Great Smoky Mountains National Park camping and RV campgrounds.

All 10 Smokies family campgrounds, compared.

The short version: pick Cades Cove or Smokemont for a winter trip or the longest RVs, since they're the only two open all year and both take RVs to 40 feet. Pick Elkmont for the most sites, near Sugarlands Visitor Center, but it has no dump station. Pick Look Rock if you want electric and water hookups. Pick Balsam Mountain, at 5,310 feet, where summer days rarely top 70°F, and Big Creek for a small tent-only campground. Every figure below comes from the NPS camping pages and NPS campground records, checked September 10, 2026. NPS doesn't publish 2026 opening dates for the eight seasonal campgrounds, so the opening dates on the chart are approximate, matched to the reopening dates NPS lists for spring 2027. Closing dates come from NPS's records. RV limits are for the RV itself, and fees are per night.

How to book.

Every family campground needs a reservation all year, and NPS says first-come, first-served sites are no longer available. Book on Recreation.gov or call 877-444-6777, up to six months ahead. Group campgrounds book up to twelve months ahead.

Parking tags. The park charges no entrance fee. If you're parked at your own campsite you don't need a parking tag, but you do to park anywhere else in the park for more than 15 minutes. Prices are on Great Smoky Mountains fees, and Great Smoky Mountains reservations covers how to buy one.

Passes. The America the Beautiful pass gives no camping discount, but Senior and Access passes do. Park visitor centers no longer sell senior passes, so NPS says to check at the Smokemont, Elkmont, Cades Cove, or Deep Creek campgrounds.

Group and horse camps. Seven group campgrounds take parties of seven or more, tents only, with no generators or trailers and a 14-night limit. In 2026 they run from May 1 or May 15 to October 25, or May 8 to October 31 at Elkmont and Smokemont, at $38 to $94 a night (NPS group campgrounds). Five drive-in horse camps give access to backcountry trails: Anthony Creek runs March 27 to November 8, 2026, Cataloochee and Tow String May 1 to October 25, and Big Creek May 15 to October 25. Round Bottom is closed. Sites are $30, or $36 at Big Creek, the only horse camp with flush toilets and drinking water (NPS horse camps).

RVs, hookups, and dump stations.

RV limits vary a lot. Cades Cove and Smokemont take RVs to 40 feet and trailers to 35. Elkmont takes RVs to 35 feet and trailers to 32. Cataloochee allows 31 feet on a gravel approach road, Deep Creek 26, Cosby 25, and Balsam Mountain 24. At Look Rock the limit runs from 13 to 48 feet depending on the site, so check the site listing on Recreation.gov. RVs and trailers are allowed at Abrams Creek but not recommended, because the approach road is windy and narrow, and trailers stop at 12 feet. Big Creek is tent only.

No campground has showers or full hookups. Look Rock's 10 electric-and-water sites are the only hookups in the park, and Cades Cove, Elkmont, and Smokemont have 5-amp outlets for medical equipment only. Dump stations with potable water are at Cades Cove, Cosby, Deep Creek, Look Rock, and Smokemont, and there's one across the road from Sugarlands Visitor Center, about six miles from Elkmont. Drain dish and bath water at utility sinks or dump stations, never on the ground.

Each site takes up to two vehicles, or one vehicle with a trailer, and only one RV or trailer at RV sites. Extra cars go in the campground's overflow parking.

Camp rules that change your trip.

Camp only in designated campsites, never in pullouts or parking lots. Check-in is 1 pm and checkout is noon. Up to six people share a site. You can stay 14 days in a row, then you have to move to a different campground, and no more than 60 days in a calendar year. Quiet hours run 10 pm to 6 am, and generators stay off from 8 pm to 8 am.

Food and black bears. The park is home to black bears. Keep all food, coolers, stoves, scented items, and water containers sealed in a vehicle, preferably the trunk, or in a hard-sided camping unit whenever you're not using them. If your vehicle has no trunk, eight campgrounds have a limited number of food storage lockers. Balsam Mountain and Look Rock aren't on that list, so plan to use your car there. Coolers and food left out can be impounded.

Bring only firewood that's heat-treated, bundled, and certified by the USDA or a state agency, or gather dead wood already on the ground. Concessioners at Cades Cove, Smokemont, and Elkmont sell certified wood during their season. Hammocks can hang over your site from trees 10 inches in diameter with padding, two to a tree. Pets stay on a leash of six feet or less and can go only on roads, the Gatlinburg Trail, and the Oconaluftee River Trail.

