Smokey Mountains

[Muushka]

We stayed at Tree Tops and enjoyed our stay this past January (week after New Years). I would not say it is Mountain views though (unless you stay on the very top units (I forget what they are called). Though we used another method to stay there. We liked the location as it is in Gatlinburg and closer to the National Park than others. Personally I cannot stand Pigeon Forge or Sevierville. Gatlinburg is quaint and less touristy than those two. We went to Ober Gatlinburg for a day and had fun there as well.

You know, now that I read your post I think it was the area, Sevierville, that I disliked so much.
The TS just happens to be there.

 

[JimMIA]

Personally I cannot stand Pigeon Forge or Sevierville. Gatlinburg is quaint and less touristy than those two. We went to Ober Gatlinburg for a day and had fun there as well.

I personally find all three very touristy. I'm not a big fan of any of them, but you have to stay somewhere because there is no lodge in the park. We were very happy with Wyndham Smoky Mountains in Sevierville. The only difference I see with Gatlinburg is that it's more crowded than the other two.

From Wyndham Smoky Mountains, we quickly learned that we could take two bypasses to the park -- one around Sevierville and most of Pigeon Forge, and the other around Gatlinburg. Those gave us a pretty quick trip without all the junk.

On the bright side, there are numerous decent places to eat and lots to do in all three towns. And most of the non-park stuff we did (rafting, zip-lining) was well outside of the congested tourist areas.

 

[CaskPeg]

Couldn't pass up responding to your "travel update"! CaskBill( DH ) and I did most of our camping in the Smokey Mt. National Park. It was our favorite home away from home/ other than DVC. So many memories and happy camping treks from there. We even took our last camper and stayed at 3 different locations within the park to get the whole feel of it. The portion of the Applachian Trail that we walked on day...was inspiring!

Glad you were able to share that with family on a joint trip together. Hope you liked what you saw and experienced!

CaskPeg