The Purple Bus Where Asheville History Comes With a Punchline
A converted school bus loops downtown, Montford and the River Arts District while the guide works the aisle in character.
The bus started as a school bus. Someone painted it purple, ran gold scrollwork around every window, and kept going. Inside, bench seats face a narrow aisle that the guide uses as a stage. For ninety minutes the tour alternates between Asheville history and sketch comedy performed at close range. Riders must be 13 or older.
Departures leave from the LaZoom Room at 76 Biltmore Avenue, across the street from the Orange Peel, Wicked Weed and Mamacita's. The operator asks riders to arrive 30 minutes before departure. That half hour is when people pick up a drink and claim a seat. Alcoholic drinks are sold at the room and sit outside the ticket price.
Comedy Sightseeing Tour Hey Asheville by LaZoomNinety minutes, live comedy on board, departing from 76 Biltmore Avenue.www.viator.comThe aisle is the stage
Guides work in character, and the bits arrive without warning. A nun turns up. Costumes change mid-block. The operator describes these tours as historical and hysterical, which is close to how the ninety minutes actually divides: a fact about a building, then a sketch, then another fact. Bachelor and bachelorette parties are not allowed on this tour. The company routes those groups to its live-music bus instead.
Montford, Chicken Hill and the river
The loop climbs out of downtown into Montford, a turn-of-the-century district of ornate Victorians and Arts and Crafts bungalows. The operator's framing of it is the part worth keeping: these houses went up for people who came to Asheville to build the Biltmore estate and then stayed to build for themselves. From Chicken Hill the route drops into the River Arts District, where murals cover former industrial factories. Guides cover the 1916 flood and the Hurricane Helene recovery in the same stretch of riverfront. The recovery is recent enough that guides still speak about it in the present tense.
What to look up at
Two stops on the loop reward looking up. The Basilica of Saint Lawrence carries a tiled dome that the operator calls the largest freestanding elliptical dome in North America, built completely without wooden beams or steel supports. The Grove Arcade arrives later, a preserved landmark now holding galleries, local makers and sidewalk cafes. Guides flag it as the block to walk back to once the bus lets you off.
Who ends up on this bus
The age floor does real work here. At 13 and up the room skews adult, and the guides write for that room. Seating is bench-style, with open window frames down both sides. Dress for the weather you will be riding in. The tour holds 4.9 from 501 reviews. The operator lists it as suitable for all physical fitness levels, and service animals are allowed.
📍 Boarding and drop-off are both at 76 Biltmore Avenue, ninety minutes apart.
- A full refund needs a cancellation at least 24 hours before departure.
- Mobile and paper tickets are both accepted.
- Public transport runs nearby.
- Riders under 13 cannot board.
The Grove Arcade and the Biltmore Avenue block you started on are each a short walk from the drop-off, which puts dinner within reach of the last joke.