5 Great Places to Camp in Tennessee and What to Do While You Are There

Tri-Cities

A quiet and somewhat remote campground in Blountville, right outside of Kingsport, is Rocky Top Campground and RV Park. The staff was friendly and helped us back in our hillside site, and the facilities were clean and in good working condition. Rocky Top is an 18 and older campground that touts quiet and relaxation. Besides RVs, there are tent sites and a few cabins. Amenities include a camp store, sauna, and game room with a pool table.My favorite things about Rocky Top were the seasonal decorations that included birdfeeders, pumpkin cut-outs, flowers, flags, and metal sculptures.

Bristol, the birthplace of country music, is about 25 minutes away. You can tour a museum of the same name, eat a delicious cheeseburger in a retro setting, see a show at the dazzling Paramount Theatre, and eat some of the best pastries of your life at Blackbird Bakery. Trust me on this one, order the blueberry iced donut. It’s simple but utterly amazing.

If you are a NASCAR fan, you’ll find the Bristol Motor Speedway another great option in Bristol. It also hosts concerts and dozens of other racing events.

Johnson City is another of the Tri-Cities you can’t miss. From impressive craft beer (Yee-Haw Brewing is my top pick) to a picturesque downtown park with sculptures, upscale shopping, to decadent food, this town has it all. The restaurants I recommend include getting your international eats on with German at Freiburg’s, Indian at Sahib, and delicious pasta dishes at Main Street Pizza Company. Southern Twist BBQ is another excellent option with all your BBQ favorites, burnt end nachos, and the best smoked turkey you’ve ever tasted.

Perhaps the coolest part of the Tri-Cities area is Jonesborough, the oldest town in Tennessee with a unique history you will want to learn all about. You can do that by taking a guided tour through town with a costumed interpreter from the Heritage Alliance. Besides the educational aspect, Jonesborough has some adorable shops (including antiques), a few tasty eateries (Nachos Grande from Texas Burritos and More), a stellar coffee shop (The Corner Cup), and the International Storytelling Center, the only one in the world.

Sevierville

Sevierville is the gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains and the birthplace and home to young Dolly Parton. You’ll be high styling with an RV stay at The Ridge Outdoor Resort, the most wonderful campground we’ve experienced to date. The Ridge Outdoor Resort is formerly a church property, where Sunday services are still held. The campsites are well organized, pristine, and offer an enormous bathhouse, swimming pool, small fishing lake, and excellent store with souvenirs, toiletries, snacks, and toys. The campers were so friendly, and we were invited to get-togethers and met many other pet owners at the dog park. 

There are some great scenic drives around Sevierville, as well as discount shopping, a walkable historic downtown, and the Dolly Parton statue at the beautiful courthouse. I recommend Applewood Farmhouse Restaurant for dining out, where you can get a mini-breakfast buffet delivered right to your table. The starring attractions are the apple fritters and apple butter, served complimentarily.

For lunch, grab BBQ or comfort food faves at Five Oaks Farm Kitchen, and for dinner, go directly to Seasons 101, where the baked brie en croute appetizer will be a feast for your senses. Stay late for the rooftop party upstairs at 101 Sky Lounge with live music on weekends.

Pigeon Forge is a few miles away from Sevierville, and the sheer number of attractions will floor you. From the Titanic Museum to Hollywood Wax Museum, Hatfields & McCoys to Dolly Parton’s Stampede, these are just a few of the performances and shows you will have to choose from. And who can pass up a chance to visit Dollywood, the iconic theme park? 

Pigeon Forge is also home to The Island, a walkable outdoor shopping and entertainment district built around two Jimmy Buffet hotels. Paula Deen’s Retail Store, the Alcatraz East Crime Museum, the Great Smoky Mountain Wheel, and Skyfly: Soar America are just a few fun things to do at The Island. The Old Mill Restaurant is a second popular place for sightseeing, dining, and sipping wine or spirits. 

