Is 3 weeks in Pigeon Forge/Dollywood, Great Smoky Mountains and Nantahala Forest enough or overkill?

20 comments

1. Way overkill IMO. Go to Nashville or something too.

2. Really depends on what you are doing. Backpacking through GSM? Good amount of time. Sightseeing? That’s a long time.

   I would add in Bryson City. Take the train up to Nantahala. Head from GSMNP up the Blue Ridge Parkway to Asheville. See the breweries and the Biltmore.

3. I’d call it overkill but it depends what you want to do.

4. You can do everything there in a week. Unless you just want a couple of weeks alone in a mountain chalet.

5. Add Ashville NC and The Biltmore.

6. That’s a long time.

   To me, Gatlinburg > Pigeon Forge…but they’re both major tourist trap type places. GSMNP is gorgeous but, like /u/m1sch13v0us indicated, unless you’re backpacking you’ll probably have trouble filling more than a week…and even that might be a stretch.

   Not sure what your transportation logistics are, but I would reccomend considering coming out of GSMNP on the NC side and taking the Blue Ridge Parkway up a bit. Ashville, NC is a fun city!

7. Nooo. I’d spend a few days in Asheville. It’s a pretty cool city.

8. Depends on what you are doing.

   Three weeks just sightseeing and doing tourist stuff is overkill.

   Backpacking and hiking? Three weeks is solid and you’ll still have time to do some touristy stuff.

   Asheville is not far and a cool place to visit. You could also make part of the trip Nashville which has a ton of stuff to do.

9. Depends. Dollywood/Gatlinburg/tourist things? 1-3 days.

   Clingman’s Dome area? 1-2 days (see if you can find the tunnel)

   Hiking to waterfalls on the shorter trails? 1 week

   Hiking over to Cherokee? Fishing? Camping? 2 weeks plus

   Rent a house for cheap. Camp out with a fire. Explore the area on foot, motorcycle, or car. There is a lot to do in the area, dependant on your interests. Send me a message if you like, it’s one of my fav places.

10. Go to Asheville or Knoxville or both in addition to that

11. Unless you’re planning on doing multiple multi-day backpacking excursions that is a lifetime in that area. Pigeon Forge/Dollywood/Gatlinburg is a hellhole of tourist traps and crowds.

    You could go northeast up the Blue Ridge to Asheville, Boone, Blowing Rock, SWVA and all the way to Shenandoah.

    Go south/east into Chattanooga, Greenville, Athens, Atlanta

    Go west to Nashville, northern Alabama, Land between the Lakes

    East into NC and hit Charlotte, the state parks in NC, Raleigh, the beach, Wilmington, etc.

12. When are you going? You could go rafting on the pigeon river if that isn’t on your timeline. also Asheville isn’t too far from there- its a nice mountain town with a town of breweries. Take a drive and see the blue ridge parkway. There are a ton of swimming holes and waterfalls in that area. But even then, 3 weeks is a long time haha.

13. With that much time I would be looking for more things to do. Maybe stay a couple nights in Virginia too. There’s Colonia Williamsburg which is the world’s largest living museum with actors portraying life in the 18th century.

14. Way too much!

15. Unless you really like mini golf, go carts and arcades, 3 weeks is way too long

16. I spent a little over a week in that area and that was more than enough. I went there with some friends to drive The Dragon and other “famous roads” though.

    And I should probably point out, if you’re into cars or motorcycles at all, hitting up The Dragon is a must. Even if you’re not driving anything fun, it’s cool just to check out all the unique stuff that drives through there.

17. Take a day trip to the Biltmore near Asheville, NC

18. That is a long time. We spent a week there and saw everything we wanted to see, but, we’re not hikers and campers. We weren’t spending days wandering around the wilderness.

19. U should checkout Cherokee NC it’s right over the mounts from pigeon forge

20. There’s a very cool water slide near Gatlinburg- it’s built into a mountain. We spent all day there! It’s in a city named Cosby.