September 2022: Our 7-Day Gatlinburg, TN Itinerary 🐻
My husband and I went on a week-long trip to explore Gatlinburg, Tennessee and Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Before I was really big into trip planning, we did not plan a single thing prior to our trip. I had ideas in my head of things we could do each day since I knew the area very well from previous family vacations.
We had 7 days (including 2 travel days) to hike in the Great Smoky Mountains and do all the touristy things in Gatlinburg. I have summarized our 7-day Gatlinburg, TN itinerary in this blog post. If you are planning a trip to Gatlinburg and the Great Smoky Mountains, hopefully this will give you some great ideas!
Planning a trip to Gatlinburg, TN but don’t know where to begin? Look no further! My Ultimate Guide to Visiting Gatlinburg, TN will provide you with all the information you need to plan an awesome trip!
This guide also goes into detail about visiting Great Smoky Mountains National Park. If you are looking for outdoor adventures but also want to do all the touristy Gatlinburg things, this guide is perfect for you!
3- and 5-day itineraries included!
Day 1: Change of Plans
We drove to Cosby, Tennessee to stay in a cute little tent we found on Airbnb. Cosby was only a 30 minutes’ drive to Gatlinburg. We like unique stays and wanted to do a little bit of glamping.
We reached our destination. We were very excited about the spot. The tent was surrounding by a bamboo forest and beside a creek. There was a picnic table and fireplace outside. We opened the tent and…
The thing first thing I said was “this place stinks.” But at the time, didn’t think much of it. The bed was comfortable, but everything felt icky inside. We sprayed an air freshener in hopes it will freshen things up. That didn’t work.
We left the tent opened to air out and went to grab dinner nearby. We found a cute local pizza place. It was delicious! We were ready to return to our tent to relax.
We got back to the tent and… it still smelled terrible! It literally smelled like wet dirty socks. Long story short, we left. The person who owned the Airbnb was not very nice despite us trying to be reasonable.
We ended up finding a last-minute room at a hotel in Gatlinburg. We got to our hotel room and decided to just stay in downtown Gatlinburg since it was so close to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We still wanted to stay somewhere (somewhat) unique and not just a regular hotel room. But we wanted to sleep first then figure all that out tomorrow.
Day 2: A Full-Day Hike
We woke up feeling thankful we didn’t have to smell wet, dirty socks all night. We got ready and ate the continental breakfast at our hotel. I love free breakfast. Everything tastes better when it’s free, right?
We checked out of our hotel and left for our first adventure of the trip! We planned to hike Alum Cave Trail to Myrtle Point. This is about a 12-mile hike and is rated as strenuous. We were up for a challenge!
I don’t remember what time we reached the trailhead, but it was already packed! The main parking lot was full but thankfully there were a few parking spots left on the side of the road. They have gravel parking spots available on the side of the road where people are allowed to park.
READ THIS: 15 Ways to Avoid Crowds in the Great Outdoors
We began our hike up Mt. LeConte! I remember hiking this trail to the Alum Cave Bluffs with my family when I was very little. That’s as far as we went. Maybe because me and my brother were so young, and our little legs could only do but so much hiking at the time.
This time I would reach the tippity top of Mt. LeConte! My husband and I were excited. We first reached Arch Rock which was a fun section where you walked through a cave-like structure up a set of steps. Then soon after we reached the famous Alum Cave Bluffs.
This is where most people stop and hike back to the trailhead. It’s about 2.5 miles one-way to reach the Bluffs. It’s a really awesome spot to stop and rest.
We continued onward to Myrtle Point. The crowds thinned out immensely. Our next stop was Mt. LeConte Lodge. It’s 5 miles from the trailhead to reach the Lodge.
I honestly didn’t even know the Lodge existed. We ran into more people up there who were either resting from the hike or who were staying at the Lodge. We took another rest break and used the restroom.
We trekked on to our final stop. At least we thought we only had one more stop. Shortly after leaving the Mt. LeConte Lodge we saw a sign that pointed towards another spot called Cliff Tops. It was only 0.2 miles to reach Cliff Tops.
We actually went past it to reach Myrtle Point first. It was a little less than a mile from the Lodge to Myrtle Point. We reached the top and were the only two people up there. Unfortunately, there were no views to be seen.
It had been cloudy and rainy the whole time during our hike. Despite not having any views from the top, it was still an awesome hike! On our way back down, we veered off to see Cliff Tops.
The views from Cliff Tops were much better! The cloud coverage was not as thick here. This spot was unique with the rocky outcrops and spectacular views.
We made our way back down to the trailhead. It was time to check-in to our new place we found earlier that morning on Airbnb. It was a condo about 20 minutes from downtown Gatlinburg. The views here were amazing!
We decided to head downtown. We tried a little bit of moonshine and ate at Mellow Mushroom (dinner was bussin after all that hiking). Perfect way to end an awesome day!
Day 3: Waterfall Hikes
We saw our first bear of the trip today! He or she was sneaking around some trash cans near out condo. The bear quickly ran away as our car approached closer (still from a distance at a stop sign).
Our plan today was to go on more hikes! This time we wanted to focus on waterfall hikes. The first one was an easy hike to Laurel Falls. The short trail is mostly paved with little elevation gain, so it is doable for most people.
Once again, the main parking lot was full, so we had to park further down at an overlook spot. Surprisingly, we didn’t run into too many people on the trail. We figured out why.
Everyone was already at the waterfall. We got there at the perfect time because everyone there was leaving. We nearly had the place to ourselves with only a few other people.
