Last updated on June 26th, 2023 at 06:34 pm
If I were to introduce Blue Ridge Parkway in a talk show, it would go something like this –
“Built to uplift the US economy after the Great Depression. This is America’s longest scenic highway, the most visited National Park Site in the US, and one of the country’s most famous drives. Please welcome on stage – The Blue Ridge Parkway!”
Blue Ridge Parkway FAQs
1. What is the Blue Ridge Parkway?
The Blue Ridge Parkway is a 469 miles long byway that connects Shenandoah National Park in Virginia to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina. The path of Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) was carefully carved to cut through the spine of Blue Ridge of the Appalachian Mountains.
In perspective, 469 miles is almost like driving from NYC to Toronto!
After doing the incredible SF to LA road trip and plenty of other road trips in the US, I must tell you guys – this is the one to add to your US bucket list, especially in the fall season. I am so glad I took the leap and finally drove the entire stretch with my parents, who were visiting from India and had never seen fall colors before.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.
Related Read: Best places to see fall colors in New England
2. How many days do you need to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway?
Before we get into the number of days, you must know that it covers two states, Virginia and North Carolina. It is not a short drive, pretty yes.
Ideally, anywhere between 3 to 7 days should be enough depending on how many stops you take.
Slow travel isn’t always our best friend. So in this post, we will give you an itinerary for driving the Parkway in 3 days (one way) based on our personal experience. Keep the 4th day for your return trip! If you are traveling with kids you might want to take more than 3 days.
If you want a deeper experience in the cities and towns on the way then add additional time to your itinerary.
3. What is the best time to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway?
In my opinion, fall is the best time to do this road trip! Don’t forget to read our pro-tips at the end of this blogpost on fall travels in BRP. Having said that, autumn is also the most visited time of the year thanks to the exuberant fall foliage here so mind the traffic.
Spring would be the next best time of the year. If you are driving this stretch in summer then there are plenty of waterfalls and swim holes to explore on the North Carolina side of Blue Ridge Parkway. But during winter seasons there are road closures in the North Carolina side of the parkway due to inclement weather.
Blue Ridge Parkway Road Trip Itinerary and Attractions
This itinerary is based on our 3 days of driving the entire Blue Ridge Parkway from its Virginia end to North Carolina tail end. We also drove half of the Skyline drive in Shenandoah National Park on our day 1 and used our day 4 to drive through the Smoky Mountain National Park. Without further adieu, here’s our day by day itinerary.
You can find a map of Blue Ridge Parkway and more details on the National Parks website.
Day 1: Start Your Road Trip
For those flying in, airports in Washington DC or Charlottesville, VA is your best bet on the Virginia side of the parkway. On the North Carolina side, you should consider Charlotte, NC or Atlanta, GA airports. It will be practical to rent a car from the arrival airport and return it at your departure airport.
If you are driving during the autumn season then I’d recommend driving the Skyline drive in Shenandoah National Park before hitting the Blue Ridge Parkway. If you don’t want to drive the entire 105 miles of skyline drive then just enter via either Thornton Gap or Swift Run Gap Entrance on your way south.
Blue Ridge Parkway starts as soon as Skyline drive ends in Shenandoah National Park.
Stops to take on Blue Ridge Parkway – Day 1
Here are some of the stops we took –
- The entrance of Blue Ridge Parkway (mile 0)
- Humpback Rock Overlook hike (mile 6)
- James River Visitor Center (mile 63)
- Peaks of Otter Visitor Center or Walk around Peaks of Otter Lake across the street (mile 86)
- Hike Peaks of Otter if you have energy left or take the shuttle up to the Peak of Sharp Top Mountain (mile 86)
Lodging/Hotels
Stay the night at either at Peaks of Otter Lodge (mile 80), Hotel Floyd (mile 160), or somewhere in Roanoke (mile 120).
Where to Stay in Roanoke, VA
Dinner
We love dining at historic home-style southern food places and highly recommend these two spots –
- The Homeplace, a southern-style family restaurant in Roanoke (mile 120)
- The Pine Tavern Restaurant in Floyd (mile 160)
TIP: If you skip the Skyline drive then you could consider adding Natural Bridge in Virginia to your itinerary!
