On a recent anniversary trip to Asheville, my husband and I enjoyed Eating Asheville's historical…read moredowntown food tour. We decided to splurge for The High Roller option as it was only around $10 more a person and included beverage parings with the food. Included is up to 6 stops at restaurants, bars, or desserteries with at-least 3 alcoholic beverages pairings and then other non-alcoholic options. The tour lasts about 2.5- 3 hours. This is a walking in food tour, so you have to be able and willing to travel on foot some. It wasn't a ton of walking, but did work up a little sweat as it was a warmer Friday afternoon (this tour is offered Thursday- Sunday). We had a small group of 6 people plus our tour guide. She was very sweet and personable. I think she may have been semi new at this as her story flow was a little jumbled, but it didn't bother me too much as honestly she was trying and I was interested in food way more than history. She did point out some important sites along the way and give us some fun Asheville facts. Great thing about these tours is they do vary. While the company has a number of places they work with which ones are selected for you, depends on the day, time, season etc. So you could honestly do these tours more than once and experience new things still. Our tour began at Asheville Charcuterie where we each enjoyed a personalized board of meat, cheese, cracker, fruit, and a local spicy honey. It was also served with a Bold Rock cider. This was a cute shop where you can get a drink or snack there or take items with you to go. Next was to the Grove Arcade where we hit Bebettes, a New Orleans coffeehouse with fresh out the oven beignets with a warm chocolate dipping sauce, served with a shot of coffee. So yummy. I felt bad about all the power sugar I got everywhere. Gotta love a dessert on stop 2! For the third s location was Strada Italiano. The food here was excellent. We sampled one of their arancini balls and a grilled Florentine ravioli. Both were delicious bites and executed flawlessly. Great Italian fare with some red wine. My husband and I agreed we want to come back here for a full Italian dinner experience on our next trip. Starting to feel a little full at this point, not gonna lie but things continued to get more hearty at The Rhu. We got to enjoy their house breakfast sausage and pimento cheese on a buttermilk biscuit. Thank goodness they only gave us half each as these bad boys were thick. All three components were so tasty, with the pimento cheese winning for me. It came with some iced tea, which was definitely southern and sweet. I knew we had one more food stop left before dessert. Imagine my surprise when it was an Indiana buffet at Mehfil. On the fifth stop? Lord, a bad day to wear jeans! They place was so generous giving us a like private mini buffet of items like tandoori chicken, saag paneer, naan, butter chicken, rice and more. I truly wish I had room to eat more as everything was so tasty, especially their tandoori chicken. Also they had the best beverage pairing with a pear mule cocktail - perfectly light and smooth for a warm day. Our tour guide joked that we would need to cancel our dinner reservations, turns out they weren't kidding. The last stop was Asheville Chocolate. So many amazing sweet treats you could enjoy at this place. We wrapped up our tour with a chocolate truffle and cookies and cream gelato. I had to ask my husband to help finish these as I was stuffed. Before departing, we tipped our guide. This is not required, but we were happy to do so as she worked hard and took great care of us. After the tour, not gonna lie went back to our hotel and had an amazing nap! Sign of a good food tour! I thought this food tour was a great deal for the $90 per person price. I know at first it sounds like a lot. But we more than got $15 worth at each place from the food and drink itself, plus to convenience of being able to just walk in to a reserved table at a popular restaurant with a planned bite ready in a few minutes. Not to mention, having a personal tour guide to take you around and teach you about where you are, what you are eating , and Asheville in general. If you like to eat, and can eat a lot (you will be very full but it's worth it), take this tour. It was a great way to get a taste of places you've never been and decide where you wanna go back to and try a full meal next time!

