Travel writer and Knoxville resident Katy Koontz has been hooked on exploring and writing about the Smokies for about three decades. Her research has taken her to every corner of the gateway towns of Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, Sevierville, Townsend, and Cherokee to regularly report on the newest and craziest attractions, the best places to stay (for romantic getaways as well as family vacations), and the greatest grub the region has to dish out. As a freelance writer, Katy has written online articles for BBC.com, AOL Travel, Money.com, Expedia’s Family Vacation Critic, Forbes Travel Guide, USA Today’s online city guides, and MapQuest. Her print travel stories have appeared in Parade, National Geographic Traveler, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Shape, Travel & Leisure, Outside, Family Fun, and others. Katy is also the author of Family Fun in the Smokies: A Family-Friendly Guide to the Great Smoky Mountains.
Visitors have lots of reasons for making the Smoky Mountains the most visited national park in the country—and you’ll find most of them detailed right here on this site. The sometimes maddening, sometimes miraculous combination of natural beauty and commercial business in the Smoky Mountain region assures the avid adventurer ready to hit the trail, the honeymoon couple hoping for...