A Fun, Snowy Weekend In The North Carolina High Country

After a busy holiday season in 2021, Michelle and I decided it was time for a long weekend vacation. We considered doing something tropical, but in the end opted for the total opposite: A wintry weekend in the North Carolina High Country.

We stayed three nights in Banner Elk because of its central location. After Banner Elk, we decided to add another night in Boone since we had never been there before.

The experience could not have been more fun or the scenery more stunning. Most importantly, it was a very relaxing trip which is just what we needed. If you’re looking for your own snowy getaway to the North Carolina High Country, you’ve come to the right place!

Updated August 2024

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through one of these links, I will earn a small commission. This occurs at no added cost to you.

Day One in the North Carolina High Country

Let me start by saying none of this is set in stone, and it really just depends on what type of trip you’re looking for. If you just want to spend a weekend in the hot tub and check out a couple breweries, you could easily do that. In fact, I list out several different breweries near the end of this post for you to try out.

One glaring omission is skiing. Neither of us are skiers, so we looked for other things to do. Whether you ski or not, you should be able to find some helpful info in this North Carolina High Country itinerary. For instance, you can easily replace the snow tubing and ice skating we did on the second day with skiing.

This itinerary starts at 7:00 a.m. on that first day. We actually arrived the night before, so we were really there for 4.5 days, but that whole first night was spent relaxing in the hot tub of our rental.

Hiking Around the Cabin

The North Carolina has plenty of well-known and underrated hiking, and the High Country is no different. I started our first morning with an early hike up the hill behind our cabin. The ground was covered in snow from a storm the week before making the going a little tough. I only went 0.4 miles up, but it took pretty long due to the snow. If not for that, it would be a fairly easy hike.

If you’re staying here (find out more info about our rental below), I’m not sure how far the hike goes since I stopped early. The trail itself is pleasant. It was perfectly quiet with no one else around. Though, there had clearly been at least a couple other people there recently based on the tracks in the snow.

Around 0.1 and 0.4 miles are two spots where you can walk off the trail for views of Grandfather Mountain and Sugar Mountain in the distance. I won’t describe how to get to each of these spots (they’re hard to miss) because I’m not entirely sure if it’s trespassing or not. There’s a barbed wire fence, but it’s obvious people before me had ignored it.

Sugar Mountain Ski Resort

The hike took about an hour because I lingered at the two spots described above to take photos and simply take it all in. Afterwards, Michelle and I had breakfast before heading out to Sugar Mountain Ski Resort to go snow tubing and ice skating. It’s important to note that sessions for both snow tubing and ice skating go every two hours starting at 10:00 a.m.

Snow Tubing costs $40 per adult on weekdays and $50 on weekends. I was a little disappointed walking up because I expected bigger, steeper hills. Despite this, I had a lot of fun once we started going. In a way, it was kind of nice that the two hills were relatively short because it meant we got to go down many times over our two hours. The best part of the whole thing was the snowy scenery and mountains in front of you as you wait in line.

After your two hours tubing are done, head over to the ice-skating area to rent skates for the 12:00 session. The fee for ice skating includes skate rental and is $26 per adult on weekdays and $36 on weekends. The views while ice skating aren’t as good as the ones while tubing because of the fence around the rink. Regardless, it was still a fun experience.

Banner Elk Winery

Our last stop for the day was Banner Elk Winery. If you’re staying at the same rental as us, this winery is just a mile down the road. It’s a perfect stop after a long day in the snow before heading back to the house to relax in the hot tub.

Driving up to the winery you can see the wonderful outdoor area where you can enjoy your wine. It has a large pond with several covered pavilions along its perimeter. They also have a few different artistic statues of deer decorating the scene. We didn’t get to sit outside because it was so cold, but there is a space to sit inside overlooking the pond allowing you to still enjoy it in spite of any weather.

We each had a flight of their drier varieties. I wasn’t a huge fan of either of the whites. The Seyval Blanc was interesting, but just not something I was into. I did enjoy the reds. However, I forgot to write down the names (oops!) so I can’t give a specific recommendation.

