After our cruise, my mom stayed with me in Boston for a couple of days (I know, I’m skipping way ahead here, but don’t worry!  I promise I’ll get back to Viking and the Danube soon enough).  After we had slept for about 12 hours, we found ourselves sitting in my living room, drinking some tea and trying to decide where to go next.  I find it’s very important to always have some travel to look forward to!  My mom had been talking about visiting the Biltmore for a couple of years, and so we picked up the phone and made our reservations.

I have visited Newport, Rhode Island three times to date (I was most recently there last October- I’ll get back to that too!), and have seen two of the four Vanderbilt ‘cottages’ there.  Marble House (William K. Vanderbilt 1888-1892) is opulently stunning, and The Breakers (Cornelius Vanderbilt II- 1893) is one of my favorite places to visit.  Both Willie K. and Cornelius II commissioned architect Richard Morris Hunt to design their beautiful summer homes.  They created true masterpieces, but on Christmas Eve 1895 the Vanderbilts’ baby brother, George Washington Vanderbilt, invited his family down to Asheville, NC and revealed that his collaboration with the same architect had far outdone both of his older siblings.  (Though only one of the Vanderbilts’ 11 Manhattan townhouses survives (George Washington Vanderbilt’s home at 645 5th Avenue now serves as one of Versace’s flagship stores) I hazard a guess that the Biltmore outstrips all of those as well).

This is the masterpiece we traveled to admire for our Christmas 2015, and masterpiece indeed it is.  I have visited the palace of Versailles, and while I’m glad to have ticked it off my list, I would only return there to visit the gardens- the Biltmore I will gladly experience in full as many more times as opportunity allows.  And with that, you’re probably now wondering what could possibly be so remarkable about a mansion in North Carolina- so let me get down to the details.

First of all, logistics:

Getting There: We flew into the Charlotte airport and rented a car for the two hour drive to the Biltmore Estate.  Asheville does have a regional airport that is closer to the Biltmore, but, as I was flying on Southwest miles this trip, I went where Southwest was!  And really, the drive from Charlotte to Asheville was pretty spectacular as we got up into the mountains!

Accommodations:  There are hotels in Asheville outside the Estate, but we opted to get the Christmas package and stay on the grounds.  The Biltmore Estate currently boasts two hotels- The Inn and the Village Hotel.  The Inn is the oldest, 4 Star, quite luxurious, and the Village Hotel (which was only two weeks old when we arrived!) is brand new, more affordable for the average traveler, and, shall I say, more approachable.  I shall illustrate my point- when we arrived and were checking in, we found ourselves in line behind a bejeweled, well-coiffed lady resplendent in her shiny mink coat (fur in 65 degree weather, I ask you) complaining vociferously to the unfortunate desk attendant about her disappointment in the lack of refinement she experienced during her stay.  The poor attendant was displaying the most amazing patience as she tried to politely suggest that, if madam would prefer fine dining, madam should perhaps consider staying at the Inn for her next visit.  And this is why I do my utmost to always avoid ladies wearing fur.  Really.

We found the Village Hotel wonderful- perfectly comfortable, including a wonderful breakfast, and really excellent service- only a taste of what was to come.

Transportation: We rented our car to drive to the Biltmore, parked it in front of the hotel, and didn’t touch it again until we left.  If you are staying more than three days, perhaps you might find yourself in need of outside diversion, in which case a car to get off the Estate would be worthwhile, but we found we really didn’t need one.   The current Estate covers 8,000 acres, and, if you are a guest at the Inn or the Hotel, there are complementary shuttles running every 15 minutes to get you wherever on the Estate you need to go.  And the drivers, y’all, they know EVERYTHING- no really, ask them.  They can tell you about the grounds, the Vanderbilt family history, the farm…ANYTHING.  It’s wonderful.

Food: Two things to note about the Biltmore Estate and dining- 1) they have their own winery, 2) they have their own farm.  The winery is a newer addition (in the 1970’s the winery replaced the Biltmore’s defunct dairy), the farm has been in operation pretty much as long as the Estate has been in existence- but a good amount of the food and drink comes directly from the estate itself- hooray farm to table!

Our package included daily breakfast in the Village Hotel’s restaurant, the Village Social.  They don’t have the most extensive breakfast menu, but when I am on vacation, I like to start my day off with a nice omelet, and a nice omelet they had!  We stopped here a couple of evenings as well, just to get some nibbles to go…the pimento mac and cheese was amazing!  For lunch we tried the Bistro (see the photo on the left-delicious!), and we also took tea up at the Inn in the Library Lounge.  I have always been a great lover of afternoon tea, and this one was done very well.  Of course the ‘scones’ turned out to be more cookies than actually scones, but what can you do? (For fat, fluffy scones done right, I always recommend Alice’s Teacup in NYC-more on that later!)  Scones or no, it was a delightfully decadent afternoon and provided adequate sustenance to see us through the Candlelight Christmas tour of the house that evening.  Speaking of the house, there is ample opportunity to eat up there as well.  We did a sit-down lunch at the Stable Cafe (see right), and found plenty of lighter options in the Bake Shop as well.

Ah!  So now that we are arrived, sheltered and well fed, we should probably get down to the business of the house itself!  That is, after all, why we came in the first place!  I seem to have gone on a little long in covering the basics though, so the house and grounds shall have their very own post coming soon!