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Getting to Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Driving to Great Smoky Mountains

There are numerous road entrances to the park. The two most common lie at either end of Newfound Gap Road (US-441), at the cities of Gatlinburg, Tennessee and Cherokee, North Carolina. Exit 407 from I-40 leads to the Gatlinburg side. Additional entrances are at Deep Creek, Townsend, Big Creek, Balsam Mountain, and several others. Study the map for details.

Below you will find an interactive map showing the location of the Sugarlands Visitor Center in Great Smoky Mountains. Following this are the official park maps provided by the National Park Service. You can view either the original PDF file or a simple JPEG image file (some of these files can be quite large). The map links will open in a new tab. Note that while these maps are useful for general navigation around the park, if you plan to do any hiking, you should really have a proper Great Smoky Mountains Trail Map.

Flying to Great Smoky Mountains

Below you will find a list of airports most convenient for a trip to Great Smoky Mountains, listed in order of distance. For each airport we give useful links for further information on the airport, as well as flight and rental car bookings. These links already have the destination airport selected for your convenience. For price searches, simply enter your origin and dates.

McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS)

  • Located near Knoxville, Tennessee, 24 miles by car to Great Smoky Mountains (Townsend entrance)
  • Browse Flights to Knoxville at: Skyscanner • Expedia
  • Browse Knoxville rental cars at: Expedia • Hotwire

Asheville Regional Airport (AVL)

  • Located near Asheville, North Carolina, 58 miles by car to Great Smoky Mountains (Cherokee entrance)
  • Browse Flights to Asheville at: Skyscanner • Expedia
  • Browse Asheville rental cars at: Expedia • Hotwire

Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport (GSP)

  • Located in Greer, South Carolina, 109 miles by car to Great Smoky Mountains (Cherokee entrance)
  • Browse Flights to Greenville-Spartanburg at: Skyscanner • Expedia
  • Browse Greenville-Spartanburg rental cars at: Expedia • Hotwire

Last Updated on April 12, 2020