Obamas enjoy 'middle class' holiday in North Carolina

US president Barack Obama and his wife Michelle are said to have flown off to North Carolina on what has been seen as a "middle class" vacation.

The Obamas had spent their holidays last year in Hawaii and Martha's Vineyard, the Massachusetts island frequented by millionaire businessmen and celebrities, the Telegraph reports.

The two left Washington on April 23 without their children for a long weekend in Asheville, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains in the west of the south-eastern state.

Asheville, a city of about 73,000 people, is home to the Vanderbilt family's lavish Biltmore estate and also has dozens of art galleries and elegant restaurants.

The White House revealed the Obamas will be staying at Asheville's most famous hotel, the Grove Park Inn, which claims that 10 presidents have stayed there.

On his last visit to Asheville, in October 2008, the final month of his presidential campaign, Obama complained that he did not have the time to play golf on the hotel's private course, and vowed to return.

North Carolina may also have been chosen because Obama was the first Democratic presidential contender to win the state since Jimmy Carter in 1976.

The White House said the Obamas had no plans while in North Carolina, other than golf, although the president is scheduled to speak at a memorial service on April 25 for the victims of the recent coalmine disaster in Beckley, West Virginia.