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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 |
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Need help on Lookout Mountain & Smoky Mountain trip, and more
"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) |
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Need help on Lookout Mountain & Smoky Mountain trip, and more
"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 |
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