Great Smoky
Mountains

The Most-Visited Park in America

No entrance fee, ever — explored free, budget, mid-range, or luxury. A research-based guide to planning your days across Tennessee and North Carolina.

🎟

FREE

Entrance Fee

No fee, ever

🚗

$5–$40

Parking Tag

Day / week / year

🌿

Apr–Nov

Best Season

Spring & fall

⛰

6,643 ft

Kuwohi

Highest on the AT

✈

TYS·AVL

Nearest Airports

Knoxville / Asheville

Why the Smokies

The Best Idea America Ever Had

Fall color across the Great Smoky Mountains

The crown jewel of the park system.

Nearly 13 million people visit the Great Smoky Mountains every year — more than any other national park in the country — and yet the park is 522,000 acres, the size of a small country. Walk 20 minutes off almost any trailhead and the crowds disappear completely.

It is also the only major national park that has never charged an entrance fee and is legally prohibited from doing so. The one cost is a parking tag; everything the mountains hold is free to reach.

⛰ High Country

Kuwohi and Newfound Gap, the roof of the Appalachian Trail.

🐺 Wildlife

~1,900 black bears and a reintroduced elk herd.

🌴 History

Cades Cove cabins, churches, and a working grist mill.

✨ Fireflies

The synchronous fireflies of Elkmont, by lottery each spring.

Four Ways to Experience the Smokies