We’ve camped in the Smokies more times than I can count. Honestly, I stopped tracking years ago. Cades Cove, Elkmont, Smokemont — we’ve done all three multiple times, and we’ve seen the benefits and challenges to each one. These three are the best Smoky Mountains campgrounds for families and I’ll tell you why.

The Smokies have several campgrounds inside the park, but these three are the ones most families choose between. They’re all $30 a night, all inside Great Smoky Mountains National Park, all beautiful. But the locations, setups, vibes, and amenities vary.

Before I jump into the details: all three campgrounds book 6 months out on recreation.gov, and they fill up fast. If you have dates in mind, get on their website now and set availability alerts for your top choice. More on that below.

Here’s how they stack up.

If you want to be inside one of the most wildlife-rich places in the park and wake up with the Cove right outside your door, Cades Cove is your campground.

The campground sits just off the Cades Cove Loop Road — the famous 11-mile one-way drive where we’ve spotted bears, deer, turkey, coyote, horses, and more on nearly every visit. Staying here means you can hit the loop first thing in the morning before crowds build, which is one of the best experiences this park offers.

The sites are paved, shaded, and mostly back-in — but Cades Cove is the only campground of these three that has some pull-throughs available. Sites can be close together and you won’t have a lot of privacy from your neighbors, but the forest feel is real. Most sites are nicely shaded through three seasons. In winter, the trees lose their leaves and you’ll see more of your neighbors, but you’ll also get a quieter, more peaceful loop on the road. 

The camp store is within easy walking distance of the sites and it carries basics, camping gear, and food. During peak season, you can also rent bikes here for the loop — which is fun, though be ready for major hills and twists and turns. Outside the store you’ll find firewood, ice, and drink vending machines. The store hours are seasonal, so if you’re arriving late, buy firewood before you get there. I’ve got all the details on firewood in the Smokies here.

One thing that surprised us the first time here: there are no water spigots near the campsites or throughout the campground. You’ll fill water at the dump station before you park, at the water fountains inside the campground (which we prefer — they taste better), or people use the dish-cleaning sink near the bathrooms in a pinch. The dump station has a clean water fill-up as well if you need to top off your tank on the way in.

The amphitheater behind the bathhouse next door to the camp store has free wifi — the only wifi access point I know of anywhere inside the park. It’s been a lifesaver for a quick 10-minute check-in each day. I’ve made calls, posted to Instagram, and edited things in Canva from that spot. Don’t count on it for heavy use, but for daily check-ins it works perfectly.

When you need a town, Townsend, TN is about 20 minutes away. It’s a low-key, quieter side of the Smokies — coffee (my favorite is The Artistic Bean, in the Ace Hardware Plaza, but Towns End Coffee is also good), an IGA (it doesn’t have everything you can think of, but enough groceries to get you by), gas right outside the IGA, a few restaurants, and tubing on the river. It’s been growing fast and has more to offer than it did just a few years ago. I wrote all about what to do in Townsend if you want to plan your stops ahead of time.

For the loop itself, the picnic area just in front of the campground is a great lunch or ice cream stop after you finish your drive. I have a full guide to the best picnic areas in the Smokies if you want to plan ahead. There are also horse trail rides and carriage rides available just outside the campground, opposite the picnic area if that interests your family. And tucked in Loop C at the back of the campground is a short nature trail that we love. It’s the perfect first trail of the trip, and usually where my boys pull out their Trail Game Cards.

If you’re visiting Cades Cove, I’ve got a few resources for you. My unfiltered guide gives you all the details about visiting the Cove with kids. My traffic and timing blog spills the tea on when to go and where to go to avoid the biggest crowds. If wildlife is your jam, I list all the real places we’ve seen animals of the Cove. Not just generic directions, but the real nitty gritty details so you can have the best chance of finding them, too.

Elkmont is the largest campground in the park and the one most likely to have availability when Cades Cove is booked solid. It’s also the most family-friendly for streamside play. If you’re traveling with kids who love the water, Elkmont might edge out the others.

The Little River and Jakes Creek run right through the campground. Waterfront sites are the most sought-after in the park, and yes, they’re hard to get if you’re booking after the 6-month window opens.

But here’s a tip that worked for us: set an availability alert on recreation.gov for your dates. You’ll get an email the moment a site opens up. Check your email fast — they go quickly — and yes, you’ll need to click into each site to confirm it’s waterfront, but it’s absolutely worth it. We found an amazing site 5 days out from our last trip this way and were able to cancel our previous reservation for only a $10 cancellation fee.

We’ve brought our own tubes and floated the river right from our site — no tubing company, no crowds, just us and the river. It’s one of our favorite things to do at Elkmont and most people don’t think to do it. Even in April (yes, the water was colder than we would’ve preferred), the boys had a blast and tubed for hours.

We use these tubes — they’re cheap, packable, and have held up through multiple Smokies trips. Grab one per person. We throw them all deflated in a plastic bin and leave in the back of the truck. An air compressor is also helpful. We use one that runs on our Ryobi batteries. 

If your family is all about the water, I have a full guide to the best swimming holes in the Smokies — several are right near Elkmont. And here’s what we actually pack for a creek day so you don’t forget anything.

The campground is beautifully forested and shaded. There are tent-only loops and loops open to RVs, though note that Elkmont does not have pull-throughs — back-in only. However, they’re wide enough and easy to navigate. Make a note — there’s no dump station at Elkmont.