Day 2: Blue Ridge Parkway from Virginia to North Carolina
Although it might seem like there are many stops on day 2 they are all just along the way.
Stops to take on Blue Ridge Parkway – Day 2
Here are some of the stops we made:
- Mabry Mills (mile 176)
- Blue Ridge Parkway Music Center, Galax, VA (mile 213)
- Linn Cove Viaduct (mile 304): This is the most recently constructed part of Blue Ridge Parkway. Not to mention “the” image you will find on Google when you search the parkway. There are 3 great spots to see this viaduct as seen in those postcard photos. 1. Tanawha trail from Visitor Center, 2. A short trail from Yonahlossee Overlook, 3. Rough Ridge Lookout Trail.
- Grand Father Mountain (mile 305): You can either just see the mountain from the overlook on Blue Ridge Parkway or take a 20-minute one-way detour to experience the Mile High Swing Bridge. We had to skip the swinging bridge due to cloud cover with barely any visibility which is very common in Autumn months.
- Apple Orchard at Altapass (mile 328): This beautiful orchard is nestled in between the Blue Ridge Mountains serving apple goodies including cider tasting. Makes for a perfect break from all that driving. Remember though that the Orchard closes at 5 pm!
- Little Switzerland (mile 334) – It’s really just a resort unless you are staying back the night or having a meal here, I’d skip it.
If you have more than 3 days in your itinerary, you might want to add these two waterfall hikes:
- Linville Falls
- Crabtree Falls
Lodging/Hotels
Stay back the night in Asheville, North Carolina.
Where to Stay in Asheville, NC
Renaissance Asheville Downtown Hotel (sustainable)
Dinner
- Spicewalla
- Urban Orchard for cider tasting or
- Enjoy dining at Biltmore Estate
Day 3: Last Stretch of Blue Ridge Parkway
This section was one of my favorite parts of Blue Ridge Parkway as it goes higher up in the elevation from Asheville to Smoky Mountain National Park. I will mention a few stops that we made but hey feel free to stop at random outlooks that you find along the way. In fact, if you want to get out and about there are a ton of easy-moderate hikes in Asheville.
- Folk Art Center Asheville
- Explore Biltmore Estate in Asheville before hitting the Parkway
- Graveyard Fields
- Devil’s Courthouse
- Richland Balsam Overlook (Highest Point on the Parkway)
- Waterrock Knob
Day 4: Return Journey
For those flying back, here are some of the closest airports in the North Carolina end of the parkway –
- Asheville Regional Airport
- Charlotte Douglas Airport – 2 hours from Asheville
- Atlanta International Airport – 4 hours from Asheville
For those driving back to DC as we did, it’s roughly 7-8 hours drive back on interstate highways. Give yourself an entire day to get back home.
Extra Day to Explore Great Smoky Mountains National Park
We took day 4 to explore the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and return back to DC on day 5. If that’s something you’d like to do too then I recommend staying back the night in the town of Maggie Valley in North Carolina. It’s a quaint little town close to both the Blue Ridge Parkway and Smoky Mountain National Park.
I really preferred staying on the North Carolina side of Smoky Mountain NP this time after having stayed in the more commercialized Gatlinburg in Tennessee during my previous trips.
There you go, a fun 3-4 days of driving through the mountains! We wish we had more time to explore Asheville but we will be back. Just for you Asheville!
Important tips for driving Blue Ridge Parkway in Autumn
These tips will come in very handy, so please READ IT 🙂
- Drive through Shenandoah NP if possible before hitting Blue Ridge Parkway, fall is pretty spectacular there.
- Since days are going to be shorter in autumn, give yourself a realistic driving schedule.
- Enjoy the dark skies over Blue Ridge Parkway and soak in the million-star views.
- The cellular coverage in the Parkway is pretty spotty. Download offline Google Maps or cache the directions on your cell phone. Verizon seemed to be the most reliable network here.
- Given the dense trees, the parkway gets dark before sunset and with it being two-lane road it gets tricky when driving in the dark.
- For those two reasons above, we would advise you to switch from Blue Ridge Parkway to a regular highway if you want to continue driving after sunset to your accommodation.