Wheelchair-accessible sites can be reserved at Cades Cove, Elkmont, and Smokemont, by phone or on Recreation.gov, and Cades Cove and Smokemont keep theirs open all year. Cades Cove also has two CPAP sites. Our Great Smoky Mountains accessibility page has more.

Backcountry camping. Every backcountry night needs a permit and an advance reservation, and since April 30 new permits come through Recreation.gov. It costs $8 per person per night plus a $6 permit fee. Stay no more than 3 nights in a row at one campsite, keep your party to 8, and hang every scented item on the site's bear cables. A permit doesn't replace the parking tag. The NPS backcountry camping page has the full rules.

Camping and the crowd calendar.

The Smokies stay busy from spring through fall, and the peak is October, not summer. April averages 64% of October's visits, and Elkmont opens early that month. May runs 77%, as Cataloochee and Deep Creek open around May 2, Abrams Creek and Look Rock around May 9, and Cosby, Big Creek, and Balsam Mountain around May 16. June is 91% and July 96%. August runs 76%, and September 74%, with every campground still open. October is the busiest month, and the closings start: Balsam Mountain after October 11, then Abrams Creek, Big Creek, Cataloochee, Cosby, Deep Creek, and Look Rock after October 24. November runs 62%, Elkmont closes after November 28, and Cades Cove and Smokemont carry on through winter. Our pick is September: all ten campgrounds are open, it's the quietest month from May through October, and nights average 56°F.

Month-by-month tradeoffs are on the best time to visit Great Smoky Mountains page.

Showers and camping outside the park.

NPS says shower facilities are in the communities around the park, and suggests asking about the nearest ones when you check in. The towns at the Gatlinburg and Cherokee entrances have private campgrounds too, but we don't track them. Our Great Smoky Mountains in winter page covers the two campgrounds that stay open.

Common questions.

Is there free camping in the Smoky Mountains?

Not inside the national park. Every family campground site costs $30 or $36 a night and needs a reservation, and NPS allows camping only in designated campsites, not in pullouts or parking lots. Backcountry sites need a permit, at $8 per person per night plus a $6 permit fee.

How much does it cost to camp in Great Smoky Mountains National Park?

$30 a night at every family campground, or $36 for an electric-and-water site at Look Rock. Group campgrounds run $38 to $94 a night depending on size, and horse camps are $30, or $36 at Big Creek. Backcountry camping is $8 per person per night plus a $6 permit fee. The park charges no entrance fee, and campers parked at their own site don't need a parking tag.

Is Look Rock Campground open?

Yes. Look Rock is open in 2026, and NPS campground records show its season running until the off-season starts on October 25, 2026. It isn't on the park's temporary closures page as of September 11, 2026, though some older guides still call it closed. It's on the Foothills Parkway West between Walland and Chilhowee Lake, and it has the park's only hookups: 10 electric-and-water sites at $36 a night.

Which Smoky Mountains campgrounds are open in winter?

Cades Cove and Smokemont. In winter Cades Cove keeps only sites C1-12 and C26-61 open, and Smokemont keeps Loops A and B. Both still need a reservation. Backcountry campsites are open all year with a permit.

Why does Recreation.gov list 30 campgrounds for the Smokies?

Recreation.gov's page for the park says it offers 30 campgrounds, but that count mixes in other bookable places. NPS runs 10 family campgrounds, and the park's seven group campgrounds and five horse camps book on the same site, along with other listings. Pick the family campground by name when you book.

Where these facts come from

The campground count, reservations and the phone line, the parking tag exemption, showers, hookups and medical outlets, dump stations, designated sites, vehicles, pets, check-in, quiet hours, stay limits, and pass discounts come from the NPS frontcountry camping page. The move-campgrounds rule, occupancy, food storage and lockers, firewood, hammocks, and wastewater come from the NPS campground regulations; year-round campgrounds from the NPS seasonal facilities page; group and horse camps from the group campgrounds and horse camps pages. Site counts, closing dates, the six- and twelve-month windows, winter loops, RV and trailer lengths, elevations, locations, CPAP sites, Look Rock's hookups, and campground coordinates come from the NPS API campground records. Accessible-site booking comes from the NPS accessibility page; backcountry permits from the NPS backcountry camping page; the parking tag rule from the NPS fees page; the 30 listings from Recreation.gov's park page; Look Rock's status from the NPS temporary closures page. Visit shares are five-year monthly means (2021 to 2025) of recreation visits from NPS Visitor Use Statistics, as a percentage of October, the park's busiest month. Temperatures are NOAA 1991 to 2020 climate normals. Crowd numbers are five-year monthly means (2021 to 2025) of recreation visits from the NPS Visitor Use Statistics Data Package on NPS IRMA Stats. Independent site, not affiliated with the National Park Service.