Places to stay near attractions in Gatlinburg / Pigeon Forge

Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee sit on the Little Pigeon River at the northern gateway to Great Smoky Mountains National Park — the most-visited national park in the United States, drawing more than 12 million people a year. Gatlinburg is the walkable, closer-in mountain town, with the SkyLift Park and 680-foot SkyBridge, Ober Mountain amusements and ski area, the Space Needle, Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies, the Gatlinburg Trail (one of only two dog-friendly trails in the park), and the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail loop.

Pigeon Forge — five miles north on the Parkway — is the entertainment corridor, best known as the home of Dollywood, Dolly Parton's Stampede, The Island in Pigeon Forge, and dozens of dinner theaters, go-kart tracks, and outlet stores. Together with Sevierville, the corridor forms the busiest tourism district in the Southern Appalachians.

Inside the national park, the classics stack up: Clingmans Dome (now officially named Kuwohi) — the highest point in Tennessee at 6,643 feet — the Alum Cave and Rainbow Falls trails to LeConte Lodge, Chimney Tops, Newfound Gap Road across the state line to Cherokee, NC, and the eastern side's Cataloochee Valley elk herd. Gatlinburg is the closest base for the Alum Cave trailhead and Newfound Gap.