Asheville to Nashville

The Asheville to Nashville Ride is a 4 day, 1,204 mile ride starting in Atlanta, GA and ending in Nashville, TN. The route is in parts of Georgia, Soth Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee. The tour averages 301 miles per day.  This tour can easily be extended to allow for extra days in the National Parks for hiking and/or sightseeing.  The  Asheville to Nashville Ride offers one of the most popular riding areas in North America.   The ride is in and around Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the National Park Service parkways including parts of Blue Ridge Parkway, Cherohala Skyway, Natches Trace Parkway and perhaps the most famous riding road in America, Route 129 The Tail of the Dragon.   This is an action packed, technical ride with twisties and narrow roads through the mountains. These Routes can be quite crowded during summer months making the best time to do this trip either in early May or late October to early November when there is virtually no traffic.

A Note about Google Maps.  If you are clicking on a map link below in the winter time, many of the roads on these tours are closed.  Google will route you around closed roads, so be aware of this issue so you don’t plan a trip that excludes many of the highlighted roads.

Day 1 Maps & Directions: 388 Miles  Atlanta, GA to Asheville, NC

  • An hour and a half north of Atlanta at Northlake, South Carolina we head into the hills.
  • This is an action packed ride with some of the most fun and technical roads in the US.
  • These roads twist and turn on tight roads up and down through and onto the Blue Ridge Parkway Routes 151, 215, 278, 281 are fantastic motorcycle roads. You could spend days just in this area.
  • Overnight in Asheville, TN.

Day 2 Maps & Directions: 316 Miles  Asheville, NC to Athens, TN

  • We ride The Blue Ridge Parkway to the South Entrance in Cherokee, NC.
  • The Great Smoky Mountains National Park has beautiful vistas and winding mountain roads but it can be crowded on weekends, so try and plan your visit mid-week.
  • Route 129, the Tail of The Dragon on the border of North Carolina and Tennessee is a blast.   With 318 curves in 11 miles, this road is one turn after another through the woods. If you visit it in late October or early November, the resorts are closed and you will have the road to yourself.
  • The Cherohala Skyway, built in 1996, is a 41 mile sister road to the Blue Ridge Parkway.
  • Overnight in Athens, TN.

Day 3 Maps & Directions: 256 Miles  Athen, TN to Nashville, TN

Day 4 Maps & Directions: 243 Miles   Nashville to Nashville

  • The Nachez Trace Parkway is 444 miles of sweepers and twisties through parts of the countryside of Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi. Like the Blue Ridge Parkway, this is another amazing stretch of road that was built and managed by the National Park Service. This day route only covers a section of the parkway to the Alabama border, but additional days could be planned to ride the entire road and many of the adjacent areas.
  • A stop in the town of Franklin offers history, good restaurants and fine shops.
  • Overnight in Nashville, TN