Our family’s picks for the top 9 things to do with kids in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Of the national parks east of the Mississippi, Great Smoky Mountains is, well, the greatest! This beautiful park is, especially at sunset, a sea of hills that layer stunningly and distinctively. Mountains? Umm… Not in the western mind, but for the east it is a “yes!”
For families, Great Smoky Mountains should be considered solidly on the list of “top 5” national parks. It is easily accessible and has many kid-friendly programs and hikes. With Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg directly next to the park you can easily blend nature hikes and wildlife with mini golf, laser tag, wax museums, and a legitimate amusement park with a good dose of twang!
So, while there are a ton of fun things to do near GSMNP, we will focus this post on the park itself and what are our top 9 things to do with kids in Great Smoky Mountains! This park is busy, but if you head out on a hike the number of people drops off quickly and you can usually find some peaceful solitude.
Top 9 Things to do with Kids in Great Smoky Mountains
Cades Cove
Cades Cove is a must see part of GSMNP and is a one way loop through a beautiful valley in the western part of the park. This area is very popular, and for good reason! There are many historic buildings in this area to stop at and see including multiple churches, a Cable Mill, the John Oliver Cabin, and a number of Junior Ranger activities to join in. Put simply, you need to plan a day in this area!
This is also where we saw our first black bear, a shy guy who was eating berries right on the side of the road just 10 feet from the car!
Laurel Falls
This was the first hike we did in GSMNP, and for good reason. At 2.3 miles roundtrip and an elevation gain of 314 feet, it is an easy hike to rally the family around after the car trip. Again, this spot is very popular which is true of most everything in the park and why those quiet places are so very special here! Thankfully, it is worth the busyness and we headed here first thing in the morning and were one of very few people on the trail.
This trail is paved, but is not handicap accessible, as it is only to prevent erosion with the number of people who make the hike. While it is family-friendly, there are some dropoffs so keep the kids close. At 80 feet, Laurel Falls is both pretty and widely regarded as one of the best waterfall hikes in the park.
Spruce Flats Falls
Shhh! Don’t tell your friends about this hike and beautiful waterfall. It stays off the radar and that is to your benefit! The best part of the hike is the great swimmin’ hole at the base of the waterfall where we played and swam and cooled off. Watch out for water snakes if you decide to take a dip, we did see 1 or 2 while we were swimming.
You park near the Great Smoky Mountain Institute off Tremont Road and hike up the road about 0.2 miles to where the pavement ends. You will see the trail head off into the woods and just into the trail, about 0.1 miles in, you will want to take a right at the fork. A bit further up you will run into the Lumber Ridge Trail and will also want to stay right.
After 1 mile total of hiking you will be there! We saw our 2nd black bear on this trail (don’t forget your bear spray) and just let him head down the hill at a very safe distance. Enjoy, but keep it our little secret so the masses stay busy elsewhere 🙂
Alum Cave
This popular hike, is off Newfound Gap Road 8.7 miles south of the Sugarlands Visitor Center. There are two parking areas on the east side of the road and you will want to get there early on weekends and during peak season. One of the best parts of this hike is that there are interesting things to see at multiple points along the 4.4 mile round trip. First up is the Arch Rock, a stone stepped section that brings you through a neat passageway and will be memorable for the whole family!
Once you arrive at the cave, which is more like a bluff that extends over your head, you’ve found a great spot to rest, grab a snack and some water, and enjoy the scenery! The total elevation gain is over 1100 feet, so you will be grateful for the spot to rest. The cave itself has a history as epsom salt was mined from the cave until the 1850s and during the Civil War saltpeter was mined from here and used to make gunpowder. This is also one of the routes to the top of Mount LeConte, which is on my next time list!
Grotto Falls
Grotto Falls, located at the Trillium Gap trailhead off the Roaring Fork Nature Trail (see below), is a unique hike in that it is the only waterfall in the park that you can walk behind. Like I’ve said over and over in regards to GSNMP, this trail and falls are popular, but worthwhile! The trail itself is easy and 2.6 miles in roundtrip length. Our family enjoyed the walk behind the falls as well as reaching out to touch the water. The sights, sounds and smells of the water are all around you and super fun!
Clingmans Dome
Located along the Tennessee – North Carolina border, walking up a fairly steep paved trail brings you to a 54 foot high observation tower where on a clear day you can see up to 100 miles and into seven states. It is a fantastic place to see the sunrise and sunset and is similar to the observation tower in the Everglades. The road is closed December 1 – March 31. The road out is pretty, the view from the top is pretty, and the Dome itself is interesting!
Newfound Gap
This spot is a great place to stretch your legs along the Newfound Gap Road, which is the route over the mountains with the lowest elevation through the park. This point along the road has a nice parking area with a view over the park and a fun photo op where you can straddle two states!
Roaring Fork & Rainbow Falls
Roaring Fork is an old-timey auto tour, meaning you literally don’t get out of the car. At all. Instead, if you time it wrong you get the pleasure of bumper to bumper rush hour traffic inching along as people admire the beauty of the surroundings. There are a couple hiking trails that do leave from this road but the parking areas are tiny and probably add to the congestion.
Overall, this was something I would only do on a quiet day or very early or late in a day to avoid the crowds. All that being said, Rainbow Falls and Grotto Falls (above) are why many people head out on this route and unfortunately we were not able to visit Rainbow Falls on this trip. We will next time!
Oconaluftee Visitor Center & Mountain Farm Museum
While not as scenic as Cades Cove, the Oconaluftee Visitor Center has a unique advantage for families – the Mountain Farm Museum! The Museum includes a collection of historic buildings including a log farmhouse, barn, apple house, and a working blacksmith shop. The buildings were built in the 1800s and moved here in the 1950s and because this is on the North Carolina side of the park it is quieter and a great spot to do Ranger Programs, watch the chickens roaming around, and learn about life of the farm!
Bonus: Blue Ridge Parkway
Yeah, so the Blue Ridge Parkway isn’t in the park. And it is super long at 469 miles in total. It also happens to start at Oconaluftee and the drive from here to Asheville is a stunning and fun way to leave or enter the park. We wanted to see the Biltmore mansion, so it was an easy “yes!” to make the Blue Ridge Parkway our route. I highly recommend including the fun town of Asheville on your trip to GSNMP!
Planning Resources
When we were planning our trip to the park we used a great additional resource to select our hikes and get the details for them. That resource is: http://www.hikinginthesmokys.com/
There are tons of great things to do with kids in Great Smoky Mountain National Park and many more that we didn’t mention. The Smoky Mountain area brings the whole family together around good food, amusement parks, nature, and the nightly fireworks at Dollywood! We were fortunate to be able to see the fireworks from our rental home and appreciated that exclamation point on each fun day!
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Hi!! Super helpful post! Curious if you have your itinerary to share along with the hikes/recommendations. Trying not to be too ambitious with what we’ll be able to accomplish each day, so would love to know if there was anything you were able to combine in a single day. Thanks!
Glad to help with this! Laurel Falls was super quick and easy and could easily (and logically) be done with Cades Cove. Spruce Flats Falls trail is a bit longer and I believe we also did that on the day we did Cades Cove. It is (or was for us!) quieter so less challenging to find a parking spot if you do it later in that same day. Alum Cave and Grotto Falls together would take a day or you could do Alum Cave then drive South to see Clingmans Dome, Newfound Gap, and the Oconaluftee Visitor Center & Mountain Farm Museum after the hike. Grotto Falls and the Roaring Fork nature trail could be another day and that area gets super busy so planning to get there early will be key. So, 3 days would get all of this done and you could do more/less depending on your group’s interests. Enjoy!