I would figure that most come to this part of Tennessee to see the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and there are visitor centers to help you plan your day, drive, or whatever you wish to do in the park. We loved zipping around the crazy curvy roads of the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, but let me tell you that with a dually truck, it was a little hair-raising. Besides the National Park, Gatlinburg has some memorable things from childhood, and a great selection of new offerings, representing the spirit and soul of Gatlinburg quite well. 

My husband and I started our day with a hearty pancake breakfast from the iconic Pancake Pantry. We strolled through the shops on the main drag, sampled moonshine from Ole Smoky Moonshine, bought souvenirs, and took hundreds of pictures. One of the things from childhood I remember best was buying saltwater taffy and fudge from Ole Smoky Candy Kitchen, which is still just as popular today. 

I was surprised to see a Melting Pot fondue restaurant in Gatlinburg and Chicken Guy, a wildly desirable Guy Fieri restaurant, currently being built. Of course, riding the Gatlinburg Sky Lift is always a treat and the longest-running attraction in the town.

Stewart

If you are like me, you might not be familiar with Stewart, same as many of the online maps I tried to use. My husband found Cane Creek Marina and RV Campground online and while we didn’t think we were ever going to get here, meandering through the winding roads, but when we did, we immediately loved it. Cane Creek is mostly full-time campsites, but we were there early in the week and there were no other campers during our stay. We literally had the entire lakefront property to ourselves. 

The scenery at Cane Creek was fantastic, our dog could run around off-leash, and the weather was perfect. Though we didn’t take advantage of the Kentucky River for boating or kayaking, we did enjoy sitting outside and admiring it. 

I recommend a day trip to Land Between the Lakes (LBL), a unique region that is a tract of land (170,000-acre outdoorsmen’s paradise) that runs between two lakes through Kentucky and Tennessee. The road you drive on is called “the Trace,” and there is a north and south visitor’s center. Camping is abundant at LBL, including dispersed camping. 

Two of the most popular things to do at LBL are tour the 1850’s Pioneer Settlement, a collection of around 20 buildings and structures with costumed interpreters, and drive through the Elk & Bison Prairie. We saw about a dozen bison, almost all with calves, which was well worth the $5 cost.

The drive itself is stunning and very relaxing. We ended up driving all the way through and going to the town of Grand Rivers, Kentucky, which is a really special place. Patti’s 1880’s Settlement is one of the coolest places I’ve encountered all year. With a marina that houses hundreds of sailboats, this beautiful town has a few cute bed and breakfasts, about a dozen shops (including a Christmas store), and mini golf.

We ate lunch at Patti’s, which was indeed the only reason we drove 90 minutes to get here, and man, it was spectacular. Patti’s menu is full of old-school classics, but the pork chops (1” and 2″) are the menu’s star. I, however, was more interested in the Kentucky Hot Brown, the state dish, and homemade cakes and pies that made my sugar level go up just by looking at them. My husband brought home a slice of the coconut layer cake that he rated 10/10.

Manchester

We stayed at Manchester KOA Holiday, our first KOA property. The campground was in great shape, and I had the swimming pool all to myself. This property had the biggest selection of cabins, yurts, treehouses, teepees, and a covered wagon, than I’ve seen anywhere. I thought the rates were a bit expensive, comparatively speaking, but the staff was super friendly, helpful, and we enjoyed our stay. This campground also had many people just spending a single overnight and then heading out the next morning, the first time we had experienced that. 

Manchester is a perfect place for many one-of-a-kind Tennessee town day trips. Fayetteville, 50 minutes away, was one of ours. We always enjoy strolling around a town with a quintessential courthouse and town square. And you can’t come to Fayetteville without trying the local eats, in this case, a slaw burger from Ken’s Fast Foods. 

Pulaski was another cute town. It has the prettiest courthouse, an upscale coffee shop, decent shopping, and Reeves, a 1950s retro soda fountain with chocolate malts, sundaes, and banana splits. 

