Smoky Mountains/Sylva/Asheville/PF/etc... Questions

We have vacationed in this area 3 out of the last 4 years. Here are some of our favorite things to do:

* Rent Slingshots and drive around the mountains. We have rented three Slingshots (and one Vanderhall), and it is by far my favorite experience from these trips. My husband plans our trips, and we have a blast driving through the mountain roads.
* Eating at Old Red in Gatlinburg and Over Yander outside of Grandfather Mountain
* Boots Steakhouse in Dillsboro, NC is delicious, great service, and the steak is so good
* If you have any interest in foraging for mushrooms or other wild edibles, the No Taste Like Home Wild Food Tours is great! We learned a lot and the tour guide cooked the mushrooms we found on site.
* The Tail of the Dragon is awesome to drive! I believe it is 318 turns in 11 miles.
* Grandfather Winery and Banner Elk Winery are our favorite wineries in North Carolina. They are about 2 hours from Sylva, but amazingly beautiful and the wine is wonderful.
* There are a few trout fishing places with stocked ponds that are fun to visit. We caught several fish and made a surf & turf dinner at our VRBO the last time we were there.
* Sweetwater Valley Farm, in Tennessee, is a fun stop to make if you like cheese! They have fantastic ice cream, cheese, and a great tour of their cow barns.

I just looked up tickets for Biltmore. We always have had season passes so I didn't know the going rate. Looking at what's available now, I would highly recommend the house/exhibit/2-day grounds. Looks like it's $115. If you have never seen the Chihuly exhibit, it is AMAZING! Also, the grounds are massive and stunning. So much to do. I would recommend a house tour time of 4 p.m. or so. Everyone wants to get there first thing in the morning but the late afternoon has always been a winner for us. Summer is definitely more difficult as far as crowds are concerned but so much to see/do. There is even horseback riding, and the trail goes behind the house. It is awesome.

Finding parking in downtown Asheville in the summer will be hard. There are some parking garages and lots of parallel parking. I always hate going downtown with the summer crowds. I am NOT a crowd person LOL!

We personally have never been back to Gatlinburg. We went once, and it was not our thing. It will be a zoo in the summer too and especially 4th of July. I think that will be the same everywhere.

Boone and Blowing Rock are nice but again--will be a zoo.

Hope you enjoy, and have a safe trip!

Personally I would skip PF/Gburg during 4th of July. Even on non-holiday dates, it is a nightmare to try to get anywhere, by car or by foot. I am not exagerating when I say it could take hours to get from the end of Gatlinburg near the Sugarlands Visitor Center (National Park end of town) through town and into Pigeon Forge. The sidewalks are absolutely swamped as well so unless it's just an must-do on your list, I'd skip it.

Near Sylva there is great tubing and trout fishing in Bryson City over at the Deep Creek area of the National Park. You can rent tubes right at the entrance and spend the day tubing and the hiking is not too extreme. There are a couple of waterfalls in that area of the park. Tubing Info

Also near Sylva is Waynesville and Maggie Valley. Waynesville has some good spots to eat - Bogarts (burgers are amazing and the Prolific Sweet Potato is my absolute favorite - sweet potato topped with pulled pork bbq, cheese, bbq sauce. It sounds gross but it is so delish!) There is a Bogarts in Sylva too, but they are not a chain and I ate at this one a few years back and was not impressed. Stick to the one in Waynesville!!

Another good bbq joint is Haywood Smokehouse. They have a couple of locations but I've only eaten at the one in Waynesville. Haywood Smokehouse

Pancea Coffee in Waynesville has a nice atmosphere and overlooks a creek.Pancea Coffee

There are some good breweries both in Waynesville and Maggie Valley. Boojum Brewing and Bear Waters are my favorite.

There are a couple of good homestyle breakfast places in Maggie Valley that we always enjoy - Joey's Pancake House and Country Vittles, whose website seems to be down currently. The latter is served family style with big bowls of food brought to the table and they'll replenish as requested.

The drive is not for the faint of heart on the unimproved roads, but I love going into the Cataloochee Valley to view the elk and the old homesites. It's not the only place you might see the elk, but it is nice and quiet, usually, and just really a peaceful area to spend a few hours even if the elk aren't out. Cataloochee Elk

Personally, I would not waste time driving from Sylva to Charlotte. It is so so congested and the drive on any of the interstates around Asheville, Hickory and Charlotte will most likely be bumper to bumper (source: lived in Asheville AND upstate SC and traveled I-40 and I-85 to CLT regularly)

Instead, if you're wanting more mountain activities, you could go towards Brevard, NC and into the Pisgah National Forest. Excellent swimming spots, fishing spots, waterfalls, windy mountain roads. Sycamore Flats Recreation Area has a lot of great spots to swim, picnic, bbq grills, etc. There's also flat, easy hiking here, too.

