Family-Friendly Activities and Things to Do in Asheville

Black Mountain Escape is an escape room company in the basement of 103 Black Mountain Ave in downtown Black Mountain, about 15 minutes from Asheville. It has three themed rooms, each for up to 8 players. USS McKoy, the most popular, puts your crew aboard a WWII destroyer in the North Atlantic with crewmen missing and vital intel at stake. Out of Time centers on a time machine found in the basement of Black Mountain's oldest building, and Vanishing Act takes you backstage in the workshop of magician Fritz Franco. It's open Monday through Saturday from 11 am to 9:40 pm, and the per-person price drops as you add players. Birthday groups can use the courtyard before or after a game for pizza.

The Asheville Art Museum sits at 2 South Pack Square in downtown Asheville and has welcomed visitors since 1948. It collects and shows American art of the 20th and 21st centuries, with a focus on Western North Carolina, including Studio Craft, Black Mountain College and Cherokee artists. Current exhibitions include West Coast Glass, Warp, Weft, and the Grid, On the Lathe and The Art of Paper. The museum also has a hands-on Wells Fargo ArtPLAYce for kids, Perspective Cafe and a museum store, and it's open Wednesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The Asheville Tourists are the city's minor league baseball team, the High-A affiliate of the Houston Astros since 2021, and they play at HomeTrust Park at 30 Buchanan Place, just south of downtown. The ballpark opened in 1924 as McCormick Field with a visit from Ty Cobb and the Detroit Tigers, and it took its new name in April 2026 after a $40 million renovation. The renovated park has a new entry plaza, an expanded team store, a new video board, LED field lighting, murals by local artists and the Asheville Baseball History Walk. It seats about 4,000, so every seat is close to the field. More than 500 former Tourists have gone on to play in the major leagues. Kids can find the team's mascots, Ted E. Tourist the bear and Mr. Moon, working the crowd at home games.

Claying Around is a paint-your-own pottery studio in South Asheville on Hendersonville Road, offering drop-in ceramic painting sessions for all ages and skill levels. It's a favorite for families, date nights, and group outings, and it's one of the most accessible pottery and arts-and-crafts experiences in the Asheville NC area, with no prior art experience needed.

Montford Park Players (MPP) is North Carolina’s longest-running Shakespeare company, devoted to providing free, high-quality outdoor theatre since 1973. Located in Asheville’s historic Montford neighborhood in the Hazel Robinson Amphitheatre, MPP produces an extensive 20-week summer season featuring Shakespeare’s plays alongside other classic and contemporary works. The City of Asheville built the amphitheatre in 1983 due to MPP’s success and growing audience. Beyond summer outdoor performances, MPP presents indoor productions in fall and winter as part of their expanded season. Their mission centers around making theatre accessible and affordable, serving both locals and visitors with a culturally enriching experience.

Sky Lanes is a bowling alley in West Asheville at 1477 Patton Avenue, open since 1963 and still bowling seven days a week. Daily open lanes, cosmic bowling nights, and a full arcade make it a reliable family destination, while the bar and grill serves wings, pizza, burgers, and cold drafts for bowlers of all ages. Bumpers and lightweight balls keep the kids happy, and league nights keep the regulars coming back.

Downtown Asheville's ACT has been staging productions since 1946, making it the oldest continuously operating theater in the city and second oldest in North Carolina. Two stages: the Heston Mainstage (approx. 309 seats) and the 40-seat 35below black box. Programming spans musicals, dramas, comedies, a Readers Theatre series, and youth productions season-round.

The WNC Nature Center is a 42-acre wildlife park on Gashes Creek Road in East Asheville, and it's all about the animals of the Southern Appalachians. Black bears, red and gray wolves, cougars, bobcats and river otters live in big wooded habitats, plus red pandas, and the new Gateway to the Southern Appalachians area was just finished this year. It's open every day from 10 AM to 4:30 PM, with last admission at 3:30. Adult tickets run $16.95 plus tax, kids 3 to 12 are $12.95, 2 and under get in free, and City of Asheville residents pay less. Active duty and retired military get in free, and the ticket window is cashless. The calendar stays busy, with monthly behind-the-scenes Wild Walks, Wolf Howl nights in the fall, a stuffed animal Critter Check Up in December, and Brews & Bears after-hours nights with beer and live music on second Fridays in summer.