We chose Manchester for our travels because we were touring the Jack Daniels Distillery, something many people at our campground were doing. I suggest having a reservation before making your way to Lynchburg but allow a few hours in addition to the tour for wandering around the cute little town. The tour is educational, informative, and really fun. I left there having a much greater appreciation for the art of whiskey-making. 

Fun fact: This is a dry county, so if you wish to buy spirits at Jack Daniels Distillery, that is the only place you’ll be able to do so. Another thing to remember is that Jack Daniels souvenirs are not sold at the distillery and tour location, but a shop downtown.

Lunch at Miss Mary BoBo’s in Lynchburg is a must and was my favorite meal from our whole trip. The restaurant has several quaint little rooms, and the menu changes daily. You can see the week at a glance on their Facebook page. Choose your main entree and side dishes for $13.95 per person. Reservations are required.

On the day we ate at Miss Mary BoBo’s, I had meatloaf, green beans, Mac & cheese, and Lynchburg candied apples. The dessert of the day was oatmeal pie, which hit the spot. 

Dover, Tennessee, is another cute little area to visit, and where Brigadier Ulysses Grant had his first big win during the Civil War at the surrender of Fort Donelson. There is a driving tour that you can follow to see all the historical sites of Fort Donelson National Battlefield. Drop by Cafe Doughver for a house-made pastry and yummy coffee drink and eat breakfast at Esha’s Country Store and Diner when you are done. 

Clarksville

My husband is originally from Clarksville, and we have been dozens of times over the 30 years we’ve been married. Still, I had never done anything historic or touristy, so this trip was to change that. We stayed at the Clarksville RV Park and Campground, an adorable property right off exit 1. A retro mint green camper sits at the front of the property and is Instagram gold. The campground had a well-stocked shop with snacks, camping supplies, groceries, and even the USA map I’d wanted for my slide-out. 

The pool was closed for the season, but a huge conversation pit and playground were both enjoyable. We heard this was the cheapest place to buy propane and the young girl who helped us do so was a doll.

We drank great wine from the award-winning Beachaven Winery in Clarksville. The excellent craft beer from Strawberry Alley Ale Works upstairs is “Clarksville’s favorite hangout,” where we also listened to great musicians. We walked around the historic downtown, soaking up the murals, local shops and visiting the Customs House Museum & Cultural Center. 

Yada is a trendy and swanky little place for sandwiches, meatballs, and craft cocktails for lunch. Strawberry Alley Ale Works has fantastic food and menu choices, with Southwest Egg Rolls and Fried Green Tomatoes (plus tomato jelly and pimento cheese) being my favorites.

For dinner, Clarksville has two places that are also in great locations. With gourmet pasta dishes, Harbor Cafe is close to all your retail box shops, should you need to stock up on anything. Liberty Park Grill sits overlooking the Cumberland River and has perfectly fried Gulf shrimp and all sorts of good side dishes. You can walk off your dinner at Liberty Park and Marina next door, with 1.8 miles of walking trails, a 10-acre fishing pond, and a dog park.

History lovers will want to take the 45 minute-drive to Historic Collinsville, a pioneer settlement with 1830-1870s buildings and homes. 

While there are many things to do in Clarksville, you are only an hour from Nashville. Should you venture there, you can do the touristy stuff (stroll Lower Broad, Country Music Hall of Fame, experience Printer’s Alley, and the honky-tonks), or venture to the 12 South neighborhood, the Hermitage, Frist Art Museum, and the Grand Ole Opry.

Nashville shopping is impressive, and you can find anything your heart desires at Green Hills Mall or Opry Mills. If you need suggestions for where to eat in “Noshville,” I vote for The Loveless Cafe or Sun Diner for breakfast, bartaco for lunch, and Caney Fork or Merchants for dinner. History lovers will also want to drive by or walk around the gorgeous Tennessee State Capitol.