Asheville has it all. An amazing food and restaurant scene with first class chefs and breweries. It has a great art culture with fun shops and a funky downtown area. It has the Blue Ridge Mountains all around it with hiking, swimming and vistas everywhere. It also has the amazing Biltmore Estate, which is a great day visit.
When I was researching a visit to Asheville for my wife and me a few months ago, I was surprised by what Asheville doesn’t have… there are no nude or clothing optional B&B’s, guest houses, pools, hikes, lakes or beaches. I have to admit that I was shocked. Asheville is the right kind of place with the right kind of people to truly enjoy and support a nudist location. Note to any entrepreneurs out there, HUGE OPPORTUNITY HERE. I posted some questions on Twitter and a few nude travel forums and all that was suggested was a nudist club in South Carolina (Carolina Foothills; I haven’t been there but several people recommended it).
Online I found two locations that had some promise. Hot Springs Resort and Spa in Hot Springs, NC and Shoji Spa Retreat in Asheville. Note that if you do an online search for Asheville and skinny dipping, Skinny Dip Falls will come up. Despite the name, there is no skinny dipping options here. 🙂
My wife and I decided to make a reservation at Shoji Spa Retreat which features outdoor, private hot tubs. When I called, I asked if there were any nude or clothing optional locations in Asheville and they told me that their Spa really was it. Although they did say if we went on a hike to a waterfall early in the morning, there was a good chance we’d have it to ourselves and could enjoy a morning skinny dip.
We were really impressed with Shoji Spa. It is a Japanese-style Spa that offers massages too. If we had more time, we would have signed up for a couples massage but instead we enjoyed the hot tub. An hour is really all you need. We were required to shower prior to entering the hot tub. We put on white robes and sandals. It really was a nice experience.
While my wife and I enjoy social nude experiences where we can meet and talk with other couples, the hot tubs at Shoji were private with a wall/fence around each one. This setting is perfect for the couple who wants to try nude recreation without an audience.
Each hot tub is bathed in the sunshine with a view down the side of the mountain. You really are in the tree tops without a wandering eye or any attention. We went to the spa after hiking all day and while the water was soothing on our aching muscles, the hot tub was actually a little too hot for a warm, humid Asheville summer’s day. We enjoyed the tub but also sitting on the side of the tub and laying out on the wood deck surrounding it.
While not the nude experience we were hoping for originally, we really enjoyed relaxing in the late afternoon sunshine and talking about our hikes and visit to Asheville. I would love to be here on an autumn day when the leaves are changing and the air is getting cooler or even better, on a snowy winter day.
My wife and I enjoy visiting nude and clothing optional beaches, resorts, B&Bs and clubs while on vacation. For us it’s an opportunity to relax and catch up while spending time together. There is something wonderfully peaceful about feeling the sun’s warming rays all over your body while your spouse is next to you. It isn’t sexual at all. It’s comforting and freeing for us.
Honestly, this is nudity LITE but a good first step. If you and your spouse enjoy this (not sure how you couldn’t), imagine spending time naked together except on a beach or by a pool and with other people around you doing the same. Not really a big leap is it?
We would highly recommend a visit to Shoji Spa & Lodge. Until someone opens a nude/clothing optional guest house, B&B or pool in Asheville, it’s your only option, but it’s a good one. They do offer lodging options.
We also featured a blog post written by a reader a few years ago on Chozu Bath Garden in Ashland Oregon; another great place to visit.
If this is your first time reading our blog, my wife and I have been going on nude vacations for nearly 20 years. What started as a, “Do you want to try it” discussion when we were dating has turned into many great memories visiting beautiful beaches and resorts around the Caribbean, Pacific and U.S. The purpose of our blog is to provide information to other couples interested in trying nude recreation. It has been a wonderful connection point for my wife and me. It is intimate but not in a sexual way. Sexual touching and intimacy are not appropriate at the nude beaches and resorts we attend. That’s better for time spent together in the privacy of your own room.
Please let us know what you think. Any places we missed that you’d recommend?
Clothing Optional Trips 
We are long time nudists who adventure travel and have camped, hiked, climbed, soaked, boated, and beached nude all over the world. We have been through Asheville a few times on trips in the past. Shoji is very nice for a private experience and there is also Hot springs resort in hot springs NC. It is fairly close to Asheville and they also have private out door jacuzzi tubs fed by natural hotsprings water that most go nude in and overlook the river. They also have a camp ground that is by the river that we have gone discreetly nude at. As for anything else, we didnt find really any other well known nudist opportunities. We have done some nude hiking to a swimming hole but we always kept a towel handy to cover up just in case. You are right that the area would do well with a nudist resort or b&b.
Your experience was the same as ours. Love Asheville and all it is but really no/very few nudist opportunities at all.
BIG opportunity for someone. How can you make Asheville even better? Make it naked… B&B, pool, hiking, club, etc.
There is actually a wonderful spa at the Grove Park Inn Inn in Asheville where you can go nude in the respective men and women’s areas with contrast pools, inhalation rooms, dry sauna, and steam rooms. It’s not ideal as it’s segregated by gender, but it works well for my husband and I as a gay couple. We go as often as we can!
Love Grove Park Inn. I didn’t know it had a spa. Glad you and your partner can enjoy it together. One more reason to love Grove Park! Thanks for sharing.