CASHIERS -- Cashiers, North Carolina, a Hotel Lodging Alternative, NC Vacation Inn Rental

If you’re going hiking around Cashiers, you’ll need a great breakfast at a NCBBI-inspected bed and breakfast inn. Perched near the granite dropoffs of the Blue Ridge, and receiving more than 80 inches of rain a year, Cashiers is surrounded by waterfalls, everything from tiny cliffside seeps to 400-foot-plus cataracts that roar into deep gorges. The downtown is little more than a crossroads, the junction of U.S. 64 and North Carolina 107, and a mile or so radius of antique shops, high-end restaurants, and second-home clusters discreetly tucked into the woods.

Outdoors, hikers can take spur trails to waterfall lookouts, or try longer segments of the Foothills Trail or the Chattooga River Trail. Fly-fishers and kayakers pilgrimage to the Nantahala, Ocoee, and Chattooga rivers. Mountain biking enthusiasts go to Panthertown Valley, a 6,700-acre wilderness area, and the Tsali Recreation Area, a one-and-a-half-hour drive west. The thousand-foot cliffs of Whiteside Mountain provide challenging climbs.