Things to do

The Smokies, beyond the hotel

Theme parks, mountain rides, indoor rainy-day plans, and partners we'd send our own family to.

Preferred partner

Top Concepts Pigeon Forge

Top Concepts operates a family of entertainment venues clustered in Pigeon Forge — mini golf, action-park games, and a dinner show. Each is its own place; together they cover most of a rainy weekend.

Park Hopper passes available

Top Concepts sells combo passes across their properties — handy if you're planning to hit more than one with the kids.

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Top Concepts Pigeon Forge

Crave Golf Club

Candy-themed 19-hole mini golf — indoor and rooftop courses.

Two 19-hole candy-themed mini golf courses (one indoor, one rooftop), escape rooms, mini-bowling, and a candy shop on-site. Rainy-day friendly.

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Top Concepts Pigeon Forge

Sky Pirates of Mermaid Bay

Immersive ocean-themed adventure mini golf with live characters.

Walk-through shipwrecks, sea caves and treasure-filled coves on a mini golf course that's part theatre. Live characters, lights, and a story you play your way through.

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Top Concepts Pigeon Forge

Toy Box Mini Golf

Toy-themed outdoor mini golf with an on-site toy store.

A toy-themed outdoor 18-hole course with a toy store at the clubhouse. The whimsical visual design makes it photo-ready; the toy store makes the post-game easy.

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Top Concepts Pigeon Forge

Paula Deen's Lumberjack Feud

Dinner show — Southern buffet, live lumberjack competitions.

All-you-can-eat Southern buffet paired with a live lumberjack-sports show — axe throwing, log rolling, climbing, and chopping. Family-friendly evening, runs nightly in season.

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Preferred partners

Our short list

Two more we'd send our own family to — one indoor (works rain or shine), one outdoors (seasonal). Ask the front desk for current deals before you go.

Partner Gatlinburg

Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies

Walk under sharks — TripAdvisor's top-ranked U.S. aquarium for years.

Penguin Playhouse, the 340-ft moving glide path through Shark Lagoon, stingray touch tank, and Coral Reef. Indoor — works rain or shine.

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Partner Hartford

Smoky Mountain Whitewater Rafting

Class III–IV rapids on the Pigeon River — half-day trip.

Spring through fall, guided trips on the Pigeon River out of Hartford. Wetsuits, helmets and paddles provided. Good for first-timers and seasoned rafters.

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More to explore

The big regional anchors

Headline attractions of the Smokies — popular for good reason, and on most trip plans.

Pigeon Forge

Dollywood

The headline. Coasters, craft demos, and dinner shows on a 150-acre park.

The biggest park in the area. Lightning Rod, Wild Eagle, the Wildwood Grove kids zone, Festival of Nations in spring, and Smoky Mountain Christmas at year-end. Plan a full day.

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Gatlinburg

Anakeesta

Chondola up to a mountain-top park with treetop walks.

Ride the chondola out of downtown Gatlinburg up to treetop trail bridges, Vista Gardens, the Rail Runner mountain coaster, and ridge-line dining. Stays open after dark.

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Gatlinburg

Ober Mountain

Year-round mountain park — tramway, snow tubing, alpine slide.

The aerial tramway leaves downtown Gatlinburg for a year-round mountain park. Snow tubing and ice skating in winter, alpine slide and coaster in summer, Black Bear Habitat year-round.

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Pigeon Forge

WonderWorks

The upside-down building — indoor science, illusions, ropes course.

The famously upside-down building on the Parkway. Five themed zones — natural disasters, physical challenges, light and sound, space discovery — plus an indoor ropes course.

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Sevierville

NASCAR SpeedPark

Eight different go-kart tracks plus mini golf and arcade.

Eight go-kart tracks scaled to different ages and speeds. Mini golf, kids' rides, an arcade and bumper boats round out the park — most families spend 2–3 hours.

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Run an attraction in the Smokies? We're a curated collection of hand-picked hotels with thousands of guests asking the front desk "what should we do this week?" — we're open to talking to attractions whose vibe matches ours. Reach out.