Pigeon Forge

Dolly Parton's theme park on a wooded hill, mixing top-tier roller coasters, Appalachian craftspeople at work and a real steam train, with over six million Christmas lights from November.

💡 Buy a dated ticket online, from $94.99, about €82, compared with $99.99, about €86, for a ticket valid on any day of the season, plus tax. Parking costs $25, about €22, per car, with trams to the entrance. Arrive at opening time and do the big roller coasters before 11am. The park closes for a few weeks in winter, after the holidays: check the official calendar.

Martin Lewison from Forest Hills, NY, U.S.A. / CC BY-SA 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

The town's most popular dinner show, a four-course meal served at the table while riders perform races, stunts and animal acts, preceded by bluegrass and country music in the saloon.

💡 Arrive an hour before the show for the music in the saloon and a visit to the stables. Vegetarian and gluten-free meals can be requested when booking. Price: from about $60, about €52, per adult, depending on the date and show.

A museum of crime and justice behind a mock 19th-century prison facade, from Prohibition gangsters to forensic science, with Ted Bundy's Beetle and O.J. Simpson's white Ford Bronco.

💡 Allow two hours, and be aware that some rooms are hard going for young children. Price: $33.95, about €29, per adult at the ticket office, a little less online; free up to age 7.

EricaLewHouse / CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

A ship-shaped museum where each visitor receives a real passenger's boarding card, climbs a replica of the Grand Staircase and touches water at the temperature of that April night.

💡 Booking a time slot is mandatory, and the self-guided visit takes 1 hr 30 to 2 hrs. Visit it in the afternoon on a rainy day, when the national park is out of reach. Price: about $40, about €34, per adult aged 13 and over, less for children.

Doug Coldwell / CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

A valley ringed by ridges, with churches, a water mill and log houses along an 18 km one-way loop, where white-tailed deer, wild turkeys and black bears appear at dawn and dusk.

💡 Allow an hour's drive from Pigeon Forge, about 45 km, via Wears Valley and Townsend, and enter the loop at dawn: in summer and October, stops behind a bear create traffic jams several kilometres long. The loop is generally closed to cars on Wednesdays from May to September, reserved for walkers and cyclists. Price: parking tag $5, about €4, a day, or $15, about €13, a week.