How To Spend Your Christmas In Tennessee's Smoky Mountains

From snow-dusted mountains to over-the-top Christmas decorations, Tennessee’s Smoky Mountain region offers a winter wonderland worth planning your holiday travel around. The towns of Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, and Sevierville work together to make the season magical for their annual Smoky Mountain Winterfest celebration. This includes adorning the streets with more than 15 million twinkle lights from mid-November through mid-February.

While a drive through the Smokies is enough to put anyone in the Christmas spirit, the region also plans festive events and entertainment and offers unique shopping and lodging options to add extra cheer to your winter trip.

Entertainment

Favorite amusement parks and entertainment districts in the Smokies go all out for the winter holiday season. The Island in Pigeon Forge offers free admission to its 23-acre property with shopping, rides, and dining. While there, enjoy its 40-foot-tall walk-thru Christmas tree, more than a mile of decorative garland, millions of twinkle lights, and rides on its 200-foot-high observation wheel that lights up in green and red for the season.

Dollywood’s Smoky Mountain Christmas is another must for your trip. The park comes alive with more than 6 million twinkle lights and dozens of intricately decorated Christmas trees. Visitors can expect tasty seasonal treats, holiday plays, musical performances, and even a Christmas drone show once the sun goes down. Kids can stop by Santa’s workshop to see if their names made the naughty or nice list and get their photos taken with Old Saint Nick.

If you’re looking for some snow to ring in the holiday season, ride the Ober Mountain aerial tramway in Gatlinburg to its amusement park with skiing, snow tubing, and ice skating activities, as well as a snow zone play area for the little ones. You can also try the park’s seasonally decorated mountain coaster while you’re there.

When it’s time to warm up, plan to spend your evening at one of the region’s dinner shows. Dolly Parton's Stampede Dinner Attraction, Hatfield & McCoy Dinner Feud, and Pirates Voyage Dinner & Show all pivot their regular performances to a fun holiday theme for the season.

Special Events

For a small-town holiday treat, stop by historic downtown Sevierville in early December to watch its Christmas tree lighting ceremony outside the iconic Sevier County Courthouse. The event includes local choirs, games, and activities for kids, a reading of ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, and lots of community booths and snacks. The next morning, visitors can enjoy the town’s Christmas parade downtown with marching bands, baton twirlers, and more.

Gatlinburg also hosts its Fantasy of Lights Christmas Parade in early December, as it has for more than 45 years. Around 60,000 people travel to the area to watch the event’s lighted floats, giant balloons, marching bands, and visit from Santa Claus. Attendees near the route’s Parkway Plaza can also catch the town’s official Christmas tree lighting during the event.

If you’re looking for a drive-thru light show, you can catch Shadrack’s Christmas Wonderland at Soaky Mountain Waterpark in Sevierville, complete with 25-foot trumpeting angels, a star-studded pathway, and more. Guests can stop at the onsite “Snowy Mountain Village” for refreshments, memorabilia, family-friendly activities, and a visit with Santa himself.

Shopping

The Smokies region is filled with unique places to get your holiday shopping done. In Gatlinburg, head over to the Great Smoky Arts and Crafts Community. Located about three miles east of downtown, this quiet, forested area of Gatlinburg hosts a historic eight-mile driving loop past artist studios, shops, and restaurants. During the holidays, local Appalachian crafters decorate their shops seasonally and create one-of-a-kind gifts and memories for Smoky Mountain travelers. 

A bit farther east is the small town of Cosby, Tennessee. While there, make sure to stop at Our Place, a quirky bookstore and gift shop where you can enjoy a made-to-order latte while you peruse its many treasures.

Back in Pigeon Forge, head to The Old Mill historic district for unique shops and a seasonal view of the neighborhood’s 200-year-old grist mill water wheel beside the Little Pigeon River. For the cat lovers on your gift list, stop by the hole-in-the-wall Smoky Mountain Cat House for a variety of feline-themed merch. A Long Story Short across the street is a perfect stop for vintage books, rustic decor, gems and crystals, and other whimsical gift ideas.

Lodging

The best place to stay in the Smokies for holiday cheer is The Inn at Christmas Place in Pigeon Forge. This year-round Christmas-themed hotel boasts thoughtfully decorated rooms, including suites with full-size Christmas trees. Santa visits the inn in the evenings to sing and share milk and cookies with guests following his performance. You’ll also have a chance to enjoy the lodging’s Bavarian architecture, landscaped gardens, complimentary hot breakfast, family-sized hot tub, and two-story Christmas-carol-playing glockenspiel clock.

Additionally, there are a variety of hotels located along the Sevierville and Gatlinburg parade routes, which offer convenient ways to see the event without having to deal with traffic afterward. In Sevierville, try the Central Hotel, a thoughtfully restored 1930s building downtown that hosted President Roosevelt in 1940 when he dedicated Great Smoky Mountains National Park.