We made it back to the trailhead then made our way to the next hiking spot. Rainbow Falls was our next destination! This hike is a bit longer and slightly tougher. There were not as many people parked at the trailhead.
We reached the waterfall, and we were amazed. It was beautiful! To make things better, we had the whole place to ourselves! We rested here for a while and took some pictures.
We decided to be done with hiking for the day and head back to the condo. I wish I knew about Grotto Falls at the time. The trailhead for Grotto Falls was a short drive from the Rainbow Falls Trailhead.
I think we were tired from the two hikes we did so that’s why we didn’t even consider another hike. At the time we were not long-distance hikers. We enjoyed the short and medium-length trails!
Rather than going back out to eat dinner in downtown Gatlinburg, we picked up dinner to-go instead. We got food from Mellow Mushroom… again. This time we ordered a full vegan pizza. It was really good!
Also, that night, we saw a mama bear and her two cubs! We watched them from our balcony (on the second floor). They eventually went back into the forest. Our bear sighting count is now up to four!
Day 4: Sunrise from the Highest Point in the Smokies
We started our day early. Like 4 AM early. We were on a mission to watch sunrise from a really awesome spot. We drove through Great Smoky Mountains National Park in complete darkness with just our headlights lighting up the way.
We reached the parking lot with plenty of time to spare before the sun begins to rise. There were only two or three other cars there as well. We ate a small breakfast before hitting the trail.
Our goal was to watch sunrise the highest point in Great Smoky Mountains National Park – Clingmans Dome. I have been here many, many times before. About 90% of the time, it stays cloudy at the top. There have only been a handful of times where it was sunny and mostly clear so I could actually see the views.
We were hoping that would be the case today. It was dark so we couldn’t quite tell if it was mostly or partly cloudy. The hike is completely paved but an uphill climb the entire way up. Thankfully it’s only 0.5 miles to reach the top.
There were a few other people at the observation tower of Clingmans Dome. The weather was not in our favor. But it wasn’t too bad! We were still able to watch a decent sunrise. The clouds would roll over blocking the views then would clear up for a little bit then roll over again. It was still worth waking up early and hiking in the dark.
There was another hike nearby called Andrews Bald. It was a beautiful hike in the forest that came out to an open grassy bald with awesome views!
We returned to our car and headed to Newfound Gap parking area. We had one more hike in mind that we wanted to do. It’s called Charlie’s Bunion. Funny name, right? This is an 8-mile out-and-back hike.
I have hiked to Charlie’s Bunion with my dad a long time ago. I remember the views were stunning at the top, so I wanted to do this hike real bad. The is another popular hike despite it being long(ish).
We reached the top of Charlie’s Bunion and relaxed for a bit. There were other people at the top and we were all taking turns climbing onto a cool rock formation for pictures. The views from that spot were incredible!
Our muscles and joints in our legs on the way back down were screaming! I will forever enjoy going uphill rather than downhill. No matter the difficulty and steepness of climbing uphill. The only exception is if I can safely glissade my way down the side of a snowy mountain!
We eventually made it back to the parking lot. We decided to call it a day and grab dinner later. We got take-out again from an Asian restaurant in Pigeon Forge. Oh, and we saw another bear on our way to pick up food. That increases our bear count to 5!
Day 5: Exploring Cades Cove
Today we wanted to relax a bit. Take a break from all the hiking that we have done the past few days. I knew the perfect place to go! Cades Cove is a beautiful area with lots of sight-seeing and wildlife spotting (if you’re lucky).
There is an 11-mile loop you can drive with lots of stops to see historical buildings and go on short nature walks. There is a longer hike to Abrams Falls but we decided against it today. Next time!
Unfortunately, we only took ONE picture of us during our trip to Cades Cove. At the time I wasn’t really into photography in the slightest bit. I did vlog everything if you are interested in watching that video (see below).
We stopped at every single historical building and lookout spot. It took us nearly all day because we wanted to see it all. I think we accidently passed by one of the churches but honestly, they all look the same.
I love exploring old buildings! Not sure why. Maybe it’s the fact that people lived in those buildings so long ago. I always wonder what it was like for them to live there. Can you imagine if people in the 1800s vlogged their life? I guess some did keep a journal which gives us some insight on how things used to be.
Anyway, we had a lot of fun exploring Cades Cove and learning about its history. We finally finished the loop and made our way back to the condo to freshen up.
We went to downtown Gatlinburg to check out the SkyPark. It’s one of my favorite tourist attractions there! The SkyBridge is the longest pedestrian suspension bridge in North America! Afterwards we hit up Mellow Mushroom… for the third time. We were obsessed.
Days 6 & 7: Full Day in Gatlinburg, TN (+ goodbye)
Today was our final full day of our vacation. We decided to spend the entire day in Gatlinburg doing all the fun tourist stuff! The day did not start off well as I got a tiny bit of makeup on my white shirt and it would not come off.
I didn’t have anything else “cute” to wear so we headed to Pigeon Forge to find a new top. I bought a simple black tank top. I rarely buy colorful clothing items.
We finally made our way to downtown Gatlinburg later that morning. We started the day off strong with a moonshine tasting. Then we visited the SkyPark again.
After that we hit up our favorite restaurant in all of Gatlinburg – North China Chinese Restaurant. It’s one of the only places in Gatlinburg that has dishes with tofu. Plus, it’s banging!
After lunch we had a few wine tastings then found a really fun activity. We did a mirror maze then mini golf. We were the only people at this place and had the best time!
We eventually returned home that night (saw another bear which makes 6) and went to bed. The next day we checked-put of our cute little condo and returned to reality. We had the most wonderful time in Gatlinburg and Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Can’t wait to go back!
