What to do in Townsend?

If you’re looking for what to do in Townsend, I have you covered! In this post I’ll talk how about my boyfriend and I spent a day on the quieter side of the Smokies.

Apple Valley Mountain Village

It sits at the foot of the Dancing Bear Lodge.

First stop in the village for us was the Dancing Bean Coffee house. It was so good! I’m always a huge fan of their coffee. My go-to order is a cold brew with vanilla syrup topped with cold foam. My boyfriend got an iced hazelnut latte (he says I brought him over to the iced coffee side haha!). They did not disappoint, as you can tell by the look on our faces.

Next, we headed into the General Store and checked it out. Him and I both are always big fans of General Stores. This one has bins of whole coffee beans, they’re all different flavors. And you already know I had to stock up on some of them!

There is a café here and the Smoky Mountain Outdoor Center too, but we didn’t go into those.

Dancing Bear Lodge

Next, we dove up to the Dancing Bear Lodge. My cousins are considering a stay there and asked for me to send them some pictures of it. I’ve never actually stayed there, but I have eaten at the Appalachian Bistro before.

If you’re looking for fine dining, make a reservation with them. The food is award winning for a reason, it’s delicious! It is more upscale and quite romantic. It was a more casual day for us, and I wanted to see some waterfalls, so we didn’t eat there on this day.

Chasing Waterfalls

After that, we decided to go see Meigs Falls and The Sinks. Both of those you can drive too and they’re close to the Townsend entrance of the park.

The road splits and you can take Little River Gorge road to the left or Laurel Creek road to the right. If you take Laurel Creek road it will take you to Cades Cove. We turned left on Little River Gorge to head to the waterfalls.

You get to Meigs Falls first, but we actually passed it by accident. It’s really easy to miss if you’re not looking for it. And easy to miss if you are looking for it, haha!

Once we got to the The Sinks we realized we had passed Meigs Falls. So, we enjoyed it first then backtracked to Meigs Falls.

The Sinks

It is a small waterfall, but it’s very powerful. It’s man made and is actually the most visited waterfall in the park because it is so easy to get too. It was created by loggers in the 1800’s. The loggers got some logs stuck one day and jammed the river, so they decided to use dynamite to blast them out of there. Thus, the sinks waterfall was created! It’s really popular for swimming, however do not swim in it! The park highly advises against it because of the strong current. Sadly, there have been multiple drownings here.

Meigs Falls

As I said, we accidently passed this one and had to go back to it after the sinks. The GPS coordinates for it are 35.669359, -83.676188. Put them in your GPS while you’re still in Townsend, before you lose service. That way you won’t pass it like we did! It is a little far off from the road and can be hard to see in the summer when the trees are in full bloom. If you want to hike to it for a better look, the trailhead is at the sinks parking lot. It is considered moderate and is 7 miles roundtrip.

Don’t forget, if you plan to be parked for longer than 15 minutes you do need a parking pass.

Wears Valley

Since we had to backtrack to Meigs Falls, we decided to go back to Townsend and turn down Wears Valley road. We both love Wears Valley! It connects Townsend to Pigeon Forge, and there’s quite a bit down the road. It’s a favorite with the locals because it offers gorgeous views of the smokies, restaurants, and stores. And, the best part…. it’s never heavily crowded!

There are many general stores along the road, and we stopped at every single one of them. Yes, I know they have some of the same stuff. But, they also each have things that are unique to their store. I ended up getting some handmade decor items, a few shirts, and my boyfriend got a knife. Most of these stores have bins of flavored coffee beans like the general store at the Apple Valley Mountain Village. However, you will usually find different flavors at each store. So, of course, we stocked up on some new flavors to try!

There are many great places to eat in Wears Valley: Elvira’s Cafe, Grandmothers Kitchen, a food truck park, and more. But, we wanted to get to all the stores along the road before they closed, so we decided to wait and eat in Pigeon Forge. Goats on the Roof of the Smoky Mountains is also near the end of this road close to Pigeon Forge. We were going to stop, but by the time we got there we were pretty hungry and decided to go eat.

At the end of Wears Valley road you will come out onto the Parkway in Pigeon Forge right below the entrance to The Island.

Blue Moose Burger and Wings

We decided to end our night at Blue Moose Burger and Wings, the only family sports grill in Pigeon Forge. They’re known for burgers (of course) and their award winning jumbo wings. The wings come in 16 different flavors… which made me very indecisive, haha! I got boneless and they were definitely jumbo. This is the only place I ever have to cut my wing into four pieces before I can eat it. My boyfriend got a burger with homemade chips, and we got an appetizer. It was all delicious!

We didn’t have to wait for a seat. Typically, it’s not too crowded here and even if you do have to wait, it’s not long. Blue Moose Burgers and Wings is a well-kept secret and very popular with the locals. They even have small tv’s in most of the booths for people to enjoy.

There you have it!

We had so much fun on our day out! Now, you know what to do in Townsend and can experience it like a local. We both love going to the quieter side of the Smokies, there is so much to enjoy.

I want people to have a great time here and enjoy my area just like I do. If you’re feeling overwhelmed or stressed about planning your trip to the Smokies, I understand. There’s a lot to do here! But, you have me as your travel guide and I would be more than happy to create the perfect Smokies trip for you.