We spent last week at Bear Lake Reserve in western North Carolina. Here is the first of three recaps of our trip, including where we stayed, lodging, and lake life.
Wait a minute, isn’t that Bald Head Island?! We turned our family vacation from the beach to the mountains at the last minute when Hurricane Debby threatened heavy rain and wind during our planned time at Bald Head. We went as far south and west as we could which made driving reasonable and out of the path of the storm. Kudos to my dad and sister for packing it the day before we left!
We made the right choice though because we had PERFECT weather for our week at Bear Lake Reserve! My sister’s friends recommended it and what a gem this place is. Here is the recap of our family trip.
Bear Lake Refuge
Bear Lake Refuge is a mountain resort about an hour west of Asheville, North Carolina. It’s literally in the middle of nowhere around Bear Lake, which is a man-made reservoir. As far as lakes go, this one is on the small side, but there was plenty of room for boating, swimming and fishing.
Bear Lake Reserve is a huge resort with homes, condos and villas for both full-time homeowners and guests who rent them like us.
The Bears
There are apparently many bears living among the reserve. We heard there was a family of them on our villa terrace just last week! I was a little scared to go running by myself or go out after dark, but unfortunately I didn’t see any bears while we were there! Thomas and Mazen saw a family on their way home from golf.
Getting there
The drive from Charlottesville was about 7 hours with a few stops, but we all agreed that the mountain views made the drive more enjoyable than the beach drive.
There is a cottage when you enter the resort that will give you a nice property map just when you start losing cell service! We found the staff to be so friendly and helpful throughout the resort.
It was about a 20 minute drive from the greeter’s cottage to our villa, but the view at the top was worth it!!
Our Villa
We rented Saddle Notch Villa #7 which had a great view of the mountains and the lake. We loved the terraces!! The villa had 4 bedrooms and a sofa/tv/family room that Mazen slept on so it was the perfect size for us. It was beautifully decorated, stocked and so nice for our family.
We had a fire pit which was great for s’mores at night. It is shared with other guests/villa owners, but we made friends with some nice families out there!
Groceries
Note that you’ll want to pack all your groceries because there isn’t really a store nearby. We brought pretty much everything we needed for basics and ended up placing an Instacart order from Ingles in the next town over for dinner ingredients one night. We didn’t have a great experience with our driver who left them at the cottage instead of delivering them, but the nice staff brought them to us. The cottage and cafe have a few things like milk and snacks if you need quick things.
First night dinner
Breakfast + Lunch with a view
Waiting for the cousins
My sister and her family didn’t arrive until Monday night so there was a lot of anticipation for their arrival!
Taco Night
We brought taco ingredients from home and made them for dinner the 2nd night.
Walking
We were a little disappointed when we found that the hike to the pool and beach was actually a hike, however, many of us did this 0.8 mile hike/walk everyday. There were two wooded paths you could follow or walk on the road. Going down wasn’t bad, but going up was not for the faint of heart. It wasn’t bad with a small backpack, but you won’t want to be lugging pool gear or coolers up and down, so we usually had 1-2 cars come down with the gear and people chose whether to walk or drive.
The entrance to the lower path
Or you could walk down the street. We didn’t let the kids go alone.
It was a hike back!
The Lodge
About a mile down the mountain is the beautiful lodge! The pool was amazing and the kids loved it! There was a water slide and hot tub, and they heated the pool on our one cold day. There was also a pool bar where we enjoyed tropical drinks and some meals.
There was also a gym which I used a few times, sauna and hammam, changing rooms and of course a nice restaurant where we ate twice. They had lots of little activities for the kids but most of them cost extra so we didn’t end up doing any.
The Lake
The lake was absolutely stunning! Mazen and Thomas rented some kayaks the first day and spent most of the day fishing. Unfortunately they didn’t catch anything. We didn’t see many fish swimming either (much to my delight!) so it must not be a huge fishing lake. It was great for swimming and tubing though.
Dinner at the Lodge
On Tuesday we had a big night at the lodge. The food was quite good!
