Great Smoky Mountains
THE AMERICAS · NATIONAL PARK · APPALACHIA
The most visited national park in America, and free to enter — ridge after ridge of blue haze, the deepest biodiversity in the temperate world, and old Appalachian homesteads left standing in the coves. Gatlinburg on the Tennessee side is a full-blown carnival; Cherokee and Bryson City on the North Carolina side are quieter. Choose accordingly.
The plan
Cades Cove loop at sunrise
An 18km one-way loop through a valley of preserved homesteads. Bears and deer at dawn, gridlock by ten.
Clingmans Dome
The highest point in the park at 2,025m, with a spiral ramp to a 360° platform. Closed in winter.
Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail
A narrow one-way road out of Gatlinburg past cabins, streams and the Place of a Thousand Drips.
Alum Cave to Mount LeConte
The park's best day hike, 8km each way through an arch and along cable-assisted ledges.
Firefly season
Two weeks in late May or early June when synchronous fireflies flash in unison. Lottery access only.
Book before you fly
Parking tags
Free entry, but any vehicle parked over fifteen minutes needs a paid tag, bought online or at a visitor centre.
LeConte Lodge
A lottery each autumn for the following year — the only lodging in the park's interior.
Synchronous fireflies
A lottery in late April for two weeks of viewing in late May or early June.
Getting there
Fly Knoxville (TYS)
An hour from Gatlinburg and the closest airport, with connections through most eastern hubs.
Fly Asheville (AVL) or Charlotte (CLT)
Asheville is 90 minutes to the North Carolina side; Charlotte is three hours with far more flights.
Getting around
You need a car; there is no park shuttle. Parking tags are now required for anything over 15 minutes.
When to go
Best time to go
Mid-October for the best autumn colour in the eastern US, or late April to May for wildflowers and waterfalls in flood.
Cheapest months
January to March — cold, bare, and hotel rates in Gatlinburg collapse.
Priciest & busiest
July and the whole of October at weekends, when the park sees 14 million visitors a year and it feels like it.
If you've got one day
Morning
Cades Cove loop at sunrise
Late morning
Clingmans Dome
Lunch
Pancake Pantry
Afternoon
Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail
Evening
Dinner at The Barn at Blackberry Farm, then Alum Cave to Mount LeConte
If you've got a week
Day 1
Arrive, settle in around LeConte Lodge, and take it slowly — Pancake Pantry for dinner.
Day 2
Cades Cove loop at sunrise.
Day 3
Clingmans Dome. Dinner at The Barn at Blackberry Farm.
Day 4
Day trip — Asheville.
Day 5
Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail. The Appalachian, Gatlinburg at some point.
Day 6
Alum Cave to Mount LeConte.
Day 7
Firefly season. Finish with Dancing Bear Appalachian Bistro.
Staying longer?
Nearby & day trips
Asheville
Ninety minutes east for the Biltmore Estate and the best beer town in the South.
Three and a half hours west.
Blue Ridge Parkway
Starts at the park's eastern edge and runs 750km north to Shenandoah.
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