ANMHE - Travel Tips

Travel Tips

Note: Popular times of year are May thru early September; October; holidays in November and December. Wildly popular is the week between Christmas and New Year's Day

1. Try the less visited areas of the National Park

The busiest and most seen areas of the park are:

The Cades Cove Loop Road
Newfound Gap Road
The Roaring Fork Motor Trail
Alum Cave Trail
Abrams Falls Trail
Grotto Falls Trail
Laurel Falls Trail

You may want to consider these great, yet often overlooked parts of the Smoky Mountains:

Metcalf Bottoms (Riverside Picnic; hiking)
Greenbrier (Ramsey Cascade waterfall)
Cosby (Mt. Cammerer Fire Tire)
Tremont (hiking; history)
Cataloochee Valley (mountain views)
Abrams Creek Campground (hiking)

2. Avoid the big attractions

Some top area attractions you may want to avoid during your trip if you're vacationing during a busy time of year:

Dollywood
Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies
The Island
The Titanic Museum

Soaky Mountain Water Park (seasonal)
Alpine/Mountain Coasters – found along Wears Valley road, Pigeon Forge and in Gatlinburg.

3. Timing is everything

Drive Early or Late at Night

When arriving to the Pigeon Forge area along the Parkway or going up the mountains, you can avoid the traffic jams by planning your trip to arrive early in the day. Likewise, if you arrive to Pigeon Forge later in the evening, after 9 p.m., you should be able to drive thru the parkway with relative ease. Otherwise, expect heavy traffic on the parkway, especially between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.
When departing from the Smokies on your trip back home, leave before 11 a.m. Traffic to I-40 and other major highways tend to get backed up at 11 a.m., especially on Sunday mornings. This is due to most guests checking out of their cabins at 10 a.m. after a weekend getaway.

Visit Big Attractions on Weekdays

Weekdays are the best time to visit popular destinations like Dollywood, the Island and Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies. You'll find shorter lines and have more time to fully experience these fun attractions.
However, during the summer months you will run into small crowds no matter what time of day you visit.

Visit in the Offseason

Winter months of January and February (excluding holidays) and early spring are definitely the more peaceful and laid back times to explore the Smoky Mountains. You will also find a great deal on our cabin rates during these months.