Once we were done at the winery, we headed back to the house to make dinner and relax in the hot tub.

Day Two in the North Carolina High Country

Our second full day in Banner Elk didn’t get started till around noon because of the storm that came in the night before. It was a good morning to be lazy because of the single-digit temperatures and icy roads.

More Hiking

After it warmed up enough, we decided to do some brief hiking around the cabin. This time, we went down around the pond and through the rhododendron thickets recommended by the house’s owners. There are trails, but because of the heavy snow covering the paths and knocking branches down, it was a little difficult to navigate.

The trails must be incredibly gorgeous during summer when the rhododendrons are blooming. For me, the best part was simply walking through the open fields in 8″ deep snow while admiring the white trees.

Snowshoeing at Sugar Mountain

Our plan for our second North Carolina High Country day was to go snowshoeing at Sugar Mountain Ski Resort. On Fridays, the only time they offer these tours is 3:00 p.m. We regrettably skipped this because of the snowstorm and our late start to the day.

Snowshoeing tours are one hour long and cost $38 per person.

Drive to Beech Mountain Resort

Whatever you end up doing this day, at some point you should make the drive up Beech Mountain to visit Beech Mountain Resort. You can do some more tubing or skiing here, but more than anything, this is just a nice drive through the state’s tallest town for some spectacular views of the North Carolina High Country.

After you’re done, make sure to check out Beech Mountain Brewery in the resort for some tasty brews.

Day Three in the North Carolina High Country

If you’re following my North Carolina High Country itinerary to a T, today is your last bit of time in Banner Elk before driving to Boone. Weather permitting, the morning will be spent experiencing some of the region’s great outdoors activities, including Grandfather Mountain State Park and at least one North Carolina waterfall.

The rest of the day in Boone will be for sampling more breweries and hitting up one of the town’s restaurants.

Hike to a Waterfall

North Carolina is home to hundreds of waterfalls, and the area around Banner Elk and Boone is no exception with at least 20. Some of these are right off the road while others require a little bit of hiking over varying distances.

For a list of waterfalls in the area and how to access them, visit NC Tripping.

For various reasons, we only chose to visit one waterfall during our time here. Nevertheless, depending on your exact plans and interests, you could easily visit more if you don’t mind driving around. Since you’ll be visiting during winter, keep in mind that trail quality may not be great and plan accordingly.

Otter Falls

The waterfall we decided to visit was Otter Falls because of its proximity to Grandfather Mountain State Park, where we’d be later.

The hike to Otter Falls was made difficult by the recent snow. It’s only 1.2 miles roundtrip, but because of the snow, it was pretty icy in a couple of the steep spots. The very beginning as you hike down from the trailhead and then the end right before the falls are the most difficult spots.

Otherwise, it’s a fairly unremarkable hike asides from the falls themselves and a brief section along a creek. Fortunately, with the hike being so short you don’t have long to wait till you see Otter Falls.

I was hoping for a frozen waterfall because of the weather, and I wasn’t disappointed! Because of all the recent snow, the waterfall was flowing impressively over its 25-foot precipice down to the creek below. Hanging from the rock ledge were numerous large icicles that seemed to be forming a fence around the small cave behind the waterfall. It was a gorgeous scene.

You can access Otter Falls by driving to the community of Seven Devils Hills up a mountain just off NC-105. Drive for about ten minutes up this winding road till you see the trailhead parking lot to your left.

Grandfather Mountain

We got extremely lucky here as Grandfather Mountain was closed all morning due to weather conditions. We were just about to give up and move on to Boone but saw that the park staff decided to open when we did our last check on its status! If you’re not as fortunate as we were and the park is closed, this would be a great opportunity to explore more waterfalls in the area.

Grandfather Mountain has several things to do, including hiking trails, a native wildlife center, a museum and various daily programs. However, the highlights are easily the scenery as you drive up the mountain and the Mile High Swinging Bridge, America’s highest suspension footbridge.

