Cades Cove Loop Road runs past the historic farmsteads and split-rail fences with the mountains filling the back of every view. You stay in that valley for the whole loop, and you take it slow. Newfound Gap Road is the climb that follows, up to the Tennessee and North Carolina line.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is consistently the most visited national park in the country. The Tennessee side is the one you reach through Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, or Townsend. You sleep at Cades Cove Campground or Elkmont.
Book the site before the van. Advance reservations are required at both campgrounds, and they are not walk-up. Neither has hookups. If you need more sleeping space than a campervan, look at RV rentals in Knoxville.
Summer is when that reservation needs to be in hand first. Cades Cove stays open year-round, and Elkmont is seasonal.
Every vehicle needs a parking tag to stop longer than 15 minutes anywhere in the park. One tag ties to one license plate, and it has to be a physical tag on display. A digital version is not accepted, and the tag does not hold a parking spot.
From early May through September, Cades Cove Loop Road closes to vehicles each Wednesday for the vehicle-free program. Little River Road, Newfound Gap Road, and the loop are the primary roads, open year-round when weather allows. Secondary scenic roads close seasonally for snow and ice.
The North Carolina side of the same park, toward Asheville, is a separate trip that belongs to the North Carolina side.
Norris Dam State Park
At Norris Dam you look down at the lake, the water below the wall. The historic district beside it is TVA-era stonework. East and West Campgrounds are both closed for renovation as of September 2026. The park has not published a reopening date, so you day-trip the dam from Cades Cove or Elkmont until the pads are back.
Obed Wild and Scenic River
Lilly Bluff Overlook puts you on a boardwalk over the Clear Creek gorge, sandstone climbing walls on both sides. Boulder-field trails run the same area, and the Bridge Trail is how climbers reach the routes. Clear Creek is reachable for wading and paddling from Lilly Bridge.
RVs and trailers cannot use the Rock Creek Campground access road because of the steep grade, so a campervan does the Obed as day use. Big South Fork is the plateau overnight, and it belongs to the rest of Tennessee.