Motorcycle Friendly Lodging – Blue Ridge Parkway – The Switzerland Inn


Photo - View of the grounds at the Switzerland Inn

The Switzerland Inn - A beautiful Resort on the Blue Ridge Parkway

The Switzerland Inn, located directly on the Blue Ridge Parkway at milepost 334  between North Carolina’s Mt. Mitchell (tallest peak east of the Rockies) and Grandfather Mountain with it’s mile high swinging bridge, is perfect for overnight stops while traveling the entire parkway, or a good multi day stop if motorcycle riders want to get off the Blue Ridge Parkway and ride some great local roads on your motorcycle vacation.

Photo - Always popular with motorcyclists.

Always popular with motorcyclists, the Switzerland Inn aims to please.

The Switzerland Inn provides a variety of accommodations, dining, and amenities as you plan your motorcycle vacation. If you’re traveling through and want a clean low cost room, the Diamondback motorcycle lodge is perfect ($65.00). If on the other hand a couple are traveling and want a comfortable suite with great mountain views, private balconies, etc. and wish to explore and enjoy the many relaxing and beautiful sights in the area, a luxury suite can be reserved ($180.00).

Photo - A rider heads out for a day of scenic riding

Ride hard all day, rest easy each night. Beauty surrounds wherever you are.

The Switzerland Inn is a full service resort with two restaurants, two bars, hot tubs, pool, concierge service for fishing, horseback riding, golf, whatever a guest needs or wants while on vacation in the mountains.  They have covered bike parking, motorcycle rentals, airport service, and motorcycle tour guides if needed.

Photo - Covered Parking for your bike

Of course, there is covered parking for your bike.

Gary and his wife are both avid riders with a garage full of toys, so they know just how to cater to the motorcyclist traveling through the region. Popular over the years with both sports cars and motorcycles who come to enjoy such unique and challenging roads as “The Diamondback” (NC 226A), the Blue Ridge Parkway, and other notable and challenging roads nearby, The Switzerland Inn has something to offer everyone.

Photo - View of the Switzerland Inn

A spectacular setting popular with car clubs and motorcyclists

Learn more and make your travel arrangements at: http://www.switzerlandinn.com

Update on the Blue Ridge Parkway Repairs

Photo – Waiting to pass a construction zone

Somehow I must have set the GPS to “find the most traffic” and it was working fabulously. I suppose everyone else had done the same as I hit one logjam after another on my way home from Virginia earlier this week. Still, as I left Banner Elk, I though it might be a while before I passed this way again and I was curious to see how the construction on the Blue Ridge Parkway was progressing.

I’d already bypassed the detour near Boone and Blowing Rock. No need to visit that section anyway. They are replacing a section of roadbed and there’s no way to get a close look at what’s going on, nor did I want to take the time to ride up and see how the bridge work was coming to the north. The big project however was more or less on my route home – at least it was now. Anything to get off the clogged roads and unwind.

The section I was interested in lies between Mt. Mitchell State Park and Asheville. This section of the parkway was closed all of last year when a piece slid off the mountainside. That portion has been rebuilt and the project has now shifted to repairing the adjacent areas of road which had deteriorated badly. Layers of pavement had peeled away like old paint and there were some areas where small sinkholes had left huge dips in the roadway. Honestly, it was getting pretty rough and it’s nice to see it receiving the attention it needs.

I was initially under the impression the job was mostly just resurfacing. This visit revealed there are many areas where the entire roadbed is being rebuilt. It’s being done in a piecemeal fashion, probably the worst sections getting attention first. Cruising down the southbound lane, the worst of the two, I was pleased to hit gloriously smooth portions that had already been repaired. These would be followed by others which had yet to see attention and still more which would probably not require much of anything. Sporadically, I came to construction areas, most of which were flanked by idled equipment this late into the evening. A few of the overlooks had been resurfaced along the drive.

It was pretty easy going until I passed Craggy Gardens. The last of the crews was still going full steam on a good sized section of road and I found myself pulling up to a line of stopped traffic waiting for the pilot vehicle to take them through the single open lane. It was just a few minutes until it came by with a long line of cars in tow. I waited my turn then fell into the queue behind our chaperon. As we passed, the opposite lane was being filled with fresh subsoil as the road was rebuilt from the very base. Work this extensive should endure. I doubt this will be anywhere close to finished until next spring season.

I left the Parkway near Asheville only to get caught up in another traffic jam on the south side of the city. Didn’t matter much anymore. I’d been on the bike since 4 AM and I could see the familiar mountains of home on the horizon. I’d get there soon enough.