Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge

Check out Cades Cove

4-5 days is a good amount of time. We’d go out there for family vacations for the same amount of time all the time when I was younger and now I live an hour away.

You can definitely spend a day in Gburg. Even just walking the strip is fun with all the sights and smells. A lot of attractions are clearly meant for kids/families, but Ripleys is interesting and you might like the Old Smokey Moonshine. Check out the Mountain Edge Grill for buffalo burgers, or Best Italian. Can’t explain why but the Pizza Hut on the strip is the best PH in America. The skylift is worth doing once.

Cade’s Cove is great, but only on a weekday early in the morning or right before dark. Any other time expect to sit in your parked car for hours this time of year. If you go in the evening pretty much expect to see bears. Abrams Falls trail is in the cove and is one of the more popular trails in the area.

If you’re a nature guy, there’s plenty of other trails in the park too. Definitely take the main park road up to Newfound Gap and check out Clingmans Dome too for the best easy access view in the park. I’d say the best trails in my opinion are The Jump Off, Rainbow Falls/The Bullhead up Mt LeConte (a full day hike), Alum Cave (another crowded area), and Baskins Creek Falls. My Cammerer is another longer trail for great views but not quite as long as LeConte. Two hiking days, a day in the cove and a day in the strip is very doable. Pigeon Forge isn’t as walkable, but The Island is pretty cool and there’s a lot of great pankcake places on the strip there too

White water rafting one day, clingmans dome one day, cades cove one day

Forgot to mention Anakeesta, it's pretty neat and has some things to do which is included in your skylift price...if you purchase within the last hour of closing, you can ride up that evening and all day the next day. Highly recommend.

Biltmore Estate in Asheville. Navitat in Bernardsville.

It's a great place to not take yourself seriously. I enjoy a day walking around town, just fully prepare for what it really is: whole lot of mouth breathers and saltwater taffy shops, t-shirt shops, etc... If prepared, it's actually fun. Just do not expect any semblance of refinement. You'll have a blast.

Other than than, I'm a huge fan of "the sinks" in the park, it's a fun little swimming hole. I bring my hammock. I've often seen bears on that road in from town to the Sinks.

I never got on board with Biltmore. It's a monument to stupidity and excess. The guy who built it was third generation money. He did little to earn it, basically went bankrupt, and sold it off piece by piece when pesky things like bills got involved.

The golf courses around there are a hoot - most fairways are in narrow valleys. You could slice like Stevie Wonder and the ball just bounces back down the hillside into the fairway. Gravity is a beautiful thing.

Finally, the towns like Dillsboro and Bryson City on the other side of the park are a way more genuine and relaxed vibe. Less t-shirt shops, more beers.

Also if the Buckberry Inn has recovered from those awful fires, their dining room is amazing. Really good elk and a heck of a view.