Plan Your Visit

Less than a ten-minute drive from WCU is Sylva, a small town boasting a picturesque historic downtown. Despite its small size of about three square miles, Sylva is home to several restaurants such as Lulu’s on Main and City Lights Café, with a large outdoor patio, plus several fast food joints like Bojangle’s and Zaxby’s. For visiting parents and students over 21, Sylva’s two microbreweries, Heinzelmannchen Brewery and Innovation Brewing Company, often host live music. You’ll also find a bowling alley, several spas, and a local bookstore.

Need to do some more serious shopping? Waynesville is located an easy 30-minute drive away and offers a Mast General Store, several boutiques, and lots of great restaurants like the top-rated Haywood Smokehouse, The Sweet Onion, and Chef’s Table. With a population of just under 10,000, Waynesville is home to four breweries, any of which could provide internship or part-time job opportunities for students interested in a career in brewing or agriculture.

Asheville is the most popular city in the vicinity of WCU and is the largest city in Western North Carolina. It has been experiencing a boom for several years, making it the perfect getaway for WCU students looking for rising and established musical acts, tons more shopping, renowned restaurants, and art galleries, and over 20 breweries that epitomize sustainability and community involvement. Asheville has everything you’d expect from a large city but maintains a small-town feel thanks to a downtown that comprises only about five of Asheville’s entire 43 square miles. Asheville features dozens of music venues, including The Orange Peel, which Rolling Stone magazine named one of the top five music venues in America in 2008. Vegetarians will be thrilled with the restaurant choices, as nearly every menu offers vegetarian dishes, while others cater exclusively to vegetarians such as Plant and Laughing Seed. Plenty of festivals and events year-round also help keep things interesting in quirky AVL.

About 20 minutes from campus, the charming mountain town of Cashiers offers more waterfalls and hikes to explore. For a taste of the area, pick up local goods at Cashiers Farmers Market or one of the many boutiques along Highway 107. Nearby Lake Glenville should not be missed for swimming, fishing or boating on its 1,400 acres. Golfing is also popular in this beautiful mountain village.

Home to one of two ski resorts within an hour’s drive from campus—the other being Cataloochee Ski Area in Maggie Valley—Sapphire’s scenery is its winning feature. Sections of Panthertown Valley spill across Sapphire’s city lines, providing easy access to its 6,300 acres filled with hiking trails to deep gorges, steep cliffs, and lots of campsites.

An upscale resort area, Highlands offers amenities like whitewater rafting, zip-lining, and horseback riding if you’re feeling adventurous. The city also keeps a full events calendar, including visual arts, touring musical acts, and fine art shows.