Places to stay near attractions in Linville / Blue Ridge Parkway

The Linville / Blue Ridge Parkway region wraps the high country between Milepost 305 and Milepost 320 in Avery and Burke counties, North Carolina — one of the most-photographed stretches of the entire 469-mile Parkway. Its centerpieces are Grandfather Mountain (a mile-high peak with the famous Mile High Swinging Bridge, wildlife habitats, and one of the most rugged Parkway silhouettes) and Linville Falls, a three-tiered cascade dropping 90 feet into Linville Gorge — the deepest canyon in the eastern United States.

Linville Gorge Wilderness protects 12,000 acres of rugged, roadless backcountry with hard-earned overlooks at Wiseman's View, Hawksbill, Table Rock, and Shortoff Mountain, and one of the East's premier rock-climbing venues on Table Rock's north face. The Linville Caverns nearby are the only publicly accessible caverns in the Carolinas.

Just up the Parkway, Julian Price Memorial Park, Moses Cone Memorial Park, and the Boone/Blowing Rock corridor add lakes, carriage trails, and Cone's Flat Top Manor. This is prime fall-foliage country — mid- to late-October color at these elevations is among the best on the East Coast.