My husband and I are taking a much-needed long weekend over Veteran’s Day weekend and renting a cabin in Gatlinburg. We’ll get there on a Thursday afternoon and leave on Sunday morning. We already have a ziplining trip booked, but other than that, we have no plans. Any interesting sights, shops, or restaurants that we shouldn’t miss?
Unless you like sitting in bumper to bumper traffic, I’d avoid anything in town. That stretch near Dollywood can be painfully congested in the fall. I’d pack a cooler with food, hang out at the cabin, enjoy the scenery and not plan on going out much while I was there.
If you’re up for an early morning trip out to Cades Cove, they close the loop road to cars on Saturday mornings until 10am. It’s a nice opportunity check out the area on foot or bicycle.
As I remember, there’s a thriving artist’s community just outside of town along Glades Road.
On the other hand if you don’t want to venture too far into the mountains but still want to see nature you should check out Roaring Fork motor nature trail, where you can see the sights right from your car and is only a couple miles from Gatlinburg.
The sights at Roaring Fork are better than any other individual place in the Smokies in my opinion, and are a must if you love waterfalls (the beginning two thirds of the trail aren’t that impressive, mostly being pull-off picnic areas and trailheads, but then contains two of the top ten most beautiful waterfalls I’ve ever seen.)
ETA: the link confirmed my suspicion about the ending waterfall, namely that it can depend on the weather. But it rains two thirds of the days in the Smokies anyway so it will probably be “on” 
Bill Bryson writes about Gatlinburg in “A Walk In The Woods”:
Of course that book was published in 1998, so it’s probably all different now.
You really should visit Gatlinburg in mid-July, especially if you are really thirsty. However, some of the bars can get pretty violent, and in particular, those bars that are on unpaved roads.
I live just down the road in Knoxville and I’ve only been to Gatlinburg once!
I know there’s a Hard Rock Cafe. Calhoun’s/Smoky Mountain Brewery is an okay restaurant and they make a tasty beer. I do believe there’s an Indian restaurant either in Gatlinburg or in the hell-on-earth next door that is Pigeon Forge (I do believe PF is the tackiest city in the country, with go cart tracks, Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede show restaurant, Jesus themed dinner theater, and a replica of the Titanic. Oh, and let’s not forget The Lumberjack Feud dinner theater). While in Pigeon Forge, be sure and visit Trip Advisor’s dirtiest hotel in America.
There is skiing, but probably not that early in the year.
The Cade’s Cove bike trip mentioned earlier is really nice. We just did it a few weeks ago. I believe they rent bikes, but I heard they sell out early. It gets crowded when the cars are allowed, especially when the leaves are changing.
There’s a lot of good hiking in the Smoky’s. Chimney Tops has an amazing view, but it is 2 miles uphill with a 1500 ft elevation gain. Gregory Bald also has an amazing view. This one is like 6 miles with like a 3000 ft elevation gain.
You can take a drive down US 129 to Deals Gap, NC. It’s better known as the Tail of the Dragon, a famous motorcycle road with about 400 turns in 11 miles. If it’s a nice day, the place will be lousy with bikes.
Keep in mind that the Smoky Mountain National Park is the most visited park in the country, so if the weather’s nice, you won’t be alone.
I’ll see if I can get some recommendations from friends. In fact, my wife and daughter are going to Gatlinburg next weekend, so I’ll let you know if they find anything good. Be sure and check Groupon and Half Off Depot for coupons. I know the zip lines are on there a lot.
My husband and I have gone to Gatlinburg (well, Pigeon Forge, but they’re about 12 feet apart) every year we’ve been together (seven times so far). We generally split our time between relaxing in the insanely peaceful cabins, visiting the national park, and trolling the strip for touristy stuff. I really recommend leaving yourself time to explore, since there’s so much to do in the area - some year we spend more time doing picnics in the park, horseback riding, cave trips, etc., some years we spend more time doing the outlet mall / Ripley’s Believe it or Not thing.
If you’re there on a Sunday or Monday (I think those are the right days), Smoky Mountain Brewery & Restaurant does $0.99 drafts, and their beer cheese and pretzels are yummy. There is a neat artist’s area - I don’t know the name of the road, but if you are going from Pigeon Forge to Gatlinburg down the main road, you’ll take a left on the first main road in Gatlinburg, near the Ripley’s Aquarium, and follow the road down until you see signs for an artist’s retreat. Husband and I found it just through exploring.
Whatever you do, take a little time to stare at the mountains. I am completely in love with the Gatlinburg area, and I hope you’ll enjoy it too. Have a wonderful time!
Everybody’s right; Gatlinburg and especially Pigeon Forge are packed-to-the-gills tourist traps. As soon as you get to Pigeon Forge (right past Sevierville) turn right toward Townsend. It’ll get you there but it’s not as crowded as has pretty scenery and a few shops, as I recall.
The artists’ colony on Glades Road in Gatlinburg is a great place to go. If you choose to go thru Pigeon Forge, like somebody said take a left. (After you get thru the Spur, thru the tunnels the road is going to widen and kind of fork. That’s the left. Used to be called Hwy 33 I think but not sure about now. And I can’t think where you come out by way of Townsend but you can easily tell “the main drag” and go in the opposite direction.) The colony has real, traditionally-made items—not Made in China tommyhawks etc.
The waterfall route, go there, too. Beautiful. Locals go there, too, because it’s so neat.
At the other end of Gatlinburg, right before you get to the Park, turn left and stop at the little diner up the road named the War Bonnet. Tell them I said Hi. 