Most everything was closed during our visit for various reasons except for the swinging bridge, which was fine since that was our main reason for visiting. Despite that, it still took us nearly an hour to get from the entrance gate to the top. The reason for this was because of the impressive drive with several stops to take in the gorgeous views.

Having been to other popular parts of the Blue Ridge Mountains like Shenandoah National Park, I can say that the views here are comparable if not as numerous.

At the top, you can walk across the Mile High Swinging Bridge for even more amazing panoramic views of the surrounding mountains. It’s also a bit of a thrill just walking across the bridge while you listen to the noises it makes as it sways in the wind.

I hope it is open for you because visiting here is one of the highlights of the North Carolina High Country.

Keep in mind that Grandfather Mountain and Grandfather Mountain State Park are two separate things. If you’re looking to tick off North Carolina state parks, be sure to visit the correct site. I recommend trying the Grandfather Mountain Profile Trail found within the state park.

Boone

After you’re done with your time at Grandfather Mountain, you can head to Boone for a brewery crawl and good dining. If you haven’t yet had your fill of the outdoors, you can just as easily spend less time in Boone to see more of this region.

Details on the breweries and restaurants we tried are below.

Day Four in the North Carolina High Country

Unfortunately, you’ve arrived at the last day of your winter stay in the North Carolina High Country. You can spend whatever time you have left exploring Boone and the surrounding area. I recommend trying to check out the Blowing Rock, another highlight of the North Carolina High Country.

The Blowing Rock

The Blowing Rock is touted as North Carolina’s oldest tourist attraction. This popular destination in the North Carolina High Country features a unique rock formation that causes gusts of wind that return light objects thrown over the edge. In addition to this geological formation, visitors are also treated to grand views of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

We actually didn’t get to see The Blowing Rock. We tried, but there was a car wreck on the narrow road leading up to the parking lot preventing us from passing.

It sits about 15 minutes south of Boone in the town of Blowing Rock. To enter The Blowing Rock there is a $7 fee for adults in winter ($9 during the rest of the year). Your fee gives you access to everything at The Blowing Rock including the rock itself that gives the park its name, gardens, a waterfall, a photo gallery, two walking trails and an observation deck.

Breweries in the North Carolina High Country

North Carolina has some of my favorite breweries of any state I’ve visited. From the beer mecca of Asheville to more local breweries in my former hometown of Durham, you can find almost anything you like, and the North Carolina High Country is no different. Below are some of the ones we visited during our visit here.

Beech Mountain Brewery

It’s time to start sampling the breweries in the area! First up is Beech Mountain Brewery at Beech Mountain Resort. Of the breweries you’ll see in Banner Elk and Boone, this is the most out of the way as you have drive to the top of Beech Mountain up a steep, windy road.

It wasn’t particularly hard to get to since the roads were well taken care of from the storm the night before. I wouldn’t want to do the drive in the middle of or right after any substantial snow, though.

Beech Mountain Brewery was very good, even if it was a bit of a hike to get to. Inside the brewery was plenty of seating and a much-needed fireplace. The exterior is also nice with a bit of an alpine village ambience. Most importantly, the beer was good.

I had the JBT Brown Ale and the Patroller’s Porter. Both were good beers. If I had to have only one, I would go with the porter.

Keep in mind when visiting during winter that it may be pretty cold in the brewery. Most people coming in are skiers wearing protective clothing. We hadn’t accounted for this, so when the doors kept opening and closing, we felt that cold wind each time.

Kettell Beerworks

Kettell Beerworks is the only brewery within the confines of Banner Elk, but even if that weren’t the case, it would still be worth taking time to visit.

I liked this brewery a lot. There’s a fireplace inside to warm up next to. They have a small arcade area in the back with a pinball machine, Golden Tee, shuffleboard and a lounge with a big screen TV. In addition, they also make their own pizza. We didn’t sample the pizza, but it certainly smelled good.

I sampled a few different beers here as part of a flight plus a pint after the flight was gone. Everything I tried was good. My favorites were Hazelnut Panda and Crabby Louie.