Did we have a good time overall? Yes. However, do I think…read moreit's worth the $92/person price tag all in with taxes and fees... to sample 5 places with varying portions of food and drink? Not quite. The classic before fees is $79/person. It offers "minimum of 5 stops and at least 2 drink pairings" from their website. Don't get me started on the 15.5% extra they tack on for "taxes and fees". If the unavoidable city tax for Asheville is 7%, the remainder is 8.5% for what? Their website/payment services? To be fair, the pricing is similar to one we took part in NOLA $78/person with Destination Kitchen but the food and portions were more balanced (albeit without drink pairings). For $10 more base price, you can book the high roller tour $89/person. After all is said and done I'm wondering if we should have spent the extra amount and upgraded to the high roller since the descriptor highlights "most elegant, trendy, and acclaimed" options. I understand the business also needs to make a profit along with giving a cut to the tour guides. At the beginning and throughout the tour, the guide continued to emphasize that if we were still hungry by the end that they have not done their jobs. However, there's more to consider. I'll go through the 5 places we tried and how one of the newest additions isn't even listed still on their website so if you were to look ahead of time for the offerings you would not expect it! We met our group inside the Grove Street Arcade on a Monday in September which is a great spot with some shops and public restrooms before we started. STOP 1 - The Rhu https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-rhu-asheville This is the cafe/breakfast bakery sister to Rhubarb, which is more upscale. They prepared a small cup of iced sweet tea with half of their breakfast sandwich. The refreshing tea with sugar cubes paired nicely with the buttery biscuit sandwich. Value: $8.50 for full sandwich and drink was not listed so going to estimate total is worth one sandwich. STOP 3 - Bold Rock https://www.yelp.com/biz/bold-rock-asheville-asheville The Cidery story actually started in VA but I'm glad they expanded to NC. We sampled a 6~7 oz cider paired with a Bruschetta and Bacon Apple Grilled Cheese. (American, cheddar, goat cheese, local apples, bacon, Dijon aioli, sourdough) It was super tasty and really enjoyed everything!! Value: ~$5 half pour, ~$10 for the food so one of the better values STOP 3 - Mëhfil https://www.yelp.com/biz/mehfil-asheville-2 Full buffet spread of ~6 Indian dishes with Mango Lassi and a tasty alcoholic beverage too! Now this place is the spot I mentioned isn't even listed with their logo on the restaurant page... I checked their Instagram which isn't updated frequently either and they announced just the day before our tour so this is brand NEW. Unfortunately this is one of the cuisines my SO does not eat. We would not have known that reserving in advance... which is a shame. Value: ~$25-30 honestly since they were offering generous full size portions of their dishes that you could serve yourself, this was hands down the best cost wise. If you were to fill up it would be at this stop. The staff were also super nice and hospitable! STOP 4 - Manicomio Pizza https://www.yelp.com/biz/manicomio-pizza-asheville Plain and simple pizzeria with some funky designs. We sampled a single slice which may have been their special of the day with cherry tomato and artichoke and a lemon wedge to spritz. It tasted good, but forgettable. They just gave us water. Value: $5.50 by the slice for daily special STOP 5 FINAL - Sunshine Sammies https://www.yelp.com/biz/sunshine-sammies-asheville Makes sense we'd end on dessert and we sampled 1/2 a sandwich of I believe their seasonal pumpkin! It was a sweet way to conclude the tour. Value: $4, a full size seasonal flavor is $8 I was full from the generous spread offered at Mëhfil which carried the food and drink side of the tour. Unfortunately my SO didn't get to fully enjoy the experience, and there was no way we could have expected they'd take us to the new restaurant that was just announced. Even being generous with some of my estimates, I landed at value of ~$60, which is still short of the cost you're paying especially when more than half of these locations are more fast casual spots. The most disappointing was the pizzeria, since aside from the artwork I didn't feel anything unique about the taste and seems like a wasted opportunity given the list of other more interesting restaurants. I enjoyed the historical information the guide sprinkled throughout along with background about each of the locations. Next time I'll keep in mind for Mondays where many restaurants aren't open.

Helpful and friendly. The rental process was very easy. I will be using them again. We had a large…read moregroup and they handled all of us and are varied experience levels very professionally.

We were vacationing in the Asheville NC area and thought an E Bike Tour would be fun. We had never…read morebeen on E Bikes before so we were excited to try them. Torin, our guide was absolutely wonderful. The tour started with introductions among our small group (total of 8 people). Then Torin explained how to use the E Bike along with great tips. He led us around Asheville, stopping at various locations to share its history and architecture. I felt safe and secure throughout the ride and the bikes were comfortable. Worth every penny. Added bonus, we saw a bear and her two cubs! Highly recommend! (FYI...I am 60 years old and my husband is 59.)

