Insiders' Guide to the Great Smoky Mountains, 5th (Insiders' Guide Series)

This guide to the Great Smoky Mountains details outdoor activities, shopping, muscial theater, mountain crafts, and many other other exciting things for any traveler to this well-known destination.

 

 (3 customer reviews)

I got this out of the library and read thru it and although it is very densely printed it didn't have the kind of information needed for someone travelling to the area.
It had a lot of stuff that just seemed like someone paid them to write about such as the history of a certain inn or why area workers are non-union ("because business owners can readily draw replacements for them from a large and eager pool.")
Just weird writing for a travel book.
The B&W photos are substandard. All in all a book I won't buy.

This book was a big disappointment. The author spends a great deal of time describing routes. Most of the book focuses on shopping and glitz in the area. It has only 10 pages on the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. There is virtually nothing on the North Carolina side of the mountains or the spectacular Blue Ridge Parkway. If you are going for hiking and to experience the park, there are much better books available, many of which can be found at the Sugarlands Visitors' Center in Gatlinberg. The National Park Service website is much more useful.

This book was a major disappointment. If it was titled "Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge & Sevierville", I might have given it a better rating. It is definitely not a book about the Great Smoky Mountains.

Of the 350 pages in the book, only 15 (yes, 15) cover the Great Smoky Mountains National Park! The majority of the book is devoted to various commercial attractions and businesses on the NW (Tennessee) side of the park. You would swear this was published by that area's Chamber of Commerce. About 250 pages cover the Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge-Sevierville area, while a whopping 5 pages cover the Cherokee, NC side of the park.

If you're looking for a book on the "Great Smoky Mountains", this is NOT the book. On the other hand, if you want to read all about Dollywood and the rest of the commercial sprawl in this area, you will probably think the book is great.