I had the opportunity to take one of my children to a location that was on her bucket list – The Biltmore.

My husband had training in Charlotte, N.C., so we had a free hotel room to stay in, along with free flights. 

We left on a Sunday afternoon, flying from Dayton to Chicago to Charlotte. We stayed the night in Charlotte and brought my husband Garrett’s Popcorn from the Chicago airport. (It’s a mix of cheese popcorn and caramel popcorn that is so good! They make it fresh at each location.)

On Monday morning, we caught the hotel shuttle to the Charlotte airport and flew on a very short flight to Asheville, N.C. We were in the air for less than 30 minutes!

It was about a 20-minute drive to the city from the airport and we found a European-style bakery to get breakfast at – Old Europe Pastries. The croissants and cappuccinos did remind us of Paris and Rome. I would highly recommend this stop!

We got to the Biltmore to enter just as it opened at 10 a.m. You have to drive through part of the estate, park and walk a few minutes to get to the entrance, which has you go around a corner before you see the huge mansion. It’s impressive!

The tour included stops in the formal dining room, inside garden conservatory, library, sitting rooms and many bedrooms. I don’t think we even saw a quarter of the mansion! We also went down to the basement where the bowling alley, swimming pool, gymnasium, changing rooms, servant rooms, kitchens and laundry were located. There was a pastry kitchen, meat kitchen and cooking kitchen. The laundry room had state-of-the-art washing and drying technology for those times. Staff was well paid at the Biltmore.

We went to Antler Hill to have lunch. The Vanderbilts had a dairy there, but now it’s a winery. I found a Chihuly glass piece in the winery that it absolutely beautiful. There was an exhibit of his artwork there before the flooding in 2024.

We walked around the gardens, but they weren’t blooming yet. There was a very large greenhouse that had many different plants in full bloom, though.

We also went to an exhibit about Tutankhamun that has replicas of everything that was discovered in the tomb by Howard Carter. It was pretty amazing to see it all in person. My daughter was fairly impressed, too.

We drove back to the Asheville airport and caught a flight back to Charlotte that evening. After staying one more night in Charlotte, we headed home Tuesday afternoon. It was a fun adventure and the Biltmore was a fascinating part of American history to see in person.

More information on the Biltmore can be found here: https://www.biltmore.com