Ditching Family For Thanksgiving? Try Asheville

CHARLOTTE, NC — Thanksgiving is the lead-off to a string of potentially stressful family gatherings. For every Hallmark-moment where everyone is thrilled to see a horde of relatives gathered at a table, there's an equally dysfunctional gathering of people complaining about the food, the host and the travel time.

So if you want to ditch your minefield of a family gathering and just get away, US News has a list of 30 spots to spend the holiday, which is an early Nov. 23 this year on the calendar. Some of the site's destinations seem obvious — Hawaii, Amsterdam, New Orleans, Florence, Italy — while others just say surf and sand, like San Diego and Miami Beach.

Richmond and Colonial Williamsburg, both in Virginia, also made the list, which is about a 50-50 mix of US and international destinations.

So if you want to forego turkey for microbrews and gingerbread, head to the mountains of North Carolina.

To compile the list, US News interviewed travel-planning expert Wendy Perrin, founder and editor of WendyPerrin.com. Here's what US News says of Asheville:

While Asheville may conjure images of mircrobreweries and the awe-inspiring Blue Ridge Parkway, there’s much more to experience over Thanksgiving. Along with temperatures hovering in the mid-50s and 70s, ‘you’ve got the fall foliage,” Perrin says, with peak leaf-peeping opportunities in early November. Plus, there’s the 8,000-acre, decked-out Biltmore Estate, which has a unique history and elaborate holiday displays. Perrin suggests checking out the dazzling wreaths, lights and decorated evergreens at the annual Christmas at Biltmore Daytime Celebration. What’s more, you can check out the intricate winning entries from a national gingerbread competition at the Omni Grove Park Inn, Perrin adds.

Here’s US News’ list of 30 alternative Thanksgiving trips:

• Budapest, Hungary
• Park City, Utah
• Costa Rica
• Jamaica
• Quebec City
• Asheville, North Carolina
• Amsterdam
• The Big Island, Hawaii
• Whistler, Canada
• The Cotswolds, England
• Cape Cod, Massachusetts
• Scottsdale, Arizona
• Iceland
• Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia
• Charleston, South Carolina
• New Orleans
• San Diego
• Florence, Italy
• Savannah, Georgia
• Joshua Tree National Park, California
• Santa Barbara, California
• Vienna
• Lisbon, Portugal
• Newport, Rhode Island
• Miami Beach
• Richmond, Virginia
• Portland, Maine
• Bermuda
• London
• Annapolis, Maryland

Are you taking a trip this Thanksgiving? Tell us where you're headed in the comment section.

Patch Editor Deb Belt contributed to this article

Photo of The Biltmore Estate via Pixabay