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Pigeon Forge · Hotel shortlist

The best hotels near Gatlinburg

Stefan Bauer

Stefan Bauer The American west

Updated 1 September 2026 · 62 Pigeon Forge hotels assessed

These are my five favourites in Pigeon Forge, out of the 62 that qualified. I read what other travellers scored them before I picked, so the order follows the guests, 4.7 down to 4.4.

All five are inside 1.2 km of Gatlinburg, so you can walk it.

Margaritaville Resort Gatlinburg

Highest rated of the five

Margaritaville Resort Gatlinburg

★★★★★4.7 from 3,074 reviews

Margaritaville Resort Gatlinburg comes out on top of this list, and not narrowly: 4.7 from 3,074 guest reviews is a score that holds up at that volume, which is the whole test here. A perfect ten from nine people does not beat it.

It is a 4 star property, found under poi and around $436 a night on the dates we checked.

62 hotels in Pigeon Forge qualified for this list and five made it. The Greystone Lodge On The River is the one I would book if the first is full.

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All five, ranked

  1. Margaritaville Resort Gatlinburg1

    Margaritaville Resort Gatlinburg

    ★★★★★4.7 from 3,074 reviews

    under 200 m from Gatlinburg, about a 1 minute walk

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    • The Greystone Lodge On The River2

      The Greystone Lodge On The River

      ★★★★★4.4 from 2,293 reviews

      200 m from Gatlinburg, about a 2 minute walk

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      • Jack Huff's3

        Jack Huff's

        ★★★★★4.7 from 504 reviews

        400 m from Gatlinburg, about a 5 minute walk

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        • Embassy Suites by Hilton Gatlinburg Resort4

          Embassy Suites by Hilton Gatlinburg Resort

          ★★★★★4.6 from 564 reviews

          1.2 km from Gatlinburg, about a 15 minute walk

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          • Old Creek Lodge5

            Old Creek Lodge

            ★★★★★4.6 from 827 reviews

            1.1 km from Gatlinburg, about a 14 minute walk

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            How this list was put together

            62 Pigeon Forge hotels qualify for this list. We ranked them on guest rating first and on how close they are to Gatlinburg second, then took the top five.

            Two things decide these lists. The first is my own time in the city: every hotel on this page is one I have stayed in, walked into and looked at, or gone back to check. That is where the shortlist starts, and it is why some well reviewed places are not on it.

            The second is the numbers, and those are what set the order. The rating and review count come from the big travel sites, pooled through Google, so a score here reflects Expedia, Booking, Hotels.com and the rest together rather than any one of them. I also read the review breakdown by topic, which is where the figures on service, breakfast and location come from. Hotels with fewer than forty reviews are left out altogether, because a rating that thin is not a rating. No more than two come from one neighbourhood.

            What I do not do is move anyone up the order. The ranking is the guest score, highest first, and nobody pays to be on the list.

            Distances are straight lines from published coordinates, so the real walk is a little longer. Amenities are as recorded by Google Hotels and can change without notice. Rates are an indicative nightly figure for a midweek autumn stay, not a quote. Check the booking page before you commit.

            Stefan Bauer

            Stefan Bauer The American west

            Chases total solar eclipses. Seven of them on four continents, from Wyoming to a fishing town in Chile. Banks days off through the on-call rota and books the trips years ahead, because eclipse dates do not move.

            Trip Grapevine earns a commission on bookings made through the links on this page. It costs you nothing, and it does not change the order of the list, which is set by the measurements above.