Cades Cove Group Campground — Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Really enjoyed our one night stay at Cades Cove. Make sure to check the campsite descriptions if you need a level site. Some are a bit close together. Heated bathrooms!

We have spent only one night here and we enjoyed every bit of it. It was so quiet and dark in the late evening really what we needed to have a family campfire getaway.

My dog and I enjoyed 4 nights here. The sites are well spaced and the tent pad is even. The bathrooms could use an update but I was just happy they’re flush toilets! There are no showers. There is no cell service with T-Mobile. The rangers are friendly and the campground is clean. Cades Cove loop is within a short distance and I saw bears every day as well as turkey and deer.

Beautiful drive in. Clean campground, flush toilets and friendly people around, lots of smiles as people pass by.

Enjoyed our visit. Beautiful views

Cades Cove is awesome.  The loop can be hiked, biked, or driven by car.  The loop is the real attraction and it's a really great experience with the history and things to see.

The gift shop is the best I've been in for a campground.  There is a restruant that sells food inside, and the part I loved was that It sold ice cream.  It closed at 5pm, so I only got it once.

The pavilion has good WIFI.

The bathroom in our area must have had something wrong as it looked clean but smelled horrible.  Other bathrooms didn't have this issue.

Our site C55 was so close to the neighbors I would not recommend that site.  Some sites did not have this issue, but that campground really packs people in pretty close.  

I really loved the trip there, and would recommend it, especially if you don't stay in c55, and they somehow figure out how to clear up that horrible smell in the bathroom near c55.  haha. 

Lots and lots of fireflies each night.  My son loved it.

Quiet family friendly campground. Wish there were sites closer to the creek. You can hear the water if you're lucky to be close to the end of a row.

Best group site we’ve camped at. Laid out great, bathhouse is clean and well kept. No phone service so you get to completely relax. Absolutely breathtaking scenery.

Nice group campsites. Clean and nice facilities!

After staying at Cade's Cove regular camp I had to check out the group camp area which is basically connected in the loop and can be accessed along the same road. I wanted to see if there was a difference in the camping experience at the two locations. For the most part it was similar in experience as you have access to the same hiking areas basically from the sites, however because these are designed for groups the sites are a little larger and more spread out. I didn't experience a lot of cramping feelings at the regular sites however I did notice not all the sites were created equally, here everything seemed more equalized.

Cades Cove is a great place to enjoy family friendly hiking and trail rides but also has more flat lands than any other section of the park I have found. For this reason you can find something for all difficulty levels, perhaps this is why they placed a group camp here so that groups of all levels of experience can truly enjoy their time here.

This is a great educational area of the park for the novice to learn more about wildlife, hiking and history so I definitely encourage larger groups to check it out.

Lots of hiking and wildlife. First night had bear enter sites. Abrams Creek and Falls were beautiful in sight and sound! Camp office was useful. Rich Mtn. Loop trail was great, not difficult. Indian Grave Gap Trail reflects elevation change with unique hemlocks and pines (lower moisture at higher elevation than below). Crooked Arm Trail back to camp site.

This is a busy little campground sites are close together but it is very clean and secure. There is a small ice cream shop on site that the kids loved. There is a lovely stream near the picnic area. The restrooms were clean but there were no showers.

These sites are very close together, not a lot of privacy but I guess That is to be expected in the most visited national park in the country. The scenery was beautiful with the mountains and wildlife. But make sure to lock your food up in your car or bear proof boxes because there are plenty of bears around. The bathrooms were not very clean. Some of them had heavy urine smells to them and floors always had toilet paper all over them. Not sure when anyone cleaned them... there was potable water near the bathrooms and utility sinks. There were no showers in the campground. If you wanted to shower you would have to drive to one of the nearby towns that offered showers at one of the rv campgrounds. The campground had a ranger station and it had a bike rental store as well as a camp store that also sold cafe food and soft serve ice cream. Which was really nice on the hot humid days in June. There were plenty of nearby trails to explore and of course Cades Cove loop which offered nice wildlife and history about the Cove.

Love camping at Cades Cove! Lots of fun memories.

Will definitely be staying here again.

My favorite place to visit in Tenn. park has a lot to offer you at any age. Hiking, historic sites ,waterfall, picnic by the stream, and the best is the ride around the loop. Who knows you may see a bear or two

this is a great place to escape

This campground is for groups only, of at least 10. It is part of the Cades Cove campground, one of the biggest and busiest. It’s a little more RV-friendly than Elkmont it seems, but we like them both a lot.

Yay: this is a fairly typical big national park campground in many ways. There is a camp store with firewood (you are required to buy it from an authorized location!). Nice roomy campsites, but not as much plant cover as at Elkmont in my experience. You can hike some trail from right on site. Rangers have almost nightly programming for all ages. Love the tent only areas.

Nay: given the traffic it is well maintained but can still be a little behind in restroom cleanliness. We’ve stayed here many times and how clean the campsite and bathrooms/facilities are can vary a lot. The staff are all excellent though and are happy to hop to it and solve any issues you may have with the facilities. Also bring tons of bug spray! No showers.

Surprise: This is a better campground if you have people in your group that are not as mobile or into hiking, as you can drive the Cades Cove scenic drive.

The group site was great! There was only 20 people allowed at the site but could've held 40. It poured rain all weekend so we made a tarp city and squeezed all of our tents together. Much better deal than getting a bunch of sites near each other!

If you have some people in your family who can’t do or aren’t interested in longer hikes into the backcountry, Cades Cove is the perfect place to take them thanks to the wildlife driving loop. Pros: excellent wildlife, beautiful views everywhere, lovely historic buildings, visitor center, wooded and shady campsites, very well tended campground, great camp store, friendly & helpful rangers, tons of hiking in the area (full day hikes to short strolls). Cons: bugs, some campsites pretty close together, busy (make reservations if possible). FYI: at the camp store you can rent a bike to ride the 12 mile loop and get ice cream...trust me it’s worth it!

Beautiful campground as are all in the GSMSP but this one stays busy! Perfect for photographers and those that want to get on the 11 mile loop first thing in the AM or later in the day before the traffic jams start. You will find that the giftshop/concession area well stocked - food is good (ice cream more like ice milk). Closest campground to the Abrams Falls Trailhead.

We stayed in a couple of different campsites and got to see the synchronized fireflies! They were incredible!!!

Beautiful area of GSM with wildlife, views, waterfalls and hiking trails. Huge tourist spot and overrun with people year round, especially during fall season. One road with only one way in and out leads to many hours stuck behind tourists wanting to take pictures of every little thing they see. Although it is very funny to see the tourists get out of their vehicles and corner baby bears to try and take pictures of them. Great hiking trails and a couple of waterfalls, however they are always busy.

Fun biking

I spent three days hiking from Fontana Dam to Newfound Gap. I spent two nights in shelters on the AT (Mollies Ridge and Silers Bald). Well worth the effort. My only complaint was that some of the younger guys packed beer in on the 1st night and the shelter felt a bit like a frat party. The second night was not so bad as it was further from the road. I would still recommend this to anyone who enjoys hiking. It may be on the east coast but the peaks are high and the trail is challenging.