Shops along the Parkway in downtown Gatlinburg, with the Gatlinburg Space Needle and green mountains beyond

TYS to Gatlinburg, Tennessee

Knoxville airport to Gatlinburg: 45 miles.

The drive, the timing and the trolley, from the moment you land at McGhee Tyson. Plan your arrival before you book the flight.

Plan my arrival

Photo: Pexels

Short answer

From Knoxville's McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS) to Gatlinburg is 45.3 miles, about 1h 14m without traffic. The route runs through Maryville on US-411 to Sevierville, then south on US-441 through Pigeon Forge to Gatlinburg. TYS is the closest airport with airline service; the nearer Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge Airport (GKT) has no airline flights.

Checked October 19, 2026

45.3road miles, TYS terminal to downtown Gatlinburg.

74minutes of driving with no traffic (OSRM).

$0to ride the Gatlinburg Trolley, per the city.

2.9miles from town to the park's Sugarlands Visitor Center.

Interactive

When will you get there?

Enter your landing time and how long you expect bags and the rental counter to take. The planner adds the real drive and tells you how much daylight you'll have left on the mountain roads.

Land-to-check-in plannerTYS drive times: OSRM

Travel dateYour TYS landing time

Driving to

Bags and walk to the counters (your estimate)30 min

Rental car pickup (your estimate)20 min

Traffic and stop buffer (your estimate)20 min

4:24 p.m.Estimated arrival

The buffers are your own estimates; the sliders start at example values. Drive times are free-flow OSRM figures, and sunset is calculated for the destination's coordinates.

Route

The route, leg by leg

Leg	Road	What to know
TYS to Maryville	US-129, TN-35	Leaves the airport through Alcoa and Maryville.
Maryville to Sevierville	US-411	The longest stretch, about 13 miles on US-411 east (OSRM).
Sevierville to Pigeon Forge	US-441 (Parkway)	The Parkway is lined with attractions and stoplights; expect slower driving on busy days.
Pigeon Forge to Gatlinburg	US-441 (the Spur)	The Spur runs between the two towns. The 3.6-mile Gatlinburg Bypass links the Spur to the national park around downtown.

Road sequence from OSRM's fastest route. The Gatlinburg Bypass description is from NPS (Sept 30, 2025).

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

Park at the edge

Gatlinburg is the front door.

The town ends where the national park begins. Newfound Gap Road climbs from Sugarlands toward the 5,046-foot gap and on to Cherokee. Parking in the park longer than 15 minutes needs an NPS tag.

Tag calculator

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

Getting around town

Leave the car. Ride the trolley.

FareFree

The City of Gatlinburg says there are no fares or fees to ride the Gatlinburg Trolleys.

May 1 to Oct 318:30 a.m. to midnight

Summer and fall trolley hours, per gatlinburg.com.

Nov 1 to Apr 3010:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Winter and spring trolley hours.

HubMass Transit Center

All trolleys stop at the Mass Transit Center at Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies.

Park-n-RideWelcome Center

Park at 1011 Banner Road and ride in.

Pigeon Forge link$1 exact fare

Pigeon Forge's trolley runs to the Gatlinburg Welcome Center for $1, exact fare only.

Airports

Compared with other airports

Airport	Miles to Gatlinburg	Drive (no traffic)	Airline service
TYS Knoxville	45.3	1h 14m	Yes
GKT Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge	15.4	28 min	No
AVL Asheville	90.1	2h 08m	Yes
TRI Tri-Cities	101.9	2h 03m	Yes
GSP Greenville-Spartanburg	142.3	3h 25m	Yes
CHA Chattanooga	145.2	2h 57m	Yes
ATL Atlanta	205.2	4h 54m	Yes
BNA Nashville	214.5	4h 08m	Yes

Want to check the nonstops from your city? Use the closest airport chooser.

From Gatlinburg

Short drives from town.

35 min driveNewfound Gap15.7 miles up Newfound Gap Road.

1h 11m driveCades Cove28 miles via Little River Road.

28 min driveDollywood10.1 miles up the Parkway.

OctoberFall colorWhen the color reaches each elevation.

Plan more

Questions

How far is the Knoxville airport from Gatlinburg?

45.3 miles by road, about 1h 14m with no traffic (OSRM). The usual route runs through Maryville and Sevierville, then down the Parkway through Pigeon Forge.

What is the closest airport to Gatlinburg?

Knoxville McGhee Tyson (TYS) is the closest airport with airline flights. The Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge Airport (GKT) is 15.4 miles away but has no airline service.

Is the Gatlinburg Trolley free?

Yes. The City of Gatlinburg says there are no fares or fees to ride. All trolleys stop at the Mass Transit Center at Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies, and there is a Park-n-Ride at the Welcome Center, 1011 Banner Road.

What are the Gatlinburg Trolley hours?

From May 1 to October 31, 8:30 a.m. to midnight. From November 1 to April 30, 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. (gatlinburg.com, checked October 2026).

How far is Gatlinburg from the national park?

It sits at the park boundary. NPS places the Sugarlands Visitor Center about two miles south of Gatlinburg on Newfound Gap Road; OSRM measures 2.9 miles from the town center to its parking lot.

Do I need a parking tag in Gatlinburg?

Not for town lots. The NPS tag ($5 daily, $15 weekly, $40 annual) applies when you park inside Great Smoky Mountains National Park for more than 15 minutes.

Sources