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Set in what's known as "the peaceful side of the Smokies," the Townsend/Great Smokies KOA neighbors Cades Cove and the countless black bears, deer, plants and flowers that make their homes there. With the tranquil Little River hugging the property line, endless hiking trails weaving through the wooded tapestry surrounding the kampground and swinging bridges suspended nearby, each day at this KOA promises a new adventure. Nearby attractions like Dollywood, Tuckaleechee Caverns (a 25-million-year old cavern system) and miles of tubing and biking guarantee great fun for your vacation. On-site, visit the Little River Village restaurant for a batch of fudge, grab your tackle and cast your line and enjoy free wireless Internet during your stay.
Places to stay are graded on a 0-100 scale. The higher the grade, the easier it is for travellers to find restaurants and things to do within walking distance.
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KOA is by far my fave campground in townsend. Pricing is a little expensive for camping but the river view sites are top notch. Easy biking and walking. I love chilhowee ministries participating at camp during the summer, facilities are kept well.
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Date of stay: July 2019
Value
Location
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
This was our first trip to the smokies and the first time staying at a KOA and we were so happy with the entire experience.
The staff are all so helpful and friendly! Check in was painless and they helped guide you into your spot. Communication via text made getting firewood, propane and other necessities super easy!
The property has so many amenities; gas, convenience store, laundry, bath house and a gigantic playground that out kids loved!
The KOA is located about a half mile (maybe less) to the park entrance and some trails and going the opposite direction of the park there are many great restaurants and shops to visit. Pigeon Forge is a quick 15-20 minutes up rt 321 from the KOA.
Laundry is fairly cheap to do ($2.00 per wash/$1.75 per dry) and the shower stalls and bathrooms were very clean and well maintained.
We are already planning a trip back next year for 2 weeks because the nightly rate, location and all the other things I mentioned make it so great!
The pics below are from the entrance, west prong trail & spruce flats trail!
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Date of stay: March 2021Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
This is the most awesome KOA we have ever stayed at. The sites are large with either a paver or decorative precast concrete patio and a large fire pit bowl. We stayed in November after the trees had lost their leaves. I can only imagine what this campground looks like in the fall. We had a site on the river and felt like it was a second honeymoon. The management will do their best to accommodate your needs with only a text. After every departure leaves ar blown from the site and fire pits are cleaned. We can not wait until next year to stay again.
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Date of stay: November 2020Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I give this campground a rating of 2 because of the management team NOT because of the front office staff, workers in the campground or facility itself. The office staff and workers are wonderful and have always been helpful and kind. The facility itself is very clean and beautiful. We have stayed here for years spending Thousands of dollars yearly. It has been our “go to” campground. That said, due to the very poor and unprofessional attitude of the manager and assistant manager we will NEVER spend our money here again. We have cancelled our 4 weeks planned for 2020 and also our family reunion we planned to reserve cabins and camp sites in the 1st year we could obtain enough cabins to house us all for 10 days. I could write a book here about the incident and the unprofessional way a situation was handled but I will not in this review. I have contacted corporate KOA and made a formal complaint. I think they probably have so many people staying there these two could care less if they lose a few customers. Our $ will probably not make a dent in their incoming revenue but it won’t be our $.
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Date of stay: October 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
This was our first trip with our new camper so we stayed close to home. We got a lost minute booking on a holiday weekend so I expected that we were not getting a premium site. Although small and right next to the bathhouse we made the best of it. We have stayed at the campground in the past in one of their cabins. There is a ton of activities for the kids (movie night, tie dye t-shirts, bingo, etc) and a nice playground. The pool is a little chilly but felt like a hot tub compared to the river behind the campground. You are less than a mile from the national park. If you stay here be sure to go down the street and get an ice cream at Burger Master. Not a fan of the burgers but the ice cream is on point. The campground has a gas station on site, propane, and a well stocked store. Some of the reviews mention rowdy guests. This has been a problem at every campground we have stayed at lately. The pandemic has caused an explosion in the popularity of camping and a lot of new campers that don't know campground etiquette are being disruptive. Hopefully covid ends soon and they go back to their cruises and leave the campgrounds to the true campers.
