The Smokies on a Budget
A Smokies trip costs whatever you let it. The expensive part is usually the things you did not need to pay for.
The park is free
No entrance fee. Not now, not ever. Eight hundred miles of trail, every overlook on Newfound Gap Road, the Rockefeller Memorial at the state line, the whole drive across to Cherokee. None of it costs anything.
The only cost is the parking tag, five dollars a day, and only if you park more than fifteen minutes. Pull over at an overlook for ten and you owe nothing.
Free in town, and there is more than people think
The Gatlinburg trolley is free. Not discounted, free. No fares at all, 365 days a year, four routes covering downtown, east Gatlinburg, Ski Mountain Road and the Arts and Crafts Community. Park free at the Welcome Center on Banner Road or the 321 Park and Ride and ride in without paying for a garage.
The Great Smoky Arts and Crafts Community is an eight-mile loop on Glades and Buckhorn Roads, about three miles from downtown. Around a hundred artists and craftspeople working in their own shops. Free to drive, free to browse, free to park at each stop, and the Yellow trolley runs it.
The River Walk along the Little Pigeon River is a block off the Parkway, with gazebos and benches, and it is the quietest place in downtown Gatlinburg.
Gatlinburg's city parks are free to enter. Mynatt Park on Asbury Lane has a playground, tennis and pickleball courts, a children's fishing stream and the 2016 Wildfires Memorial. Mills Park off US-321 has an 18-hole disc golf course and a dog park with separate large and small sections. Herbert Holt Park has an accessible fishing pier and a trout rearing facility.
In Pigeon Forge, Patriot Park in the Old Mill District is free, with a riverside walking path lined with the flags of all fifty states, and free parking that doubles as the trolley hub. The Pigeon Forge Greenway runs about four miles alongside the river from one end of town to the other, free and pet friendly.
The Gatlinburg Trail is free to hike and you can reach it on foot from downtown, near Traffic Light #10 on River Road. About 1.9 miles each way to Sugarlands Visitor Center. Leashed dogs and bikes are both allowed, which is rare in this park. Walk to it and you never need a parking tag.
One correction, since it comes up. The Gatlinburg Space Needle observation deck is not free. The view from the Arts and Crafts loop costs nothing.
Where the coupons are
This is the part people skip and then regret.
The coupon pages on this site are sorted by what you are actually doing. Where To Eat covers restaurants and dinner shows, with current offers from places like Bennett's Pit Bar-B-Que, Buddy's Bar-B-Q, Local Goat, Mama's Farmhouse, Reagan's House of Pancakes and The Old Mill Pottery Cafe. Things To Do, What To See and Where To Shop each have their own.
They print. Print them before you leave the cabin, because cell service is unreliable in a lot of this county and nonexistent inside the park.
Where the money actually goes
Cabins in October and at Christmas, booked late. Dinner shows bought at the door. Multi-attraction passes bought on a day you can only use half of them.
Book lodging early for October. That is the whole tip.