Asheville Retrocade is West Asheville's dedicated classic arcade bar at 800 Haywood Road, packed with restored vintage arcade cabinets and pinball machines alongside a full bar. Tokens get you unlimited play on dozens of games from the 80s and 90s, making it the top retro arcade experience in Asheville NC for nostalgia trips and group nights out.

Sweeten Creek Brewing sits on a big creekside property off Sweeten Creek Road in South Asheville, and it's built for hanging out. The beer leans crisp and true to style, with a pilsner, a pale ale, a brown ale and a couple of hazy IPAs on the year-round list, plus seasonals like a Märzen and a black IPA. Bears Smokehouse BBQ has been cooking on site since 2021, so dinner is covered. Outside there's a wide lawn with picnic tables and cornhole, and an 8,000 square foot fenced dog park. Dogs can come inside the taproom in winter too. Weeknights have a regular lineup, with an all-arts open mic on Tuesdays and trivia on Wednesdays. They also host Bele Shred, a two-day music festival on three stages that raises money for Hood Huggers.

Asheville Parks & Recreation runs the City of Asheville's parks, community centers, pools and greenways, with more than 50 parks across town. Highlights include the 17,000 square foot Asheville Skatepark downtown, with a beginner bowl, a street course and an advanced vertical bowl, and Splasheville, the splash pad in Pack Square Park. Asheville Municipal Golf Course, the Donald Ross course locals call Muni, dates to the 1920s and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Community centers across the city host afterschool programs, summer camps, youth athletics and classes for kids, teens and adults. Every October brings the Festival of Frights, with costume parties for people and dogs, creepy climbing and crafts. The department office is at 70 Court Plaza downtown, and you can reserve picnic shelters for birthdays and reunions.

The Asheville Buncombe Regional Sports Commission is a nonprofit that has worked since 2010 to bring sporting events to Asheville, Buncombe County and Western North Carolina. It recruits tournaments and championships, partners with local and national event organizers, and offers full event support, from venue coordination and logistics to staffing. Recent events include the Asheville Grass Open in October 2026 and the Ingles SoCon Volleyball Championship at Harrah's Cherokee Center in downtown Asheville.

The Moogseum is the Bob Moog Foundation's interactive museum at 56 Broadway Street in downtown Asheville, telling the story of the pioneer who invented the Moog synthesizer in 1964. Hands-on exhibits let you play theremins and synthesizers, see how electricity turns into sound, and study a re-creation of Bob Moog's workbench, across more than 100 years of electronic music history. It's open daily from 11 am to 5 pm. Kids 7 and under get in free, and kids 15 and under need an adult with them. Audio tours narrated by Michelle Moog-Koussa, the foundation's executive director, add more of the story. From November 12 to 16, 2026, the Minimoog Through the Ages exhibit covers five decades of the instrument.

Hickory Nut Gap is a working family farm out on Sugar Hollow Road in Fairview, east of Asheville, and the same family has been farming it since 1916. They raise 100% grassfed beef plus pasture-raised pork and chicken, and the farm store and butchery is where you stock up on all of it, along with local goods and prepared food. Fall is when the farm really comes alive. Weekends bring hay rides and pony rides by donation, with the money going to Project HNG. Wednesday through Sunday the kids, and plenty of grown-ups, hit the culvert slides, the trike track, the sound silo and the creek with its little rope swing. Local apples, farm-pressed cider and pumpkins fill up the store in September. The calendar stays full out here. Monthly Big Barn Socials, barn dance shows with live music and a two-step instructor, stargazing nights, birding walks and Sunday morning qi gong all happen on the farm, so grab tickets early for the bigger nights.

