Things to do in Gatlinburg

[BehindBlueI's]

Floyd Garrett Muscle Car Museum | muscle cars | gatlinburg muscle cars | pigeon forge muscle cars | sevierville muscle cars | car | gatlinburg car | pigeon forge car | sevierville car | high performance | gatlinburg high performance | pigeon forge hi

Not huge, but worth the trip if you're remotely into insanely cool cars.

 

[Bigtanker]

Went with the family last month. Had a blast. Check out a new attraction called Pigeon Forge Snow. It's an indoor snow tubing hill. My 15 year old and I had the time of our lives there. They have a conveyor belt that you ride on with your tube, up to the top. They have around 15 lanes going down the hill. They also have a play area to build snowmen or have snowball fights. It's a really novel experience. Wish I had thought of it!

That looks cool. And it's between 60° & 70° inside.

https://pigeonforgesnow.com

 

[Cozy439]

If you want to go a little farther, Asheville, NC - The Biltmore Mansion. Incredible. I liked hiking trails, tastings and avoiding the tourist traps... but other family members loved them. It is all good.

 

[eldirector]

If you want to go a little farther, Asheville, NC - The Biltmore Mansion. Incredible. I liked hiking trails, tastings and avoiding the tourist traps... but other family members loved them. It is all good.

Blows my mind, that at the PEAK of Cades Cove, the Biltmore Estate had an indoor pool with underwater lighting (the first of its kind) and flush toilets. Several of the currently existing buildings in the Cove are contemporaries of the Estate. Talk about the haves and have-nots.

 

[RugerRog]

We did Anakeesta, a new attraction, when we were there last Oct. Did some zip lining. Lots of fun https://www.anakeesta.com/

 

[Tactically Fat]

How are you going to transport the 1 year old? Jogging stroller? Hiking backpack?

A hike to Elkmont is pretty cool. https://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/elkmont.htm Elkmont was where a lot of the "monied" out of Knoxville would go in the summer for R&R and to escape the heat. Many of the old cabins still exist - though you cannot get into them. SOME of them have been restored and are open. Really cool river through there. A few neat old cemeteries, too.

Lots of waterfalls in the area as well. Easy enough hiking for the adults and the older child. Easy enough to do with a backpack holding the younger one, too.

IF you can manage the entire day away, as mentioned, the Biltmore in Asheville is absolutely incredible. Stunning. Mind blowing. And expensive. The Asheville area is worth it's own trip, though, IMO.

There are some tourable caves in the area if you're into that. We went to this one: Tuckaleechee Caverns - Home Nice drive out there. Not too far away. Reasonably priced. Had our daughter in a backpack carrier. She did well (but she was - and is - a calm kid)

We stayed here: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...hotels/tn600&usg=AOvVaw1zH1rvEtoWD5JQ9Jii4eBh It was quite new when we were there. The reviews are just as good now as it was several years ago. The included breakfast is nice.

 

[Jeffforpresident]

Make sure you go to the parrot thing, can't remember what it's called, but it was very cool. You get hold and feed the parrots. If you go to clingmans dome, the AT is right there good for a little hike. And then you can tell everyone you hiked the AT.

 

[1DOWN4UP]

It will be a little cold,and you have little ones,but we always take a day in Cherokee to relax,float the Oconaluftee in tubes and let the kids wade the shallows in the city park by the cane forrest. If you hike,the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest by Robbinsville is well worth a walk.The largest old growth Poplars in the Eastern U.S.

 

[Itchytriggerfinger]

A scenic 3.5 hour drive to a soon to be renovated Waffle House.

 

[Bigtanker]

Since TN is a state where no gun signs hold the
weight of the law, maybe those going down there could give us heads up on some of the places where we can't carry.

 

[rvb]

A guy I work with was just there and said Parrot Mountain was pretty cool. I was down there last summer we spent 1 day doing the normal town stuff with the kids and another day spent in the smokies. FYI that ferris wheel is big!, freaked me out for the 1st couple of times around after that it was cool.

Make sure you go to the parrot thing, can't remember what it's called, but it was very cool. You get hold and feed the parrots. If you go to clingmans dome, the AT is right there good for a little hike. And then you can tell everyone you hiked the AT.

