We’ve been to the Biltmore a few times but have wanted to go at Christmas time for several years. A two month long event, Christmas at Biltmore is a holiday celebration that includes music, lights, and decorations. Tickets are for a timed entry and must be purchased in advance – waaaay in advance. We have tried to buy tickets in late October in years past, only to find that the only tickets still available were 10pm entries on weekdays. So plan ahead!
But if you just can’t plan that far ahead, you can adjust your expectations instead. With a busy (and constantly changing) schedule during the holiday season, we just couldn’t commit to buying tickets far enough ahead to snag a good date so we accepted both an earlier date and an earlier entry time. Instead of getting Candlelight Christmas Evenings tickets in December, we got tickets to the daytime celebration in November. But we finally got to go!
And it was worth it. In fact, I almost liked the late afternoon time better. The afternoon light poured into the back of the house, beautifully illuminating the decorated rooms. And after our tour we got to stay outside and watch the sun set over the mountains in the distance and then enjoy the outside lights at Antler Hill Village.
Our entry time was 3:30 and they let us in right on the minute. (Note that the last daytime tour entry time is 5pm but they will kick you out of the house before 5:45 when it converts over to the Candlelight Tours. So it is best to go a little earlier to give yourself enough time to make it all the way through the house.)
The Winter Garden in the main atrium was beautifully decorated with garland, lights, poinsettias, and ribbons, and without even walking into another room in the house, I knew the ticket was going to be worth the high entry price. It was gorgeous inside.
Since we had visited the house previously and this visit was focusing on the Christmas decorations, we opted out of the add-on audio tour. It is easy to follow the route through the house without the tour and the rooms are still labelled so you know what they are. The banquet hall was the first stop and it was stunning. A giant decorated tree overflowing with gifts underneath stood at one end of the dining room, while the fireplace on the other end was flanked by two equally beautiful trees. The red chairs in front of the triple fireplace seemed to be screaming for Santa Claus to be sitting in them; it would have been a perfect setup for pictures with the big guy.
We passed through the Breakfast Room (because a banquet hall that seats 38 is obviously overkill for breakfast) on the way to the Salon. It was here that we started to realize that late afternoon was a great time of day to tour the house. Despite the darker furnishings and heavy tapestries hanging from the ceiling, this room was beautifully lit in the afternoon sun. The tree blended in perfectly with the room’s color scheme, and a nativity set was on display at the far end of the room. Open to the Winter Garden on one side and an outdoor balcony on the other, this was a surprisingly pretty room.
We then walked through the Music Room, which was only minimally decorated but still interesting to the boys because of the old instruments.
The tour then headed outside as we walked across the Loggia on the way to the Den. The view from here was absolutely stunning. It was easy to see why George Vanderbilt chose this location for his summer home, even over the popular Newport RI location that his siblings and many of his contemporaries in the Gilded Age chose. With hints of fall color still remaining and the Blue Ridge Mountains looming in the distance, the loggia offered a picture-perfect view.
While there are thousands of amazing architectural details throughout the house, the boys especially enjoyed some of the exterior features, like these stone carvings flanking the arches over the doorways leading to the library and the music room, respectively.
Looping around through the Library and the Gallery, we headed upstairs to check out the bedrooms. While the rooms were interesting and nicely decorated, the staircase was my favorite part.
Like many kids, my boys find the basement of the Biltmore house fascinating, With a long stone corridor leading to a bowling alley, an indoor pool and a creepy gym with a medieval torture chamber vibe to it, they think it is the coolest part of the house. (They are also intrigued by the Halloween Room and the idea that this holiday has a dedicated room year round.)
The last stop on the tour was the Kitchen, complete with a gingerbread house version of the Biltmore House!
We really enjoyed the daytime version of Christmas at Biltmore. I know that we missed out on some things – obviously the lights weren’t all lit during the day (and the ones that were didn’t have the same impact as they would at night) and there are some rooms that are only open to Candlelight Christmas Evening ticket holders. But we really didn’t feel like we missed out. The late afternoon natural lighting was beautiful throughout the house and really allowed you to appreciate all of the decorations and the general beauty of the house. And while I’m sure it would have been neat to see some additional rooms, the boys had probably already gotten their fill anyway.
As we made our way out of the house, we were able to sneak a peak back into the Banquet Hall where the fires had been lit in the fireplace. The sun hadn’t quite set yet but you can still get a feel for what the house might look like during the evening hours. While I don’t regret doing the daytime tour at all, I also wouldn’t rule out coming back in a few years when the boys are older and doing the candlelight tour.
We headed outside and enjoyed walking the grounds a little in the late afternoon sun. From the South Terrace, the setting sun really made the house pop against the perfectly blue sky.
While the boys ran around on the terrace lawn, I slipped over to the Walled Garden and Conservatory. Because it was November, there was very little in bloom, although a few straggling flowers hung on to their last petals. But the gardens were still neat to walk around, and the conservatory had some festive flower displays inside.
After a quick tour of the gardens, I headed back up to the South Terrace to catch the end of the sunset over the mountains. It was gorgeous.
After the last bit of sun dipped behind the mountains, we headed back to catch the shuttle to Antler Hill Village. We got a last look at America’s largest privately owned home, still swarming with people waiting for their entry to the Candlelight Christmas Evening celebration. It is hard to fathom what any one family could need 178,926 square feet for, but it is a fascinating architectural and historical landmark worth visiting.
While on the shuttle, we realized that we were driving right past our parking lot and it would be easier for us to hop off and drive down to the village. When the shuttle stopped at the parking lot to pick up other people, we hopped out of our seats to get off. We were apparently not supposed to get off here (this was a pickup only; there was a different shuttle to the parking lot) but after pleading ignorance and asking politely, our shuttle driver let us off. It was much better to drive down there at this point so we wouldn’t have to take a shuttle back to the parking lot at the end of the night.
Antler Hill Village is a combination of many things – part shopping, part dining, part winery, part farm. It was all decked out in Christmas lights and decorations, and now that it was finally dark we got to enjoy the lights. We opted out of dinner at any of the restaurants here (either because the wait was too long or the price tag was too high) but we enjoyed walking around. We walked around and enjoyed the lights, popped into a few shops, and tried in vain to find some hot chocolate. We only stayed for about half an hour but it was worth the stop.
All in all I’d say our Biltmore Christmas experience was a success. I don’t think there is a huge downside to touring the house during the day. I’m sure the interior is beautiful all lit up (and we may come back one day to see it) but we still got to see the house fully decorated and enjoy the grounds during sunset. The price tag is high on this outing so it is not something we will do every year but it is worth doing at least once, if not every couple of years.