- North Carolina section of Blue Ridge Parkway is higher up in elevation than the Virginia section. Since trees start changing colors at higher elevations first, you’ll notice a disparity in the fall foliage along the drive.
- Expect driving through the clouds on your way on Blue Ridge Parkway especially in fall and when higher up in the mountains.
- Make sure to fill up gas every morning near your lodging, even if you’re driving a fuel-efficient vehicle. The last thing you want is to be stranded in the woods with no gasoline.
- Going back to tip no. 4 save a bunch of good playlists on your phone. For you might not be able to stream your music online.
- There are limited restrooms on the way so when you see a visitor center stopover for a restroom break.
- Speaking from experience – Try to have at least 2 drivers on this road trip so you split up the drive. I drove the entire stretch myself and could’ve easily used another set of hands & eyes behind the wheels.
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Related Read – A unique fall road trip through West Virginia
Happy Traveling!
Thanks for documenting your trip so well.
You’re most welcome 🙂
HI
This is quite helpful. Thx
I am planning a road trip from Oct 17 to Oct 20st 2020 (Hoping the dates are good to see the colors) with my wife and another couple. We live in VA and have done Skyline dr multiple times. So, we plan to skip skyline dr and start from BRP instead. We will drive south to Cherokee NC with few overlook stops and a night stop somewhere to split the 470 miles BRP journey into 2 days. Upon arriving Cherokee we plan for a night stay in Smokey mountains and return via 81 highway back to Virginia on the 4th day 20th.
Any suggestion to better this plan would be appreciated.
Raj & Mala
Sounds like a great plan guys, I essentially did the same thing in 4 days except I stayed in Maggie Valley, NC instead of Cherokee, NC. You can easily drive through Smoky Mtn NP in one day. And it makes total sense to skip Skyline drive if you have done it multiple times. Just note that the BRP gets very curvy and mountainous as you enter NC so you might want to drive that portion during the day. If you do that then you would want to stay overnight at the border of VA & NC. I stayed in a beautiful cabin through Airbnb in Flyod, VA. Keeping my fingers crossed that fall colors start popping by the 17th weekend for you guys! Have a wonderful trip!! 🙂
We are planning a Fall trip and we’re wondering if its best to go North to South or South to North in the Fall – to maybe avoid heavy traffic on the Parkway. We live in Orlando but we only plan to go one way on the Parkway and then do a fast track the other direction. Any recommendations?
Jody, since you are driving from Florida I would suggest driving BRP from NC to Virginia. This route will help you also drive through Skyline Drive in Shenandoah NP which is at very end of BRP and is an absolute delight in fall. You can then return back to Fl on a major highway from VA.
How many hours a day did you average?? It seems like you had to have been in the car for 8 hours a day?
I’d say on an average 5-6 hours of driving or less per day on BRP and then add all the stops on top of it. If I drove for 8 hours I’d have finished this trip in 2 days from DC to Ashville 🙂
What a helpful review!
I will be there around April 20, the chances for the trees to be in full bloom are 50-50, I guess?
Cheers
Marco
Hi Marco, usually around mid-April is when the foliage starts appearing in this region so you will be right around the time when trees start blooming. Given the warm weather this year, you might be in luck to see trees with leaves by then already 🙂 Have a great trip!
Thank you for this detailed guide! I can’t wait to get back to Asheville.
Hey….
Just happened to chance upon this article of yours off my Google feed and we were able to plan a wonderful trip to the smoky Mt through the brp. Thanks for giving out each detail. Made the whole planning process so much easier!!!! It was an amazing fall trip for us….
So glad to hear your feedback Roshni and happy that you guys enjoyed BRP, it’s my go-to (atleast a section of it) every fall 🙂
When are the leaves in full color or have they already peaked in the higher elevations? Thanks
Laureen, this weekend or the next should your best bet to see peak foliage in higher elevation this year.
I can’t wait! I’m leaving 11/1 from Boston, but on 2 wheels with a friend from VT. We are doing Skyline drive and going far south as we can, then back North. Thanks for the advice on mile markers and places to stop. HUGE assist. Rubber side down, shiny side up.
We hope you had a fantastic trip Sheryl!!
