Is there a fee to enter the Great Smoky Mountains National Park?
There are several reasons the nation owes the great state of Tennessee a debt of gratitude. Many of them are related to food, sports or music. We also owe a few apologies on that count, if we’re being honest. Some of them are bigger than others. Hey, the entire state of Texas, I’m looking at you … you’re welcome. But none of the reasons for which Americans should be grateful to Tennesseans are quite as important as years of free entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. However, while there is no entrance fee to enter the park, there are parking fees with the Park it Forward parking tag program.
Traditionally, the Smoky Mountains have been free to enter. However, the national park is now implementing Park it Forward. Parking tags are now required. The parking rate is $5 for a daily parking tag, $15 for a parking tag for up to seven days and $40 for an annual parking tag. The revenue will stay in the park to provide sustainable, year-round support. This includes improving the visitor experience, protecting resources and maintaining trails, roads, historic structures and facilities. The parking tags are associated with your license plate number and cannot be transferred or shared.
Why a parking fee and not an entrance fee?
Essentially, the Smokies have traditionally been free to enter due to Tennesseans and our deep and abiding distrust of the federal government. We stick it to those guys every chance we get. US 411, aka Newfound Gap Road, connects East Tennessee and Western North Carolina from Gatlinburg to Cherokee. The road was built before the formation of the national park in a project between Tennessee and North Carolina. When the federal government approached the states to take possession of the road and create the park, North Carolina folded and handed it over. Content not to pay for the road maintenance, the Tar Heel state deeded the highway to the federal government like a bunch of rubes.
Did Tennessee do that? Nope. Like an experienced Monopoly player negotiating free landings on Park Place or Boardwalk, Tennessee told the federal government it wanted its citizens to have the right to ride that road any time they pleased. Specifically, when Tennessee transferred the deed for Newfound Gap Road and Little River Road, a restriction stated that no tolls could be charged to use those two roads. And the state of Tennessee’s deed restriction set in 1951 still affects visitors today. Essentially, the law says if you can’t charge on the primary roads, you can’t charge a fee for roads elsewhere in the park. That being said, the Federal Land Recreation Enhancement Act allows park officials to collect parking fees and campground fees.
How did the public react to the parking fees?
Before implementing the program, national park officials collected thousands of correspondences about the proposed parking fee. According to a press release, 85% of correspondences expressed either strong support or included constructive ideas to improve the program. About 41% and 16% of all correspondences were from Tennessee and North Carolina, respectively.
Who needs a parking tag? Does it guarantee a spot?
Overall, the use of all park roads remains toll-free. Parking tags are not required for motorists who pass through the area or who park vehicles for less than fifteen minutes. The tags do not guarantee a parking spot at a specific location. Parking is still available on a first-come, first-served basis throughout the park. Also, unsafe roadside parking has been eliminated in specific areas across the park. This improved motorist and pedestrian safety, increased traffic flow and protected roadside resources.
Does the Smoky Mountains National Park have camping fees?
Backcountry camping fees are $8 per night, with a maximum of $40 per camper. Frontcountry family campsite fees are $30 per night for primitive sites and $36 per night for sites with electrical hookups. Fees for horse camps, picnic pavilions, day-use cabins and group camps also apply. For a complete listing of all frontcountry facility rates, visit the park website.
Why did the Smoky Mountains National Park introduce a parking fee?
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most visited national park. For example, in 2024, the park experienced its sixth busiest year with 12,191,833 visits. That’s slightly fewer visitors than Yellowstone, Yosemite and Grand Canyon national parks combined. The parking fees are intended to provide an opportunity for park users to directly contribute towards protecting the popular park.
All funds generated through these recreation fees remains in the Smokies to directly support costs for managing and improving services for visitors. It also helps maintain picnic areas, visitor centers and campsites. There is an enormous body of work and operational costs that go into maintaining the park. This includes protecting water quality, performing trail maintenance, trash removal, maintaining roadways, operating custodial services and operating several wastewater systems. Officials believe that the fee is not an economic barrier.
People pay taxes, so why do they pay for national parks?
I think national parks belong to every American. They don’t put up a toll booth and make me buy a ticket to get into my backyard, so why should I have to pay $35 per car to see my Grand Canyon? I pay taxes! That’s my geyser over there! Those grizzly bears are essentially my employees. Excuse me, ranger, but I would very much like to speak to whoever is the manager of those buffaloes. This is an outrage!
Still, the National Park Service (NPS) addresses this frequently asked question by stating that fees have become an important source of revenue to improve the visitor experience and protect natural resources. In fact, entrance fees for national parks predate the establishment of the NPS itself in 1916. For example, Mount Rainier National Park started charging an entrance fee in 1908. Factoring in inflation, the $5 entrance fee they charged in 1914 would be the equivalent of a $123 entrance fee today, according to the NPS.
Are national park fees justified?
I know in most parts of the country paying a fee – or buying a season pass – to get into a national park is just part of the equation. I understand why parks charge a fee. The parks are expensive to maintain, and there are staff and other considerations. According to the NPS, in Yellowstone, entrance fee revenue provides $8.8 million a year for accessibility improvements, campgrounds, infrastructure, roads, native fish, restoration, aquatic invasive species mitigation and more.
So how much are we talking about? How much did Tennessee save its citizens and its beloved visitors from all over the world? Let’s work in round numbers. Let’s say nearly 5 million cars visit the park each year (a low estimate). That’s (potentially) hundreds of millions in fees.
