Zooming right around the corner is National Tourism Day on Tuesday, May 7, 2019! Celebrated during National Travel and Tourism Week (aka the first full week of May annually), this awesome holiday began in 1983 under President Ronald Reagan’s proclamation. Spend this National Tourism Day planning your Great Smoky Mountain trip, where you’ll experience breathtaking landscapes, choice shopping and dining options, fun attractions, and top cabin rentals! Better yet, make last-minute plans to be a tourist in the Smokies on National Tourism Day — it’s not too late!
See the Great Smoky Mountain Sights
Start your tourist life in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park — the most visited national park in the country! With 800+ miles of trails, you’re sure to have a blast hiking, biking, and horseback riding. Capture shots of vivid spring wildflowers, lush forest greenery, majestic mountain peaks, stunning valley scenes (we highly recommend Cades Cove), sparkling streams, and foraging animals.
- Visit Clingman’s Dome for top-notch (literally…it’s the highest point in the national park!) 360° views of the Smokies. It’s a steep hike at half a mile, and it’s totally worth it!
- For a bird’s eye view of the beautiful Smokies, book a scenic ride with Helicopter Sky Tours or kick things up a notch with Skydive Smoky Mountains.
- Book a Pigeon Forge cabin rental with your choice of mountain, river, wooded, or city views and continue to enjoy the Smoky Mountain landscape from your private deck.
Shop & Dine the Smokies
As a touring pro, you know shopping and dining is a huge part of tourism, and in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, you’ll have plenty of options! We’ll get you started with a few of our favs, and if you need more, simply cruise the Parkway and stop when something catches your eye.
- Endless souvenirs, delectable treats, home décor, fashion items, and more can be found at The Village, a European-inspired shopping center with 27 boutiques.
- Drive around the Great Smoky Arts & Crafts Community, the largest group of independent artisans in the nation, where you’ll find local crafters creating masterpieces.
- Peruse and dine round the square at The Old Mill, featuring shops plus country restaurants. Here you’ll also see the original (and still working) water wheel on the Little Pigeon River.
- If you’re looking for a Southern meal, Mama’s Farmhouse is where you’ll want to be, with no buffet lines and everything served family-style on the table!
Play in Town
Sightseeing, shopping, and dining are all fine ways to be a tourist in the Smokies, but our favorite way is play! From racing go-karts and putt-putting on a rooftop to zooming on rollercoasters and escaping prison (it’s a game…), Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg have amazing attraction experiences you’ll be talking about for years to come.
- Get lost on The Island, where you can spend the day playing games, riding rides, eating everything in sight, buying souvenirs, and watching the show fountain.
- Bring family and friends to Dollywood, Pigeon Forge’s famed amusement park with live performances, an eagle sanctuary, expert crafters, epic rides, and much more!
- Stop at Ober Gatlinburg for a mountain of good times as you ride the Aerial Tramway to year-round ice skating, the Wildlife Encounter, the Alpine Slide, plus more shops and food stops.
- A growing aerial adventure park in Gatlinburg, Anakeesta boasts duel ziplining, a mountain coaster, a village of shops and eateries, the Tree Canopy Walk, and a treehouse playground.
- For a little variety (and personal challenge), visit all 8 Ripley’s attractions: 2 mini golf courses, the haunted house, odditorium, mirror maze, 5D moving theater, Guinness adventure, and aquarium!
Live the Local Life
On top of exploring nature, shopping until you drop, stuffing your belly, and playing at attractions, get in tune with the locals like a tourist pro by staying at a Smoky Mountain cabin. Sip wine in the rocking chairs overlooking rolling peaks, splash in the private indoor pool, beat high arcade scores in the rec room, and soak in a bubbly hot tub. Whip up meals in the fully equipped kitchen, watch movies in the home theater, tuck the little ones into their bunk beds, relax in the jetted tub, and drift to dreamland in a king-size bed every night.
No matter the group size or desired amenities, Pigeon Forge, TN Cabins has the perfect cabin for your Smoky Mountain trip for National Tourism Day! Feel free to book online or give us a call at 1.866.513.7885. Looking to give your bestie a surprise trip? We can handle that, too!