Best Glamping near Tellico Plains, TN

I went to visit this campground today. So I called the number and this campground is actually in tellico plains Tennessee. There is no campground at this location. So please please do not make the trip out there.

The name has changed to Smitty's Lodge & CG. I found this awesome campground close to the beginning of the Cherohala skyway in Tellico Plains. Includes picnic table, fire pit and some chairs (they also sell firewood), clean restrooms and showers, use of refrigerator, microwave, coffee maker, and super nice hosts. I highly recommend visiting this campground. I stayed in a tent, but they do have cabins for rent also. Campsites are level and spacious.

Expensive but worth it. The owners are going all out with this campground. Tiny homes, glamping tents, and cabins for rent. Then there are on river and off river RV sites. The on river rv sites have a gazebo over the picnic table. Great facilities that are only being made better.

It is right before the entrance to the Smoky Mountain National Park. Townsend is called the peaceful side of the Smoky Mountains.

Fun and relaxing creekside Glamping treehouse, there's plenty of space for a few tents as well. The creek is cool and refreshing to enjoy rock hunting. Large fire pit and grill to make our dinner. We stargazed on one if the clear nights, looked like the planetarium! When we went to sleep we we're comfortable in the Air-conditioned beautifully decorated treehouse. Lots of fun places to go within 20 minutes in any direction... really centrally located in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains!

We loved this campground! Very nice and spacious sites. The campground was developed along the Little River and is absolutely gorgeous! The bathhouses are the nicest I have ever seen. The sites were level and had full hook-ups. They are renovating the pool and it looks like it will be amazing. It was easy to get to anything Smoky Mountain related including Cades Cove. If camping isn't your thing, they also have vacation homes, glamping tents, tiny houses, and airstreams to rent. We rode our bikes at Cades Cove which is closed to cars on Wednesdays, hiked the Spruce Flat Falls Trail and Rainbow Falls Trail. It was a great camping experience!

Ashley here with The Dyrt. We're so happy to have this property on our platform. There are several lodging options to choose from: Tent, Rv, Yurt, Cabin, Mini Cabin. Check them out and come back here to leave them some love.

I booked a yurt for my husband while I was hiking the AT. The manager was very polite until I complained later. When my husband arrived, he could not locate the yurt, because the name had been changed, and I was not told. The bed was made up with (animal) haired imbedded into the comforter and hair on the linens, which the manager was witness to and changed himself. The heater did not work. My intention was for my husband to enjoy the resort and its amenities, but he wouldn't go to the tavern after tge other experiences. Per our conversation, the manager agreed to a monetary refund that we never saw. After a month, I left a message asking for a call and I received a text saying that he would give us a $35 gift card to the tavern (which we can never use). I asked for a phone call and was told that he didn't have to call me, because this was his final offer.

Very laid back atmosphere. Calm camping from yurt to primitive within short distance of each other and camp house . Beauty scenery of mountain worth viewing on rainy day! I’ve never camped without a river or pond and enjoyed it so much ! It was just beautiful and peaceful. They do event also. I imagine may not be as peaceful then ;) really nice people and place to visit.

Campground Review:

This Campground is really unique and beautiful with a good variety of natural settings for both tent and RV sites. If you look through my pictures you will see that almost every RV site is on a roaring creek as are the tent sites, and there are cabins on site as well. This would be an excellent site for a multi family gathering where some want cabins, some want RVs and some want tents. There are 4 waterfalls on the property, 2 of which are pretty solid hikes to get to. One is 200 ft tall and the other is 400 ft tall. The Falls are wild and roll through the forest so you don't necessarily see the giant drop off but there are plenty of opportunities for backcountry type scrambling to find sweet little pools and seats to cool off in. the AT is just 1.5 miles away. Another amazing little secret about this place is it is about 2 miles from Chatahoochee Spring, which is on the AT and the actual origin of the Chatahoochee River. The hike to the spring offers an amazing experience to see how the creek narrows as you rise to the lone Chatahoochee spring that starts the entire watershed. The place is currently owned and run by Dr. Scwan, a former chiropractor and is sort of in transition to new owners/ caretakers. I visited the Campground 3 times, once was an unannounced visit. Each time the staff was friendly and helpful. My son and daughter fell in love with this place. They loved the trampoline park, the petting zoo, and the campground dog "spirit".

If you love family camping they have it, if you love kitsch, they have it, but more importantly, they have some serious hiking trails! You can take it easy or put a pack on your kids and take them into the wild-something I did and my kids are still trying to figure out if they hate me for or not.

