Content Produced in Partnership with Visit Sevierville
Sevierville may be the home to Dolly Parton, but it also boasts a number of other draws: zipline courses and adventure parks galore, some stellar boutique shopping, fine country cooking and one massive outlet — not to mention, the most visited national park in the country, the Smokies. Want to plan a trip to this charming corridor in East Tennessee? Be sure and put these fun summer activities on your itinerary.
Get a massage at The Spa at Oak Haven Resort
Tucked away north of the square, this spa is situated amid a charming log cabin resort in a hilly stretch of Sevierville and offers a full array of treatments, including massages, facials, hair removal, lash extensions and nail services. It’s also outfitted with a sauna, which is complimentary to all spa clients. Traveling with your significant other? Consider the Ultimate Couples Retreat Package, 50-minute side-by-side massages followed by 50 minutes of reflexology, then topped off with an Ice Cream Pedicure, which is just as it sounds — a bit of foot pampering while you tuck into an ice cream sundae!
Spend an afternoon at Foxfire Mountain
Located on a former cattle farm, this 150-acre adventure park promises a day’s worth of fun with its seven-line waterfall canopy zipline, an eight-wheel “Bear Crawler” ATV tours, 330-foot-long Bridge to Prosperity, a climbing wall, an aerial adventure course, a cidery, a five-line Goliath zip course, a BBQ shack, a museum, hiking trails, a couple llamas and a friendly African Watusi. Just be sure and book your experience in advance as slots fill up quickly, particularly during high season during mid-summer.
Soak up the apple goodness of the Applebarn Cider Mill & General Store
A multiplex of apple products, the Applebarn comprises a cider mill, restaurant, general store, creamery and, yes, even a winery where the wine is made from apples. Taste your way through its array of offerings, then sit down for dinner at Applewood Farmhouse Restaurant for an indulgent meal starting with—what else?—the restaurant’s famous apple fritters.
Design your own donut at Courthouse Donuts
You’ll forget all about your summer diet the second you step into Courthouse Donuts and catch a whiff of what they’re whipping up. With a design-your-own-donut bar and a multitude of toppings, you can go to town creating your own. Feeling overwhelmed? Courthouse Donuts gets you—they have a menu of popular flavors, like Key Lime Pie, Orange Creamsicle, Yabba Dabba Donut, Smoky Mountain S’Mores and Banana Pudding to help you make those tough decisions.
Swoop up summer sales at Tanger Outlets
One of Tennessee’s largest outlet malls, Tanger is outfitted with the brands you know and love, from women’s fashion like J. Crew and Michael Kors to footwear and sporting goods stores such as Nike and Adidas. It’s also sprinkled with a number of restaurants and even boasts its own moonshine distillery, Smith Creek (because this is still Tennessee, after all).
Monkey around in the canopy
The first of its kind in the area, Adventureworks is a 55-element course strung high above the trees in a two-acre park tucked away just off the parkway. With two levels of difficulty, this course appeals to kids and adults alike who want to be harnessed in to the system and try their hand at the series of tightropes, ziplines, swings and balance beams.
Shop the square
Sevierville’s historic square is home to a number of specialty boutiques and art galleries. Park your car and take a couple hours to mosey. In a standalone turn-of-the-century house on the parkway adjacent to the square, Sweet Peas & Ivy blends contemporary accents with rustic charm, stocking all the home décor like hanging air plants and cotton wreaths that you didn’t know you needed. Looking for garden goods? Housed in a delightful old hardware store, D Garden Floratique has been the ultimate stop for eclectic accessories for your home and garden for the past 20 years (and it even has a floral designer on one side should you want to take a fresh bouquet home with you).