My trips have all been successful in finding the birds and special efforts were made to assure…read moreeach trip member a view. They were leisurely paced and timed to provide the best possible birding experience. Simon has knowledge of the best birding spots, best viewing locations and best timing for giving the entire group a delightful tour.

It was the best birding trip ever and we've birded in Madagascar, Guatemala and many parts of the…read moreUSA. We learned so much about the birds, their habitat and the history of the local area near Gatlinburg, TN and the Great Smoky Mountains. Keith Watson is an expert, yet he explained everything well for us beginners. By the end our second day we were recognizing birds by ear- a skill I thought was beyond us. Keith handled all the logistics of our tour. Picked us up early in the morning and took us to some beautiful places he had diligently scouted the day before. When he recommended we get up even earlier the second day to see the sunrise from the mountain ridge over the valley- we said yes! The tour was like birding with a knowledgeable friend and it was the highlight of our trip to the Great Smoky Mountains. I wish there was a Keith in every country. He is a good communicator, great guide, is friendly and has a good sense of humor. We feel blessed to have spent a couple of days seeing many birds we had never before seen with an expert who became a friend. We look forward to experiencing more birding with Ventures Birding Tours.

Tony was AMAZING. He was so very kind, patient and knowledgeable. We loved his knowledge of the…read morearea and his willingness to take pictures while also his unique ability to find us the best views. We would 1000% recommend using Tony if you want to explore the mountain in a non-rushed capacity while also making sure your needs are met. He was kind enough to provide snacks and water and to make sure we had several restroom breaks. We will most definitely do it again!

We just finished our walking tour of the Blue Ridge Mountains and it was amazing. Beautiful water…read morefalls and nature. Keith, our tour guide was fantastic, very knowledgeable of the area and flora & fauna. A must if you are in the area. Make sure you have comfortable shoes because it is a 3.5 mile hike.

Spent a fun weekend in Asheville with our food tour hosted by Lindy serving as one of the…read morehighlights. The tour featured 6 great local spots, with a fun, tasty bite and/or beverage at each stop along the way. Lindy did a great job sharing the rich history of Asheville and providing a personal take on each of our stops. I highly recommend the Taste Carolina Food Tours as a great way to get to know the heart of the town.

We had THE BEST day! Crissy was an amazing tour guide and our bikes were so much fun to ride. If…read moreyou are on the fence about it being too strenuous, my fiancé had open heart surgery 6 weeks ago and she did just fine! Crissy's e-bikes are well taken care of and easy to ride. You will have a great day!

The highlight of our mountain trip to Brevard! Crissy was very knowledgeable about the area and had…read morelots of tips about what to see while here. We had a beautiful ride through the music district, Brevard College campus, trails, breweries, lovely neighborhoods....I highly recommend doing this FIRST for some good ideas on what to do for the rest of your trip. The bikes were much better and easier to operate than those on other ebike tours I've been on. Don't worry if you've never been on one before. We plan to book more tours with Pisgah Day Ventures in the future.

Zach is an amazing host/tour guide. He knows the city well and is very involved in unique projects…read morearound Asheville. Lots of stories along the way. Great way to walk around the city.

While visiting Asheville for a long weekend from Washington, D.C., booking a Hood Huggers tour was…read moreone of the best things we did. Led by Mr. Dwayne, the tour is an hour and a half learning about the Burton Street Community, a historically Black neighborhood in West Asheville and the victim of gentrification and highway expansions. Hood Huggers was created to serve as a champion for the 1912 neighborhood and its long-time residents. My wife, eight-year-old daughter, and I booked a Sunday morning tour. Since it was just us, he gave us the option to walk it or take his little shuttle. Mr. Dwayne gave us the background on the area before Mr. Cotton, the grandson of the man who founded the neighborhood, joined us with a book of photos. After a drive, we ended at the Peace Gardens and Market, a sacred space for the community.

What a cool tour. Our tour guide was very friendly and even offered to do a shuttle right for us…read moreversus a walk ride due to the weather being cold and it was just us on the tour for that morning. He showed us a lot of different areas that were Historical for the African-American community. He also shared a lot of historical information of the schools and colleges in the area that were very prominent years ago. I will definitely recommend this tour hands down to give you more of a historical African-American background of the city based on the money that we spent I feel that it was a great value for the tour that we received the service was outstanding by our tour guide and hands-down. I definitely would recommend this tour.