Only have a couple of days to explore the Smokies?
A Gatlinburg weekend is the perfect mix of mountain adventure, small-town charm, and Tennessee flavor.
From moonshine and wine tastings downtown to mountain coasters, escape rooms, and scenic overlooks, this little town packs a big punch, no matter your age, budget, or travel style.
My family all grew up with a cabin here and each trip reminds me why it’s one of my favorite quick getaways.
In this post, I’ll show you exactly how to make the most of two days in Gatlinburg including where to eat, what to do, and how to squeeze in just enough relaxation before heading home.
2 Day Gatlinburg Weekend Itinerary
For this itinerary, I want to focus specifically on Gatlinburg only and not other nearby destinations or attractions.
I’ll have another post soon for Pigeon Forge and I will update this paragraph when it goes live.
If you’re looking for some other things to do in the area like a Great Smoky Mountains National Park itinerary or Dollywood One Day Itinerary I have those as separate blog posts.
Day 1: Downtown Gatlinburg
Today is all about getting acquainted with Gatlinburg, particularly the downtown area where all the shops and attractions are.
Gatlinburg is a small town, so “downtown” is actually just a long strip of where all things to do are located.
If you want a bit more of a leisurely itinerary, I’d recommend a mix of hanging out at your resort or cabin and taking time to stroll through downtown for a few hours, but you don’t have to do all the activities.
Morning: Scenic Overlook and Downtown Experiences
I recommend starting your morning at the Gatlinburg Scenic Overlook where you can see what the whole area looks like.
From there, you’ll slowly make your way into downtown Gatlinburg, stopping at popular attractions like the mountain coaster and mini golf.
Gatlinburg Scenic Overlook
If you’re up early enough, I recommend trying to be up here for sunrise, but we visited toward the end of the day after spending the day hiking in the Smoky Mountains.
Here is the location on Google maps for easy access, but any map app you use on your phone will recognize the location if you just type in “Gatlinburg Scenic Overlook”.
Moonshine Mountain Coaster Ride
The Moonshine Mountain Coaster Ride is a popular attraction lately in a lot of mountain town destinations like The Poconos in Pennsylvania and Big Bear Lake in California.
It’s a mini roller coaster where you’re sitting a sort of sled and you can control the brakes a bit to control your speed.
These mountain coasters are scenic and a fun experience for most ages – I’d say most kids 6-7+ that are on the more adventurous side would enjoy this and you can ride as a pair too!
Click Here To Book Your Moonshine Mountain Coaster Ride Today!
Mini Golf
Mini golf is one of our favorite leisure activities when we travel because each course is unique to the area.
Along the same street as the mountain coaster are 2 different mini golf courses.
There’s Ripley’s Davy Crockett Mini Golf and Hillbilly Golf and I recommend doing whichever looks more interesting to you since they are right next to each other.
Afternoon: Downtown Gatlinburg Experiences
After mini golf, you can park downtown for the rest of the day because everything else is within a walkable distance throughout downtown Gatlinburg.
Again, if you’re looking for a more leisurely itinerary, this is the time just to stroll through downtown to check out the shops, but if you want to be entertained or participate in some activities, there are so many options.
Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies
Aquariums are a great activity for any age group and any group size.
It’s also something to consider in your itinerary if there is inclement or cold weather that prevents you from being able to enjoy the outdoor things in the area.
This aquarium isn’t huge, but they have live demonstrations going on throughout the day and add-on experiences if you want to spend more time here.
Anakeesta
Anakeesta is a mountaintop adventure park, kind of like an amusement park.
To get up there, you take the famous Chondola.
It’s a combination of a chair lift and gondola lift, where you get to choose to take the open-air chair life or the enclosed gondola.
Once you’re at the top, there is an observation tower, ziplines, a kids adventure zone, a treetop skywalk, and a mountain coaster.
If you go at night time, you can enjoy Astra Lumina, which is a lights, projections, and sounds show that happens only after sunset.
Some activities have an additional fee, so I recommend looking at everything they offer ahead of time to make sure you’ve correctly priced out everything you want to do.
