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Banner Elk North Carolina
offers a world of outdoor enchantment to visitors. From towering mountains to crystal clear streams, you will not find a more peaceful or fun-filled place to spend your vacation. The friendly village of Banner Elk is filled with unique gift shops, restaurants and lodging accommodations. Browse through galleries operated by local craftspeople and artisans. Visit the lovely campus of Lees-McRae College, which offers an excellent summer theater program. Stroll in Banner Elk City Park or picnic by the millpond. Visit surrounding resort areas with such colorful names as Hawk’s Nest, Beech Mountain and Boone. Just twenty minutes from Banner Elk is the town of Blowing Rock, which is home to a wild-west themed amusement park, and also the Appalachian Heritage Museum and the Native American Artifacts Museum. At Grandfather Mountain you can walk across a mile-high swinging bridge and get a close-up view of wildlife in their natural habitat and visit an educational nature museum. Other nearby attractions to Banner Elk include Linville Falls, Linville Gorge and Linville Caverns. Of course, you have to spend a day on the Blue Ridge Parkway, which is called “America’s Favorite Drive.” It provides stunning scenery combined with a look at the natural habitat and history of the mountains. The Parkway meanders along 469 miles and connects the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Shenandoah Park. The Parkway is designed for “drive and stop and look” experiences, so don’t be in a hurry and don’t forget your camera.
Banner Elk’s location, high in the Blue Ridge Mountains, makes it perfect for so many outdoor sports, such as camping, world-class fly fishing, golf, horseback riding, white water rafting, swimming and more. Although summer is, by far, the most popular season in Banner Elk, it’s really a four-season vacation destination. After the snow melts in winter, the mountains and forest floors erupt in a kaleidoscope of colors, blue, yellow, pink, purple and white as the mountain laurel, rhododendrons and wildflowers open. Spring also marks the beginning of trout season in the area’s many brooks and streams. Fall is spectacular and color arrives in Banner Elk as early as the first week in October. This is a great time for a drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway or Grandfather Mountain. Winter brings, snow, snow and more snow to the mountains and skiing, snowboarding, tubing, sledding, snowmen building and more fun. There are four major ski resorts within the Banner Elk area, and it has developed into one of the premier southern destinations for winter sports. The Avery Banner Elk Chamber of Commerce sponsors a snowman building contest each winter with cash prizes awarded for the most creative snowpeople. Banner Elk is also where people come to choose and cut their own Christmas tree at one of the many tree farms in the area. The busiest time in winter is the week between Christmas and New Year’s. Whichever season you decide to visit Banner Elk in the Western North Carolina Mountains, you can be sure you will find plenty to see and do.
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