A New Chapter Above Asheville

Asheville Rooftop Bar Tours was founded on a love of Asheville’s skyline, history, hospitality, and mountain views—and continues today as the city’s most unique experiences above downtown.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene and the devastating impact it had on Asheville and the surrounding mountain communities, Asheville Rooftop Bar Tours faced an uncertain future. Operations were paused for months, and the company nearly closed permanently.

Asheville Rooftop Bar Tours owner Ron Wagner.

But in October 2025—almost exactly one year after the storm changed Western North Carolina forever—the company entered a new chapter when Hendersonville native Ron Wagner purchased Asheville Rooftop Bar Tours with a vision of continuing and expanding the experience founder Kaye Bentley originally created.

Bentley founded the company in 2018. An accomplished historian, she was inspired by Asheville’s historic architecture, burgeoning rooftop scene, and sweeping Blue Ridge Mountain views to envision a completely new way to experience the city. Over the years, Asheville Rooftop Bar Tours became one of the city’s most recognized tourism experiences, welcoming thousands of visitors and locals alike while earning TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice recognition, Best of Asheville awards, and regional business honors.

Like Kaye, Ron was raised in the mountains of Western North Carolina and has deep personal ties to the Asheville area and a lifelong appreciation for the region’s natural beauty, creative spirit, hospitality, and close-knit communities. He remembers Asheville’s transition from a boarded-up no-go zone in the 1980s to downtown’s comeback in the 1990s and rapid evolution into one of the most sought-after tourist destinations in the world, fueled by art, amazing restaurants, and, of course, the explosion of the brewery scene that really put Asheville on the map.

Yet the one thing missing was taking full advantage of the views that bring everyone here. In retrospect, it’s amazing Asheville didn’t have a single rooftop bar or restaurant until Sky Bar opened in 2006, but its popularity was immediate, with people standing in long lines for the opportunity to ride the hand-crank elevator up to the steel balconies that are still on the side of the wide end of the Flat Iron Building.

Of course, that wasn’t a true rooftop, but being able to see the peaks in the distance with the breeze in your hair and a cocktail in your hand was an experience like no other in a city with no shortage of unique experiences. Yet nobody else had the foresight to take this concept to the next level until The Montford opened in 2016, which opened the floodgates to a boom of rooftop establishments that have spread all over the city in the last decade.

More than once, Ron would discover a new rooftop bar and think how much fun it would be to spend an evening touring them and discovering them—and that was before he saw a group on one of Kaye’s tours.

“I immediately thought, ‘what a great idea,’” Ron said.

So when he and his wife decided to explore the possibility of purchasing a small business, it seemed like fate when Asheville Rooftop Bar Tours was one of the first opportunities he discovered. It seemed like even more like just what was supposed to happen when Ron and Kaye agreed to a deal on Sept. 27, 2025—the first anniversary of Helene.

“The closing was emotional for both of us,” Ron remembers. “Kaye was letting go of something she had poured her heart into and built into a local business that was truly remarkable, and I just felt like this was a small way for me to honor that legacy and help Asheville get back to where it was before. The end of something as special as Asheville Rooftop Bar Tours would have one more thing we lost.”

Today, Asheville Rooftop Bar Tours remains committed to showcasing Asheville’s rooftop culture, mountain scenery, local history, and hospitality while celebrating the resilience, creativity, and enduring spirit of the Asheville community and exploring new collaborations and experiences. This includes the Mountaintops- to-Rooftops partnership with Asheville Wellness Tours, which combines scenic Blue Ridge yoga hikes with Asheville’s signature rooftop bar experience.

This isn’t just a rooftop tour. It’s a celebration of Asheville—past, present, and moving forward.