Gatlinburg
 

Please, where to stay, what to see and do in Tennessee near Gatlinburg and with travel time to explore about 50 miles in any direction.

Rent a chalet to use as home base. You can find them in every price range and size. Do a www search to find chalets. Hiking in the Gr. Smokey Mts. is very good. You can find easy (Abrams Falls) to strenuous (Mt. Leconte) hikes. Take the drive to Cades Cove, your best chance at spotting deer that we've found. Clingmans Dome is a great stop to view the Smokey Mt range. Good resturants: Burning Bush (Gatlinburg) and The Apple House (Pigeon Forge/Seiverville). Dollywood has country music concerts with big name acts if you like country. <BR>

Gatlinburg has a lot of shops, you can walk up and down the streets and visit the majority of them. Pigeon Forge is where most of the action is, with Dollywood, music dinner theatres, arcades, water park, go karts, gooney golf, lots of museums like Guiness book, Ripleys etc. Another alternative in the opposite direction is Cherokee NC, lots of indian related stores and fun parks as well as Harrahs Casino. They also have Bearland where you can feed the bears in their dens. Either way there's lots to do and see.

Check out the Deer Creek resort on the west side of Gatlinburg. Clean, resonably priced condo's on the ridge with a great view a short ride for town.

Sorry, that condo is called Deer Ridge. We paid $98/nite for a 1BR with fully equiped kitchen, balcony with mountain view.

I live in the Gatlinburg area and avoid it like the plague in the summer and leaf season. The only reason I will drive to town is to eat at the Park Grill - outstanding food, interesting architecture. It is located on the Parkway. Breakfst at the Burning Bush is also fun - ask to be seated in the atrium - it backs up to the National Park. After breakfast, go out to the back parking lot, cross the street to the water works, and hike the trail that begins to the left of the waterworks - flat, stream view, old home sites, cascade - goes all the way to Sugarlands Visitor Center. <BR> <BR>I would recommend driving the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail - just drive up Airport Road and you will find it. If you want an interesting, easy hike - take the first part of the Trillium Gap trail to Grotto Falls (2-3 miles round trip) - usually a lot of water and you can walk behind the falls without getting wet. <BR> <BR>I also recommend a visit to Cades Cove - be aware the loop road is closed to vehicle traffic from sunup until 10:00 am on Sat and Wed - bike rentals available at campground (but they are one-speed bombs - the loop is 11 miles of rolling hills). Go on a weekend or in the afternoon and you will usually be rewarded by a traffic snarl that leaves you seeing only the bumper of the car in front of you.