The top 5 (or a few more) Must Do's in Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg

Must Do's in Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg TN Area 

After spending 4 months in Sevier County TN, I have learned, discovered and explored some great and some not-so great things.

A little background for those who do not know:
We are a family of four, traveling the United States in our camper. My husband and even our kids (ages 17 and 18) pick up jobs in the areas where we plan to stay for awhile. We were only going to stay in Pigeon Forge for a month but when my husband, Paul and our daughter, Shelby picked up jobs at Dollywood, we couldn't resist staying for the season. It's been a fun experience for sure!

This is a tourist area; a huge tourist areas and some may even call it a tourist trap. I love to visit tourist areas and fall for those tourist traps but I also love to discover new things, odd things, off the beaten track things.

With less than 12 days left in this area, I want to share the things I've discovered and provide some tips and suggestions to anyone coming to the area.

The Must Do's, In my opinion. These are things that I think should not be missed and places where I've discovered some hidden gems; even as biased as they may sound. 

1.) Dollywood

Of course I would have this as number one on my list and not because Paul and Shelby worked there, because I spend a lot of time there and learned some awesome things. There is something for everyone at Dollywood. There are some pretty cool thrilling rides and while they are not huge on rides like Six Flags and they are far from Disney; it is worth spending some time at Dollywood when they are not crowded. Big Tip: Do not go when they are crowded, never fun!
Don't miss Dolly Parton's Chasing Rainbows Museum; it is easy to miss it and I am so glad I found it, just trust me, it is a must see in Dollywood!! Definitely do the shows; those are my favorite and always fun!
Each season has a different theme and I am only familiar with the Harvest Festival in October and WinterFest in November/December and I loved them both.


The best ways to avoid crowds: (there are always exceptions to these but this is what I found)

• Go during the week
• The slowest weeks while I was there: 

Week of September 10th, 2018 and during the week of September 17th, 2018 (weekdays only; weekends were busy because it was still warm) There are two car shows back to back in the end of September/beginning of October: I suggest to never travel to the area during these two weeks unless you are coming for the car shows. The parkway is a slow moving parking lot and everything is crazy busy. October stays pretty busy because people come to see the fall colors (which were late this year and didn't peak until the end of October). November is pretty slow, so any week except for Thanksgiving week are good to come visit; do not come during Thanksgiving Week unless you want to wait in lines for everything all around town. It is one of the busiest weeks. The weather starts getting colder in December and you never know if it's going to be extra cold, rainy or mild so when coming in December the weather is just unpredictable but the crowds are almost nonexistent after Thanksgiving week until the weekend before Christmas week.
The park closes after the first weekend in January and doesn't open back up until mid-March so the town becomes a ghost town.

2.) Anakeesta in Gatlinburg: 

You take a ski lift up and the area on top is just so nice and peaceful and one of the best things to do to get away from everything; the food up there is even good!

3.) A Dinner Show 

Right now there are three big ones: Dolly Parton Stampeded (they changed the name from Dixie Stampede and I didn't even know that until just the other day), Dolly Parton's Celebration and Hatfield and McCoy's. There will be a Pirate dinner show next spring. We went to them all and the food is all pretty much the same and I didn't care for the feud of Hatfield and McCoy so my favorite is still the all time favorite Dixie Stampede.  I don't see the need in doing them all but definitely do at least one of them.

4.) The Smoky Mountain Opry

 Don't waste your time on any other show in the area, believe me the Smoky Mountain Opry is hands down the best show in the area; I don't care what the others advertise they have nothing on the Opry; just go there, you won't be disappointed. I did see every show in the area and some multiple times. The Christmas show at the Opry was even better than the original show but both are enjoyable.

5.) The Great Smoky Mountains

Take a few hikes. You can't come to the area without driving up the mountain and catching the views, the waterfalls and the hikes; even short ones. There is no cell service so make sure you are not working and don't need to be connected; luckily I learned this on a weekend!


Bonus: You have to travel over the mountain a little

6.) Cherokee NC, Indian Village

The real Indian village, I didn't go to the museum and it may be nice but the real village is up the hill and down the road from the museum; don't miss it!

7.) Parrot Mountain

A nice surprise where you can get up close and personal to hundreds of parrots, so much fun! This one is not far from Dollywood.

Some tips and suggestions: 

• Try to visit when it is not so crowded! It gets crowded and when it's crowded, it is definitely not enjoyable; think Disney when crowded, to me that is just not fun at all and you spend most of your time in lines. 

• Dress in layers, wear good walking shoes and bring a poncho or your own rain gear. It gets hot in the summer and cold/rainy in the fall and winter. 

• Learn to take Veterans  instead of Parkway to get from one end of Pigeon Forge to the other. Also, Teaster Lane can be taken in conjunction with Veterans and you can end up in the middle of the parkway. Bottom line, try to avoid the Parkway unless you just want to sight see. 

