Holiday Season
After weeks of hard work to recover from the storm (with help from so many), Banner Elk welcomes visitors again this holiday season. Stay in a B&B, lodge or vacation rental. Shop, dine and explore. Supporting local businesses that were closed for weeks will be an extra special gift for all.
Thanksgiving Week Kicks Off the Holidays
Join us as we give thanks for our storm recovery and all of the gifts we have received from so many! Thanksgiving weekend is a great time to be in Banner Elk. Our restaurants will be open, showing why Banner Elk is known as the “Culinary Hot Spot of the High Country.”
Browse shops and galleries featuring hand-made goods and one-of-a-kind items, perfect for your Christmas gift list. Find a variety of places to stay for two or twenty!
Sugar Mountain Resort and Beech Mountain Resort always aim to be open for the ski season by Black Friday, while Wilderness Run Alpine Coaster offers downhill excitement of a different variety.
Choose-and-Cut Lodging Packages
Make your holidays brighter this year by booking a Banner Elk Choose & Cut Christmas Tree Lodging Package. The area around Banner Elk is considered the Christmas Tree Capital of the U.S. for its abundance of tree farms growing high-quality Fraser fir trees.
Bring the fresh fir scent of a North Carolina Christmas tree into your home, while making special memories along the way.
The package is available weekends or weekdays from Nov. 16-Dec. 8. It includes one or two night’s lodging at your choice of accommodations, breakfast, 10% off dining at Banner Elk Cafe, and a voucher for one 7-foot tall choose & cut Christmas tree at Elk River Evergreens.
A Small Town Christmas, Dec. 6-8
“A Small Town Christmas” is a three-day celebration, Dec. 6-8, of traditional holiday experiences wrapped in small-town charm.
Cookie decorating, ornament making, story time with Santa, choose-and-cut Christmas trees, a festive evening Christmas parade and illuminated train rides make this a special weekend in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains.
Other events include a pancake breakfast with Santa, holiday carol sing at the Presbyterian church, a 5K run, holiday shopping, art gallery shows and two performances of the popular holiday musical revue, A Banner Elk Christmas, by Ensemble Stage professional theater.
Ski Into the Holidays in Banner Elk
Banner Elk is a top ski and snowboard destination each holiday season thanks to thanks to its location between Sugar Mountain Resort and Beech Mountain Resort – the South’s two largest ski resorts.
Ski and snowboard on the highest slopes east of the Rockies, or enjoy snow tubing at the resorts, before retiring to a cozy cabin or vacation rental. The culinary scene is extensive and diverse, more like that of a larger city.
Dashing Through the Snow
Go dashing through the snow this holiday season at Wilderness Run Alpine Coaster in Banner Elk.
NC’s only alpine coaster is open all winter in this ski resort town. Each run includes three circular loops, a series of waves and lots of twists and turns. Riders use hand brakes to control speeds, which can reach 27 miles per hour.
“You’re looping, dipping or turning. There is no point where you are just riding,” says owner Eric Bechard. “It’s fast and a whole lot of fun.”
Mile High Holiday Fun
An invigorating winter getaway awaits in the mile-high elevations surrounding Banner Elk.
One of the biggest winter attractions in the area is Grandfather Mountain — known for its distinctive profile and Mile High Swinging Bridge. The mountain, a popular attraction since the 1950s, is open daily in winter, weather permitting.
Grandfather’s 12 miles of trails include easy & advanced routes. Winter hikes afford long-range views not visible when leaves are on the trees.
For a lower-impact adventure, stroll the animal habitats and visit with otters, elk, cougars and other wildlife. Or, take a climate-controlled tour of the Wilson Center for Nature Discovery.