LaZoom runs comedy bus tours of Asheville on its purple bus, leaving daily from the LaZoom Room at 76 Biltmore Avenue downtown. Since 2007, its performers have mixed scripted sketches, costumed characters and real local history across four tours. Hey Asheville is the city comedy tour through downtown, Montford, the River Arts District and the South Slope, with a brewery stop, for ages 13 and up. Lil Boogers is the kids' version, with family-friendly skits and Asheville history, from $29. Ghosted is the after-dark haunted comedy tour for ages 17 and up, and Fender Bender puts a live local band on the bus for three brewery stops, 21 and up. Back at the LaZoom Room, the house improv troupe, The Extra Virgins, plays Sunday Service comedy shows.

The Village Potters Clay Center is a nonprofit clay studio, gallery and pottery supply shop at 44 Westgate Parkway in West Asheville. After Hurricane Helene destroyed its River Arts District building in 2024, it reopened at Westgate in April 2026. The gallery sells ceramics made on site by six resident potters and studio tenants, and the supply shop stocks Laguna, Standard and KYMudworks clays, AMACO glazes and Brent wheels. Eight-week pottery classes and workshops serve beginners and experienced makers. It's open daily from 10 AM to 5 PM.

Grandad's Apples 'N Such is a 120-acre family farm and apple orchard at 2951 Chimney Rock Road in Hendersonville, and the family has run it since 1994. Fourth-generation apple farmer Pat and his wife Leslie grow apples, peaches, pears, pumpkins and lavender. In apple season you can buy pre-picked apples from the bins every day and pick your own on select weekends, depending on the crop. Weekends bring the corn maze, the cow train and the apple cannon, and the pumpkin patch opens in late September. The barn's country store and bakery have hot cider donuts, apple pies, fresh cider made on the farm and local jams. Grandad's also opens for lavender season in late spring and for Christmas after Thanksgiving.

Fired Up Creative Lounge is a paint-your-own pottery and art studio at 26 Wall Street in downtown Asheville. Pick a piece of bisque to paint, try glass fusing with staff help, sculpt with clay, take a pottery wheel lesson, or paint a canvas with a template or your own design. No experience is needed, walk-ins are welcome, and you can order pottery to-go kits online.

Eliada is an Asheville nonprofit that has been helping children since 1903, and its campus on Compton Drive in West Asheville serves more than 400 kids and teens a year through child care, pre-K, afterschool, summer camp, foster care and mental health programs. Every fall, the campus turns into Eliada's Corn Maze and Fall Festival at 49 Compton Drive, with an 8-acre corn maze, tractor rides, corn cannons, a bouncy pillow and a spider climber. It's not a haunted attraction, so it works for all ages. In 2026 it runs September 25 to November 1, open Fridays 3 to 7 PM, Saturdays 10 AM to 7 PM and Sundays 10 AM to 6 PM. Tickets are $15 for adults and kids 3 to 17, and kids under 3 get in free. On select Friday evenings in October, local bands play from 5 to 7 PM at no extra cost, and every ticket supports Eliada's work with kids and families in Western North Carolina.

Located within the scenic Pisgah National Forest just south of downtown Asheville, The North Carolina Arboretum encompasses 434 acres of stunning cultivated gardens, hiking and biking trails, and outdoor discovery spaces. Easily accessible via the Blue Ridge Parkway and located at 100 Frederick Law Olmsted Way, the Arboretum is a premier destination for nature lovers, families, and outdoor enthusiasts. Key highlights include the Bonsai Exhibition Garden, National Native Azalea Repository, inspiring Quilt Garden, and multiple garden-themed trails representing native Appalachian flora. The Arboretum also features year-round rotating educational exhibits and programs, a visitor center with a gift shop showcasing regional crafts, and seasonally operated on-site dining. While admission is free, a parking fee applies to most vehicles. The Arboretum welcomes pedestrians, cyclists, and members with no charge. Accessibility features include wheelchair-friendly paths and complimentary wheelchairs available on-site.