I enjoyed reading this! Thanks for sharing all the info and the pics. Now I really can’t wait to do it myself. 🙂
You are welcome Julie! I hope you enjoy it as much as we did 🙂
Glad I found this! We are heading up to camp in about a week. We hope to drive parts each day. Just want to make sure, the rest areas are open?
I just saw where some comments were 2019. When I read it, the date at the top was 2020.
Sorry Tammy, we did not have much info on these rest areas after March of 2020 to update. Hopefully it was open when you visited. Let us know what you found!
I’m planning to drive the whole parkway soon on a Thursday through Saturday, north to south. To see a friend and still keep to my available time, I’ll have to drive 390 miles the first day. I’ll stop only for fuel, lunch, and an occasional overlook. I’ll have more leisurely days Friday and Saturday. Does that first day sound unreasonable? Or doable?
Thanks,
Sean
Oops, I meant 290 miles, not 390.
Hi Sean, it all depends on where you are starting from in the North? In my experience, the lookouts and the drive got prettier and more adventurous as we went up the mountains in North Carolina. Now about driving 290 miles in one day with some stopovers, that’s totally doable and if you leave early enough you can easily enjoy more than a few vista points giving yourself a break from the drive.
We have a cabin near the parkway in West Jefferson. Remember, the speed limit is 45 and strictly unforced . Park Rangers can give tickets. Besides it is too winding and gorgeous to go much faster.
You are absolutely right, being just a 2-lane road which is so winding it’s too risky to go faster than the speed limit. And what a great location for your cabin 🙂
The light festivals sound amazing… I’ve never been to one before! Hope you have a lovely December.
It’s been too long! This is one of my all time favorites as well. Thanks for sharing.
Oh glad to hear that Emily! It was my first time driving the entire stretch and I loved it.
I would love to visit the US in the fall. This drive looks like such a wonderful way to see the autumn hues. When we visit with our young family we may take 4 or 5 days to keep the drives short for our daughter. I’d love to explore those waterfalls you mention. Great idea about having two drivers also so you can both enjoy the scenery.
With kids, you are right, I would pace it down so everyone gets to enjoy the trip 🙂
I can´t get enough of these fall pictures! Right now, I´m sitting in Newburgh, NY and I drove the Hudson River Valley yesterday and all those colors were stunning and the views breathtaking! So, here is a fan of all those fall foliage! The Blue Ridge Mountains are still one of the things which are on my list for future travels!
Ooo I’ve heard beautiful things about upstate NY too in fall. I LOVE fall road trips.. it’s like the same place suddenly seems so different and insanely beautiful! Thanks Pia <3
That Autum foliage! Fall looks like the perfect time of year to settle in for a road trip on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I really appreciate the break-down of stops to take along the way, lodging ideas and meals – you’ve made planning a future road trip through Blue Ridge Parkway super easy!
Thanks so much Marie, I tried! 🙂 200% recommend to take this road trip in fall .. it is more than splendid to drive through the fall foliage.
The roads look so lovely! I never drove to the states (I live in West coast of Canada). So this might be a good destination to start. The views are stunning, so definitely a bonus. Thanks for sharing such a detailed itinerary
Thanks Mayuri! Canadian west coast looks dreamy in photos too and a place I wanna visit in the near future 🙂 Let’s swap places.. lol
This looks completely amazing! My sister spent a week in Great Smoky Mountain NP this summer…this looks like a great route to take to get there. Now I just need to figure out how to get enough time off :).
Haha yes, that’s always the biggest challenge! After 2 years of driving the BRP of the VA end only on weekends I finally took days off to complete the road trip this year 🙂
Wow, absolutely gorgeous! I also love how your guide for the Blue Ridge Parkway includes stops to see along the way, this is so helpful. Definitely saving for if I’m ever in the area!
Oooh this does look like a really fun road trip. I’m not very good at driving for more than a few hours at a time, but if my husband was up for sharing, I think we’d both love this.
You’re right about the autumn colours too. It’s so pretty aaaand I guess this must also have been less busy!?
After the first day, I really wished I had my husband on this trip as well instead of me just driving my parents around .. lol Yes definitely recommend a second driver!