Pigeon Forge

Pigeon Forge is in the Tennessee foothills, many hours from the sea, and beaches play no part in a stay. In summer you can swim at the shores of Douglas Lake, a dammed reservoir to the north-east, and in the mountain streams of the national park, where wading pools form among the boulders. Families mostly swim at the big water park beside Dollywood and in hotel pools.

Eating here means big portions and comfort food along the Parkway. Pancake houses serve breakfast all morning, Southern buffets offer fried chicken, biscuits and cobbler, and barbecue joints and family steakhouses fill the gaps between the national chains. The one local tradition you'll find is moonshine, poured as tastings at distilleries along the strip, plus fudge and cornmeal-based treats around the historic Old Mill.

The town has very little cooking that is ambitious or truly regional. Anyone who wants serious Appalachian or modern Southern food goes to Knoxville or Asheville for a meal.

Pigeon Forge is a resort strip, not a historic town. Its sights are built for entertainment: a half-scale Titanic replica with an exhibit inside, novelty science and illusion museums, and a few big car and memorabilia collections. The real historic building is the Old Mill of 1830, a water-powered gristmill on the Little Pigeon River that still grinds flour. Dollywood also shows some of the mountain heritage of the area through its crafts demonstrations and old-style workshops. Visitors who want history go to the log cabins and churches in the national park instead.

Evenings in Pigeon Forge are for families: dinner shows, go-kart tracks and the lit-up attraction complexes along the Parkway, which stay busy until about ten. Going out for drinks is limited to a few sports bars, brewpubs and moonshine tasting rooms, and the town has no club scene to speak of. Most adults on a night out drive over to Gatlinburg's bars or go back to the cabin's hot tub.

Most visitors come for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which starts just past Gatlinburg, about half an hour up the road. Long forested ridges rise to more than 2,000m. Trails range from short waterfall walks such as Laurel Falls to the steep climb up Alum Cave to Mount LeConte, and the Appalachian Trail runs along the crest. Cades Cove is a broad valley where black bears, deer and wild turkey are easy to spot from the loop road, and Newfound Gap Road crosses the range to Clingmans Dome.

Spring brings wildflowers, and in October the hardwood forests turn colour, which draws heavy traffic into the park. Fishing, tubing on the Little River and horse riding round out a stay. The town itself sits in a valley, with no landscape of its own.

Gatlinburg is the next town up the valley, a denser resort at the entrance to the national park with an arts and crafts loop of studio workshops in the hills. Knoxville is about forty minutes away, with a walkable Market Square, a historic theatre district and a university-town feel. Cherokee is on the far side of the mountains, about an hour and a quarter over Newfound Gap, and has a museum on the Eastern Band of Cherokee and the reconstructed Oconaluftee village.

The longest and best trip is Asheville, about an hour and three-quarters by interstate, where the Biltmore Estate, an art deco downtown and plenty of breweries fill a full day. After that the list thins, with small historic towns such as Dandridge and the quiet valley of Townsend.

Families are the main reason the town exists, and Dollywood is the centre of it. It is a large theme park in the hills, with roller coasters, Appalachian crafts and music shows, and it puts on long-running festivals in spring, at Halloween and at Christmas. Its water park next door is for the summer. The rest of the offer is smaller: go-kart tracks, mini-golf, mountain coasters, zip lines, an indoor science and illusion centre and an observation wheel along the Parkway. The aquarium is in Gatlinburg, about twenty minutes away, and the national park adds easy waterfall walks and bear spotting.

Lodging is built for groups, with large cabins, suites and indoor water-park hotels, and the culture is relaxed, Southern and welcoming to children. The hard part is moving around. Attractions are spread along a long road, so you need a car, and in summer, October and the Christmas weeks you can sit in slow traffic between stops. Summer heat on the strip makes it harder.

Pigeon Forge is a long commercial strip along a busy multi-lane road, and almost everyone arrives by car and keeps it. A local trolley runs up and down the Parkway and links to Gatlinburg, which helps on peak days, but it is slow and does not reach the hillside cabins. You can walk only inside individual attraction complexes. Expect slow traffic on the Parkway in summer, in October and through the Christmas weeks. In practice the national park trailheads can only be reached by car.

Shopping here means outlet malls, souvenirs and mountain crafts. Big outlet centres along the Parkway and towards Sevierville carry American mid-market brands. The area around the Old Mill sells pottery, quilts, candy and stone-ground cornmeal, and the arts and crafts community in the hills above Gatlinburg has studios making brooms, baskets, leather and woodwork. Beyond that, the strip is mostly T-shirts, fudge and cabin decor, and there is no fashion or luxury shopping.

For an American resort, Pigeon Forge is good value. There are thousands of motel rooms and rental cabins, so lodging is reasonable outside summer, October and the Christmas weeks, and a large cabin shared between families works out cheaply per person. Breakfast houses and buffets are inexpensive. The costs come from the attractions themselves: theme park days, dinner shows and paid activities soon add up for a family. You also need a car, and a tip is expected on top of every restaurant bill. Walking in the national park costs very little.

Live shows are a big part of the evening here. Dozens of theatres along the Parkway stage family entertainment every night: country and gospel revues, Southern comedy acts, magic shows and big dinner shows with horses or pirate ships, served with a fried chicken meal. Dollywood has its own bluegrass, gospel and Appalachian music on several stages through the day. The style is broad, sentimental and family-friendly. There is no opera, orchestral music, serious theatre or jazz, and for that you go to Knoxville's historic downtown theatres.

Pigeon Forge has no bathing tradition, and a few day spas and resort spas are all there is in the way of treatments. What relaxation it has comes from the cabins: thousands of wooded hillside rentals with porches, rocking chairs, fireplaces and private hot tubs looking out over the ridges, where a quiet evening is easy. Down on the Parkway the pace is the opposite, with neon, crowds and queues of traffic. Couples looking for a slow stay should book high up and away from the strip.