If you’re itching for a fall-colored mountain getaway, the iconic foliage of Vermont, Maine, or the rugged peaks of Colorado’s Rockies are obvious options. While these destinations are undeniably stunning, let us point you in the direction of the Smoky Mountains, which boast one of the longest fall seasons in the country, offering a picturesque escape that’s often overlooked.
Known as the “Gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains,” Gatlinburg, Tennessee is an ideal fall retreat for those seeking more than just the typical mountain experience. Though this quaint town — with a population of just 3,650 – is known for its quirky tourist attractions and kitschy charm, it also harbors a side that’s perfect for a more refined, adult-oriented adventure. Beyond the themed restaurants and eccentric hotels, Gatlinburg offers luxury forested accommodations, unique shops, and scenic activities that make it an enchanting destination for a romantic autumn escape.
Disclaimer: if late-night bar hopping is part of your fall plans, Gatlinburg… might not be your scene. The town’s nightlife winds down early, with most bars nestled within restaurants closing by 11 p.m. Gatlinburg isn’t a party destination, but it can be a fun-and-flirty mountain getaway with the right itinerary.
Where To Stay
If you’re planning an adults-only mountain getaway, you need to make sure you do it proper. This means, sleeping among the trees, luxury style, with no kids in sight.
You won’t find anything better for price and accomodations than Treehouse Grove at Norton Creek. Located right off the Great Smoky National Park highway, Treehouse Grove offers 16 treehouses that are fitted with luxury features to make your stay comfortable.
The road leading to the treehouses follows a little creek into the woods about two or three miles. I absolutely loved pulling up to The Cherry treehouse, surrounded by views of the Smoky Mountains while hearing the quietness of the forest. It’s on the end of one of the little treehouse “neighborhoods,” making it a little more secluded. I was immediately greeted with the fresh smell of wood as soon as you walked in, which to me made it even more alluring and sexy.
At night, it was so peaceful sitting out on the private deck overlooking base of the Smoky Mountains and hearing the coyotes howl all around you.
Amenities:
- Free Wi-Fi
- Free parking
- Viewing deck with outdoor furniture
- Air conditioning
- Heating
- Fully-stocked kitchen with dishwasher and oven
- TV
- Toiletries
- Pet-friendly
- Private fire pit
- Screened-in back porch
- Community hot tub
Day 1
After waking up to the sounds of the trees in your treehouse, get your day started by exploring downtown. Parking is available all over downtown Gatlinburg, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t come with a price. Expect to pay $20-30 anywhere in Gatlinburg regardless of how long you’re parked there, so pick a spot and stay there all day to make it worth it.
Shop & Explore The Village
Gatlinburg is known for its little shops, and you won’t be disappointed by “The Village.” You can’t miss it, since there’s a wooden arching sign leading to what I can best describe as a real-life version of Shrek’s mystical town of The Land Of Far Far Away. Here you’ll find cute cobblestone alleyways mirroring an old world village full of unique boutiques, eateries, and of course, obscure attractions that will give you a good laugh.
It’s also a perfect place to sit down and people watch, read a book in a little alleyway corner, or just find some shade since shade is few and far between in the rest of downtown Gatlinburg.
Get Trippy In The Mirror Maze
I won’t sugarcoat it, most of the attractions in Gatlinburg are cheesy. But I’m here to tell you that the mirror maze is actually really freaking cool. Do yourself a favor and pay $1 extra for the 3D glasses. It took me 20 minutes to find my way out, but I took my time because I loved the psychedelic rock music that soundtracked my journey and it was such a vibe that I decided to take my sweet time. With the glasses on, it’s actually really hard to find your way around and it makes for a fun and flirty experience with your partner.
Sunset Dinner & Ethereal Woods Walk At Anakeeska
I’ll be honest, I actually never heard of Anakeesta until I was on the chondola (part chair lift, part Gondola) going up to it. Little did I know this would be the highlight of the whole trip.
Translating to “the place of high ground” in Cherokee, this mountaintop adventure park is very unassuming since the journey starts in downtown Gatlinburg. After a brief 15 chondola ride you enter a beautiful 70-acre mountain amusement park fit for all ages.
Going at sunset is the move here as you’ll encounter less kids as the night grows darker. The first point to head to: Cliff Top Grill & Bar. If you can secure a table outside, you’ll be treated to a breathtaking dining experience with 360-degree views of the Smoky Mountains. This is even better if you time it with the sunset, which paints a beautiful watercolor glow over the mountains. I was very surprised at how good the food was here, offering a little something for everyone. The 14-ounce Rocky Top Ribeye with the restaurant’s blue cheese sauce on top melted in my mouth.
