Recently I  interviewed Bryan Cole for these helpful tips for the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and surrounding area. Our family has visited the park in the past. However he’s lived there and spent countless vacations there, so he has some pretty helpful tips to share. He was a White Water Rafting Guide during the summer, while in college.  

Best Places to Eat or Try some Famous Tennessee Moonshine

Moonshine and Wine Taste Testing 

1. Ole Smoky has the best moonshine taste testing - Blackberry is a personal favorite.

2. Sugarland's gives you the most bang for your buck. You can try 15 flavors for $5.

3. Tennessee Cider / Wine Company has sparking and regular wine taste testing

The nice thing about these taste testing places is that they are all within walking distance of each other.

 Best Restaurants

1. Blue Moose has wings, burgers and a good beer selection. It’s in Pigeon Forge

2. Gatlinburg Brewery has fantastic wood fired pizza.

3. Smoky Mountain Brewery in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. Try their Thunder Roads Wings and the large assortment of beers.

4. Chubby's Deli - local dive for breakfast, it’s in a gas station, but it's a restaurant that all the locals eat at in Sevierville, TN.

5. Burger Master in Townsend, TN. It’s right outside of the entrance to Cades Cove. They have great burgers and ice cream.

6. The Stampede is fun for a dinner show and dinner.

Things To Do

1. The Great Smoky Mountain National Park. We love trying to find waterfalls and this park has a huge amount. Cades Cove is also fantastic if you love seeing animals, as well as stepping back in time. When the park was created, they moved the old cabins and churches to the Cades Cove area. It’s a pretty cool area for sure.

2. Fly Fishing - The Cataloochee Valley on the east side of the park. They reintroduced Elk here and have less traffic than the main part of the park.

3. Lynn camp long trail has the biggest waterfall in the park and is only about ½ mile from the trailhead. You can check out all the waterfalls that the park has to offer on the National Parks Website

4. THE LIGHTNING BUGS! Fireflies come to the Smoky Mountains around the last 2 weeks of May - the first 2 weeks in June. You have to get a lottery ticket to see them in Elkmont, through the Recreation.gov website. However, you can also see them in Cades Cove without a ticket. Even though they might be more spread out, It’s an unbelievable, jaw-dropping sight that you will remember for the rest of your life.

5. Mt. Cammerer Fire Tower hike- It’s at the Big creek entrance to the park. It connects to the Appalachian Trail and has a fire lookout tower that you can go up in. It's a 10.6-mile hike, so plan on taking most of the day.

6. Horse backing in Wears Valley - There are several companies that offer it.

7. Ziplining at Climb Works

8. Whitewater rafting at Smoky Mountain Outdoors

9. The Tuckaleechee Caverns of Townsend, TN

10. Midnight hole at Big Creek - popular swimming hole

11. Mt. Lacomte - Highest mountain in the park but Clingmans Dome lookout tower is the tallest point in the park and you can see everything in the park. It’s a full day hike to the top of Mt Lecomte, with amazing views.

Places to Stay

1. Park Vista has the best views in Gatlinburg with a cool swimming pool.

2. The lodges at Graystone are within walking distance of everything in Gatlinburg.

3. Townsend is much quieter and has cabins and several campgrounds. It’s right outside of the Cade Cove Entrance to the Park. It does have very spotty wifi/phone service because it is so close to the park. This could be a good thing if you want to get away from everything though.

4. Camping in Elkmont next to the Little River

Helpful Tips 

1. Expect traffic on the weekends. If you stay in the middle of town, expect to have delays during the summer months.

2. Keep a rain jacket with you. It rains almost everyday at some point, since it is in a temperate rainforest.

3. The Tanger outlet mall has good shopping.

4. If you have a week or so, consider staying at a few different places around the park so you can see and do more. This is a huge park with hours of driving from one end to the other.

5. In Gatlinburg you can take a tram to get around town. Don’t count on a ride share though. There are very few due to the lack of drivers.

6. Keep a few dollar bills in your car when you enter the park. There are several auto tour roads throughout the park. The park offers pamphlets that offer information on what you will see. They ask for a $1 donation most of the time for the pamphlets.

Must Needed items

1. National Geographic Map of the Smoky Mountains. I always purchase one of these maps for any national park that we visit. These maps are fantastic. They won't tear, and these maps can get wet. I love to carry maps in the National Park because there is typically no cell service unless you are at a visitor center. So, GPS is not always reliable. These maps show where points of interest are, like waterfalls, picnic areas, and bathrooms. They also show how long the hikes are.

2. A nice cooler. Because this park is so huge, you will want to pack a picnic lunch, snacks, and drinks. We’ve had really good luck with this Coleman cooler and with a family of 6, this is large enough for everything.

3. I love these waterproof totes from Ziplock. They hold all your dry goods nicely and are totally waterproof. We have had these on a rack attached to the back of our car. We spent 20 days traveling from park to park, and these suckers kept everything nice and dry.

4. A camelback. We love our camelbacks. They not only carry lots of water, but I love all the pockets. We’ve had our camelbacks for years, and have used them at over 35 national parks and a few airplane rides as our carry-ons. They still look like the day we got them.

5. Hiking boots. It’s always a good idea to have a pair of shoes that have nice thick tread on them so you can climb up those rocky steps that you might come across.

6. A Good walking stick! We prefer the wooden sticks compared to the kind that collapse. However, If you don't have room for the wooden ones, the collapsible ones will work just fine. I love to use them for extra support walking up and down inclines. Jeff has used him to move an occasional snake from the path as well.

7. When traveling to the Smokies a can of bear spray, a whistle, or bell would be a good idea too. Typically, if you are talking, or making noise, the bears will go the other way. It never hurts to be prepared though.

8. A nice camera to capture all the magnificent things that you will see.

9. A first aid kit with a snake bite kit.

10. A good hat, sunglasses, and sunscreen. Although it rains, it's also very sunny and you can get sunburned easily.