Places to stay near attractions in Tellico Plains / Cherohala Skyway

Tellico Plains, Tennessee sits in Monroe County at the western trailhead of the Cherohala Skyway, a 43-mile National Scenic Byway that climbs from 900 feet in Tellico to more than 5,300 feet at Santeetlah Overlook before descending into Robbinsville, NC. Built jointly by Tennessee and North Carolina and opened in 1996, the Skyway is one of the highest-elevation drives in the eastern U.S. and a favorite of motorcyclists and fall-foliage travelers.

The town is the gateway to the Tellico River, whose upper reaches are a designated Trophy Trout stream and whose middle section drops over 100-foot Bald River Falls — one of the most photographed waterfalls in Tennessee and visible directly from the roadside on Forest Service Road 210. Farther up, the Citico Creek and Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness Areas preserve some of the largest old-growth hardwood forest in the East, including the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest's 400-year-old tulip poplars.

Tellico is a natural add-on to a Cherohala Skyway drive from Robbinsville, and pairs with the Ocoee River corridor just to the south for a two-river weekend of trout fishing, waterfalls, and mountain driving.