Self Guided Walking Tours

Find the door: the big two-story taproom called the Green Mansion, 27 Buxton Ave - look for the front patio and the Green Man sign.

You are starting at one of North Carolina's originals. Green Man has been brewing on this block since 1997, back when the South Slope was all warehouses and nobody called it a brewery district. The two-story Green Mansion taproom looks down into the brewhouse itself, and the patio out front is where half the neighborhood ends its day.

The Bear suggests the ESB, the beer that built this house, or the Porter if you like it dark and smooth. Both are on the tap list today; lineups rotate, so if a seasonal catches your eye, trust it.

4.5 stars, 1,130 Google reviews (Oct 2026). Reviewers call it an Asheville beer icon and love the view over the brew room and the patio.

Standing on Buxton Ave, you are about 40 feet uphill of your next stop. Enjoy the one easy leg.

Find the door: a renovated transmission shop at 40 Collier Ave with a big outdoor seating area out front. The Burial sign is over the entrance.

Burial was born in the summer of 2013 in this renovated transmission shop, and it grew into one of the most respected small breweries in the country without losing its rough edges. There are two bars, a full kitchen, and a big outdoor space. The tap list bends toward hazy IPAs and deep imperial stouts, with fresh releases every week, so there is always something new pouring.

The Bear suggests whatever IPA came out this week - they release them constantly - or an imperial stout if you see one with coconut or vanilla. Hungry? The kitchen turns out a proper smash burger.

4.7 stars, 2,322 Google reviews (Oct 2026). Reviewers praise the wide beer selection, the smash burger, and the big indoor and outdoor spaces.

Find the door: 144 Coxe Ave, directly across the street from the Funkatorium. Look for the Twin Leaf sign.

A playful, welcoming taproom where the lineup changes fast: hazy IPAs one week, a Mexican chocolate stout or a Belgian tripel the next. Board games on the shelves, locals at the bar, and a tap list the regulars describe as dialed in. This is the South Slope's living room.

The Bear suggests asking what is freshest - reviewers single out the hazy IPA, a Mexican chocolate stout, and the Luminosity Belgian tripel when it is on. The board games are free; grab one while you decide.

4.4 stars, 555 Google reviews (Oct 2026). Reviewers praise the dialed-in tap list and call the space beautiful and welcoming.

Find the door: 147 Coxe Ave, across the street from Twin Leaf - the dark little Wicked Weed Funkatorium taproom with the barrel room inside.

Finish the walk at the East Coast's first taproom dedicated to sour and wild ales. The Funkatorium is where Wicked Weed keeps its barrel program: oak-aged sours, lambic-style blends, and bottles you will not find anywhere else. The room is dark, artsy, and smells faintly of oak.

The Bear suggests a flight - that is the right move here. Start with a Golden Angel, then a fruit sour from the Morte series, and if you like it dark, the Black Angel. Ask the bartender what is funkiest today.

4.5 stars, 1,546 Google reviews (Oct 2026). Reviewers love the sour beers, the artsy atmosphere, and the knowledgeable bartenders.

You made it. The whole walk was about a third of a mile.

Find the door: 197 Hilliard Ave - the big building with colorful murals on the outside walls. You cannot miss the artwork.

Hi-Wire's original brewhouse opened here in 2013 and now brews the small stuff: sours, wild ales, and taproom exclusives alongside the flagships. Twenty taps, big murals inside and out, games, and a secret tiki speakeasy hidden at the back called The Tiki Easy Bar. Ask nicely.

The Bear suggests a taproom-exclusive sour - that is what this brewhouse is for - plus a Gleezy hot dog from the kitchen window (under $10, and the Japanese Terimayo has a following). Then find the tiki bar in the back.

4.3 stars, 594 Google reviews (Oct 2026). This is the family- and game-friendly room of the three Hi-Wire spots.

Find the door: 32 Banks Ave - look for the Catawba sign and the picnic tables out front.

Asheville's most approachable taproom: thirty taps, picnic tables, dogs and kids welcome, and guided tastings if you want a tour through the styles. Catawba has been at it since 1999, one of the pioneers that put Western North Carolina beer on the map.

The Bear suggests the White Zombie, a white ale they have brewed since 2008, or the Carolina Fog hazy IPA. Flights are the move if you are pacing yourself.

4.4 stars, 589 Google reviews (verified Oct 25). The family- and dog-friendly stop on this walk.

Back at Burial to finish. You already know the bones of the place from the South Slope Walk: two bars, big outdoor space, fresh releases every week.

The Bear suggests dinner from the kitchen before you head back up the hill - the smash burger earns its reputation - and one last pour of whatever weekly release caught your eye.

4.7 stars, 2,322 Google reviews (Oct 2026).

You made it. Banks Ave to Collier is a two-minute stroll.

Find the door: 63 N Lexington Ave - look for the DSSOLVR sign and the wild, colorful artwork on the building.

