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

Great Smoky Mountains · Budget planner

What a Smokies trip really costs.

Your fares, your lodging, your car. We add the parts that are fixed: the real road miles from your airport and the National Park Service parking tag, picked at its cheapest for your days.

Price my trip

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

Short answer

Great Smoky Mountains National Park charges no entrance fee. The fixed park cost is the parking tag, $5 daily, $15 weekly or $40 annual per vehicle. Everything else, from flights to lodging and the rental car, depends on your dates. The biggest swing is the airport: flying into Knoxville means 91 round-trip miles to Gatlinburg, versus 429 from Nashville and 410 from Atlanta.

Checked October 19, 2026

$0national park entrance fee.

$15covers one car for a week of parking.

91round-trip miles, TYS to Gatlinburg.

410round-trip miles, Atlanta to Gatlinburg.

Interactive

Price your trip.

Change the airport to see what a cheaper fare to a farther airport costs you back in miles, gas and hours.

Smokies trip cost calculatorBuilt in: NPS tag prices + OSRM miles

Fly intoStay in

Travelers Nights Days parking in the park

Your prices. The numbers below are examples only, not quotes. Replace each with your own.

Airfare per person, round trip ($)Example valueLodging per night ($)Example value

Rental car per day ($)Example valueRental cars

Gas ($/gal)ExampleCar mpgExampleLocal miles/dayExample

Food per person per day ($)Example valueTickets and extras, total ($)Dollywood, shows, tours

$0Enter your trip

Built-in figures: NPS parking tags ($5 daily, $15 weekly, $40 annual; the cheapest mix is chosen for each car) and OSRM road miles from each airport to the town you pick, driven there and back. Everything else is your input. Entry to the national park is free.

Built-in data

Round-trip driving miles, airport to town

Stay in	TYS	AVL	GSP	CHA	BNA	ATL
Gatlinburg	91 mi	180 mi	285 mi	290 mi	429 mi	410 mi
Pigeon Forge	77 mi	205 mi	309 mi	277 mi	415 mi	436 mi
Sevierville	65 mi	193 mi	297 mi	265 mi	403 mi	424 mi
Townsend	42 mi	234 mi	338 mi	235 mi	385 mi	401 mi
Wears Valley	56 mi	219 mi	324 mi	249 mi	399 mi	415 mi
Cosby	107 mi	141 mi	245 mi	307 mi	445 mi	446 mi

OSRM road miles, doubled for the trip there and back. Free-flow drive time one way from TYS: Gatlinburg 1h 14m, Pigeon Forge 1h 00m, Sevierville 51 min, Townsend 35 min, Wears Valley 50 min, Cosby 1h 26m.

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

The fixed cost

One tag, per car.

A group in two cars needs two tags. If you'll be back within the year, nine park days or three weekly trips make the $40 annual tag the better buy.

Tag calculator

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

Plan it

Where the money goes.

TicketsDollywood2026 season dates, and the drive from TYS.

Free rideGatlinburg TrolleyNo fares, per the city.

Free to enterCades CoveJust the tag to park.

TimingFall colorNPS names the last three weeks of October.

Plan more

Questions

How much does a Smoky Mountains trip cost?

It depends on your flights, lodging and car, which change by date and are inputs here. The park itself has no entrance fee; the fixed park cost is the parking tag: $5 a day, $15 a week or $40 a year per vehicle.

Is it cheaper to fly into Atlanta or Nashville for the Smokies?

Sometimes on the fare, but the drive costs time and gas. Round trip to Gatlinburg is 91 miles from TYS, 429 from BNA and 410 from ATL. Enter your fares to compare.

Do I need a rental car for the Smokies?

Plan on one for the national park: from Gatlinburg, Cades Cove is 28 miles and Newfound Gap 15.7 miles by road. Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge run trolleys in and between the towns, and Gatlinburg's is free.

How much is parking in the Smokies?

NPS parking tags cost $5 daily, $15 weekly or $40 annual, required for any vehicle parked over 15 minutes. Each car needs its own tag.

Sources