4 Best Hotels in The North Carolina Mountains, North Carolina

Spread across 1,400 acres on one of the finest properties in western North Carolina, High Hampton exudes casual luxury from the friendly welcome in the gorgeous lodge, where the staff remembers your name, to the leisurely breakfasts and multi-course dinners in the dining room (an optional add-on). Two mountains—both with private hiking trails—frame the view from the fishing and swimming lake, swimming pool, tennis courts, and 18-hole, Tom Fazio–designed golf course. Now a Blackberry Farms property, the resort includes rooms in the historic inn and cottages spread across the grounds.

Sit in the hot tub under the stars—and next to a striking Dale Chihuly glass sculpture—and soak in the rolling mountain vistas at this sumptuous retreat 10 miles out of town. Suites and cottages, all tastefully appointed and art-filled, are spread across the 85-acre riverfront property that includes a horse barn converted into a spa, a steam room and dry sauna, a game room with billiards and table tennis, a dedicated children's play house, and the Silo Cookhouse, the best restaurant south of Asheville on the I–26 corridor. 

Recent renovations have brought this celebrated resort back into focus, including overhauls of the spacious lodge rooms that now sport attractive wood paneling and new furniture. Choose between Chetola Lodge, the eight-room Bob Timberlake Inn, or from the collection of rental condos on the tranquil property. There's an on-site restaurant and pub, a stocked lake (with free fishing rods to rent), a kids' room with toys and crafts, and a spa, a sauna, and a gorgeous indoor pool. An Orvis outpost within the lodge has the gear—and the guides—needed to target trout in the nearby private-access streams. There's also a sporting reserve that includes archery and a clay-shooting course. 

The 10 off-the-wall accommodations at this "glampground" range from a renovated double-decker English bus to a super hero–themed tiny house. Each space has a different theme, and several are large enough to accommodate families. The grounds are beautiful and include a small pond and creek.