Top Things to do in Gatlinburg and the Smokies
Accommodation:
Glamping: Ultimately, this is the whole reason we chose to do a road trip to Gatlinburg. Lexa heard good things about a company called Under Canvas, which provides luxury tents right in the Smoky Mountains. With Gatlinburg being only a 6 hour drive, it was a quick getaway still close to home. It was pricey, so we only did one night. It was an adventure we’ll never forget! You can learn more about our glamping experience here.
Airbnb: Our go-to favorite for finding cheap (but nice) accommodations. For short stays like this where we’re adventuring for most of the day, we’re always open to renting a room instead of the entire place. This is how we met Mark and xx, our hosts for the weekend with a lovely home about 15 minutes from the Gatlinburg strip and entrance to the Smokies. They provided an amazing continental breakfast/coffee, thoroughly cleaned the place multiple times a day and were always willing to give tips or answer questions. You can find their place on Facebook here. We highly recommend a stay with them!
Food:
Although we definitely did a lot more planning for this trip than we typically do, we definitely underestimated the amount of people who would be vacationing in Gatlinburg. While we booked our activities weeks in advance, we didn’t think about making dinner reservations for evenings in the city. *Tip: Either book a restaurant at least a day in advance or eat outside of the Gatlinburg main strip
No Way Jose’s Cantina: When we made our way into Gatlinburg around 8:30pm, we were shocked to find the restaurants as packed as ever. Our dreams of finding a cute little table on a patio were crushed as most places were either not taking reservations or nothing was available until after 10pm.
By sheer luck, I stumbled on Jose’s, a Mexican cantina just off the main strip. They had a cute outdoor patio overlooking a pond where you could watch all the activity happening on the main street. The sangria margarita was delicious, and the portions were huge! Lexa and I could have split one plate. We definitely recommend checking it out and grabbing a seat on the patio.
Drinks:
Sugarlands Moonshine – Gatlinburg is known for its Moonshine, so we definitely wanted to try one of their distilleries. We found a blended cocktails tour at Sugarlands for $12 (you basically just pay for the two drinks you get on the tour), but it was sold out for the weekend. Moral of the story: GET YOUR TICKETS AHEAD OF TIME ONLINE!
You can do walk-in moonshine tastings for $5 or buy a cocktail for $6 (this is what we did, and they’re tasty) without needing to do any preplanning. *Tip: Go either during the middle of the day on the weekend or on a weekday. Otherwise you might be standing in a huge line at peak hours.
Free/Cheap Attractions:
Hiking: This was our must-do activity and what we planned our whole weekend around. The best part is it’s social distance friendly and FREE! Pick a trail or three and spend your weekend getting some fresh air and enjoying the beautiful views. Make sure to do your research ahead of time. Some of the trails start right when you enter the park while others require an hour plus drive.
Drive Cade’s Cove: One of our favorite parts of the trip was driving through Cade’s Cove as the sun rose. Watch the fog roll over the mountains as you enjoy scenic views and glimpses of wildlife (we heard bears are often seen here). TIP: It’s free, so we recommend getting there as soon as the park opens to avoid long lines.
Moonshine/Whiskey Tasting: Since we didn’t get our tour at Sugarlands, we made our way over to the other big distillery, Ole Smoky. They’ve got both a moonshine and whiskey location, so make sure you’re at the right one (or you’ll end up doing a whiskey tasting when you just wanted some moonshine). Tastings are $5, and you get to try around 7 flavors.
“Pricey” Attractions:
White Water Rafting: Turns out we’re kind of adrenaline junkies. With COVID being a consideration, we were eager to find activities that kept us outdoors and away from large groups. We used Smoky Mountain Outdoors (SMO) Rafting and absolutely loved our experience rafting along the Pigeon River! The experience cost $35 each and lasted about 1.5 hours. Groups were kept small, and everyone on board was soaked but smiling. The tour guides in charge or our rafts were super knowledgeable about the river and did most of the heavy lifting. Thank goodness we weren’t left to steer the raft. Our guide had the raft working together as a team and kept us laughing along the way.
Rowdy Bear Mountain Coaster : Before our trip, we saw videos pop up on Facebook and TikTok of the Gatlinburg Alpine coaster and knew we had to ride it. Caution: not everything advertised as an alpine coaster is a beautiful wooden ride through the forest. Rowdy Bear Adventure Park was right in the heart of Gatlinburg, so we decided to use them. The “mountain coaster” cost about $17 for one ride and was basically a small metal roller coaster. The ride was fun and left us laughing, but the whole experience lasted about two minutes. If I was doing it again, I would’ve spent more to do the Smoky Mountain Alpine Coaster. They seemed to actually be located along or through the forest, which would have made for cooler views.
