Road Trip! Tennessee, North Carolina, and Kentucky National Parks

Join us on a 10-day journey through the Tennessee, North Carolina, and Kentucky National Parks as we share all of the fun things you can do with your family in this area.

Podcast Episode Overview

Let’s go on an adventure! This summer, we took a road trip through some of our favorite parks in Tennessee, Kentucky, and North Carolina, plus we added in a few places we had never been to before. And now we want to take you along with us on this epic driving route!

In this episode, we discuss:

Our favorite things to do in Nashville
The best activity to do in Townsend (plus what to beware of!)
Navigating the craziness of Gatlinburg
Highlights of Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Everything we loved about Blue Ridge Parkway
Eating our way through Asheville
Why the Biltmore is a must-see
Exciting tours of Mammoth Cave

There you have it—our 10-day summer road trip to some incredible national parks!

We hope you enjoy this journey and that this episode gives you ideas for your own road trip through Tennessee, North Carolina, and Kentucky!

Listen to the Full Podcast Episode:

Day 1 – Nashville, Tennessee

We flew into Nashville to start our road trip, but you can fly into Knoxville, Asheville, or any major city to kick off your own road trip.

Nashville, one of the greatest music cities in the United States, is the perfect place to see live music, enjoy great food, and go sightseeing. If you’ve never been, the capital of country music is a must-stop, especially the heart of downtown along Broadway, where you’ll find honky tonks and music pouring out of bars and restaurants.

You can take your kids to most honky tonks before 6:00 p.m. to enjoy the live music. After 6 p.m., the nightlife takes over Broadway. We love to stop at Hattie B’s for hot chicken after listening to music in the honky tonks.

Days 2, 3, and 4 – Great Smoky Mountains National Park – Townsend

After exploring Nashville, we drove to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It’s around a three-hour drive to the quiet side of the park in Townsend, TN.

There are fewer lodging or dining options in Townsend, but it is nice to start here before heading to the busy part of the park near Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Cades Cove is nearby, so you can get an early start before traffic backs up around the 11-mile scenic drive. We saw five bears in Cades Cove during our trip this time! There are also many historic buildings along Cades Cove to explore.

Metcalf Bottoms Picnic Area is our favorite picnic area in the Smokies. There are picnic tables and easy access to Little River, and we love bringing inflatable tubes to float in the river after we picnic. There are multiple parking lots here, so even when it’s busy, you should still be able to find parking.

The Little Greenbrier School is just up the road from Metcalf Bottoms, so we love hiking up here through the forest to see this historic schoolhouse.

The Spruce Flat Falls Trail and the Foothills Parkway are among our other favorite activities on this side of the park. Our absolute favorite activity in Townsend is tubing the river with River Rat just outside of the national park.

Days 5 and 6 – Great Smoky Mountains National Park – Gatlinburg

Moving from Townsend to Gatlinburg will remind you that Great Smoky Mountains is the most visited national park in the country. Gatlinburg is a bustling hub of amusement parks, any kind of gift shop you can imagine, distilleries, and restaurants.

Our favorite restaurant in Gatlinburg is Crockett’s Breakfast Camp, which we cover in detail in our favorite national parks food episode. However, we still think that overall, there are better food options in Pigeon Forge nearby.

Gatlinburg is its own attraction with enough activities to fill an entire vacation. You will find roller coasters, mini golf go-karts, and so much more. Anakeesta has mountain coasters, the treeventure challenge course, and an observation tower to get panoramic views of the Smoky Mountains. Dolly Parton’s Dollywood is located in nearby Pigeon Forge.

If you’re like us and looking for a more wild national park experience, you’ll want to head into the park for some amazing hikes. The park has 848 miles of trails, including 74 miles of the Appalachian Trail. Clingmans Dome, Alum Cave, the Newfound Gap Road, and the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail are all easily accessible from Gatlinburg.

Grab one of our Great Smoky Mountains National Park itineraries for every insider tip we have to beat the crowds and see all the highlights!

Day 7 – Blue Ridge Parkway

There are more than enough activities to fill several full days in Great Smoky Mountains National Park alone, but there’s even more to see in North Carolina! On the North Carolina side of the park, you can see the historic Cataloochee area and explore Deep Creek.

From here, you can take the Blue Ridge Parkway, which travels all the way to Shenandoah in Virginia. That trip would add a few days to your itinerary. We loved seeing how many people stopped along the Parkway to sit, sip wine, and take in the full glory of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

The Blue Ridge Parkway has some of the most incredible views of the Smoky Mountains. The windy road hits its highest point of 6,053 feet at Richland Balsam Overlook between Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Asheville, North Carolina. Between views, you’ll get to travel through tunnels in the mountains.

We stopped at Waterrock Knob Visitor Center to learn more about the Parkway. Sliding Rock Waterfall was the highlight of our time along the Blue Ridge Parkway. It’s a small side trip off the parkway, but it’s worth it to slide down this natural waterslide. It costs a few dollars to access, but you’ll have a changing room and lifeguards during the day.

Day 8 – Asheville, North Carolina

Asheville has so much to explore between the city’s historic architecture, art studios, and so many restaurants! Our listeners recommended we check out White Duck Taco Shop, and we are so grateful. We loved the fish tacos and the Korean beef bulgogi. We also loved Tupelo Honey for amazing Southern-style food.

The Biltmore Estate filled half of our day with exploration. George Vanderbilt built this sprawling mansion and gardens, and the scale of the grandeur will blow you away. Getting the audio tour was a great choice because our sons loved listening and sharing what they learned with us. If you’re worried about your little kids being entertained on this sightseeing tour, just get the audio guide and prepare to be amazed.

After the Biltmore Estate, we drove five and a half hours to Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky.

Day 9 – Mammoth Cave National Park

With this trip, I finally have gone on every tour offered at Mammoth Cave National Park! I highly recommend starting with the Historic Tour to learn about the incredible history of the world’s longest cave system. You’ll learn about the tuberculosis hospital and Stephen Bishop, an enslaved tour guide who discovered many new passageways in the cave.

We went on the River Styx Cave Tour, which was on our bucket list for a long time. It turned out to be a completely geology-focused tour, which we enjoyed, but our kids did not.

We also recommend the Domes and Dripstones Tour, Grand Avenue Tour, Gothic Avenue Tour, and Violet City Lantern Tour. Make sure you pick the one that best fits your tolerance for being in a cave for hours at a time!

After you’re done with the cave system, you can hike the Green River Bluffs Trail or bike the Railroad Trail. The Green River flows through Mammoth Cave National Park, and kayaking is a really cool way to see the park’s scenery.

Day 10 – Back to Nashville

The last day is open to decide what you want to see before you fly home! Nashville is only an hour and a half from Mammoth Cave.

You can spend another half day in Mammoth Cave or head into Nashville to take more tours or walk around. You can see the Country Music Hall of Fame or the Johnny Cash Museum if you have time.

We hope you had fun following along with our road trip! We hope you can take this road trip with your family because we had a blast.

Don’t forget to complete your task for this week! This road trip covered Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and Mammoth Cave. Which one is your favorite? Bonus points if you share pictures! Head over to the Dirt in My Shoes Facebook or Instagram page and let us know!

Links mentioned in this podcast episode:

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