There are festivals and special tourist events year round, as well as nationally known musicians and performers in Gatlinburg. Restaurants abound, catering to every taste and budget. The famous Dollywood and the Dixie Stampede are close by, as well as many other tourist attractions. For many years, Gatlinburg has held a parade at midnight on July 4 to celebrate Independence Day. The town has it as early as possible---starting at midnight---in order to have one of the first parades in the nation each year.
RV campgrounds are in town, as well as out of town in the forest. Pigeon Forge is just five miles away.
There are several visitor centers because Gatlinburg tries to be as tourist-friendly as possible. The Sugarland Center is one of the largest. Here you may book tours, get maps, reserve a campsite or learn about the area and plan your trip to the Smokies. Tours of the Smokies are available here---the park itself has more than 800,000 acres of wilderness area. Day trips include areas such as Cades Cove and Newfound Gap, as well as cities such as Asheville, North Carolina, or Knoxville, Tennessee.
You may find RV campgrounds in town or out in the woods. Most campgrounds have enough amenities to make a vacation possible without leaving the area at all. They have full hookups for your RV, water, sewer and electric, with a variety of types of connections available. They have showers, bathhouses and laundries. They also have a pool and planned activities. Often you may reserve tickets for a show or get information about tours of the Smoky Mountains.
Pigeon Forge has a lot of RV campgrounds as well. Gatlinburg has some, but specializes in cabins and hotels. The RV campgrounds around Pigeon Forge are 10 miles or less from Gatlinburg, Dollywood and the Dixie Stampede. There are more RV campgrounds along U.S. Highway 421, as well as near the entrance of the Smoky Mountains National Park.
While the area is most popular---and crowded---in summer, there are many things to attract tourist in winter as well. There are many skiing areas, such as Ober Gatlinburg. Many RV campgrounds are open year round, though some do close in the winter months.
