The park's Gatlinburg-side drives are a curriculum of their own, and these eight films drive all of them. Roaring Fork leads with its standing briefing, delivered from experience by a local crew in 2026: lock your car doors at the stops, because a Smokies bear can work a door handle like a human. The loop ends at Ely's Mill.

Watch: first looks

3 videos · summaries from the actual guides

Gatlinburg Must Do Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail / Ely's Mill / Great Smoky Mountains 2026

Yankee in the South

Yankee in the South run their favorite motor trail in 2026, ending at Ely's Mill, with the loop's standing bear briefing delivered from experience: lock your car doors at stops, because a Smokies bear can work a door handle like a human - twisting and turning until it opens.

Key takeaways
  • Lock car doors at stops - bears can open handles like humans
  • The drive ends at Ely's Mill
  • A local favorite among the park's motor trails

Cades Cove Loop In the Smokies: A Drive You Have to See to Believe

Ryan Finds Truth

Ryan Finds Truth drives the loop at fall-color peak in 2023 and tells the truth about its pace: nonstop views, and about two hours of bumper-to-bumper to see them - plus the food-storage boxes at the historic structures, and why they matter in bear country.

Key takeaways
  • Budget about two hours at fall-color peak
  • Food-storage boxes at the historic structures exist because of bears

Newfound Gap Opens Gatlinburg to Cherokee Great Smoky Mountains National Park Fall Color Coming Soon

Yankee in the South

Yankee in the South drive Newfound Gap the first weekend it reopened, September 2025: Gatlinburg to Cherokee over the section where the rock slide closed the road in August, the repair inspected as they cross, and the first tinge of fall color starting at the high elevations.

Key takeaways
  • The road reopened in September 2025 after the August landslide
  • The Gatlinburg-to-Cherokee crossing is the park's main artery
  • Fall color starts at the high elevations first

The great roads

Cades Cove at fall-color peak with its pace told truthfully (about two hours bumper-to-bumper at peak — and the food-storage boxes exist because of bears). Newfound Gap driven the first weekend it reopened in September 2025, the August landslide repair inspected from the car, fall color starting at the high elevations. Little River Road's definitive 18-mile, stop-by-stop film (The Sinks, Meigs Falls, the Townsend Wye, RV behavior included).

The crest and the quiet entrance

The Foothills Parkway twice — a relaxed western-section tour and an RV crew's complete Townsend-to-Wears Valley crest run — and Greenbrier's scenic drive: swimming holes, the Ramsay Cascades trailhead, the Emerts Cove covered bridge on the way in.

Watch: more views

3 videos · summaries from the actual guides

Celebrate 10k Subs In GSMNP Driving Little River Rd Stops At The Sinks, Meigs Falls, & Townsend Wye

K&E RV TV

K&E RV TV's definitive 2025 Little River Road film: the whole 18-mile Gatlinburg-to-Townsend drive stop by stop - the Sinks, Meigs Falls, the Townsend Wye - with where to pull off, what each stop is and how the road behaves in an RV.

Key takeaways
  • Little River Road runs 18 miles from Sugarlands to the Townsend Wye
  • The Sinks and Meigs Falls are the signature pull-offs
  • The road follows the Little River nearly the whole way

Driving The Foothills Parkway In The Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Nerds On The Go

Nerds On The Go's 2025 Foothills Parkway drive - the parkway's sweeping ridge-top miles and valley overlooks filmed as a relaxed visitor's tour of the western section.

Key takeaways
  • The overlooks face the Smokies' main crest
  • A relaxed visitor-pace drive film
  • Filmed 2025 on the western section

DRIVING THE SCENIC FOOTHILLS PARKWAY TOWNSEND-WEARS VALLEY, TN | FOUND BEST GAS STATION BURGERS

K&E RV TV

K&E RV TV's 2025 Foothills Parkway drive from the Townsend side through Wears Valley: the western section's overlooks and viaducts filmed as a complete drive, with RV-practical notes throughout.

Key takeaways
  • The western section runs the crest above Wears Valley
  • Viaducts carry the road across the steepest gaps
  • RV notes throughout from a full-time RV channel

The bonus loop

The Arts & Crafts Community's 8-mile studio loop closes the page — a drive that is also the shopping, taken after a pancake brunch, as the film recommends.

Sources: the 8 videos on this page, filmed on drives in and around Gatlinburg.

Watch: the full set

2 videos · summaries from the actual guides

Scenic Drive Thru Greenbrier Great Smoky Mountains National Park / Swimming Holes and Covered Bridge

Yankee in the South

Yankee in the South's 2025 Greenbrier scenic drive: the swimming holes along the Middle Prong, the Ramsay Cascades trailhead, the Emerts Cove covered bridge on the way in - the complete visitor's tour of the Greenbrier entrance, filmed in summer.

Key takeaways
  • The Greenbrier swimming holes are the locals' summer secret
  • The Emerts Cove covered bridge marks the approach
  • The Ramsay Cascades trailhead sits at the road's end

Arts and Crafts Community 8 Mile Loop in Gatlinburg, TN

The Freedom Filled Life

The Freedom Filled Life makes the local-made case: an 8-mile loop of studios where the souvenirs are created on site, three miles out Route 321 - taken as a post-pancake-brunch drive.

Key takeaways
  • Buy where it is made - the loop's whole point
  • Eight miles of studios off Route 321
  • Three miles from downtown Gatlinburg

More Gatlinburg essentials

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