Asheville & WNC
Selected by TopRetirements.com as the number one retirement town for 2010, the Asheville area offers a little bit of something for everyone. With a backdrop provided by the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains of Western North Carolina, Asheville offers a unique quality of life, maintaining the intimacy and charm of a small city of 80,000, while offering the cultural, recreational, and educational opportunities of a larger one.
The Asheville area has been recognized by a wide range of print and on-line publications for its quality of life.
2010
Mission Health System based in Asheville has been named one of the 51 best-performing health systems in the nation. The ranking was given in the annual quantitative study called The Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals: Health System Benchmarks. It was given for demonstrating higher quality patient outcomes across all facilities in their system. Mission Health System was the only health system in North or South Carolina to receive the designation.
TopRetirements.com: Asheville was rated number one in TopRetirement.com’s list of the most popular retirement towns for 2010. (February 2010)
Sherman’s Travel: The online travel resource, Sherman’s Travel, named the Blue Ridge Parkway in their list of “Top 10 Value Destinations for 2010.” (December 2009)
Byways: Named Asheville as one of the magazine's "Top 50 North American Group Tour Destinations of 2010." (December 2009)
Golf Magazine: The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa’s Donald Ross designed golf course was honored as a new gold medal winner in the 12th edition of their Premier Resorts ranking. More than 6,000 readers cast votes on Golf.com to determine the winners. (March 2010)
RateBeer.com: This craft beer aficionado Web site named several Asheville area restaurants, breweries and craft beer stores in their annual RateBeer Best 2010. (January 2010)
2009
U.S. News & World Report: Named Asheville as one of “America's Best Affordable Places to Retire.” (September 28, 2009)
AmericanStyle: For the second year, Asheville held the number two spot in the small cities category (population under 100,000) in the annual “Top 25 Arts Destinations” reader’s poll. (April 2009)
USA Today’s Road Warrior Panel: A panel of 1,000+ travelers who voluntarily provide travel information for USA Today named Asheville as one of their top cities for business trips. Asheville got high marks from the panel for its “great arts and music scene; a community mix of mountain folk, bohemians, business people and highly educated locals; wonderful outdoors lifestyle and fly-fishing; and organic Caribbean-Cuban-Mexican-Jamaican food at Salsa Mexican Caribbean Restaurant.” (August 12, 2009)
HuffingtonPost.com: Named Asheville as one of its “Top 10 Undiscovered Local Food Cities.” (August 2009)
Imbibe Magazine’s Internet Poll: Asheville took first place with over 55% of the votes as “Best Craft Beer City in America.” (July 2009)
Online Poll Posted on Examiner.com: Asheville won the East Coast title for “Beer City U.S.A.” in an online poll posted by founder of the American Homebrewers Association Charlie Papazian on Examiner.com. (May 2009)
Forbes.com: In their 11th annual ranking of the “Best Places for Business and Careers,” Asheville ranked as #6 in the top metro areas category. (March 25, 2009)
Southern Living: Announced their “Best of the South Readers’ Choice Awards” and readers of the magazine recognized these Asheville favorites:
Best Breakfast or Brunch Restaurant – Moose Café (Placed #9 out of 10)
Southern Favorite Restaurants – Moose Café (Placed #10 out of 10)
Best Splurge Restaurants – The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa (Placed #3 out of 10)
Best Scenic View – Grandfather Mountain (Placed #2 out of 10) and Chimney Rock Park (Placed #3 out of 10)
Best Public Gardens – Biltmore Gardens (Placed #3 out of 10)
Best Southern City – Asheville (Placed #8 out of 10)
Best Hotel – The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa (Placed #1 out of 10) and the Inn on Biltmore Estate (Placed #8 out of 10)
(January 2009)
2008
National Geographic Traveler: Asheville received honors in the magazine’s Fifth Annual Places Rated Survey. Asheville ranked in the top 50 globally and top 10 nationally. The city placed first among North Carolina destinations. (October 2008)
Yahoo! Real Estate: Asheville was named as one of the top ten places to live. (December 2008)
Where to Retire Magazine: Honored Asheville as one of its “Eight Enriching Towns for Art and Music Lovers,” touting the many wonderful art studios, seasonal art walks and Bele Chere, the largest free outdoor music festival in the Southeast. (May/June 2008)
Travel+Leisure: Asheville’s Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa ranked number 13 in magazine’s list of Top 20 Hotel Spas. (August 2008)
Country Home Magazine: Asheville was recognized as one of the top 25 green cities in America for their “2007 Best Green Places” rankings. (January 2008)
Travel+Leisure: Asheville’s Inn on Biltmore Estate ranked number 36 in magazine’s list of Top 100 Hotels in the Continental U.S. and Canada. (August 2008)
AmericanStyle: Ranked Asheville number two in the small cities category (population under 100,000) in the annual “Top 25 Arts Destinations” reader’s poll. (June 2008)
Condé Nast Traveler: Announced its fourteenth annual Gold List and recognized the Inn on Biltmore Estate. For the Gold List, the magazine takes its 2007 Readers’ Choice Awards winners and delves deeper in the responses, rating hotels for their food, activities, service, rooms, design and location. (January 2008)
Southern Living: Announced their “Best of the South Readers’ Choice Awards” and readers of the magazine recognized these Asheville favorites:
Best Resorts/Hotels – The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa and Inn on Biltmore Estate
Best Mountain Destination – Asheville
Best Scenic Highway – Blue Ridge Parkway in the Asheville corridor
(January 2008)
Asheville & WNC
At an average elevation of 2,340 feet above sea level, Asheville enjoys four distinct seasons. Spring arrives early in the Blue Ridge Mountains with an explosion of floral variety, and an average temperature of 62.9 degrees. Because of the elevation, summers are cool, with an average high temperature of 82 degrees and an average low of 61. Fall brings crisp days and brilliant foliage with average temperatures of 56 degrees. Winter's average temperature is 40 degrees, with an average annual snowfall in Asheville of sixteen inches. The highest and southernmost ski slopes in the eastern U.S. are nearby.
Educational opportunities for seniors abound. The campus of the University of North Carolina at Asheville (UNCA) is situated close to the heart of the city on 175 acres. UNCA is home to the NC Center for Creative Retirement and its College for Seniors, a lifelong learning program. Two eight-week terms in fall and spring, a four-week winter term and a special summer term offer a wide variety of more than 230 courses each year. Most courses are taught by peer instructors, but at least one course each term is taught by an outstanding UNC Asheville faculty member. Classes are held in the Reuter Center on the UNC Asheville campus. In the fall and spring terms some classes are also held at Deerfield.
Other nearby institutions of higher learning include Western Carolina University (WCU), Warren Wilson College, Mars Hill College, Brevard College and Montreat College. WCU and UNCA have expanding graduate programs.
Recreational opportunities for an active senior lifestyle are limitless! Asheville's nine parks provide swimming pools, tennis courts, and a Nature Center with a variety of animals native to this region. Asheville has 21 summer playgrounds, eight neighborhood recreation centers, and two senior citizens' centers. The Asheville Racquet Club, located next door to Deerfield, is home to numerous senior tennis groups. Two public golf courses and three country clubs provide superior play ten months a year. Two great national forests offer fishing, hiking trails, and rock climbing. The North Carolina Arboretum and the Botanical Garden Gardens at Asheville offer tranquil settings to experience nature’s beauty and abundance. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway give the area both unlimited recreational opportunities and scenic splendor.
