Morning finds the French Broad River unspooling like a long, steady sentence as Asheville wakes to the scrape of studio doors and the hiss of espresso machines. Freight tracks stitch the neighborhood together, steel thread beside old brick, while a gallery cat patrols a sunlit stoop like it owns the block. This is the River Arts District—RAD to locals—where the river nudges you forward and color blooms on every wall. You don’t need a map here so much as a curiosity compass. Start on Foundy Street and the neighborhood does the guiding: murals flare out from the Foundation Walls, the legal graffiti park where artists trade visual riffs in layers of spray. Around the corner, a glassblower coaxes light into shape; down the block, a ceramist works at a wheel, the river’s rhythm echoing in the spin. This is a walk, a drift really—2 to 3 miles if you loop the greenway—no summit, no switchbacks, just the pleasure of moving through a living workshop. The earth beneath is older than the architecture suggests. The French Broad is among the world’s oldest rivers, its northbound flow defying expectations as it saws a patient path through the Blue Ridge. That age shows in the way the water doesn’t hurry. It presses on, inviting you to keep pace—linger at the edge, watch for a blue heron stalking the shallows, then let the greenway pull you to the next cluster of studios. Industrial Asheville made its bones right here in the early 20th century: cotton mills, tanneries, and warehouses ringed this bend of river, a hive of labor that eventually fell quiet when manufacturing shifted. In the late 1980s and 90s, artists moved into the quiet, turned square footage into possibility, and the district began its second life. Now more than 200 working artists animate 20-plus buildings scattered along Roberts, Lyman, Depot, and Foundy. The vibe is hands-on—step across a threshold and you might catch a painter between brushstrokes or a metalworker testing a weld. Ask questions. Most will talk process, materials, and the stories baked into their work. Between studios, the neighborhood stacks small pleasures. Wedge Brewing’s beer garden cools off hot days with shade and a pale ale. 12 Bones serves ribs with a cult following. Coffee hums at PennyCup while bikes whisper along the smooth new greenway beside the water. It’s an easy landscape for families and groups—flat, stroller-friendly, rarely more than a few blocks between places to sit or snack. If you want structure for your wander, build a figure-eight from Foundy to Roberts to Lyman and onto the River Arts District greenway, then circle back. Expect 2–4 hours with stops; elevation gain is negligible, terrain is a mix of sidewalks, gravel, and paved path. The river keeps you oriented. Studios post open hours—often late morning to late afternoon—but many artists step out for supplies or lunch, and some spaces only open on weekends. Second Saturday events bring demos, live music, and extended hours, lending a festival feel without turning chaotic. Mornings are quiet, ideal for photos and conversations. Afternoons swell as the sun warms the bricks and the river brightens; by golden hour, murals glow and the skyline of Asheville peeks between smokestacks and treetops. Weather shifts quickly in the mountains. Summer sunlight turns the district into a kiln by midafternoon, so a hat and water bottle earn their keep. Spring can be breezy, the river throwing cool air along the path. Fall is Asheville’s showstopper—crisp air, color in the hills, and the kind of light that makes photographs feel inevitable. Winter pares everything down: clear river views, more studio time, less crowd. The art stays, and so does the welcome. As you walk, the place talks back. The river pushes, steady and patient. The tracks hum every now and then, reminding you that this district is still a working corridor, a blend of grit and grace. It is travel at a human scale: drift, step in, look close, and come away with something that smells faintly of linseed oil or clay—maybe a small print tucked into your bag, or just the memory of color catching brick as the sun goes down.