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Layered blue ridgelines of the Great Smoky Mountains fading into haze, with dark spruce in the foreground

Great Smoky Mountains · Fly into Knoxville

The Smokies start at Knoxville's airport.

Townsend, on the edge of America's most visited national park, is 21.1 road miles from the TYS terminal. Plan the airport, the towns, the parking tag and the seasons with tools built on National Park Service data and real road distances.

Find your closest airportPick a base town

Photo: James St. John, CC BY 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons

Short answer

Fly into Knoxville McGhee Tyson (TYS). It is the closest airport with airline service to Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and the Tennessee side of Great Smoky Mountains National Park: 45.3 miles (about 1h 14m) to Gatlinburg and 21.1 miles to Townsend, with nonstops from 36 cities. The park has no entrance fee, but parking longer than 15 minutes needs a tag: $5 a day, $15 a week or $40 a year.

Checked October 19, 2026

National Park Service figures

The park, by the numbers

11.5Mrecreation visits in 2025 (11,527,939), the most of any national park.
522,427acres, about 800 square miles across Tennessee and North Carolina.
6,643feet at Kuwohi, the highest point in the park. The lowest is about 875 feet.
45.3road miles from the TYS terminal to downtown Gatlinburg.

Plan the trip

Everything for a fly-in Smokies trip.

Closest airport
AirportsClosest airportTYS vs Asheville, Chattanooga, Nashville, Atlanta and GKT.
Gatlinburg
Gateway townGatlinburgFrom the TYS gate to the Parkway, with a land-to-check-in planner.
Pigeon Forge and Dollywood
Theme parkPigeon Forge and Dollywood2026 season and festival dates, from the airport.
Cades Cove
Quiet sideCades CoveThe 11-mile loop and its vehicle-free Wednesdays.
Fall color
OctoberFall colorNPS timing by elevation, week by week.
Winter roads
WinterWinter roadsSeasonal closures and where to check live status.
Parking tag
NPS tagsParking tagDaily, weekly or annual: which one is cheapest for you.
Trip cost
BudgetTrip costYour prices plus real miles and tag costs.

Interactive

Where should you stay?

The towns around the park are close on a map and far apart in the car. Choose what you want to see and the towns re-rank by total drive time for the whole trip, airport runs included.

Where to base your Smokies tripOSRM drive times

Pick the places you want to see:

  1. Gatlinburg
    2h 28m
  2. Pigeon Forge
    2h 00m
  3. Sevierville
    1h 42m
  4. Townsend
    1h 10m
  5. Wears Valley
    1h 40m
  6. Cosby
    2h 52m
  7. Downtown Knoxville
    1h 04m
  8. Cherokee, NC
    4h 42m
  9. Bryson City, NC
    5h 06m

Each stop counts as a round trip from your base, plus one round trip to Knoxville's airport. Times are free-flow OSRM estimates; summer and October weekends on the Parkway run slower. Kuwohi Road is seasonal (open Apr 1 to Nov 29 in 2026).

Morning fog lifting off a forested ridge above a wildflower meadow in the Great Smoky Mountains

No entrance fee

Free to enter. Not free to park.

NPS charges no entrance fee, but every car parked longer than 15 minutes needs a physical tag on the dash or windshield. Driving through the park needs none.

Which tag do I need?

Photo: Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons

Real road distances

Drive times from the TYS terminal

Road miles and free-flow time from Knoxville's airport, calculated with OSRM on OpenStreetMap roads. Add time for traffic, especially on the Pigeon Forge Parkway and in Gatlinburg on busy weekends.

From TYS toMilesDrive (no traffic)
Gatlinburg45.3 mi1h 14m
Pigeon Forge38.4 mi1h 00m
Dollywood39.3 mi1h 10m
Sevierville32.3 mi51 min
Townsend21.1 mi35 min
Cades Cove Loop32.3 mi1h 03m
Sugarlands Visitor Center40.6 mi1h 17m
Newfound Gap53.5 mi1h 44m
Kuwohi parking area60.7 mi2h 12m
Oconaluftee Visitor Center69.3 mi2h 14m
Cherokee, NC72.8 mi2h 21m
Shops along the Parkway in downtown Gatlinburg, with the Gatlinburg Space Needle and green mountains beyond

Two states

Tennessee side or North Carolina side?

Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, Townsend and Cades Cove are on the Tennessee side, closest to TYS. Cherokee and Bryson City are on the North Carolina side, where Asheville's airport is closer. Newfound Gap Road links the two over a 5,046-foot pass.

Compare airports

Photo: Pexels

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Where should Knoxville fly next?

Name the city. Every request is counted and the leaderboard goes to the airport's air-service team, the people who pitch new routes to airlines.

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Questions

What is the closest airport to the Smoky Mountains?
Knoxville's McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS) is the closest airport with airline service to the Tennessee side of the park: 45.3 miles to Gatlinburg and 21.1 miles to Townsend by road. For Cherokee on the North Carolina side, Asheville (AVL) is closer.
Does Great Smoky Mountains National Park charge an entrance fee?
No. NPS says entrance is free, but a parking tag is required for any vehicle parked longer than 15 minutes: $5 daily, $15 weekly or $40 annual.
How many people visit the Smokies?
NPS counted 11,527,939 recreation visits in 2025, the most of any national park.
How far is the drive from Knoxville airport to Gatlinburg?
45.3 miles, about 1h 14m with no traffic (OSRM).
Is Knox Nonstop the park or the airport?
No. Knox Nonstop is an independent guide. For park conditions use nps.gov/grsm, and for flights use your airline and flyknoxville.com.

Sources

  1. NPS: 2025 visitation statistics release (Mar 13, 2026)
  2. NPS: Park statistics
  3. NPS: Frequently asked questions (updated Sep 28, 2026)
  4. NPS: Fees and passes, parking tags (updated Oct 8, 2026)
  5. NPS: Newfound Gap overlook
  6. NPS: Seasonal road schedule (updated Apr 20, 2026)
  7. OSRM driving routes on OpenStreetMap data (free-flow, fetched Oct 19, 2026)
  8. McGhee Tyson Airport: nonstop flights