I've taken a few last minute trips in my life, but I don't think any has been as last minute as my trip to the Smoky Mountains for Christmas. I had a random idea to take a short trip over Christmas in late December, which is something my family has never done before. But I was a bit surprised when everything actually ended up working out, and we headed to spend five days in the Smoky Mountains.
My family's previous trip here was in July 2014, so we knew it was going to be different to revisit in winter, and right in the middle of the Christmas festivities. While I would say that I find the park much prettier in the summer (and I imagine in the fall), there was something appropriately magical about seeing all the bare trees in the winter. And of course, the Christmas light displays were amazing. The little towns of Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg seem perfectly suited for Christmas.
As a little bit of background if you've never been to the area, Gatlinburg is a small town right on the edge of the Tennessee side of the national park with cabins, hotels, restaurants and all kinds of activities. Pigeon Forge is another small town a few miles away, which essentially houses all the tourist traps of this area. Dollywood, a Hollywood wax museum, and so many mini-golf/amusement parks are found in Pigeon Forge. It's a great spot if you have kids and want something different to do. But if this is your first time in this area, I honestly think Pigeon Forge should be avoided except for its restaurants. After all, the real magic of this place is the mountains.
Where we stayed: Westgate Resort at the Smoky Mountains
This was the same resort we stayed in five years ago, though much of it has been and is being rebuilt due to the fires in 2016. If you're looking for something more accessible than a personal cabin, I think a place like this is the way to go. The balconies here have amazing views into the trees, and the log-cabin style makes you feel like you're in a real cabin. The rooms also have their own refrigerator, stove, oven and even fireplace. Another neat thing about this place is that it's about 3 miles outside of Gatlinburg, so it's closer to the actual mountains than the resorts in Pigeon Forge.
Where we ate:
Though Pigeon Forge is full of all sorts of tourist traps, it really does have a plethora of great breakfast/brunch places, most of which close early in the day. We visited two diner-like establishments there: Mel's Diner and Sunliner Diner. Sunliner Diner was my favorite. It's bigger, fancier, and even has a booth made out of a classic 1950's car that you can sit in. It also just opened about a month ago. Also, the waffle I had there might have been the best waffle I've ever had. However, I will say that the milkshake I had at Mel's was amazing, and better than the ones at Sunliner.
In Gatlinburg, we ate at Pancake Pantry one day for breakfast (truly incredible pancakes and sandwiches), Johnny Rockets for lunch (pretty great burgers), and Calhoun's Restaurant for Christmas Eve dinner. Calhoun's surprised me by having actually delicious brisket. And you know it's actually good if a lifelong Texan thinks so.
One of the main things we did during our trip was drive into the mountains. We revisited Cades Cove, which is an 11 mile loop around a valley in the Smoky Mountains. It's one of my favorite parts of the park because you can really see the beauty of the mountain landscape while being in the middle of it. When we visited in the summer, we saw a bear, deer and even elk there. Of course, there is less wildlife spotting in the winter (though we did see a bald eagle and a couple deer).
We also visited NewFound Gap for the first time, which is one of the highest points near Gatlinburg, and also crosses the border into North Carolina.
The drive up to NewFound Gap was wild. We hit such thick fog at one point that you could only see the nearby trees. And this was on a steep, winding mountain road, often without any railings. It was slightly terrifying but also one of the prettiest things I've ever seen. I felt like I was in a Brontë novel or something. Not the idea I'd had for a white Christmas, but it certainly looked wintry and beautiful.
Besides visiting the mountains, we also ended up spending a lot of time in Gatlinburg. This was where we had our Christmas eve meal, Christmas lunch, and where we even went skiing for the first time! There is no major snow in Gatlinburg in December, but a place called Ober Gatlinburg solves that by creating their own. They have several ski slopes, as well as snow tubing, an ice skating rink, and a lot of other neat activities. I also enjoyed the tram you take up to the top of the mountain to get to them. This wasn't the cheapest activity, of course. I ended up spending over $100 with the costs for the tram, skiing and equipment rentals. Worth it though.
Anyway, that is the basic summary of our Christmas in the Smokies! I'm really glad we ended up doing this because it was a very different Christmas for my family. There are definitely pros and cons to traveling over the holidays, but I really liked that it made the focus more about doing things together than just opening presents. Though we did sneak a bit of time in there for that too.
Have you ever traveled for Christmas? Let me know what you think are some good places to travel on Christmas.
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