Plenty to see and do on Tennessee side of Smoky Mountains National Park

There are lots of great reasons why the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is America’s most visited park, including beautiful views, more than 800 miles of maintained hiking trails, fishing, and wildlife viewing. And the Cades Cove area on the Tennessee side of the park offers all of these activities and more.

Black Bear

In addition to the wonders of the park itself, the towns of Gatlinburg and Townsend are within an hour’s drive of Cades Cove. Visitors of all ages enjoy a wide range of activities and attractions such as river tubing, horseback riding, the Tuckaleechee Caverns, the Little River Railroad museum, and Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies.

And it (almost) goes without saying that a bike or car ride around the beautiful 11-mile Cades Cove loop is a wonderful way to start or end your day. Wildlife seems to be most active before 10AM and about an hour before dark, so be sure to keep an eye out for whitetail deer, wild turkey, black bear, and coyote!

Abram Falls

There are private campgrounds in nearby Townsend that can accommodate RVs of all sizes and offer a full line-up of amenities such as full hooks, laundry facilities, and WiFi. For those who prefer a more rustic setting, the Cades Cove national park campground has sites that can accommodate motor homes up to 40 feet and camper trailers up to 35 feet. Although there are no hookups, you can run your generator (B loop) and a well-located dump station is available. The Cades Cove campground is also serviced by a general store and a bike rental facility.  Although there is no cellular phone coverage up in the Cades Cove area, a pay phone is available at the general store.

In my opinion, the best times to go to Cades Cove are in the Spring (April to May) and in the Fall (October). During these timeframes the weather is cool, the foliage is beautiful, and the animals are active. If your RV travels must be scheduled around school vacations, try to visit Cades Cove as early in the summer as possible to avoid the peak crowd of summer visitors. Cades Cove is a very popular area so play it safe and make campground arrangements ahead of time. Both the Cades Cove national park campground and nearby private campgrounds take reservations. 

Here are some web sites to help you plan a visit to Cades Cove:

• http://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/cadescove.htm
• http://www.smokymountains.org/
• http://www.gatlinburg.com/default.asp