Benable — create shareable lists of things you recommend!
E.g., products you love, local businesses, travel recs - you can add anything to a Benable list!
Avoid Tourist Traps: Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge/Sevierville Family Vacy with a 1 Year Old
11
items We visited the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge/Sevierville area in May 2026 and had the best time! It was my husband, by 15 month old and myself. Here's everything we loved that is NOT focused on the tourist traps, but I made sure to include some tourist tra...
Sections
3
Eats
Mother Earth
Tourist Traps (Honorable Mentions)
Eats
Great service and the food was even better! We went just before 10 am on a Sunday and there was no wait. When we came out, there was a bit of a line, so I recommend getting there early. This place definitely feels like a hidden gem!
Buffalo Breakfast Co. | Sevierville, TN
Brick & Spoon was just a bit off of the main strip, but didn't feel like one of the main strip locations. We went around 9 am on a Tuesday and it wasn't busy at all. Service was quick and staff was very friendly. I ended up with a basic American ...
Brick and Spoon | Brunch
We stopped at Junction 35 at the Mountain Mile for lunch one day. I didn't like my meal much (plain chicken sandwich and I admit I likely ordered the wrong thing). After you dine, your receipt gets you a free tasting over on the store side. My husban...
Junction 35 Distillery & Restaurant | Pigeon Forge & Sevierville, TN
I found Cruze Farm on a Instagram page that recommended local favorites and I'm so glad I did! We went about 15 minutes before they closed, and they were unfortunately out of the cookies & cream I wanted. I ended up with chocolate and it was seri...
Cruze Farm Dairy
Mother Earth
This was my first ever trip in the mountains and it was SO cool. The pulloff has a decent number of parking spaces, which was great. Making this one of our first stops definitely made me more excited to explore the park.
Gatlinburg Scenic Overlook in Smoky Mtn National Park
Cades Cove was gorgeous! We had the best weather and it was perfect for my kiddo to nap in the car. It took us about 4 hours from Sugarlands Visitor Center to be back out of the park. There were a few back ups, but cleared fairly quickly. I recommend...
Cades Cove
We didn't get a chance to do Kuwohi, but we did get up early to see the sunrise at the Newfound Gap. The drive back was shorter than the drive to Cades Cove, which was appreciated. We arrived about 20 minutes prior to official sunrise and it was gorg...
Kuwohi & Newfound Gap Area
Tourist Traps (Honorable Mentions)
We had to stop at some of the tourist traps, for that experience. Here are our favorites.
Hear me out: this does apply as a tourist trap in my book. It was a bit pricey and mostly animals we have at our local zoo, but my little one loved it. He loved watching my husband feed the animals and even got to pet a horse. We were really hoping t...
Smoky Mountain Deer Farm and Deer Farm Riding Stables
As a Michigander, I had to stop at Buc-ee's. Truthfully, I was a little too excited to go. My husband loved the beaver nuggets (not I; I don't like caramel) and I thought the brisket sandwich was really good. It was a bit insane the amount of things ...
Buc-ee's - Sevierville
The Mountain Mile was such a unique place with a few little shops! We went during the weekday, so it wasn't busy at all. My favorite shop was the Savannah Bee Company (although they have locations at the Island and Gatlinburg too).
The Mountain Mile Mall
The Island definitely just felt like another mall, with lower “quality” stores. They had the dinosaurs up while we visited, which was really the only reason why we went. My little one loved seeing them and it was free, so it was a win in my book!
The Island In Pigeon Forge