You might want to eat something, visit the restroom before you start up the mountain. Keep going and there’s going to be a pull-off, major little “place of interest” that’ll come up quick. (Lots of signs.) You only have to walk a little ways to some neat cabins and I think a small mill. (SOME kind of water-trough thingy.) It’s really nice back in there and a lot like what you’ll find in Cades Cove (another great place to go.) But you can walk it and it’s a little more private.
Once in the Park do the usual stuff, just don’t go off the trail. Seems like every year somebody gets lost (and eventually eaten by the wild hogs.)
Clingman’s Dome is another good place to go. Come to think of it, you’re not going to have much laying-around time in the cabin if you do all this stuff, but it’s worth it. Unbelievably pretty and “real.” And quiet. Hope you all have a great time.
AND you can go to the website for the Knoxville News Sentinel. It has a section on the Smoky Mountains. It can probably tell you about all this stuff and maybe turn you on to something else.
Ha! The ex-wife wanted to go there for our honeymoon. And not in an ironic way.
Tacky, crowded tourist trap. We even went to the Believe it or Not museum.
Another vote for Cades Cove, I really enjoyed it. Great scenery in the national park, too. Horrible traffic everywhere to my recollection. Gatlinburg itself is, as noted, tacky tourist town but if you go along the main drag knowing that in advance you may find yourself enjoying it nonetheless.
If you do go to the national park do NOT leave the trails! Really, I’m serious, stay on the trails. Almost every story about how a Horrible Thing happened to a tourist starts with them leaving the marked trails.
Me and my friend were very much amused by the Smoky Mountain Knife Works near Sevierville. We nicknamed it “Knifewood”. Perhaps a European like me would be more amazed by this shop (lots of knives, weapons and a stuffed raccoon playing bluegrass) than an American, but if you’re around there, maybe have gawk.
This is good advice. Drain Bead has already planned the trip and wanted advice on things to do, not whether to go, so ignore my negative comments (even though they were directed at Pigeon Forge). I went knowing what to expect and had a blast. We did some brews at Calhoun’s. Hit one of the haunted houses. Later we found some little bar on the main strip, walking distance to our hotel, and had a few while chatting with the locals. People started buying us drinks because of the “locals discount.”
be careful if you chose a hotel. i know a certain animal skin lodge that looks wonderful on the website, with a river view and a fireplace and all, but they dont tell you the “river” is about 15ft wide between them and the next hotel, and the fireplace in the lobby is on the edge of the 30x10ft lobby. oh and the rooms with hot tubs/river view are about 2/3 the size of the ones without.
I really have to plug this restaurant - it’s in Pigeon Forge and called Taste of India. It was the best Indian food I’ve ever eaten (granted, I live in GA) and the best part of of the Pigeon Forge trip I was dragged on last spring.
That said the mountains are beautiful, and I had a lot of fun on a long lift ride in the touristy part of the Gatlinburg town. It overlooks a Botanical Gardens for Jesus, which really cracked us up.
Mostly I spent my time getting liquored up at local watering holes and flirting with the rugged, manly zip liners guys off duty. I know that whole area is basically a beach strip on the mountains, but I still have fun there.
There’s an aerial tram that will take you up to Ober Gatlinburg, which has a few shops, ice skating, and some other things. The ride up there is pretty fun.
Ripley’s Aquarium is fun too, especially if you have kids. But even if you just like looking at fish.
If you’re drinkers, there’s a new distillery called Ole Smoky Moonshine Holler that has free tastings (they have several flavored varieties), and right next door is a winery that makes mostly muscadine-based wines. And then there’s the Smoky Mountain Brewery and restaurant that does great beer, and decent food.
The place is a kitschy tourist trap for sure, but it’s beautiful this time of year.
I’ll echo the traffic problems. I took my family there over Thanksgiving not many years ago, and we rented a cabin–that wasn’t bad, but the traffic in town was horrendous. At one point, we took a driving tour through a park (sorry that I don’t remember which one), and the section we were on was an 11 mile loop. It took us 3 hours to drive that 11 miles because the traffic was so backed up.
As others have said, it’s a tacky tourist trap, but if that’s what you want and expect, then go with it. Personally, I like the mountains, but could do without the Ripley’s museum and all the other touristy stuff. But that’s just me.
I love me some go-karts. The more baroque and ramshackle the wooden track, the better.
We spent a weekend there a couple of years ago in early March. I hadn’t been there since I was a kid. Neither of us are really nature people - I mean, a couple of hours walk through the woods is cool, but we both prefer civilization.
We did make a short excursion to an abandoned village of old private vacation cabins that were eventually swallowed up by the park - it was a neat way to spend a morning. I read somewhere that there are reasonably accessible abandoned mining camps scattered throughout the park, which we would probably have done had we had more time.
The drive up the mountains to the NC/TN state line is pretty cool, too, especially if the weather is “interesting.”
These are two of the things I came to mention. The gondola ride up to Ober Gatlinburg is lovely, especially around sunset when the Gatlinburg strip starts lighting up. There’s an alpine slide up on Ober Gatlinburg too, which is unusual in these parts and rather fun.
The Aquarium is neat in that, being Ripley’s branded, they go out of their way to display unusual fish. I found it to be one of the more interesting aquariums I’ve visited.
If you’re a fan of classic video games, take a moment to pop into the arcade at Space Needle. I swear they’ve barely changed their lineup since my family used to go on vacations about twenty five years ago, and that’s a good thing.
Gatlinburg is terribly tacky, but charming in it’s own way. I had my first kiss in Gatlinburg, so it’ll always have a spot in my heart.