For food to take to the VRBO, I would probably stop at Ingles or Publix in Waynesville. There's also a Super Walmart heading out of town on 74 like you would go to Sylva. The nearest Target is in Asheville.

We always stop at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center in Cherokee before going over the mountain into Gatlinburg. You can sometimes see elk in the fields there too, but more often during rut season (autumn) but it's another nice area for a stroll, fishing, playing in the river, etc.

Sorry this is so disjointed. I kept thinking of other things I wanted to add. I lived in Asheville and Maggie Valley and still visit the areas as often as I can. I hope you guys have a great time on your vacation!!

Oh and as ellemkay mentioned--Waynesville has lots of great places! Love Waynesville also. And if you cross stitch/quilt/scrapbook, Anabella's is there too.

2024 opening dates are still TBD, but I've always thought the Land of Oz (https://landofoznc.com/) looked neat. My folks vacationed in Banner Elk with some other couples a few years ago and really enjoyed it.

There is an elevator at Biltmore - it takes you from the first floor to the second floor. After you get done with seeing Mrs. Vanderbilt's bedroom on the 2nd floor, instead of going upstairs to the guest rooms and the big living room, you go back to the area with the large portrait of Olmsted and there is a small room off to the side with chairs and a looped video showing different rooms in the house. After your group gets done with the third floor, and goes back down the main staircase, you can meet up with the person to take the elevator back to the first floor. The person won't be able to take the elevator down to the basement to see the Halloween room, bowling alley, dressing rooms, gym, pool, kitchen, or servant's quarters. I don't know how they rejoin the group to see the gentlemen's rooms at the end of the tour on the first floor. It's definitely a workout - if my mom goes on the house tour (we have annual passes), we pretty much don't do anything else at Biltmore except drive around and look at the flowers inside the Conservatory.

If you take your mom, park in the handicapped lot (you don't have to have a handicapped parking pass to park there), and take the shuttle to the house - it will drop you off near the front of the house. I'd drive to the conservatory, and if you go to Antler Hill Village/the Winery, drop her off and then find a place to park - even the handicapped parking there is far away.

I was going to mention the Lost Sea! It's a couple hours west, but I always enjoyed it!

Banner Elk is a quaint/cute town, but it swells up with tourists/summer residents on the 4th, which means crowds, parking issues, and long lines at restaurants on the 4th - pretty much all small towns in the mountains are like that. Personally, I'd see what was going on around Sylva that day for activities and explore further afield on other days. 😀

Nantahala Outdoor Center might be fun for y'all- noc.com/

We were just in the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area last week for spring break. The Great Smoky Mountains and Dollywood were bucket list destinations for me and I LOVED both! Dollywood was such a treat and we would definitely return if given the opportunity. The whole park is very well themed, clean and friendly. We spent the whole day there.

The main road through Pigeon Forge itself is totally skippable though. Think of the most tacky family activities, multiply by 100 and you get Pigeon Forge.

Gatlinburg was not much better. Streets were so congested with cars and pedestrians and the town is just a bunch of crazy family activities, t-shirt shops and themed restaurants.

However, the GSMNP was spectacular and not to be missed. We did a couple of very easy hikes and drove to Cades Cove. So beautiful!!

I actually love Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge area. But I hit the things that I like and for most of it we drive on the back roads to avoid most of the traffic. Teaster road is a great road to use in PF.
On July 3rd right at midnight Gatlinburg does the biggest 4th oh July parade and it is wonderful.
We park up traffic light 3 and sit on the wall going down into town avoiding the huge crowd. Well worth it.
My favorite restaurant in Gatlinburg is Howard's. It's at the very end of the town. Again we drive back roads to avoid the traffic.
In PF we love Carrinos Italian restaurant and Applebarn restaurant but we go there at 4pm to avoid the huge dinner rush. There apple fritters and apple butter are worth it. Love the apple spice cake with sauce for dessert.
Cades Cove is absolutely gorgeous but make sure you have drinks with you and use the bathroom before you go if you do the long loop.

Thought of a couple more things to add. One of the closest attractions to you (about an hour to start) will be the various waterfalls which the area is famous for particularly in the Highlands/Cashiers area. Some are right by the road, others require a hike. ncwaterfalls.com is a place to start. The town of Highlands is nice.

One thing I do NOT recommend is the Smoky Mountain Railway or whatever it is called. Basically the train trip. That's the most boring thing ever and the scenery isn't that great. It is supposed to be better in the fall but we went in summer and it was a waste of time and money.

Tubing is always available in the area. We were staying in Cherokee one time and there were places that rented tubes and creeks you could go on. DH's grandchildren loved it.