The park has a dump station across from the Sugarlands Visitor Center, but our honest experience is that it can get backed up (like, literally, the pipes get backed up). As of June 2026, it’s shut down for maintenance and I’m not surprised. Our strategy is to never start at Elkmont — we go somewhere first (like Cades Cove, which has a dump station and fresh water fill-up), and then come to Elkmont. Or we do Elkmont last and dump at our next stop.

The camp store at Elkmont is a concession stand window — it’s limited in hours and inventory, but you can get firewood and ice there. No real “inside” to it and it’s only staffed during the day. Plan ahead on supplies at Elkmont. That’s my go-to strategy.

There are no showers anywhere in the Smokies, but Elkmont does have bathrooms, water fountains, and water spigots (at each water fountain) for filling gallons — useful if you need to top up without a full dump station run. Dish washing stations are available near the bathrooms, too. We usually take a few gallons of water, stash them in our side storage and have the kids fill them up daily when needed.

One thing you won’t have at Elkmont: cell service or wifi. Plan accordingly before you head there. We bring walkie talkies for exactly this reason. They’re a lifesaver when the kids are at the stream and you’re back at the site, or when you split up on a trail. Ours get used every single trip. The closest cell service is Townsend and Gatlinburg – both about 30 min or less in drive time.

Just behind the campground is Daisy Town, one of the most interesting and overlooked spots in the park. It’s a preserved collection of early 1900s vacation cottages built by wealthy families along the Little River — 19 historic structures tucked into the trees, each one different from the next. You can drive or walk back there, wander the grounds, and step inside most of the buildings. Most visitors don’t even realize it’s there.

We go every time we’re at Elkmont, especially when we want to get away from crowds. I included it in my Smoky Mountains Family Travel Field Guide if you want more background on the history before you go.

Bears have been spotted in Elkmont campground — if you’re not sure what bear smart looks like in the Smokies, I break it all down here. It’s one of the most important things to know before you camp.

From Elkmont, you’re about 25 minutes to Gatlinburg and 30 minutes to Townsend.

Smokemont sits on the North Carolina side of the park, which changes the experience more than you might expect. It’s quieter. The elk activity here is some of the best in the park — we’ve seen elk walk right through the campground, and it’s pretty common. If you want the full breakdown on where and when to find them, I wrote a whole post on seeing elk in the Smokies. Cherokee, NC is about 10 minutes away for gas, groceries, food, and limited cell service. I have a detailed guide to Cherokee as a gateway town if you’re planning to spend time there.

The campground is set among tall trees and feels very forested — shaded, peaceful, and a little more laid-back than Cades Cove or Elkmont. Loops B and C are where we book most often. There’s a nice grassy area behind all the sites in these loops that connect to the bathrooms, which is perfect for kids to run around safely. The stream is across the one-lane road and you can hear it from your site with the windows open — it’s a nice touch on a cool night.

A note on “streamside” sites: at Smokemont, streamside means the stream is nearby your site, not that it backs directly up to it. The sites where the stream is immediately accessible from behind are in a separate set of loops on the other side of the stream — check the recreation.gov map carefully when booking if direct stream access is your priority.

There’s no camp store inside Smokemont, but right at the entrance — just after you cross the bridge and before you turn left towards the campground — is the Smokemont Riding Stables, where you can buy firewood, ice, and grab snacks from vending machines. There are also horse trail rides available there if that’s on your family’s list.

For water, Smokemont has a dump station and fresh water fill-up, plus water fountains and spigots (on the bottom of each water fountain) around the campground for filling water bottles and jugs. The bathrooms typically don’t have soap, so bring your own. Sometimes you’ll get lucky and someone will leave one behind, but don’t count on it. Dish washing stations are outside the bathrooms.

There are a few trails that start right from Smokemont: a nature trail and some longer options that start at the back of the campground. The two footbridges just across from Loop B are a hit with my kids — ours have never failed to find at least 30 minutes of entertainment on them. The stream is also pretty shallow in this section, which makes for great play time.

If your kids love getting close to nature, this is also territory for salamander hunting — the Smokies have more species than anywhere else in North America.

All three campgrounds book on recreation.gov. Reservations open exactly 6 months in advance from your arrival date, and for popular dates — summer, fall foliage season, any week near a holiday — the best sites are gone within minutes. If you’re planning a fall trip, my guide to fall in the Smokies covers timing, colors, and what to expect. Set a phone alarm, get signed into recreation.gov and refresh a few minutes before 10 AM EST (when new sites open for the day).

If your first choice is full, set an availability alert on recreation.gov and check your email often. Cancellations happen, especially in the week or two before travel dates. We’ve found some of our best sites this way.

A few things to know before you book:

No electric, water, or sewer hookups at any of these campgrounds. No showers in the park at all.

Generators are allowed in select loops during specific hours at all three — check recreation.gov for current generator loop designations before you book if this matters to you. It varies based on what loops are open (they don’t open all loops at certain campgrounds during shoulder seasons, so it’s hard to give an overall guideline here).

Burn bans in the Smokies apply by state, not by the whole park — Tennessee and North Carolina can be under different rules at the same time.

All sites include a picnic table and fire ring with grill grate top.

A few things worth grabbing before you leave for the campground.

My Wildlife & Nature Spotter Pack is perfect for campground downtime. It gives kids four wildlife adventures to work through between meals, around the fire ring, or on a quiet morning before the loop fills up.

For the rest of the trip, my Smoky Mountains Activity Book gives your kids a mission every day you’re in the park. And if you’re still sorting out where to stay and what to plan around, everything I’ve learned after hundreds of nights in the Smokies is in my Smoky Mountains family trip guide.