Must-visit Cades Cove in the Smoky Mountains! 5 things to do for VIEWS! ⛰🐻 Smoky Mountains Tennessee things to do

Hi there!

Cades Cove is one of the most popular things to do in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

There is where you will find one of the best scenic drives in the Smoky Mountains.

The most popular way to do Cades Cove is to drive the Cades Cove Loop Road.

But you can also enjoy Cades Cove by biking or walking!

 

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The Cades Cove scenic drive is not long. It’s a scenic drive of around 11 miles.

But it is a slow-going road.

It is about taking in the views and some things to see along the way!

So the first thing to know about going to Cades Cove is that you can make it simply about the drive without stepping foot out of your car.

You will get scenic views of Cades Cove from your car just by driving the Cades Cove Loop Road!

 

So you don’t actually need to get out of the car at all to see scenic views of Cades Cove.

But if you do want to make time for it, then there are small stops that you can make as you are driving along the Cades Cove Loop Road too!

 

 

 

5 things to do in Cades Cove

 

I went to Cades Cove in September. What the weather will be like from year to year can vary (which means the colors can vary!), but this is what it was like for me!

 

 

1. Walk inside a historic cabin

 

There are a few historic cabins that you can stop off at along Cades Cove Loop Road.

One of them is the John Oliver Cabin.

You can take a walk from the parking lot to have a look inside a Cades Cove cabin to imagine what like may have been like in Cades Cove back in the day.

 

 

See more about this Cades Cove activity: Walking inside a Cades Cove cabin

 

 

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2. Hike the Abrams Falls Trail to the famous Cades Cove waterfalls

 

One of the best waterfall hikes in Great Smoky Mountains National Park is in Cades Cove!

To get to the famous Cades Cove waterfalls, you’ll hike the Abrams Falls Trail that includes a few water crossings across a bridge.

 

 

You get to the Abrams Falls trailhead by driving the Cades Cove Loop Road.

 

👆 The scenic views you’ll get driving from the Abrams Falls trailhead back to Cades Cove Loop Road.

 

See more about this Cades Cove activity: Hiking to the famous Cades Cove waterfalls

 

 

3. See a historic mill

 

 

4. If it’s Wednesday, you can bike the Cades Cove loop road without any cars.

 

In 2020, the Cades Cove road was closed to cars ALL DAY on Wednesdays, so be sure to check the updates for when you’re going to see if it’ll be the same. In previous years, it was closed to cars only in the mornings.

 

 

See more about this Cades Cove activity: Biking the Cades Cove Loop Road

 

 

5. If it’s Wednesday, you can walk the Cades Cove loop road without any cars too!

 

You can also walk part of Cades Cove.

It would be a bit much to walk the whole thing since it would be 11 miles of walking without any of the sides trips aka Cades Cove stops.

But you can make it into a 4-5 mile half loop. There is a road that cuts across to split it to make this possible

You can make it a loop at Sparks Lane.

 

 

See more about this Cades Cove activity: Walking the Cades Cove Loop Road

 

 

PLUS…

Camping in Cades Cove

There is the Cades Cove campground!

This is one of the popular campgrounds in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The Cades Cove Campground is located just outside the start of the Cades Cove Loop Road.

There is also the Cades Cove campground store, available to all even if you’re not camping.

 

 

Cades Cove hours

 

It is officially listed that you can get started driving the loop at 8am, and ideally you’ll want to be off of the loop road shortly after sunset.

 

 

How much time do you need in Cades Cove?

So how much time you need will entirely depend on what you want to do in Cades Cove!

The loop road itself is around 11 miles.

But it is a slow going one way road!

Some people are there to “only” drive the loop road.

Some people only stop at 1 or 2 of the historic sites.

Some people may only stop for the waterfall hike.

Others may stop at everything!

And so, at minimum, you will probably want to give yourself 1.5-2 hours.

If you were to drive the Cades Cove loop road straight without ANY traffic, you could drive it in less than an hour.

But it’s very likely that you will encounter slow vehicles in front of you.

 

 

Cars will practically come to a stop if they see a deer.

If someone sees a bear, you can almost definitely expect to come to a complete halt! And you might be one of those cars coming to a stop and holding up traffic too. 😉 (Seeing bears in Cades Cove is not unusual.)

On the day you drive Cades Cove… it’s important that you bring PATIENCE!

You will probably need at least 2-3 hours on the Cades Cove loop road.

 

 

Where to start Cades Cove Loop Road

 

Cades Cove Loop Road is on google maps.

If you are coming from Gatlinburg, then you can drive the Little River Road to Cades Cove. 

For something easy to remember for google maps, you can make the “Cades Cove Visitor Center” your destination (map).

This is actually about halfway along the Cades Cove loop road. But navigating here will get you to the start of the Cades Cove Loop Road.

The beginning of the one way loop road would be closer to the spot marked on google maps as the “Cades Cove information kiosk.” (map)

When I went, there was a $1 self-guided auto tour guidebook at the information kiosk. Exact change was required.

I also saw them at a Great Smoky Mountains National Park visitor center.

 

 

 

More Cades Cove pictures

 

 

And that’s a bit about Cades Cove in Great Smoky Mountains National Park!

 

See more:

• Scenic drives in the Smoky Mountains
• Driving Little River Road to get to Cades Cove
• Things to do in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

 

HAPPY DRIVING THROUGH CADES COVE!