One Of The South's Most Romantic Getaways Is This Quiet Town Hidden In The Blue Ridge Mountains

Western North Carolina attracts millions of visitors annually, with the Blue Ridge Parkway consistently ranking among the most-visited National Park Service sites every year and the Blue Ridge Mountains and Chimney Rock monolith remaining a big draw for tourists. Asheville might get a lot of hype in this region, but it's often crowded and is home to tourist traps — including one of the most overpriced in the world. If you're looking for a hidden gem to have a quiet, romantic getaway, the town of Lake Lure, named after its eponymous body of water, might be worth your while.

Visiting Lake Lure offers the best of both worlds if you're looking to experience North Carolina nature while having easy access to an urban atmosphere in Asheville. At the time of writing, road restrictions on U.S. Route 64 in the wake of Hurricane Helene in September 2024 mean getting to Lake Lure is a bit more of a trek than usual. Currently, the portion of U.S. 64 running through Chimney Rock is only open to local traffic using a temporary road until a permanent replacement road is completed in late 2027 or early 2028. If you're not a local, it's just under hour drive from Asheville Regional Airport via alternate routes and about an hour to downtown Asheville. When U.S. 64 between Lake Lure and the town of Chimney Rock reopens, it would cut the driving distance to the airport nearly in half, though travel time would roughly remain about 45 minutes to the airport and 50 minutes to downtown Asheville. 

Rent a car from the airport upon arrival, but once you're in Lake Lure, you likely won't want to go too far. Whatever you're looking for in North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains, chances are you can find it here. 

The abundance of entertainment and lodging options around Lake Lure mean you can still have a peaceful getaway with lake and mountain views even as local businesses remain temporarily closed after Hurricane Helene. With over 24 miles of shoreline, the lake is the perfect place to swim, float, or simply read a book. If you bring the kids, they'll be happy to splash around all day.

The town is rife with lodges to unwind after a day spent relaxing. For more intense hiking adventures, you can drive less than 10 minutes to Chimney Rock State Park, which is home to one of North Carolina's most iconic attractions and was reopened to reservation-only visits in June 2025 after hurricane-related closures. Looking for a more active water escape? Drive about a half hour southeast away from the storm-damaged roads to Rutherfordton, home to America's only dog-dedicated campground, and hop into a canoe or kayak to explore the Broad River Paddle Trail. Launch your craft into the water next to Twitty Bridge off Gray's Road or underneath U.S. 74 off Coxe Road. Both access points have paved parking, and the Gray's Road entrance has concrete steps with rails down to the water and an articulating dock for getting yourself and your boat into the river.

For dinner, make a reservation for lakeside dining at the Veranda restaurant at the Lake Lure Inn & Spa. If you'd like a more casual dining experience with a lake and mountain view, check out La Strada for Italian food or the laidback Lake House Restaurant Bar & Grill for some classic American fare. 

Lake Lure might be over 2,000 miles away from Hollywood, but the town played quite a role in one of the '80s' biggest movies: the 1987 smash hit "Dirty Dancing." Though the film is set in the Catskills, the team settled on Lake Lure primarily because the movie was made on a tight budget and filming in New York State would've driven up production costs, the film's writer Eleanor Bergstein told

The New York Times

. Up until 2023, Lake Lure celebrated its celluloid legacy with an annual Dirty Dancing Festival, complete with "lake lift" and watermelon-carrying competition. A Dirty Dancing Days festival is held annually at Mountain Lake Lodge in Virginia, used for some exterior shots of the fictional Kellermnan's resort.

During filming, Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey stayed at the Lake Lure Inn & Spa, open to visitors who want to stay in "Johnny's Cabin" or "Baby's Bungalow" while overlooking the lake. A gym at a former boys' camp across the lake became a banquet hall for the iconic "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" scene at the end of the movie. Here you'll also find the stairs where Baby carried a watermelon. The Esmeralda Inn, Restaurant & Spa, located in the village of Chimney Rock, laid down the floor from the "Time of My Life" scene in its lobby, but the hotel is temporarily closed and the road is restricted to local traffic only. 

Once you've danced on a log and had your fill of the Lake Lure town center and other sights around the lake's southern edge, head to Bald Mountain Golf Course on the lake's northern tip. Baby asked her parents for money on the 16th hole, transformed into a putting green in the movie.