Day trips from Nashville · Town
Gatlinburg
220 miles from downtown Nashville · about 3 hours 30 minutes
Sevier County, TN, at the Sugarlands entrance to the national park
Long day or overnight, not an afternoon
Gatlinburg is a resort town of about 3,900 permanent residents pressed up against the entrance to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Its walkable Parkway strip concentrates aerial attractions, an aquarium and tourist retail into roughly eight blocks.
- Distance
- 220 miles, about 3.5 hours
- Time zone
- Eastern. You lose an hour driving over
- Typical aerial attraction
- $40 to $60 per adult, each
- Parking
- Paid municipal lots and garages
Permits, fees and access
No city entry fee, but parking is paid throughout and it adds up. The three aerial attractions are separately ticketed, weather dependent and non-refundable. Note that tram parking for Ober Mountain is at a different address than the Parkway tram station, which is a common navigation mistake.
Things to do in Gatlinburg
Addresses, hours and prices as published by each operator in August 15, 2026. Hours and prices move, so check before you go.
Gatlinburg SkyPark
765 Parkway. Formerly SkyLift Park. A chairlift to the SkyBridge, the longest pedestrian cable bridge in North America, plus the 1.5-mile SkyTrail. Open 9am to 9pm daily. Adults 12 to 64 $40.95, seniors $33.95, juniors 6 to 11 $26.95, under 5 free. Closed February 1 to 4 each year for maintenance.
Anakeesta
576 Parkway. A mountaintop park reached by chondola, with treetop skywalks, a mountain coaster and gardens. Adults 12 to 64 $39.99, children 4 to 11 $27.99, seniors $32.99, under 3 free. Hours vary by date.
Ober Mountain
Tram station at 1001 Parkway, with separate tram parking at 314 Cottage Drive. Formerly Ober Gatlinburg. Advance pricing runs $39 for a Fun Pass, $59 for an Adventure Pass, $99 for the zipline. Individual items include the tram at $29.
Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies
88 River Road. Open 365 days a year. Their ticketing site would not load reliably when I checked, so call 865-430-8808 for current pricing rather than trusting a number you read elsewhere.
One thing to know first
SkyPark, Anakeesta and Ober each run forty to sixty dollars an adult, they are weather dependent, and they do not refund. A family of four doing two of them clears three hundred dollars before food. On a low cloud day you pay full price to ride up into fog. Check the webcams before you buy.
Access rules, fees and closures verified August 15, 2026 against the agency that manages this place. They change, sometimes without notice. Check before you drive.
I keep this list because it is genuinely how people spend weekends here, and because almost every guide to it is out of date. If you are weighing a move to Middle Tennessee and want to know which part of it puts you closest to the things you actually like, ask me. No pitch.