Need help on Lookout Mountain & Smoky Mountain trip, and more

I am planning to go Lookout Mountain and Smoky Mountain in October of
this year and need tips from you if you could..

I am thinking of flying into either Atlanta or Nashville, and flying
out from Charlotte, NC.

On the first day:

I am planning take a tour at Lookout Mountain, Ruby Falls, and Incline
Railway. Which is airport between Atlanta or Nashville is more more
accessible and better to Lookout Mountain area, considering the
traffic and others. The map shows the distance from Atlanta or
Nashville to Lookout Mountain is almost identical, but I am not sure
how scenic it would be and the traffic on Friday morning. Any tips
on choosing the airport, Atlanta or Nashville?
I will stay at Chattanooga (Lookout Mountain area). Any
recommendation on hotels?

On the second day:

I am planning to visit Smoky Mountain. From Chattanooga, which route
should I take to see the best scenic spots? I will be staying at
either Knoxville or Asheville, NC for the night. Any recommendation
on hotels? I will have two kids with me. is Dixie Stampede Show in
Pigeon Forge for kids?

On the third day:

I will be flying out from Charlotte late evening. I am not sure if
there are any great attractions on the way to Charlotte Airport.. If
not, I would spend more time on Smoky Mountain area. Which areas/
spots do you recommend in Smoky Mountain area?

Sorry for these newbie questions, but if you could give me some tips
based on your experiences, I would appreciate it.

thx much

"travel finder" wrote in message
...
I am planning to go Lookout Mountain and Smoky Mountain in October of
this year and need tips from you if you could..

I am thinking of flying into either Atlanta or Nashville, and flying
out from Charlotte, NC.

On the first day:

I am planning take a tour at Lookout Mountain, Ruby Falls, and Incline
Railway. Which is airport between Atlanta or Nashville is more more
accessible and better to Lookout Mountain area, considering the
traffic and others. The map shows the distance from Atlanta or
Nashville to Lookout Mountain is almost identical, but I am not sure
how scenic it would be and the traffic on Friday morning. Any tips
on choosing the airport, Atlanta or Nashville?
I will stay at Chattanooga (Lookout Mountain area). Any
recommendation on hotels?

You can actually stay at the Chattanooga Choo-Choo

airports You'll have a lot more choices to fly into Atlanta, I
imagine, since it is a hub. Then it's about 1 and 1/2 to 2 hours straight up
I-75. Nashville is slightly longer, and more rural, although there is always
the Jack Daniels Distillery. Remember, Nashville is on Central Time; Atlanta
and Chattanooga are Eastern Time.



On the second day:

I am planning to visit Smoky Mountain. From Chattanooga, which route
should I take to see the best scenic spots? I will be staying at
either Knoxville or Asheville, NC for the night. Any recommendation
on hotels? I will have two kids with me. is Dixie Stampede Show in
Pigeon Forge for kids?

You can take 411 (east of Chatta.) north to Maryville, and then 321 into
either the Townsend or Pigeon Forge/Galtinburg part entrances. Don't know
about Dixie Stampede, but there is plenty of other stuff to kids in Pigeon
Forge. Can't recommend a hotel in either city, but they've got the usual.


On the third day:

I will be flying out from Charlotte late evening. I am not sure if
there are any great attractions on the way to Charlotte Airport.. If
not, I would spend more time on Smoky Mountain area. Which areas/
spots do you recommend in Smoky Mountain area?

Go to Cades Cove inside the park. Go over Newfound Gap and see Cherokee, NC.
Check out Biltmore House near Asheville (the Vanderbilt palace/mansion).
Arts & crafts at Black Mountain. Can't speak for Charlotte, but there are of
things to do throughout the Smokies (Tennessee and NC)

"Sarah Banick" wrote:
"travel finder" wrote in message

I am planning to go Lookout Mountain and
Smoky Mountain in October...

FYI friendly warning: Great Smoky Mountains National Park is only
around a half million acres in size.


I am thinking of flying into either Atlanta
or Nashville, and flying
out from Charlotte, NC.
...
On the first day:
...
airports * You'll have a lot more choices
to fly into Atlanta, I imagine, since it is a hub.

