Smoky Mountain National Park Area Camping

If you like tourists, stores, traffic, entertainment, theme parks (Dolly Land), traffic, stop lights, more traffic, etc....then Pidgeon Forge & Gatlinburg is it. The craziness is worth a day trip once to see what I mean. If you have kids then this is even more of a place to consider as they have tons of entertainment sites.

We prefer Townsend. Quiet creek side RV sites, easy in to Smokies, much less traffic, and you are 30 min country road to Pidgeon Forge if ya want it. In fact we also like Wears Valley that is halfway between the two. There is a back road into the Smokies from Wears Valley that is little known and helps too. In Oct we stayed at Cove Creek Resort in Wears Valley. It was nice and peaceful, nothing creek side...though they have a stream past the park but it isn't anything. No shade there so it wouldn't be my August choice. Most of the campsites in Townsend are shady.

For our 6 night stay in the area in 2014, we did not stay too close to Gatlinburg. We stayed 15-20 minutes outside, and we do not regret doing so!

"Crazy Horse" now called "Adventure Bound", was the best decision we made while we had the TT in the area. That's IF...you have kids. No kids...then may be stay in/near town.

The two major entrances to the Natl Park is from Gatlingburg or Townsend. If you wanted to be in the middle the RIVEREDGE RV PARK just as you enter Pigeon Forge coming from Gatlinburg would be a good place... We have stayed there many times. There are camp grounds inside the NATL PARK but they have no hookups. ELKMONT is our choice. Traffic in Gatlingburg is very slow going. Always have to watch out for people running across the main road...

Gatlinburg is walking the strip town with not many places to park your car on the side streets. Pigeon Forge is a drive to the stores and you can park at the store. Lots of shops in both towns and good eating places.

If the tourist thing is not your cup of tea then Townsend is where you might want to stay. Several full hook-up camps there and close to the West Entrance of the Natl Park. One of the sigths to see inside the park is CADES COVE motor trail which is on the Townsend side of the Park. The Major road that goes thru the park and comes out at Cherokee NC is on the Gatlingburg side. The highest point of the park is a great place that lots of folks visit as well...

Kinda what you guy want to do on where to stay...

My wife loves the Gatlinburg shops on both sides of the road. She will walk there all day long.... I usually drop here off and make a run to the park and do some hiking on a few trails. Then come back and find her...

All of our camping trips go through Gatlinburg both going and coming back haha...

August will be a pretty hot time to go there. You will enjoy the mountain roads in the park which will be a good 10 degrees cooler. We definitely go there in the late SEP Early OCT time frame and usually stay at the ELKMONT camp inside the park in our off-road POPUP camper.

I know you all will enjoy yourselves. We like to stop at TOWNSEND just before you get to the entrance and get a chicken picnic and then drive just inside the Natl Park and go sit on the banks of the Little River that goes through the park and watch the water and kids having fun in the water. Cades Cove is another great picnic outing along the motor trail. You want to time so you go thru the trail around dusk to see all of the deer and maybe a bear or two along the way. A whole bunch of horses will great you just as you enter the Cades Cove area. They like to be fed as well haha... Whenever you see a bunch of cars puled over to the side of the road it usually means a BEAR SPOTTING...

Best breakfast place for us is in Gatlingburg at BENNETS BBQ. Greatest breakfast bar out there.

Roy and Carolyn

Your location depends on what you want. If you need a lot of activities outside the national park, I would recommend something close to Gatlinburg. There are many campgrounds there over a wide geographic area. If you like a quieter area look for a park in Townsend or in the park. Townsend is near popular Cades Cove area of the park. If you can dry camp, try Elkmont or Cades Cove campgrounds inside the park.

From Smoky Mountain Premiere RV resort to the Visitor's Center at the entrance on 441 is about 20 miles. Depending on traffic going thru Gatlinburg, it could take 30 minutes. Although the resort is in a nice location, you could get closer in Pigeon Forge or Townsend.