North Carolina Travel Forum

At the beginning of April I will be traveling from Atlanta to Gatlinburg. From there I will be driving through the mountains to Cherokee and then Asheville.

I am writing this because I could use any tips, suggestions, must visit places (preferably free or cheap due to a tight budget), restaurants to eat at while we are traveling, anything that you think might help us out! We love nature and love to see new things (that will be a major part of this trip). As much as I love hiking I don't think we will have much time to do a lot of that on this trip. We do however plan to go on a few short hikes to see waterfalls! Any tips are helpful though!! Here is some more info on the trip:

-We will be making a day out of driving from Atlanta to Gatlinburg, TN (We will be driving down to Cade's Cove Loop on the way there and plan to walk around Gatlinburg and check out some of the stores in the area maybe Pigeon Forge too).

-The next day we will Drive from Gatlinburg to Asheville, NC. We plan to drive the Cherokee Orchard Road and Roaring Fork then hit 441 into the National Park. We will be making stops along the way to see the beautiful scenery. When we get over to Cherokee we are planning to spend some time there but not sure what we will actually be doing yet. Then we are going to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway for a little bit until we get to Maggie Valley. From here we will get off BRP and take the most direct route to Asheville.

- Then we will be spending a few days/nights in Asheville (not sure what all we will be doing there yet either)

Any thought that since you are on a shoe-string budget that you may want to check out camp sites that you could camp in close to your car, At least every other night may help stretch your budget. There should be camping along the Blue Ridge Parkway, as you enter NC state land. Just a warning though, depending on the weather, plan an alternative route for the Blue Ridge Parkway because the fog can be thick at night, and it may become a dangerous situation, I know because I've been cought up in it once or twice myself. One of my most favorite vacations was camping with a friend up in the Pisgah Forest for a week, living off of berries and not costing a dime!.