GREAT SMOKY MTNS NATIONAL PARK TOUR

More than 12 million annual visitors make Great Smoky Mountains National Park the most visited of America’s National Parks. Spreading across the North Carolina-Tennessee state line, Great Smoky Mountains National Park offers hikers, wildlife lovers, photographers, waterfall chasers and campers a 522,000-acre playground where they can reconnect with nature.

Summer and Fall are the Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s high seasons. Summer sees visitors flocking here for high-elevation hikes and in Fall the mountains turn into patchwork quilts of color as the leaves change.

Conversely, Winter and Spring see fewer visitors. During Winter, some facilities will be closed, but hikers will have trails to themselves and can experience the park in a way few visitors do. Spring begins to see visitors return, drawn by wildflowers, warming days and wildlife. 

Driving Newfound Gap Road is a highlight for many visitors to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This 33-mile road passes a number of scenic overlooks and trailheads including Clingmans Dome where the views are impressive. Other popular highlights include Cades Cove Loop and the Roaring Fork Motor. Nature Trail.

Most visitors can experience Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 3 days, visiting pockets of the park like Clingmans Dome and Newfound Gap, Cades Cove, and the areas around Sugarlands and Oconaluftee Visitors Centers; getting in a couple of short hikes; and finding a waterfall or two where they can rest and recharge. 

Great Smoky Mountain National Park is open daily, year-round, with some facilities closing for the slower, colder winter season. Clingmans Dome Road and Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail close to automobile traffic in late November and reopen in early April, and inclement weather causes the temporary closure of some roads like Newfound Gap Road during winter.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park has no entrance fees or admission costs, but the park is introducing mandatory parking tags in March 2023.

Consider making a donation to Friends of the Smokies who Preserve Protect and Provide for needed projects.

The Elkmont area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the home to a rare sight: a colony of synchronous fireflies. For two weeks from late May through early June, they rise from the grass in a field near the campground to blink out their mating call message. Each spring, a lottery for parking passes and access to the synchronous firefly field takes place. It’s only $1 to put your name in the hat for a chance at one of a few thousand passes.