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Date of stay: September 2021
Value
Rooms
Service
Room Tip:Popular place and hard to get a reservation unless you book early
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
If loud music with explicit lyrics is your thing stop here during memorial day ! Even after quiet hours! At least local law came by one-night and turned on their sirens... you can have all this for few hundred dollars . Thank you KOA management .
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Date of stay: May 2021Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
The staff was very helpful and nice, they were able to add a day to our stay, thanks Lisa. When we got to the KOA we were helped by Adam and others to get the tow dolly off and park it. We were escorted to our site and helped to get backed into it by another great staff member. We spent most of our time in the smoky mountains national park and enjoyed hiking and other activities. We got "home" each night without worrying about our stuff and have supper, hung out with the grandchildren and watched the cable TV that the KOA has. They also have free wifi. Thank you for a great vacation we will be back.
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Date of stay: June 2020Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We come here every year and love it! The environment is great and the staff is always friendly. We stayed on a tent site right next to the entrance of the river and it was beautiful. We’ve stayed in the new deluxe cabins as well and they are really nice and have pretty much everything you need. Only suggestion would be to bring extra trash bags and extra cutlery. We had 6 of us and had to by extra trash bags at the IGA and we needed our extra cutlery when we cooked steak on the grill. Other than that, this is our favorite campground and the owners are also from my hometown which is really neat. Definitely recommend coming here especially if you have kids. Prior to covid, they had church groups come in during the summer and would do bingo and games with the kids.
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Date of stay: June 2021Trip type: Travelled with family
Room Tip:They do get booked up quickly so if you are enjoying your stay and want to come back, definitely...
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I am the navigator of our trips. Husband injured shoulder so I did the drive this time. Adam helped me confidently back up our 31ft Airstream. He is my hero. The smiles and waves are so nice from all the staff. The campground is clean and beautifully landscaped. Well located near Cades Cove. We will be back. Everyone should be able to back up the RV / trailer but getting extra assistance is such a blessing. Thanks again.
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Date of stay: October 2020Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
This was our first stay at a KOA. It was a great experience. Staff guides you into your spot. We had a spot on the river with a deck. Deck was nice, but we didn’t use it. Bathrooms were great! Showers looked new and never ran out of hot water. Our kids enjoyed the playground and basketball hoops. Great location right outside the entrance to the Smokies and Cades Cove. We went to Pigeon Forge on the rainy day, it was about a 30 minute drive. We would stay here again.
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Date of stay: April 2021Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
As many said - call. But, FYI, the RV sites are ridiculously small, so even if they did allow, you might not want to! The best sites are actually the tent sites by the river. We didn't have a reservation the first night, but they let us put our truck camper into tent site 124. It was heaven, although no hookups. The second night we moved to another site with hookups, and really wished we had not. If you must have a full hook up site - try for 77-84, or 121. Those are the RV sites on the river. Also, depending on what you drive, be careful. Turning in off the highway you immediately get into a traffic jam. The office, a decorative plant area, the pool, the dumpsite, the parking for towed vehicles, are all within the first 50 feet of the entrance. And there are a couple of really hard turns, and a "one way" segment of the KOA road there that also complicate things for longer rigs.
There are more places to choose from in the Townsend area.
ALSO KNOWN AS
townsend / great smokies koa hotel townsend
LOCATION
United StatesTennesseeTownsend
NUMBER OF ROOMS
135
Prices are provided by our partners for one room, with variable occupancy rules as provided by the property, and reflect total costs of the stay, including all taxes and fees known to our partners. Please see our partners for more details.
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Frequently Asked Questions about Townsend / Great Smokies KOA
Which popular attractions are close to Townsend / Great Smokies KOA?
Nearby attractions include Smoky Mountain River Rat Tubing (1.7 km), Tuckaleechee Caverns (5.4 km), and Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center (0.6 km).
