Smoky Mountains

kelclay724

What towns near here have any of you been to and where would you suggest going? I've been there as a child but don't remember too much. I'd like to not stay in Gatlinburg as we're planning to do a lot of outdoors stuff and not so much the touristy type things.I don't want to go somewhere in the BFE either though that doesn't have any restaurants or grocery stores. We're planning to hopefully go in March for like 3 nights during DH's spring break with hopefully my brother and SIL. (I'm looking at 2 bedroom places on VRBO). 

lemen99

jealous!!!!!

We were going last year and had to cancel our first family vac when Andrew got sick  

I would recommend signing up for trip insurance.  It wasn't that expensive at all and we got our $500 back with a doctor's note saying Andrew wasn't able to travel.

Bride7-14-07

Fun! We are thinking about going this spring too. I think we may stay in Pigeon Forge.

eclaires

Sevierville or Pigeon Forge, probably.

Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and Sevierville are all in Sevier County.  Also, I think there are outlying areas of Gatlinburg that have cabins and such that would probably be fine (and not in a busy area).

KarlaRN

We went 3 years ago for Fall Break and loved it.  Here is the website that we rented our cabin through.

 https://www.sunsetcottage.com/

 Our cabin was beautiful.  We stayed in the "Alone at Last" cabin which was up the side of a mountain.   I think I blogged about it, so you'll have to check it out. 

 Let me know if you have any questions, or want recommendations.  We spent one day in national park and went horseback riding.  It was one of our favorite vacations and are thinking about going back next Fall. 

 

kelclay724

Thanks everyone! From my research, it seems that places on VRBO are the cheapest. https://www.vrbo.com/ Not sure if any of you have ever heard of that website before but it's pretty awesome. ILs have used it to rent places in Michigan before and we've always had a good experience. 

eclaires

vrbo.com is awesome!

It's pretty much all we use - MH and his BFF own a bass boat together and we've done cabins in various areas through vrbo.  We've also done some beach vacations that way.

My uncle uses vrbo for renting out his house on Hilton Head Island, too - he really likes it.  So you know, if any of us ever get to the point where we have vacation homes, there's a rec for using vrbo for renting them out, lol.

IndyPRGirl

A bunch of my girlfriends go to www.sugarmaplecabins.com every year (always seems like I have something else going on that week , boo) and LOVE them

inkygirl

Hey lady!  I live in south Knoxville and you'll only be like 15 minutes from me when you go through to the park, so we'll have to get together.  Wears Valley is the non-touristy side of the park, but it's a much smaller town.  Groceries would probably need to be bought in Maryville, which you'll drive through on your way to Wears Valley.  It's my favorite side of the park...cute little town, but very rustic and nowhere near as busy. 

Depending on how strenuous of a hike you guys are looking for, let us know as DH and I have been on a lot of hikes, especially him.  We did Hen Wallow Falls, which is over by Cosby (on the far east side of the park, which also has a fabulous campground) and it was a nice 4 mile-ish hike.  And then Laurel Falls is also a nice hike that's paved the whole way, so it's a very easy level.  Hen Wallow was more of the normal route, crossing over multiple streams on the way. 

MrsRender06

If you don't want to be in the middle of touristy type things, I would not recommend Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge(especially Pigeon Forge..it's all tourist stuff).

I've never stayed in Townsend, but it's just outside of Gatlinburg and I have heard good things about staying there. I also 2nd pp that said Sevierville it's just outside of Pigeon Forge. More laid back and not so many hotels and tourists. We stayed in a cabin in Sevierville. We rented it through sunset cottage rentals. It was in the Shagbark community. Very nice.