Our Gatlinburg Must See/Do List

After a few friends asked about traveling to Gatlinburg, I decided to share our "Must See/Do" list...

Restaurants:

Most Romance/Best Steak: The Peddler Steakhouse - A little pricey, but save this for your dress up/romantic night. It is the Ruth's Chris of Gatlinburg. Be sure to request a table by the window, and and if you are celebrating a special occasion tell them so that you get a lit candle. Great service, delicious steaks, awesome salad bar, and yummy desserts.

Best Meal Overall: The Old Mill - This restaurant is in the town outside of Gatlinburg called Pigeon Forge. This is the BEST meal I have ever had in TN, and one of the best EVER. It is southern cooking, and every single thing is awesome. I had chicken and dumplings...sooo good! The wait was 2 hours, but it was SO worth it. We would have gone twice if we had time to.

Best Breakfast: The Log Cabin Pancake House - BEST breakfast EVER. We went there 2 out of 3 mornings. There is always a line out the door, but it moves quick. Great pancakes and waffles.

Other Restaurants Worth a Try:

1) The Cheese Cupboard and Hofbrauhaus - Cute German store with cheeses and such. Upstairs they have a little restaurant with awesome Reubens. If you like them, go! Mmm!

2) Mellow Mushroom - This is a great pizza place. Cheap and yummy.

3) Cherokee Grill - A lot to choose from. We both tried the cheese steaks and loved it.

4. The Applewood Restaurant in Sevierville - This is the town you go through while going to Gatlinburg. Very good breakfast or lunch. My husband prefers breakfast, but you cannot go wrong either way.

Favorite Things to Do:

1) Ripley's Aquarium

2) Wax Museum

3) Hillybilly Golf

4) Circus Golf (Black light/3D)

5) Titanic Exhibit

6) Ober Gatlinburg Tramway

7) Old Time Photos

8) Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum

9) Smoky Mountain Winery

10) Chairlift

We hear that the Dixie Stampede and the Hatfield & McCoy dinner show are good...but we did not want to spend the money.

#1 Must: Stay in a cabin. So many people stay in a hotel because they don't realize that they can stay in a cabin for the same cost, or they think they need to be in town. It took less than 5 minutes to get from our cabin to town and was worth it to have our own hot tub, a heart-shaped whirlpool in our room and the privacy. Plus, the MOST beautiful views. We book through Cabinsusa.com. This time we stayed in Alpine Vista...views were great.

What did we learn during this trip?

1) Life is busy, but no matter what, make time for each other.

2) Decide how much money you want to spend on a trip, take that amount out in cash and only get more out if you absolutely need to. Plastic makes it so easy to keep spending.

3) Never travel home on a holiday such as Labor Day...it will result in spending 10 hours in stop and go traffic, versus the 7 hours the trip should have been.

Anything that we missed that you LOVE to do?

Gatlinburg is fun, but be prepared to spend some money to enjoy the attractions and good food! :-)