We partnered with the tourism board of Bryson City, North Carolina to showcase a fun filled itinerary of things to do in the area. We had never been to Bryson City before, but we knew it was a beautiful city right next to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, so we were excited to check it out!

Big Bear’s RV Park - Bryson City, NC

We stayed at Big Bear’s RV Park, which was a quiet and quaint little place, only 1.1 miles from the entrance to the national park! There are two sides to the RV park, separated by the road. One section is right on the creek and the other is in a shady area with nice trees and a horse pasture next to it. Waking up to mountain views and horses out your window is pretty sweet!

Tubing in Deep Creek

The first adventure we had was tubing in Deep Creek in the national park! We have been tubing before, but this was hands down the best tubing experience we’ve ever had. We got our tubes from Deep Creek Lodge And Creekside Tubing. It was the most affordable tubing we’ve ever seen and also the most exciting. The creek was moving pretty quickly, which made it pretty adventurous!

After our tubing fun, we enjoyed some ice cream at the snack bar they had right where you get out. It was delicious and a great way to end the day.

GSMR - Great Smokey Mountain Railroad

On the second day of our trip, we went on a train ride! We rode on the Fontana Train Car of the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad. The trip took us through the Nantahala Gorge and was 44 miles long! The entire trip was about 4.5 hours, with an hour long stop off at Nantahala Outdoor Center, which was a great place to walk around a bit.

Downtown Bryson City, NC

After the train ride, we explored downtown Bryson City. Our first stop was a treat at La Dolce Vita Bakery. The bakery is located just steps away from the train station, so it was super convenient. Aaron actually grabbed a coffee there before the train ride, as well, so we got to sample quite a few things they offer and loved every single one!

We continued to walk around downtown and were excited to stop in a boutique we’d heard about from several people, Humanité. It’s a women’s shop with really cute clothing and accessories. The coolest thing is that they donate 10% of all sales to Heart for Africa and other global and local charities!

The next place we stopped at was Madison’s on Main. It was another really cute women’s boutique with lots of cute clothing, shoes and accessories. They had a large selection of bracelets, which are one of my favorite things! One thing we loved about this small town was how friendly the business owners were. They take a lot of pride in their shops and it shows.

We ended our time downtown at Mountain Layers Brewery. They have a rooftop deck by the water, and had heard that their staff made them stand out as the best brewery in the area.

Great Smokey Mountains National Park

On our third day, we drove into Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This time, we drove over to Cherokee, NC which was about a 20 min drive, and went to that entrance. We enjoyed the visitor center there and the Mountain Farm Museum, which was located right behind the center. We saw and heard quite a few elk all around the visitor center, which was really cool. It’s right on the water too, so you can bring your swim suits and cool down in the water, or just watch the kayakers paddle by. We enjoyed a little hike by the water that was easy and enjoyable.

We had hoped to do more in the national park, such as visit Mingus Mill and maybe even Clingman’s Done but it started raining, so we decided to cut our day short and head back to the RV park.

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Carolina Bound Adventures

Later that evening, the weather cleared up and we got to go on a sunset cruise! Mark, the owner of Carolina Bound Adventures took us out on his boat to tour Fontana Lake. It was gorgeous! Aaron and Casen even jumped in at one point. Even though the weather had been rainy earlier and the temperature had dropped, the water temperature was really nice.

Mark not only offers sunset cruises, but a ton of other services as well. We loved hearing his story and how he loved the area and loved meeting so many different people through his business. In addition to sunset cruises, other guided adventures he offers include day, waterfall and sunset hikes, backpacking, lake kayaking and paddle boarding, mountain biking, brewery and waterfall tours, and more. He also offers a long list of concierge services and vacation services, and we highly recommend checking out his website if you’re planning a trip to the Bryson City area!

Nantahala Outdoor Center - Bryson City, NC

For our final full day, we spent the entire day at Nantahala Outdoor Center. We got the Adventure Pass, which provided a FULL DAY full of adventures! We started off with a rafting adventure on the Nantahala River. Our guide was Jess, and he was great. He was very knowledgeable about the river and about the plant and animal life in the area. It was an educational and super fun trip!

After rafting for a few hours, we had lunch on campus at River’s End Restaurant, which is right on the water. It was delicious. After lunch, we headed over to the zipline adventure park. We all rode the zipline through the trees and then had a blast on the ropes course! It was our first ropes course and we absolutely loved it.

It rained on and off during most of the day, but that didn’t stop us from having fun. We ended the day with mountain biking through the woods. It was such an adventure, and the rain just added to the excitement! It was a day we will never forget.