• Allow extra time to get somewhere; you never know about the traffic. Using the trolley system can be helpful but also can be super slow when it's busy. There are no free places to park in Gatlinburg, you can park at the welcome center and for fifty cents can take the trolley into town; to me that was well worth it for Gatlinburg since everything is within walking distance. The trolley was never more than 15-20 minutes each time we did that. For pigeon forge, it was just easier to drive since everything is more spread out. 

Other places worth some time and some of my favorites 

• The Island: I loved the water show, the shopping and Paula Deen's restaurant was worth it at least once; one of those you have to try it thing. 

• Bush's Beans Place: completely free and very interesting. The cafe there has pretty good food 

• The Lost Sea in Sweetwater TN, this one is about an hour away but so worth it if time. You take a boat ride in the cave, so cool! 

• Just walking around Gatlinburg; there is way too much to touristy things there but I enjoyed the Ripley's museum: go when not crowded and take the time to read the things; some odd and interesting things there for sure. 

• Mountain Coaster: There are so many to choose from and we only did one specific one but I have a feeling that any of them would be great. They are really fun, a little scary but not too scary! 
  

I don't recommend the movie rides; they are jerky and annoying; the Jungle Boat Ride in Pigeon Forge may look cool but it was not very good at all. The wax museum is ok, I was glad I got in free and I definitely won't bother doing it again. Lots of photo props but that's about it; we did make the most of it. The World of Illusions and all of the little supposed to be exciting attractions in the area are best avoided. They are all ok but there are so many other things worth your time and money.

Food!!!

Since I love food and love to eat out and love to try local foods I must talk about the food in the area. 

Things I have learned about food in this area: 

Seafood: not the best place to find good seafood and that is understandable. Eastern Tennessee is pretty far from any ocean so good seafood is definitely hard to come by. There is also nothing like Mississippi catfish! I tried Huck Finn's in Pigeon Forge because the reviews are great and they say it has good catfish; nope, I was highly disappointed in their catfish, not even close to good Mississippi catfish. There's a seafood buffet that is pretty popular called Captain Jim's Seafood Buffet; I wasn't brave enough to try it. I felt like there was no way it would be any good even with good reviews. There are the basic chains, Red Lobster and Joe's Crab Shack so I feel like the "local" seafood places are probably on the same level. Definitely do not come to Eastern TN for the seafood. 

BBQ: There are some pretty good BBQ places around and I'm pretty picky on BBQ. I found a place near Nashville that was amazing and haven't found anything around this area quite like it but it's not bad either. A lot of places are touristy for sure and some of them really do have some good food, some not so good. 

Fried Chicken: If you want some good fried chicken, this is the town to get it. The best was Dolly Parton's Celebration dinner show and Paula Deen's restaurant, super juicy and overall some of the best fried chicken I've ever eaten. As for fast food, they have Bojangles which to me is far superior than Popeye's. They are missing Raising Cane's: there's only one in the state at the University in Knoxville but only open when the school is open and I never wanted to take that drive. I did crave it so will hit one up as soon as I get a chance. 

Some of my favorites: 

• Apple Barn: Sure it's most definitely touristy but the food is delicious. The apple fritters are super yummy and go to the smaller walk up counter for an apple dumpling: with ice cream on it, to die for! I don't like nor am able to eat super sweet things and it had just the right amount of sweetness. 

• Alamo Steakhouse: the best steaks, everything was top notch; definitely a place to return 

• Mel's Diner: the food is not bad, the breakfast is the best but the service is amazing; they are super fast and they are always busy but you can get in and out quickly. The Banana splits are the best around too; I went just for the banana split a few times. 

• Old Mill Restaurant: Another tourist restaurant but the food is really good like Apple Barn and well worth a trip. 

• Slice Pizza Bakery in Gatlinburg by the Space Needle: This place is attached to the arcade over there and I was hesitant about it but it had good reviews so I thought I would try and I was pleasantly surprised. The pizza slices are huge, massive huge and I haven't ever had true New York style pizza but its supposed to be true to that. I am not sure if it was but it was good and massive, did I mention how big those slices are? 

• Cielito Lindo Mexican Restaurant : A good Mexican place that looks that a hole in the wall but pretty good salsa and food. 

• China Town in Sevierville: There are not many Asian Restaurants around the area; there is the basic sushi, Japanese and Hibachi and I am sure the Hibachi restaurants are good, I just didn't get around to trying them but I did try China Town and was highly impressed. I don't care for buffets so this was perfect and everything was delicious. Like the Mexican restaurant, the outside didn't look appealing but the inside was super nice and authentic. 

• New Orleans Sandwich Company in Gatlinburg, TN: I was skeptical about this having had some awesome food from New Orleans but it was a nice surprise. They didn't have the right bread but it wasn't bad. I call it a hidden gem because it is tucked in and it was a nice taste of something close to Louisiana. Better than Huck Finn's catfish for sure!

• Chocolate Monkey: The best chocolate covered strawberries and caramel apples

• Cinnamon Bread at Dollywood: I know not a restaurant, but it's a must get; made fresh everyday, warm, ooey gooey wonderfulness 

Our Facebook Page

Route to Washington