The motel rooms appear to not be currently functional due to flooding this past winter. The owner is trying to bring the property back up to speed after a rough winter of flooding and tornadoes that passed over the property. There are new staff on board for the season. One staff member has hiked the entire AT twice, the last time at age 70! With a side trail off the AT of about 1.5 miles, this would be a nice resupply site for thru hikers. The air there feels good and you know you are tucked in a true mountain cove with streams and waterfalls roaring on either side. The prices reflect more of a "glamping" experience but the natural camping experience there is worth the visit.

Product Review:

As a Dyrt Ranger, I get to test out products and on this trip we tested out two Gregory Backpacks and a Gregory hydration pack. This was the first backpacking trip for our family of four. I backpacked before kids all the time and once I had babies, I made the decision to only car camp until the kids could carry their own packs. That seems like yesterday but wouldn't you know, it's already 9 year later and so we suited up to hike up to the AT for the night. We used the stout 75- men's navy blue pack, the Icarus 40- youth cape green, and the hydration 2L reservoir.

The stout worked great for my husband, who carried the most weight and has developed quite the dad bod over the last 9 years. As a result, he needed the extra adjustment features such as the torso, hip belt, and sleeping bag entry adjustment.

The 2 L hydration reservoir, well we fought over who got to carry that. It fits nicely into the pack interior and Gregory has hat great hook and h2o hole. The thing that separates the Gregory hydration pack is that there is a little magnetic clip that fits in your pack and clips to the spout. It makes for easy access. The wide mouth opening makes it easy to fill but screwing on the top can be tricky. If you don't lay it completely flat then it leaks. The first night I lost all my water this way.

The Icarus 40 youth pack was great for my 9 year old. It was his first trek. He was able to carry his pack, his sleep pad, some of the food and some tent poles. He had a Nalgene bottle in the side pocket hat kept sliding out when he leaned over and that was frustrating for him. But his shoulders were not sore at the end of the trip and he said at the end that he liked backpacking after all (the first few climbs were not so easy). Speaking of, this pack can handle being flung to the ground in frustration by a 9 year old who is exhausted and just wants to "go home". Remedy- just keep strapping it back on, apply plenty of water and encouragement and in about 2 miles "backpacking isn't so bad".

Gregory is a great brand to get into if you are starting or restarting backpacking. They are cost effective, long lasting, and have been around a long time. Not to mention, when you call the 800 number there is an option to be put through to someone immediately if you are on the AT.

We are traveling in our 33 ft travel trailer. We work full time remotely and use our hotspot to do so. The Verizon service in the rv section of the campground is very poor and we were not able to use the hotspot. The service is better higher up in the campground. The campground does offer wifi (paid) that was fast enough for me to work and do video calls. They kindly offered us vouchers for a couple of days as well.

The campground is super cute. The pool and hot tub area is gorgeous. They have a coffee lounge with communal board games which is cute. The bathrooms and laundry room are clean and very nice. Our dog also loved their dog park.

Their check in system was perfect for our late check in.

We visited in the winter and it was cold enough that they had us turn our water off every night at 6 which was inconvenient but not a real problem considering how nice the showers are.

We stayed in spot A1 which felt a little small because it butts right up to a yurt, but it was enough space for us. Especially considering how cold it was, we didn’t spend much time on the patio.

This is a BEAUTIFUL outdoor resort with five star amenities, truly. We have camped here as a tent camper, and in our camper. The sites are small and close together, but this is still one of my favorite places to camp. You don't feel like you're on top of one another. The grounds are well appointed, landscaped, and maintained. The playground is beautiful and the kids loved it. There is a community firepit with rocking chairs around it, and it looks like it came out of a Martha Stewart magazine. The bathrooms were FABULOUS. SERIOUSLY. I've never wanted to bathe I'm a campground bathroom before, but I do it out of necessity. Well these bathrooms were luxurious and modern and so SO clean. I gladly bathed in the showers here and felt so clean afterwards! Lol. The bathrooms are locked with a pinpad and the codes are given upon check-in so you know random people aren't walking in off of the highway or anything. There is a pool on site, but we stayed in the fall so we didn't get to use it. There are also cabins and yurts available and they look really nice! There is a coffee shop on site also, with a playroom for small kids, and nice comfy chairs to lounge in. The coffee comes from a local artisan coffee roasters up the road and it was so tasty. The owners live onsite and are present and interacting with the campers. They run the office and shop, they checked us in and sold us our firewood. One weekend we were there (Fall) they had a live band for entertainment, on a Saturday evening, and it was awesome. They also had a S'mores bar set up for the kiddos, so that was pretty cool. We spent a lot of time at the community firepit meeting people and having adult beverages. It was wonderful! The campground also offers free WiFi and cable so we hooked up our TV and tailgated (during football season) and had an awesome time.

We found Kennedy Creek in September 2023 and have been back five times since then. The setting is absolutely beautiful with direct views of the mountains and sprawling grounds where the resort sits.