Agreed, plus it is more likely for saving time by being on a direct
flight into ATL, and then skipping sitting around in the airport for 3
hours waiting for a connecting flight that gets you only 50 miles
closer. FYI, there's also Knoxville TN airport to consider,
particularly with the GSMNP being your last stop.

The OP's Day#1 plan of (local flight arrival, driving) Lookout
Mountain, Ruby Falls, and Incline Railway is already pretty ambitious
IMO. I'd recommend that they do an hour-by-hour plot to see how late
they'll be arriving at their first hotel night...I think that it could
easily be 9PM (if they didn't miss something because it closed for the
day before they got there).


On the second day:

I am planning to visit Smoky Mountain. *
From Chattanooga [then] staying at
either Knoxville or Asheville, NC ..

With the plan to then fly out of Charlotte on Day #3.

From Chattanooga to Charlotte via GSMNP is 350+ miles / 7+ hours worth
of driving, assuming zero stops for gas, food or anything else. The
breakdown of the distances in question are roughly:

Chattanooga - Knoxville: 110mi / 2hrs
Knoxville - SMNP - Asheville: 125mi / 3hrs
Asheville - Charlotte: 125mi / 2.5hrs

The OP needs to choose their poison.

You can take 411 (east of Chatta.) north
to Maryville, and then 321 into either the
Townsend or Pigeon Forge/Galtinburg part entrances.

From Maryville, I generally prefer the Townsend entrance, as the
Little Pigeon River is a pretty drive and it has the bonus of avoiding
the horrible traffic congestion of Pigeon Forge & Gatlinburg. Its
also the fastest way to Cade's Cove.

For overnight accomodations, there's some good hotels just 10 minutes
west of Maryville, across the street from the Knoxville airport.
IIRC, the Country Inn & Suites starts at $100/night.

However, if the plan persists in departing from Charlotte to the east,
you don't want your "after Smoky Mts" Day#2 to end with accomodations
that are back to the west...this adds an hour of driving west on Day#2
that is then repeated by driving east on Day#3.

As such, your 'least bad' options are to either kill yourself on Day#1
by doing the drive from Chattanooga to the Knoxville/Maryville area
(to get close to GSMNP for Day#2), or to change the flight departure
from Charlotte to Knoxville so that you don't have to hop over into
the Carolinas.


Don't know about Dixie Stampede, but there is
plenty of other stuff to kids in Pigeon Forge.

Pigeon Forge is a huge tourist trap...the "new and improved" and more
sprawling update to Gatlinburg. I'll reserve saying nasty things
about it until later :-) Anyway, the real issue is that there's a
lot of miles being proposed in only 3 short days, so there's not going
to be all that much downtime to consider such diversions anyway: are
the kids really going to want to sit down for a Show after riding on
airplanes in automobiles for so many hours?


I will be flying out from Charlotte late evening.
*I am not sure if there are any great attractions
on the way to Charlotte Airport.. * If not, I would
spend more time on Smoky Mountain area. *Which areas/
spots do you recommend in Smoky Mountain area?

Go to Cades Cove inside the park.

Nice, but I'd not do it on a day that I have a flight at an airport
that's 150 miles away.

Go over Newfound Gap and see Cherokee, NC.

I realize that this is in the wrong direction and out of the way, but
another place for nice views is Look Rock off the Foothills Parkway.
Maybe try it for Day#2's sunset?

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&sadd...=UTF8&t=h&z=12

http://tinyurl.com/5qk7h3

Check out Biltmore House near Asheville
(the Vanderbilt palace/mansion).
Arts & crafts at Black Mountain.

Both would be nice, and probably a lower time-risk.

... there are lots of
things to do throughout the Smokies (Tennessee and NC)

Agreed, especially if you're willing to get out of your car and out on
some trails. Problem is that with only 3 days, I'm afraid that the OP
reallyl isn't going to have that much time. In October, I'd probably
want to do Rainbow Falls, Alum Cave Bluff (perhaps all the way up to
Mt LeConte), Chimneytops, maybe Brushy Mountain.


-hh