434 acres tucked into the Bent Creek valley beside a Parkway entrance. Leashed dogs are welcome across more than 10 miles of forested trails and garden paths, offering a sensory-rich experience of native plants, changing seasonal blooms, and quiet creekside spots where you can pause and take in the forested setting together.

On the way back toward town, duck into Woof Gang Bakery & Grooming in South Asheville for fresh-baked biscuits from the treat case, with grooming on hand if your travel companion needs a touch-up after all those trails.

Downtown Dinner Glow

As evening sets in, head back downtown for dinner at Twisted Laurel. The patio is roomy and genuinely dog-friendly, the menu leans Mediterranean with handmade pasta and mezze, and there's a dog menu of its own, so your pup eats too.

New Belgium

Bent Creek Morning

Ease into the day at Bent Creek Experimental Forest, a US Forest Service research forest just minutes from downtown. A web of shaded trails winds through rolling terrain around Lake Powhatan, with enough gentle climbing to feel adventurous without an all-day commitment. It has long been a favorite of local hikers and mountain bikers, and it's an easy place to let your dog set the pace.

Taco Break

When hunger hits, make your way to Taco Billy, a colorful local favorite with a dog-friendly patio and bold, no-fuss tacos.

Creative Afternoon

From forest to studios, head to the River Arts District, where a century of brick warehouses along the French Broad now house working artists and creativity spills onto the sidewalks. Leashed dogs are welcome to wander the mural-lined streets and the riverside greenway, and water bowls turn up outside open studio doors, though it's worth asking before you head inside, since each artist sets their own policy. Stop by Wedge Brewing Co. for a cold one on the dog-friendly patio, set in the wedge-shaped 1900s warehouse that sculptor John Payne turned into artist studios, its patio still strewn with his welded metal creatures.

Brewery Wind-Down

As the day winds down, settle into a lawn chair at New Belgium Brewing, whose riverside campus sits on a reclaimed former stockyard along the French Broad, with lawn games and open space. If you're keeping the brewery circuit going, Green Man Brewery (the city's second-oldest brewery, from 1997) Highland Brewing (its very first, founded in 1994), and French Broad River Brewery all welcome pups as part of the scene, a few of Asheville's many, many breweries and cideries that do.

Posana

Coffee in Black Mountain

Begin your final day in Black Mountain, the small town 20 minutes east at the head of the Swannanoa Valley. Ease in at Dripolator Coffeehouse, a downtown fixture since 1999, where the coffee is strong and dogs are welcome at the sidewalk tables. Claim a chair and let your dog take in the small-town morning.

Shop the Side Streets

From there, wander Black Mountain's walkable downtown, where independent shops line Cherry Street and State Street. Find gifts you won't turn up anywhere else, and don't be surprised if the shopkeepers greet your dog before they greet you. Make sture to stop into Bone-a-fide Pet Boutique, stacked with toys, gear, and treats, and let your dog help pick out something to bring home.

Brunch, Black Mountain Style

When it's time for something heartier, settle in at Open Oven Brunch & Bakery, the Paulsons' from-scratch brunch and bakery, where the patio is dog-friendly and the plates lean comfort: biscuits and gravy, pancakes, and breakfast sandwiches on house-baked bread.

Dinner Downtown

Close out the trip back in downtown Asheville at Posana, a farm-to-table spot on Pack Square with a relaxed, dog-friendly patio and a seasonal menu built on Western North Carolina farms. The whole kitchen is gluten-free, and there's a dog menu too, right down to house-made biscuits and a bacon-soy "ice cream." Raise a glass, and slip your dog one more scratch behind the ears.