Going on a post-dinner walk lends great health benefits, and Anakeeskta is the perfect place for this. The Appalachian bluegrass music played over the speakers throughout the park creates a great outdoor atmosphere to explore with its treetop adventures, mountain coasters, ziplines, and more.
It’s the 11pm Astra Lumina walk though that completely turns this into a trippy adults-only experience. If you go this late, you will get the darkest landscape to fully enjoy this illuminating woods walk, but also bypass any families with little kids that can threaten the peaceful experience. The one-mile walk takes you through a heavily wooded trail where you encounter lighting, projection mapping, and ethereal sounds.
I ended up doing this during a full moon, which made it even more magical. It’s truly an amazing experience to share with your lover or friends.
Tickets for Anakeesta can be found here, with separate tickets to Astra Lumina here.
Day 2
Pig Out At Sun Diner
Inspired by Nashville’s Sun Records, Sun Diner is known as “Tennessee’s favorite diner.” While the original location sits next to the Johnny Cash Museum in Nashville, its Gatlinburg location does the trick of transporting you to a ‘50s eatery soundtracked by black and white videos of Sun Records artists and the label’s famous rockabilly sound.
You never know what you’ll walk into at Sun Diner. With it being on Gatlinburg’s main strip, it gets quite a lot of foot traffic and it doesn’t take reservations. Don’t let that deter you though. The aroma of pancakes and syrup will pull you in from the street, and soon enough you’ll be sitting on one of its cherry chrome red stools watching the kitchen staff cook up your food.
The menu boasts a great variety of southern comfort food named after Sun Records’ artists. Its biggest weakness? The syrup. You’ll find different flavored bottles of Sun Diner “maple syrup” on your table but if you take a look at the ingredients list, you’ll find it to all be high fructose corn syrup. If you can turn a blind eye to this or just order something that doesn’t need syrup, then it’s great.
Highlights include:
- “Let’s Do The Twist” Crème Brûlée French Toast: This comes in three pieces of cinnamon bread that are soaked in Rum Chata creme brulee batter. They honestly look like mini cinnamon rolls! I didn’t really appreciate that it had syrup on it, per my observations above.
- Fries: You’ll definitely want to get fries as your side as they come perfectly crispy and seasoned.
- Country Fried Steak & Eggs: This was the best of the bunch. The gravy is flavorful and full of sausage and complements the crisp and thin steak.
- Cheese Crusted Breakfast Wrap: The wrap itself wasn’t as good as I was hoping for since the cheese inside wasn’t melted but the purple and orange potatoes that come with this made up for it.
- BLTA: I loved the pork belly and bacon together on buttery Texas-style toast. I did think there was more bread than needed but overall it was easy to bite into and had great flavor.
Walk Across The Highest Pedestrian Bridge In America
Remember when I said that parking in Gatlinburg was expensive? Make sure you keep your parking spot all day. After having your brunch at Sun Diner, walk 900 feet to SkyPark so you can walk off the food 500 feet above Gatlinburg.
Located at the top of the iconic SkyLift sitting at 1,800 feet above sea level, the Gatlinburg SkyBridge is the longest pedestrian cable bridge in North America and was a great way to overlook Gatlinburg and the surrounding Smoky Mountains. Depending on the time of year you go, you’ll be treated to summer’s lush greenery or fall’s colorful mountainous landscape without needing to hike to get the views. Halfway through the 700-foot-long bridge, you’ll come across a section of glass, where you get to walk across 30 feet of a see-through floor with views 500 feet below you.
A ticket to the SkyPark will also grant you access to SkyTrail, a leisurely hike in the mountains that grants you views of the famous SkyBridge, as well as the SkyDeck, offering outdoor seating areas, tiered waterfall, firepit, and overall serene landscape of Gatlinburg.
Tickets to SkyPark can be found here.
Cool Down In The Aquarium
Believe it or not, it’s still pretty warm in Gatlinburg during the fall season. If you find yourself in need of an experience out of the sun, it’s definitely worth checking out Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies.
Be warned, you will encounter children here. But the darkened and cool rooms of the aquarium make up for it and are a great way to spend the hotter hours of the afternoon as you gawk at 12-foot sharks, sea turtles, stingrays, and underwater tropical creatures. The leafy seadragons were the coolest to see.
I definitely recommend making sure you have a decently full belly before going here. The one little restaurant is overpowered by the smell of fish and has the darkest “dining room” I’ve ever seen.
Get your tickets to Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies here.
