Places to stay near attractions in Cherokee

Cherokee, North Carolina is the tribal capital of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and the southern gateway to Great Smoky Mountains National Park at Oconaluftee. The 57,000-acre Qualla Boundary — the sovereign land of the Eastern Band, descendants of the Cherokee who resisted or returned from the 1838 Trail of Tears — surrounds the town and shapes almost everything about the visitor experience.

The Museum of the Cherokee Indian, the Oconaluftee Indian Village (a re-created 18th-century Cherokee community), and the outdoor drama Unto These Hills — running summer nights since 1950 — tell the tribe's story firsthand. The Oconaluftee Visitor Center at the park entrance is the launch point for the Mountain Farm Museum, Mingus Mill, and Newfound Gap Road across the crest of the Smokies to Gatlinburg.

Cherokee is home to Harrah's Cherokee Casino Resort — the largest resort casino in the Southeast — and the trout-stocked Oconaluftee River, whose Enterprise Waters (2.2 miles catch-and-release) draw fly fishermen year-round. The town pairs naturally with Bryson City and Maggie Valley, and it is the base for driving the Blue Ridge Parkway's southern terminus at Milepost 469.