Staying in the Smokes

December 16, 2009 7:48 AM

Putting together a Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg trip for after xmas and before New Years. Looking for lodging recommendations.

As a kid, I visited Gatlinburg many times, now I'd like to take my girlfriend and her kids there to see all it's gimmicky (and mountainy) goodness. It's been a while so I'm not sure what's a good deal and where a reputable place to stay.

Our prerequisites is that it's a cabin/chalet, it has a hot tub and possibly a pool table (none of us really play pool, it'd just be a nice extra), the roar of the river/stream that runs near Gatlinburg

While the strip (where all the gimmicky stores are) is something we'd like to do...we're also wanting to do some geocaching and find weird oddities surrounding the area (example: Field of the Woods).

Like most people, we're on a budget but are willing to drop some cash for this trip.

posted by Hands of Manos to Travel & Transportation around Gatlinburg, TN (4 answers total)

This is the company we rented from in October. They were very nice and the cabin was excellent! It was only about 10 - 15 minutes away from the strip, but that was far enough where we saw two bears the very first day we were there. It was down the street from Ober Gatlinburg, so we could park up there and ride the sky trolley down to town; I recommend this highly, since driving through the strip is an exercise in frustration. No river, though.

Pretty much every single chalet you rent will have a hot tub and a pool table. We were laughing about it, actually - who knew that was a prerequisite?
posted by mygothlaundry at 8:30 AM on December 16, 2009

This is a little further out than Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg, but me and three teenage daughters LOVED our experience in Blue Ridge, GA using this company

Cabins were awesome.
posted by kiwi-epitome at 8:52 AM on December 16, 2009

Oh and you want Gatlinburg, not Pigeon Forge. Pigeon Forge has gotten really depressing over the years.
posted by mygothlaundry at 9:06 AM on December 16, 2009

We stayed here a couple summers ago. It is lovely and has everything except the roar of the river. Be advised that one bedroom is on the ground (walk-out basement) floor. It's between Gatlinburg and PF, so you'd have to drive to get into town, but it's pretty and secluded.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 12:23 PM on December 16, 2009