North Carolina's Tourist Trap In Asheville Was Given The Unfavorable Title Of Most Overpriced In The World

A visit to the Vatican Museums costs $23. A trip to Hearst Castle runs $35. An outing at the Palace of Versailles, including access to its spellbinding and labyrinthine gardens, will set you back $37. If you think any of these admission prices are whoppers, brace yourself for the eye-watering cost of entry to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. The average cost of a ticket starts at $80. It's no wonder the Gilded Age country home of George Vanderbilt, scion of the wealthy Vanderbilt family, turned up on USA Today's list of the "Most Overpriced Attractions Worldwide."

USA Today arrived at this costly conclusion by deep-diving into 23.2 million Google reviews written for 500 tourist attractions. Next, they mined the reviews for words like "tourist trap," "overrated," and "expensive." Of the 30,171 Biltmore reviews USA Today parsed, the word "expensive" popped up 653 times. This hefty count landed the Biltmore Estate at No. 12 on the overpriced list. Another North Carolina attraction, the NASCAR Hall of Fame, fared slightly better, coming in at No. 55. 

Nestled in the majestic Blue Ridge Mountains a little under an hour's drive from the hidden resort town of Hot Springs, the Biltmore Estate is famous for being America's largest privately owned home. Built over a six-year period beginning in 1889, the 175,000-square-foot behemoth boasts 250 rooms, 65 fireplaces, and priceless artworks by European masters like Renoir and Monet. Add to this exquisitely manicured gardens rolling over a verdant, 8,000-acre estate, and there's no denying the Biltmore is worth a visit. But is visiting worth such exorbitant prices?

Ticket prices for the Biltmore Estate fluctuate wildly depending on the time of year. Visiting the Biltmore Estate during the holidays (when this North Carolina gem is ideal for enjoying Christmas magic) comes with lavish décor, rooms festooned with twinkling lights, and sky-high ticket prices that can reach $105. Additionally, count on cramming into the estate with 330,000 other sightseers, which is about how many people journey through here during the short Christmas season. Arguably, visiting alongside such massive crowds only deflates the value of the estate's peak-season prices.

In previous years, post-Christmas ticket prices fell to a slightly more reasonable $69. However, according to a 2025 Tripadvisor review, visiting the Biltmore was still harrowingly expensive in March, Asheville's shoulder season.  "It makes NO SENSE that 4 people pay over $460," the review stated.

If you're not into the Biltmore's steep ticket prices, you can visit other great estates in the area. Grovewood Village is a historic arts and crafts destination boasting some impressive Biltmore lineage. What started as a woodcarving academy in 1901 gained the patronage of Edith Vanderbilt, who financed a crafting initiative that eventually grew into Biltmore Estate Industries. Today, Grovewood Village houses a pair of museums, an art gallery, several art studios, and a whimsical sculpture garden. The Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site is also worth a visit. Here, you can explore Connemara, the farmhouse and surrounding estate of Pulitzer Prize-winning American poet Carl Sandburg. Visitors can scamper among the vegetable gardens, apple orchard, and dairy goat farm, as well as marvel at 30 acres of stunning natural scenery featuring placid lakes and miles of hiking trails.