Get Fancy At The Greenbrier
There aren’t many fancy restaurants in Gatlinburg, making The Greenbrier one of the best by default. Default or not, this former mountain lodge turned “food and spirit outpost” is a local favorite due to its exquisite steakhouse dining experience boasting forested views. Get here a little early for your reservation to enjoy its outdoor patio space adorned with spiral fire lanterns and a firepit to sip on one of its 170 different bourbon labels for a pre-dinner treat.
Everyone always expects fresh bread and butter to be brought to the table upon waiting on drinks and appetizers, but here they do things differently. Instead, you’re brought its acclaimed baked cornbread in a mini cast iron skillet, doused in butter. Beware though, as it’s so warm and delicious that you can easily ruin your whole dinner. I literally had to ask the waiter to take it away it was so good.
I’m always a sucker for scallops no matter where I go, and I was happily treated to three hugely plump scallops that melted in my mouth and held a peppery crunch after taste.
The Nashville Hot Oysters are something worth checking out as well. These spicy fried fresh shucked oysters have pickled shallot and pickle juice “caviar.” The fried component was a bit overbearing but the pickle brined flavor was a treat for the senses.
The New York Strip steak is amazing. It’s cooked to a perfect medium rare.
Day 3
Explore Great Smoky Mountains National Park
A trip to Gatlinburg isn’t complete without spending some time in the most popular National Park in the United States. While it is a highly trafficked fall destination – greeting an average of 13 million visitors every year – there’s plenty of space to enjoy all of its incredible hiking trails and gorgeous drives without the crowds. Great Smoky Mountains National Park offers some of the most breathtaking autumn hikes, where you can immerse yourself in vibrant fall foliage through some easier hikes than those in Colorado or Maine. To fully experience the fall colors, plan your visit around mid-October when the colors are most vibrant and widespread across the park.
Uproxx writer Emily Hart knows this park the best, so I took some of her recommendations and added in my own:
Laurel Falls Trail
Difficulty: Easy to moderate. The trail is paved the entire way, and the elevation gain is only about 300 feet.
Distance: The roundtrip distance is 2.4 miles.
The Laurel Falls Trail is one of the most popular hikes in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and for good reason. The relatively easy 2.4-mile roundtrip hike leads to a cascading 80-foot waterfall, the titular Laurel Falls. The paved trail winds through a lush forest, with plenty of opportunities to spot wildlife and hike among fall flowers and yellow-hued trees along the way.
Alum Cave Trail to Mount LeConte
Difficulty: Challenging
Distance: 11 miles
The Alum Cave Trail to Mount LeConte is a challenging but rewarding hike rated as the number 1 hike in the park on AllTrails. But with a total of 11 miles out and back, with an elevation gain of over 2,700 feet, it’s not for beginners. The first part of the trail is relatively easy but becomes steeper and more challenging as you get closer to Alum Cave, a large rock overhang that was once used to mine alum. As you ascend to Mount LeConte, you’ll pass through tunnels of rhododendron and catch panoramic views of the Smokies draped in autumn colors. From Alum Cave, the trail continues up a series of switchbacks to the top of Mount LeConte, with 360-degree panoramic views of the multi-colored surrounding mountains.
Clingman’s Dome Observation Tower Trail
Difficulty: Easy
Distance: 1.3 miles roundtrip
Clingman’s Dome Observation Tower Trail offers a short and rewarding hike to the highest point not just in Great Smoky Mountains National Park but in all of Tennessee. Climb the 54-foot observation tower for breathtaking panoramic views of the surrounding mountains where, on a clear day, you can see up to 100 miles into Tennessee, North Carolina, and sometimes even Georgia and Virginia. Standing at 6,643 feet, temperatures at the top can be 10-20 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than in the lowlands, and the famous Smokies’ clouds and fog are also common, so there’s a possibility of limited views. Luckily, the hike is easy if you end up in the clouds.
Charlies Bunion via Appalachian Trail
Difficulty: Moderate to Strenuous
Distance: 8 miles round trip
This hike along the Appalachian Trail offers some of the best vistas in the Smokies. Charlies Bunion is a rocky outcrop with panoramic views of the mountains, which are especially vibrant during peak fall foliage. The trail also provides glimpses of diverse forest types, showcasing a rich tapestry of fall colors.
Rainbow Falls Trail
Difficulty: Moderate to Strenuous
Distance: 5.4 miles round trip
Rainbow Falls is the tallest single-drop waterfall in the park, and the trail leading to it is lined with vibrant fall foliage. The combination of the colorful leaves and the waterfall makes this a popular autumn hike, so going earlier in the day to encounter less people is recommended. The trail continues beyond the falls to Mount LeConte for those seeking a longer adventure.