Part brewery, part art project: DSSOLVR's taproom is drenched in surreal murals and oddball detail, and the beer follows the same rulebook - hazy IPAs, fruited sours, and one-offs that sound like dreams. There is a courtyard out back and a kitchen inside.

The Bear suggests a hazy IPA or a fruited sour - expect names you have never heard of. Take it to the courtyard if the weather cooperates.

4.8 stars, 945 Google reviews (Oct 2026). Reviewers call it a favorite Asheville brewery and praise the courtyard and the staff.

Find the door: there is no street door. Stand at 10 Patton Ave, find Farmburger, then the alley beside it with the string lights overhead. Walk down the alley and take the stairs two floors down.

Finding it is half the fun: walk to Farmburger at 10 Patton, follow the alley under the string lights, and go two floors down. What waits is a brick-walled basement taproom that feels like a secret - darts, board games, live music some nights, and the original brewhouse right there behind the bar.

The Bear suggests the Ashevegas Pale Ale or the Citra Bomb IPA, and the Lovely Asheville Pils if you want something crisp. Check the board for the Dutch shuffleboard table.

4.6 stars, 546 Google reviews (Oct 2026). Reviewers love the underground vibe, the live music, and the bartenders.

Find the door: 91 Biltmore Ave - the big corner brewpub with the Wicked Weed sign and a beer garden on the side.

The original Wicked Weed, the brewpub that helped make Asheville Beer City famous. A full restaurant upstairs, a taproom downstairs, and a beer garden out back. This is the stop for food and the classics.

The Bear suggests the Pernicious, the flagship IPA with the medals to prove it, or the Freak of Nature if you want the big one. Eating? Reviewers rave about the burgers and house chips.

4.4 stars, 3,836 Google reviews (Oct 2026). One of the most-reviewed breweries in the state.

Last leg: a real downhill stretch, about 75 feet of drop.

You end where the sours live. The Funkatorium's barrel program fills this dark little room on Coxe Ave - the perfect counterpoint to the classics you just had at the Brewpub.

The Bear suggests closing with a flight: Golden Angel, a Morte fruit sour, then Black Angel if you like them dark. Ask what is funkiest on the board.

4.5 stars, 1,546 Google reviews (Oct 2026).

You made it. About a mile total, most of it gentle.

You're standing where Asheville started. Pack Square is named for George Willis Pack, who arrived in 1880 and gave the city its library and more. A courthouse stood on this ground when Asheville was barely a town. Everything you'll see in the next hour grew out of this spot, so take a good look around before we walk.

Under your feet is the old Buncombe Turnpike. Native nations walked this corridor long before it had a name, and from 1827 it carried drovers moving turkeys, pigs and cattle over the mountains toward markets as far as Charleston. See the rails in the street? The railroad arrived in 1880, the trolley in 1889, and Patton Avenue took off.

A bronze hat, cane and gloves, because a night out on Patton Avenue once meant dressing the part. The Grand Opera House stood here, Sarah Bernhardt played this street, and the last of the old theaters, the Imperial, came down only in 1980. The city never lost the habit of a big night downtown.

William Sydney Porter, the world knows him as O. Henry, lived in Asheville, and this station winks at his most famous story, The Gift of the Magi. Watch for the bronze objects set into the walk. He traveled plenty, but Asheville kept him in the end: he's buried up in Riverside Cemetery.

That's the S&W Building, 1929, designed by Douglas Ellington, a cafeteria built grand enough to make lunch feel like an occasion. The tile and terra cotta work up top is some of the best art deco in the South. Look up before we move.

Yes, that's a giant flat iron, and yes, everyone takes the photo. It's a replica of one from a laundry that once worked nearby. Behind you is the Flat Iron Building from 1926, and across the street, the Haywood Park Hotel began life in 1923 as E.W. Grove's department store.

Grove Arcade was meant to have a tower. E.W. Grove started it in 1926 as a market hall stretching a whole block, tower included. Then he died, the work stalled, and the tower never rose. Asheville saved and restored the building in the 1990s. If it's open, wander inside; the hours are Monday through Saturday 9 to 7, Sunday 10 to 5.

The Basilica of St. Lawrence holds up the largest self-supporting elliptical dome in North America, 58 by 82 feet of tile and mortar, no wood or steel holding it up. Rafael Guastavino's tile work also hangs over Grand Central and Ellis Island. Interior visits are limited during restoration right now, but the dome makes its point from the sidewalk.

Those bronze shoes are size thirteen, Thomas Wolfe's. His mother Julia ran the Old Kentucky Home boarding house nearby, and Wolfe turned growing up there into Look Homeward, Angel, the novel that made Asheville famous and half the town furious. He lived in that house from 1906 to 1916.

This bronze relief carries the memories of the Block, Eagle and Market Streets, for generations the heart of Black Asheville's business life: shops, doctors, restaurants, and the Young Men's Institute across the street. The neighborhood was hit hard by urban renewal, and this station makes sure the story isn't walked past. Take a moment here, then it's a short stroll back to Pack Square.