Still, change is difficult. I can’t imagine a world in which we had to pay to picnic at the Chimney Tops or to park at Cades Cove. I spent my high school years in the shadow of the park, 15 minutes from the Townsend entrance. It’s inconceivable to me that I’d have to pay a fee to hike those mountains or wade in those streams. It literally would have been life-changing. Overall, there’s no denying that Tennesseans struck a deal that ultimately cost the park system billions in revenue. You know what? Our bad. Let’s settle up. Just send that bill to Texas, they still owe us one.
Is the Great Smoky Mountains National Park the only free national park?
No, but it is one of only a handful. There are a little over a dozen national parks that are free to enter. Other free national parks in the South include Biscayne National Park in Florida, Congaree National Park in South Carolina, New River Gorge National Park in West Virginia and Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas.
What do you think about the park fees? Let us know in the comments below. Are you planning a trip to the Smoky Mountains soon? Make sure to check out our coupons page before your trip!
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I love Smoky National Park. So pretty out there!
Leave it alone. You would be denying a lot of people the chance to view their beauty due to fixed incomes that would be already stressed buying fuel to make the trip.
I can just see it now, Gatlinburg has to stop it’s annual New Years celebration due to noone paying to get into Gatlinburg! It would vaporize overnight… Pigeon Forge would be next…
Please don’t forget about the sacrifices of all of the local families who were displaced by the formation of the park. Those who chose to not sell their land at whatever price the government decided to pay were removed from their land — forcibly if need be — and given as compensation a fraction of the original offer. Like many of the other truly “local” folks, my people settled in what’s now the GSMNP, from Smokemont to the Sugarlands, from Elkmont to Big Greenbrier, mostly during the first half of the 19th century. Many were there to witness the brutal Cherokee Removal in 1828-29, never imagining that their own descendants would be subject to removal (albeit much less violent) just over a century later. Don’t forget to thank those folks, too — both the Cherokee and the European settlers who carved a life out of a rugged wilderness, only to have it taken from them so that we could have the Great Smoky Mountains National Park today.
That’s why it is one of the busiest. That and the Blue Ridge Parkway. Going to school in Maryville, come an idle afternoon folks would just pile into a car for a drive to the Park or Cades Cove. I’d probably hate for that to change even though I’m on the NC side now. I’d certainly hate to have to pay every time I got on the Parkway.
As a direct descendant of a family that had to move from Smokemont I can’t imagine having to pay to go see family. “Over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house we go” never said anything about paying too get there!!! My family ran the store at Smokemont until 1948 when the CCC camps were done and the logging and sawmills were finished where the campground is today. The original agreement was that the would never be any fees to travel from one side is the mountain to the other!
Still have family in Cherokee and Bryson City. Thank you Tennessee for keeping our Smoky Mountains free!!!!
Leave the smokey alone they r free thing to all the men and women .. and texas is free because we volunteer to help them. I never seen the other parks and never will
I’m from Kentucky and the Great Smokies are near enough to me that I have been visiting for years. The towns nestled in these mountains are beautiful and the people welcoming. Keep them free, please, so those of us in lower incomes can enjoy the wonder, history and beauty.
I am on a fixed income. I travel at least once a year because I know I can afford a vacation there. It costs nothing to drive Cades Cove, Roaring Fork Nature Trail or many other side roads. I have my favorite hotel to stay at in Gatlinburg where I can walk the parkway in the evenings. Charging a fee would change the entire experience for me. I would no longer be able to stay my usual 4-7 days to compensate for the added cost.
My comments to NPS:
We are retired and on fixed income. We do not have extra money! Several years ago we got a “Senior Pass” for National Parks. The only thing we do is stop to look at waterfalls and perhaps take a short walk to get there. Our senior pass should let us do that with no parking fees!
What you should do is charge extra to the people who are “living” there and using park resources for several days while camping.
We drive through the Great Smoky Mountains each year on our way to family reunion. It is one of the few places left that allows us to drive through and see God’s beautiful creation.
No parking fees please!
Will the National Park Pass be able to be used for access?
Hi Brenda – that’s a great question. They have addressed interagency pass holders but I’m sure more details will be released if and when the Park it Forward program is implemented.
Currently, the NPS says …
“America the Beautiful passes explicitly apply to entrance fees. The passes don’t entitle passholders to expanded amenity fee discounts for things like camping and parking, but parks may propose including them if feasible. The park is actively working on assessing whether or not discounted parking tags could be provided to America the Beautiful passholders.”
Hope that helps!
I have lived in Wears Valley all of my life. Worked in Gatlinburg a lot, you can drive thru the GSMNP to Gatlinburg and it takes about 25 minutes. If you drive thru Pigeon Forge to Gatlinburg it takes much long because of traffic. I have always considered Metcaf Bottoms picnic area part of my home. I appreciate the fact the GSMNP is free. I don’t think we should have to buy a parking permit to go there or to travel thru to work in Gatlinburg.
Nothing is free. The huge amount of labor and resources needed to keep the park open, clean and beautiful costs money. We are on a fixed income and don’t really go on “vacations”, just family visits. But we carefully plan and save money for those trips. We pay tolls to drive on many highways, why not chip in to keep such a beautiful place in operation?
I think we pay enough taxes when we get our tags
I live in Haywood County, I have a lifetime membership card. My dad was born at Smokemont when the sawmill was there. My Great Grandad is buried on Mingus Creek. I think visitors from states other than Tenn. & N.C .should be the ones to pay for the parking .We visit The Park frequently and sometimes you can’t even move around for the foreigners .