Experience the best of Gatlinburg

Gatlinburg sits in a narrow valley of eastern Tennessee at the entrance to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, one of the most visited national parks in the United States. Its main street is lined with shops, candy makers, pancake houses and attractions, and an aerial tram climbs to a ski area on the mountain above.

Inside the park, Newfound Gap Road crosses the mountains to North Carolina, and Clingmans Dome, the highest point in Tennessee at about 2,025 metres, has an observation tower above the spruce-fir forest. Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail loops past old log cabins and streams, and trails lead to Laurel Falls and Alum Cave. Cades Cove, a valley of old cabins and churches, lies on the park's western side. Black bears and white-tailed deer live in the woods.

A loop of studios called the Arts and Crafts Community has potters, woodcarvers and broom makers, and Appalachian traditions include fiddle music, apple butter, cornbread and country ham. In spring wildflowers carpet the forest floor, in early summer fireflies flash in unison at nearby Elkmont, and in October the hillsides burn red and gold, while winters can bring snow.