They offer everything from tent or RV camping and yurts, to beautiful cabins. We’ve tent camped once and brought our RV five times. If you’re camping, expect spacious campsites with amazing views. You won’t feel crowded in this place. If RVing, you can opt for a site with 30 amp electrical hookup and water (3 of these at present on a first come first basis and usually available). They do have showers so we didn’t come close to filling our gray/black tanks on our recent 5 day stay. What I like as an RVer is the open space and views. You won’t feel like you’re in a crowded RV park that’s for sure.

Their onsite tavern and restaurant is a great gathering place and is usually opened starting with Friday dinner through Sunday breakfast. The menu is top notch with special dishes that change regularly. John is the chef and he puts out some of the best food you’ll find in these beautiful mountains!

The resort also has a 2000’ x 60’ grass runway (GA87) which is absolutely gorgeous. In my opinion this should be a bucket list destination for all pilots that can manage to get in to 2000’ fields. The owner has a beautiful Just Superstol XL bush plane and a Highlander, and he can usually be found flying most Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings. You might even get invited to go flying :-)

The staff is super friendly and will take great care of you during your stay. It won’t take long for you to realize that they absolutely care about you and your experience. They’ll go out of their way to make sure you enjoy their little slice of paradise.

This probably sounds like a paid advertisement but I’m just a happy camper that hopes this place experiences the success it deserves. I’ve been to Ellijay, Helen, Blairsville, Dahlonega, and a lot of other well known mountain spots, and this place is my favorite by far.

We have camped here in our tent and my only complaint is that the tent pads are slightly elevated and we have a huge two room tent that would not fit on any of the tent pads. We found a site that didn't have a tent pads and that's where we set up. So of you have a large or abnormally shaped tent you'll need to do some research first to find a tent site that will accommodate your tent. We love how wooded and shaded the sites are. We camped in the middle of a hot sticky Tennessee summer and felt just fine in all of the shade. Right around the corner from the loop of historic Cade's Cove, we were able to explore the loop and all that it offers. We were also close to the gift shop and camp store so the kids could go grab an ice cream cone in the afternoon. We had a a great time here.

When you first get to the campground, you may think it is the typical national park campground, and it is in a several ways. However, this campground has a little-known area that many people ignore. First of all, the campsite we stayed in was spacious and had a fire ring. It didn’t have electricity and water, but it was large enough for my best friend to put up his monster tent.  The bath house does not have showers, but they are more than adequate for primitive camping. The campground is located in an area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park that has the Little River through it, so you have the sounds of the creek at night. You can gather wood for your campfire, but you cannot transport firewood into the campground unless it has been certified and sealed in plastic. If you are not tubing or fishing in the river, you can travel a few miles to explore Cades Cove. However, next to the campground, there is the little-known area I mentioned earlier. I found it fascinating and lots of fun to explore. It is a ghost town, which began as a logging town. In the early 1900s, it became a resort, and from what I understand, many of the residents were from eastern Tennessee. Some of the buildings have been restored, but most of them are deteriorating quickly. We were able to go inside most of the buildings, but you have to be careful. You are not allowed to go into the some of them, which have signs and are dangerous. However, just to walk down the streets among the buildings is a beautiful sight, especially in the fall. The last thing I heard is that they are going to raze most of the buildings. Overall, Elkmont Campground is a peaceful place to stay with a lot of history. It is also close to another popular area of the national park--Cades Cove. My advice would be to plan ahead since this campground can fill up during peak season. It is the largest campground of the Smokies, if I understood correctly, but campers come from all over the United States to stay here.

We stayed in one of there cabins. We were on motorcycles. Could t have ask for better!!

This campground was quite open and in addition to RV sites there are some little cabins for sleeping very nice people and inexpensive I will stay there again.

This was a great find! The staff is friendly and grounds are kept very clean. There are cabins, a couple RV sites, and the rest of the grounds are available to pitch a tent wherever you want to. Bathrooms are clean. Firewood is free. They also have free meals that depend on the day of the week. I heard they also have a garage to use to work on your bike. Conveniently located to the Cherohala Skyway. Would definitely stay here again. Well worth the $12 to pitch my tent for the night.

This place is such a gem! Wonderful hosts were so welcoming and helpful. Vanlife and dog friendly! Clean bathrooms, showers, trash, firewood, there are hookups/water or you can do a no hookup site for less. Coffee and pastries in the morning. Great base camp for close to adventures in the national forest. Go do the hike by bald river falls 30 min away.

I have stayed here multiple times and Kelli and Wayne (the owners) never disappoint. Everything about the spot is great and they have pretty much everything you would need (except alcohol as the county is dry, so bring your own). Great location and great food! This is my go to spot when out riding.