The Escape Game
The Escape Game is one of the most popular escape room companies in the US.
We love to do escape rooms everywhere we travel and do rooms that are themed to the area or just brand new to us.
The more the merrier when it comes to escape rooms – usually with a maximum of 8 people – so it’s a great activity if you’re traveling with extended family or friends.
We’ve done plenty with just the 2 of us and it’s also fun as a team building and communication exercise for couples!
Click Here To Book Your Gatlinburg Escape Room Today!
Evening: Dinner and a Ghost Tour
Once you’re ready to start winding down for the night, I recommend dinner at Howard’s Restaurant, followed by a ghost tour.
Dinner at Howard’s Restaurant
Howard’s is the oldest restaurant in Gatlinburg and it’s a great, somewhat casual steakhouse.
If you don’t have reservations, there will probably be a long wait to be seated.
If you’re able to get an outside table, I highly recommend it.
The creek and fresh air is a nice setting for a nice dinner.
Before we had dinner, we shared a house salad.
This is the only salad I’ve ever had that came with french fries!
I had the Filet Mignon with a side of Mac n Cheese and a side of Glazed Carrots.
JP also had a steak with glazed carrots, but chose the loaded potato as his second side.
Gatlinburg Ghosts of the Smokies
After dinner, do the Gatlinburg Ghosts of the Smokies ghost tour.
This tour is hosted by US Ghost Adventures and we’ve done tours with them all over, including Virginia Beach, Washington DC, Cincinnati, and Williamsburg – check out our favorite ghost tours in the US!
Doing ghost tours is one of our favorite things to do everywhere we go to learn more about the destination and get recommendations from the local guides about their favorite things to od.
Click Here To Book Your Gatlinburg Ghosts of the Smokies Tour Today!
Day 2: Downtown Gatlinburg
Today’s itinerary is still centered around downtown Gatlinburg, but with more time in the afternoon to explore the shops rather than structured experiences.
The morning though has some fun activities!
Morning: Ober Mountain
Similar to Anakeesta, you’ll take a chairlift up to all the activities.
Each season, the activities available will be different, due to having snow in Winter.
But there’s options for tubing, ice skating, bobsleds, bumper cars, and more.
Afternoon: Wine and Moonshine Tasting
All throughout downtown Gatlinburg, there are free wine tastings (and some small paid ones like $5), as well as moonshine tastings.
We tried 3 different tastings during our visit:
- Gatlinburg Winery – wine tasting
- Elkmont Winery – wine tasting
- Ole Smoky – moonshine tasting
These aren’t like traditional wine tastings where you get a 1-2 oz pour of 4-5 wines in a glass and have a sommelier go through all the wines with you.
These pours are small sips and they’re mostly fruit wines, so if you’re a traditional wine lover, you probably won’t care for these unless you make a wine slushie out of them.
They’re very light and fruity.
Evening: Dinner at Heirloom Room
This is the perfect dinner for a date night or special occasion.
They serve elevated versions of Appalachian cuisine, like house-smoked frog legs.
But they also have all the traditional steaks you’d expect from a steakhouse and lots of different sauces and butters you can flavor them with.
Just outside of downtown Gatlinburg is Bent Creek Golf Village.
It’s a Hilton resort with all 1 and 2 bedroom suites all along a golf course.
So you’ll have the perks of a full kitchen and a private bedroom for the same cost as a typical hotel room.
Click Here To Book Your Bent Creek Golf Village Stay Today!
Conclusion: 2 Day Gatlinburg Weekend Itinerary
Most people that visit Gatlinburg go to Pigeon Forge and Great Smoky Mountains National Park as opposed to staying in just Gatlinburg since they’re all in the same place.
But I wanted to have separate posts for each because it makes more sense logistically to do everything in one area at a time rather than going back and forth between multiple places.
Downtown Gatlinburg has a little bit of everything for visitors of all ages, all group sizes, and all budgets.
I love that it’s walkable and has so many great dining options!
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