West Asheville Tailgate Market is a maker and grower only farmers market at 718 Haywood Road in West Asheville. Every Tuesday from 3:30 to 6:30pm, April through Christmas, vendors bring fruit, vegetables, bread, eggs, cheese, milk, meat, fish, plant starts, herbal medicine and local art and crafts. The market has live music and free kids activities each week, and it runs a SNAP and EBT program. In December the holiday market shortens to 3:30 to 5:30pm.

Sliding Rock is a natural water slide and swimming hole at a Pisgah National Forest recreation park, 7851 Pisgah Highway, north of Brevard. Looking Glass Creek runs down a 60-foot slab of rock into a pool 8 to 10 feet deep, and the water is cold and fast. An observation platform overlooks the slide. Lifeguards are on duty and restrooms are open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, Memorial Day through Labor Day. The rest of the year there are no lifeguards and the restrooms are closed. Sliders need to be able to swim.

Devil’s Courthouse is a short but steep hike to an amazing view near the Blue Ridge Parkway. This is a family friendly, free hike that’s less than a mile! Check out the 360 degree video created by Hike NC with Me: https://youtu.be/SeITlUSHRK4

Looking for some majestical waterfall energy? The popular High Falls loop trail will take you to see High Falls and Triple Falls in Dupont State Recreational Forest. Join Hike NC with Me in experiencing our weekly 360 degree hike!

Asheville Pinball Museum is a hands-on arcade at 1 Battle Square in downtown Asheville, in the 1924 Battery Park Hotel building across from the Grove Arcade. Owner T.C. DiBella opened it in 2013, and the main floor now has 40 playable pinball machines, with 40 classic video games in the back room. One $17 admission covers unlimited play for the day, and anyone tagging along who isn't playing gets in free. Each machine has a placard with its history and how many were made, and the oldest tables, some from the 1930s, are on display only. It's a favorite rainy-day stop for families with kids old enough to work the flippers.

The Hop Ice Cream has been an Asheville institution since 1978, with imaginative and locally-influenced flavors. Owners Ashley and Greg Garrison opened their first downtown location at S&W Market. The menu features homemade dairy and vegan ice creams, classic milkshakes, sundaes, desserts, and made-from-scratch waffle cones. The Hop’s flagship flavors (Salted Caramel, Vanilla Bean, and Chocolate) will be offered alongside a variety of staples and rotates flavors, often featuring local ingredients and collaborations with Asheville businesses.

the Asheville Museum of Science (AMOS) offers an engaging and hands-on science experience for visitors of all ages. AMOS features interactive exhibits spanning geology, biology, paleontology, physics, and environmental science, including the notable Teratophoneus dinosaur skeleton and the Colburn Hall of Minerals. The museum's highlights include a STEM lab, tree climb, terrabox topography simulator, fossil dig, toddler nest, and rotating special exhibits focused on current science topics.

Experience the best of the mountains all in one place! Enjoy six unique hiking trails, 75-mile panoramic views, and the tallest waterfall in any North Carolina State Park.

The WNC Farmers Market is a big year-round market at 570 Brevard Road in Southwest Asheville. Vendors sell local fresh fruits and vegetables along with artisan-made products all year long, so it's a one-stop shop for what's in season.

Carrier Park is a City of Asheville riverfront park on Amboy Road in West Asheville, built on the site of the old New Asheville Motor Speedway along the French Broad River. Hurricane Helene flooded the park in 2024, and the city is planning its rebuild as part of the French Broad Riverfront Parks Recovery project, with construction expected to start in 2027. For now the east side is open, with the picnic shelter, wetlands education area, rolling lawn and parking lot, and the French Broad River Greenway runs through the whole park. The west side, including the playground, basketball and volleyball courts, roller rink, lawn bowling and sports field, is still closed, along with the velodrome. The park is open daily from 6 AM to 10 PM.