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Intro to Biltmore Estate with Kids
Hi everyone. It’s Tyler here from TheTravelingToddler.com. I hope that you’ve been enjoying my posts of our recent trip around the Southeastern United States, including our tips for toddlers on Congaree National Park and our list of Attractions in Cherokee, North Carolina. One of the highlights of our trip was visiting Biltmore Estate (www.biltmore.com). You probably want to know more about visiting Biltmore Estate with Kids, so read on to find out!
Background
Located in Asheville, North Carolina, Biltmore Estate was constructed in the early 1900s by a descendent of the Vanderbilt family.
It is the largest privately owned residence in the United States, and is probably the most famous tourist attraction in North Carolina.
Visiting
The basic general admission ticket for an adult runs between $55 and $75. This allows access to the estate grounds, a self-paced tour of the house, complimentary wine tasting, and access to Antler Village.
Toddlers are free. There is no public or shuttle transportation so you will need a vehicle.
Biltmore House
The house is obviously the main attraction. Four floors are open to the public as part of the self-guided tour. Strollers are allowed, but there is elevator access only between floors one and two. However, it is an extremely cool old-fashioned elevator with an actual door-person!
Access to the third floor and the basement is by stairs. You can either leave your stroller and a staff member will take it to the exit (a good option if your toddler can walk or is not too heavy), or you can carry it up/down the stairs to use.
A quick tour of the house can take as short as an hour, while a detailed tour could take half a day. It really depends on how much attention you pay to each room and the attention span of your little one.
I personally made it through the first three floors in about 1.5 hours, but I started to have a tantrum so we skipped the basement.
Gardens
The grounds are beautiful and wonderfully maintained. The gardens located adjacent to the main house are stroller friendly, although there are a few paths that are gravel or dirt (just avoid those) and there are a few stairs (can’t really avoid).
There is no set tour plan for the garden, so really it’s spend as little or as much time as you want. I actually loved strolling around outside more than in the house. Additional unpaved walking trails are scattered throughout the estate.
Antler Village
There is a neat little petting zoo here called The Farm. The Winery is also located here, although the complimentary wine tasting is only for adults. I probably wouldn’t like wine anyway. Too bitter for my tastes!
There are a few restaurants in Antler Village, including casual cafes, buffets, and table service offerings. Snacks like ice cream are available.
There are a few lodging options available here as well. We didn’t stay on-site, but when my daddy looked, the rooms were around $250 per night. Sorry, but you can’t stay in the actual Biltmore house!
The usual gift shops are also present. Additional leisure options (for adults) include horseback riding and more adventure based tours like segway and ATV tours.
Summary
Biltmore House is a must do.
Even if it’s not the most kid friendly attraction out there, there’s enough here to make this a sold whole day excursion for the whole family.
I would recommend spending the morning touring the house and gardens, having a relaxing lunch at Antler Village, and spending an hour visiting the Farm and Winery before calling it a day.
So that’s it. My tips for Biltmore Estate with Kids. Hope you learned a lot and maybe you’ll make it out there soon.
Related Content
If you have time, click here for other Toddler Friendly Attractions around the United States.
Thanks for reading.
Have you visited Biltmore Estate with toddlers? Have any thoughts? Leave your comments below.
I visited a few years back and I was blown away. It rivals any of the famous chateaus in Europe.
Never been to Europe but hope to make it there someday. For now I’ll take your word for it 🙂
Do they still prohibit you from taking pictures in the house. We went a while back and we couldn’t take pictures in the house. Not very visitor friendly.
They encouraged us to take as many pictures as we wanted, just no flash.
That seems expensive. Are there other activities nearby that are cheaper?
The Blue Ridge Parkway runs straight through Asheville. It’s part of the National Park Service and there are numerous attractions along the parkway that are all free. Two that come to mind are the Folk Art Center and the Blue Ridge Parkway Visitor Center. In fact, we should have posts about both in the near future so come back soon.
The farm was more of a hit with my toddler than the house.
I actually enjoyed both, except for the last part of the house tour. Just got a bit long at that point.
The Biltmore itself is very beautiful, but my toddler just had no interest in the house tour.
Thankfully we got through most of the house tour, except for the basement.
I like the article