Best campground in the Gatlinburg, Tn. area

Campfire Time wrote:
Smoky Bear about 20 minutes east of Gatlinburg away from the chaos. No riverside sites, but this place is wooded, quiet, squeaky clean, and all full hook up sites. The owners are excellent hosts.

x2 on Smoky Bear,great host.

We stayed at Leconte Luxury campground which is about 3 miles outside of G'burg on 321 last October. It's a nice campground, sites are small and tight but we didn't spend much time at the campground for it to matter much.

We don't really like the north side of the park near PF and GB, just to many people.


If you are going to spend time in the park maybe look at the KOA near Cherokee, we have stayed there a few times years ago and it is in a nice setting, although we havent stayed in a while we liked it.


If you are wanting to spend your time in PF, PF KOA, Creekstone, Riveregde, Foothills RV resort & cabins all are walking distance to things to do and all with tram service, and all on the East edge of town so going to GB you don't have to drive through PF.


Once in a great while we will stay at foothills RV resort, nice pool, quieter than the others and just a short walk to the pancake house.

Rangerman40 wrote:
I'm a big fan of staying out on Douglas Lake at either Anchor Down, or Douglas Headwater Campground. Right on the water and 25min into Pigeon Forge. I've stayed at the old Jellystone and I wasn't impressed. We had a river site and our picnic table was about 3 feet from our neighbors sewer hookup.

I would love to stay at Anchor Down. Looks awesome, but it's too long of a drive to the national park where we would want to spend most of our time. Twin Creek looks good as it's about the closest to the Park. Although there are a lot of negative reviews about how rude and rigid they are. I assume it wouldn't be a problem as we generally aren't the rule breaking type :B

Dan

I'm a big fan of staying out on Douglas Lake at either Anchor Down, or Douglas Headwater Campground. Right on the water and 25min into Pigeon Forge. I've stayed at the old Jellystone and I wasn't impressed. We had a river site and our picnic table was about 3 feet from our neighbors sewer hookup.

Lots to do in G'burg and PF. The kids will love it. Parking is going to cost about 10 bucks to use a municipal lot. Drive up to New Found Gap and then go on up to Clingmans Dome. Unfortunately the observation deck is closed for renovation but its still a nice stop. The aquarium in G'burg is a must do with the kids. There are a couple putt putt places that are neat and there is plenty of shopping for mom too.

Imagination Mountain is good and its a straight drive into G'burg on good road. no issues getting the trailer to it. Leaf peeping season is around the corner so traffic may and can be quite heavy so bring your patience too.

head1855 wrote:
Imagination Mountain looks really good. Another question I have is is it easy to get to and park in Gatlinburg from here? We are also very interested in hiking in the national park and were wondering if this is easy to get to? We have three kids (9, 7 and 5) and would like to walk around downtown and do 'touristy' stuff one day but hike and get off the beaten path the rest.

It`s about 15 minutes to G-burg. very easy. there is a trail at the back of the campground that goes into the Smoky`s, the campgrounds neighbor is the NP. We really liked it. there are a lot of places to go hiking from there. and about another 15 minutes from G-burg and your in the NP. from there you can go anywhere you want. lots of nice trails to some waterfalls.

Twin Creek and Camp LeConte are both on the trolley routes. Twin Creek is very "choosy' about who can stay there. Greenbrier Campground is just outside of town but is quiet. Another option, if you want a lake view is Anchor down.

What about some of the places that are a little closer in that the Gatlinburg transit runs to?

Imagination Mountain looks really good. Another question I have is is it easy to get to and park in Gatlinburg from here? We are also very interested in hiking in the national park and were wondering if this is easy to get to? We have three kids (9, 7 and 5) and would like to walk around downtown and do 'touristy' stuff one day but hike and get off the beaten path the rest.