Appalachian Mountain Brewery

Our first stop in Boone was Appalachian Mountain Brewery. AMB is one of the more well-known breweries in North Carolina. Of all the breweries we visited on this trip, this was the one I was most excited to visit. I wasn’t disappointed as it ended up being my favorite of the five we tried.

I had a flight of four beers to start: Mountain Delight Brunch Stout, Edge of a Dream Bourbon Barrel Aged, Honeydew Honeysuckle and Down South Lager. Each one was very good. If I had to pick a favorite, it would have to be the Honeydew Honeysuckle which is high praise considering my preference for darker porters and stouts.

I also tried their featured small batch nitro. There wasn’t a name listed on the menu, but it was described as a vanilla blackberry porter nitro. It smelled great! The taste, on the other hand, was not my favorite. Reading the description, I was pretty excited to try this, so I think part of my disappointment in the taste was due to high expectations. It had a bit of a bitter taste that I wasn’t a fan of.

Asides from the beer, the brewery has a permanent food truck that features wood-fired pizza. Since we visited around lunch, we both had our own small pizzas. These were almost as good as the beer and some of the best food we had all weekend.

Booneshine Brewing Company

Our next stop in Boone was Booneshine Brewing Company. Several people recommended Booneshine to me, so I went in with high expectations. I liked Booneshine, but I didn’t really get why it was so highly recommended. The beer was good. It seemed to have a fun atmosphere. Kind of like the nitro I described above, I think I may have had too high of expectations.

They have a large outdoor seating area that we didn’t check out too much because of the cold weather. I do wonder if we visited in warmer months if I might feel differently about this brewery.

I did have two great beers in my flight: Hatchet Coffee Porter and Long Winter Mocha Stout. These beers were up there with anything else I had during this trip.

Lost Province Brewing Company

The last brewery in Boone was Lost Province. This brewery was very busy and had a fun atmosphere. As we were leaving a band was arriving to do a show which I wish we could have seen part of, but dinner was calling.

Now, that said, I wasn’t a big fan of their beer. Michelle liked her beers so it could have just been the ones I tried. The one I had that I would recommend is the Tubby Monk, a Belgian strong dark ale.

From what I understand, Lost Province is more known for their food which we didn’t try. I would still check it out if you’re in Boone since everyone’s tastes are different.

Places to Eat in the North Carolina High Country

Most of our meals during our trip to the North Carolina High Country took place at our cabin rental both to save money and avoid driving in snowy weather. Still, we did go out to eat a few times, particularly while in Boone. Here are three recommendations to try out.

Banner Elk Cafe

Don’t let appearances deceive you. Banner Elk Cafe is definitely an eatery you should try during your time in Banner Elk.

The inside was unadorned except for old photos where we were seated. Behind our booth was a display case with some very tasty looking desserts. Those are the only real highlights of our seating area.

For my meal, I had the barbecue plate special. Coming from an area of the state with several well-known barbecue restaurants, the barbecue at Banner Elk Cafe was some of the best I’ve had in North Carolina. Not only was it delicious but it was shockingly cheap for what I was used to spending in Durham. Michelle’s meal was also very good.

We didn’t try one of those desserts, but based on how they looked, we made a mistake by skipping them.

CoBo Sushi Bistro & Bar

We worked up quite a hunger with all that beer we tried in Boone. CoBo Sushi Bistro & Bar was right around the corner and neither of us felt like doing much research, so we chose sushi for our dinner.

I wasn’t expecting much from a sushi restaurant in a smaller mountain town. Despite that, CoBo was a huge surprise!

We sampled a lot of sushi and nigiri at CoBo. It was all delicious, especially the unagi (barbecued eel) nigiri and potstickers. If you’re into sushi, do not miss out on trying CoBo Sushi Bistro & Bar.

Melanie’s Food Fantasy

If you’re looking for a local breakfast spot to recover from all the breweries in Boone, Melanie’s Food Fantasy will meet your needs. Melanie’s has both an outdoor and indoor seating area with heaters outside for cold weather. The inside is decorated with a variety of plants, antique kitchen gadgets and pictures of the local area.