Thanks for the tip on the Parrot thing. We're heading there this summer. My daughter is 7 and very into animals and birds. She'll love it. I hadn't heard of it before.

-rvb

 

[chipbennett]

Try searching the forums. I know that we had a similar thread, maybe a year or two ago, that probably still has some useful suggestions about Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge.

ETA: I tried searching to find that thread, but the CSS on the search results page is unreadably wonky for some reason.

 

[eldirector]

The "parrot thing":
Parrot Mountain and Gardens ? Follow the rainbow to Parrot Mountain

 

[femurphy77]

Looks like we're going to have to head back down there, we apparently missed a LOT! And we didn't even partake of the bumper cars or mini golf!

 

[woodwalker]

Peddler steak house. Best steak I’ve ever ate. Hogg’s upstairs saloon was a good place for a beer.

 

[Jeffforpresident]

Don't forget about "Goats on a roof" either, not much fun unless you like looking at goats on a roof and buying t shirts of the same name.

 

[Young William]

We always have a great time on the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad train rides. It is Bryson City NC about a 1 hr and 15 mins from Gatlinburg.
They have two basic train rides and either one is great. Both are about 4 to 4.5 hrs. This includes an hr layover where you can get off the train and find some lunch. We always sit in the open air cars, but there are some really nice first class cars.
Great Smoky Mountain Railroad | Steam Train Rides for Families in North Carolina

 

[Trigger Time]

We always have a great time on the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad train rides. It is Bryson City NC about a 1 hr and 15 mins from Gatlinburg.
They have two basic train rides and either one is great.
Great Smoky Mountain Railroad | Steam Train Rides for Families in North Carolina

As a kid this is one of my best memories

 

[jgressley2003]

Cades Cove and Laurel Falls are a couple things we enjoyed. Texas Roadhouse in Gatlinburg is terrible so I'd avoid that. The Old Mill in Pigeon Forge is a great place to eat breakfast and/or lunch. Bud's Guns and Smoky Mountain Knife are a couple shops to visit in Sevierville.

 

[7.62]

Just got back myself. If you like hiking there many weeks worth of fun to be had. We did a lot of this there. Rainbow falls is one of my favorite partial day hikes normally, but it is currently closed most of the week for trail maintenance (sign said until November). We did the ripleys aquarium. If you have young kids its a fun place to go, expensive though. Old mill was mentioned, I like it a lot for breakfast. Crocketts breakfast camp is the best for breakfast though, imo. Dolly Partons "stampede" was extremely disappointing on many levels. The price absolutely was not on par with what you got. Which really surprised me because everybody says great things about this place I just don't see it. I'm sure many will disagree with me so I will give reasoning.

Initial impressions: Parking was easy and accessible. Once we walked up to the entrance the first thing I noticed was signs everywhere stating that no guns, pocket knives, excetera were allowed. This normally is a deal-breaker for me and will cause me to just go somewhere else but I paid for the tickets in advance so I was kind of stuck. Also, normally if I did go to an establishment like that I carrying concealed and would just stay concealed , but Tennessee is a state that a no-gun sign carries the weight of law and I would have been committing a felony. That being said I marched my happy butt back to the car to put up my gun and knife. They search purses on the way in as well. No biggie, I was there more for my family so I just sucked it up and moved on. Next thing I notice which wasn't a big deal to me but probably could be to others is that zero alcohol is served anywhere in this facility. On the way in you are also marched through photo booths to take pictures that they could try to sell you later at an extremely high price. We went in early for the pre-show which is basically just some country songs provided by a live band. If you like country music you're in business, if not you'll be plugging your ears as it is extremely loud. During sitting through this performance you notice a strong smell of horse urine. I don't know if there could be much done about this since a large portion of the show involves horses but it seems like the ventilation could have been better. Next we went to a different portion of the building which was the main stage area for the show. You will be shoulder to shoulder with a stranger when you eat just by the way that the seating arrangements happen. The show itself for a kid would probably be pretty cool but I noticed many couples there that were older with no children. To me as an adult it was mostly boring. Once they started serving the food it was pretty bland, maybe a 5 out of 10. One big positive I will say is the customer service from our waiters and every staff that we encountered was excellent. All in all I would say to avoid this place unless you are going with kids that will really enjoy watching horses prance around and just have the money to spend.