If you’re a tea drinker, I recommend the honey lemon ginger tea pot. It sounds like a lot of strong flavors, but it was absolutely delicious. For breakfast, I had the Trucker’s Breakfast and Michelle had the Corned Beef Hash.

The Trucker’s Breakfast consists of two biscuits with gravy, eggs, cheddar, crumbled bacon and home fries. The biscuits and eggs were excellent, but it is a lot of food so make sure you’re hungry.

Day-by-Day Itinerary for the North Carolina High Country

A lot of this North Carolina High Country itinerary is dependent on staying in or near Banner Elk. Even more than that, some of it specifically involves a couple short hikes right near our rental.

That’s great if you stay in the same rental as us or even Banner Elk, but still, the bigger highlights apply wherever you’re staying. You should be able to pretty easily substitute some of the smaller things with similar attractions near where you’re staying.

You may have also noticed our itinerary was pretty craft brewery heavy and doesn’t contain any skiing, a popular activity in the North Carolina High Country. Neither of us ski but we do enjoy craft beer. If you like skiing, you can pretty easily add that into your itinerary while removing some of the things we did.

• Day One
  • Early morning hike around the cabin
  • Sugar Mountain Ski Resort
  • Banner Elk Winery
• Day Two
  • More hiking around the cabin
  • Back to Sugar Mountain Ski Resort or relax around the cabin
  • Beech Mountain Resort
  • Kettell Beerworks
• Day Three
  • Do a waterfall hike
  • Grandfather Mountain State Park
  • Drive into Boone
  • Appalachian Mountain Brewery
  • Booneshine Brewing Company
  • Lost Province Brewing Company
• Day Four
  • Breakfast in Boone
  • The Blowing Rock

Where to Stay in the North Carolina High Country

Our options were somewhat limited because we waited till the last second to book this trip. However, we eventually ended up finding an absolute gem of a place in Banner Elk.

After searching Expedia, Airbnb and a couple random cabin rental websites, we stumbled on the Potato House. Unless you plan on spending the whole weekend skiing at one of the resorts, this rental should be high on your list of potential places to stay.

The Potato House comes with a hot tub, outdoor and indoor fireplaces, kerosene grill and two different outdoor seating areas. There are two hiking trails near the house to take advantage of. Perhaps best of all, from the living room and upstairs deck you have one of the best views of Grandfather Mountain that you’ll see in the area.

The house is large enough for two couples and is located about five minutes away from the town of Banner Elk where you have access to breweries, a winery, restaurants, groceries and Sugar Mountain Ski Resort.

The Potato House is a little pricey, but this house is worth it, especially if you’re going with another couple and can split the cost.

After our time in Banner Elk, we stayed at La Quinta Inn & Suites in Boone. There wasn’t much special about this hotel, but it was solid for what we needed, which was a single night at a central location for a good price.

Provisions for the North Carolina High Country

There are two grocery stores in Banner Elk: Food Lion and Lowes Foods. If you’re staying close to Banner Elk’s city center, Food Lion is the closest option even if it doesn’t have the best selection. Lowes is a little farther away.

Your best bet is to bring your own groceries so you only need Food Lion or Lowes for smaller things you forgot or didn’t realize you would need.

For your beer and wine needs, I highly recommend Peabody’s Wine & Beer Merchants on the outskirts of Boone. As a bit of a beer snob, this place was a real treat. Peabody’s has a huge selection of local and national beer in all formats whether you like growlers, mix-and-match bottles or six-packs. They also seem to have a good variety of wines, but I was only there for the beer so I can’t speak much for their wine selection.

If you’re staying exclusively in Boone, you have plenty of options for groceries, beer, wine or whatever else you may need.

Resources to Book Your Trip to North Carolina

Whether you’re looking for tours, hotels or flights, here are some tools to help get you started planning your trip to the North Carolina mountains!

Look for activities and tours offered through GetYourGuide or Viator!

Still can’t find what you’re looking for? Check out my travel essentials pages for more of my recommendations.

Pin This Post!