Tennessee runs about 440 miles end to end, and the camping splits clean along the way — Smokies in the east, Music City and the lakes in the middle, Beale Street and the Mississippi in the west. The trick is picking which version of Tennessee you're after first, then picking your campground. A trip planned around Dollywood and Cades Cove has nothing in common with one planned around Lower Broadway and the Grand Ole Opry — or Graceland for that matter.
Buckle up. We'll break this down east to west: the Smokies and Pigeon Forge, Knoxville and the Volunteer State college corridor, Chattanooga on the Tennessee River, Nashville, and Memphis. Each section has the campgrounds we'd point an Outdoorsy renter toward, plus the practical detail you need before pulling in with a 35-foot rig.
Quick read:
- Smokies / East TN: Adventure Bound Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge / Gatlinburg KOA for full-hookup proximity to the park; in-park options like Cades Cove and Elkmont if you want NPS quiet (no hookups, RV length limits apply).
- Nashville: Nashville KOA Resort on Music Valley Drive, Nashville Shores Lakeside Resort for lake-and-park combo, or Two Rivers Campground close to downtown.
- Memphis: Memphis Graceland RV Park — full hookups, walking distance to the Graceland mansion.
For peak Smokies and Nashville weekends in June through October, book three to four weeks out at the private resorts and six months ahead for in-park Smokies sites. Pigeon Forge runs a second peak window in late November and December for Dollywood's Christmas season — plan for that one too.
Which Tennessee region matches your trip?
There are really five Tennessees you could RV through: the Smokies (Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, the park itself), Knoxville and the Volunteer State corridor, Chattanooga on the Tennessee River, Nashville and Music City, and Memphis on the Mississippi. The state is long and thin — driving end to end takes about seven hours, which is why most renters pick one or two regions per trip rather than trying to do them all.
In our experience helping Outdoorsy renters plan Tennessee trips, the decision usually comes down to whether the headline activity is outdoors (Smokies hiking, Tennessee River paddling), music (Nashville, Memphis), or both with kids (Pigeon Forge, Dollywood, Ripley's-style attractions). The campground answers diverge from there.
For the full Outdoorsy Tennessee inventory, the Tennessee RV parks and campgrounds hub is the starting point, and RV rentals in Tennessee shows owner-listed pickups near every region we cover below.
Where do you camp for Great Smoky Mountains National Park?
Great Smoky Mountains is the most-visited national park in the US, and it's split between Tennessee and North Carolina. On the TN side, you've got two camping decisions to make: inside the park or outside it, and big-rig amenities or quiet primitive.
Inside the park: Cades Cove and Elkmont
Cades Cove Campground is the most popular in-park option on the TN side and accommodates RVs up to 40 feet (vehicle-trailer combos up to 35 feet). Elkmont, closer to Gatlinburg, allows RVs up to 35 feet and vehicle-trailer combos up to 32 feet. Neither has electric, water, or sewer hookups — and Elkmont has no dump station on site.
That last detail catches renters out every season. If you're running a residential fridge off battery and need to dump after a few nights, you'll be driving out of the park to do it. Plan for that.
Reservations open six months ahead via recreation.gov and the popular weekends go in the first hour.
Outside the park: Pigeon Forge / Gatlinburg KOA
The hookups-and-pool answer is Pigeon Forge / Gatlinburg KOA along the Little Pigeon River. Pull-through and back-in sites run 50/30-amp full hookups; the KOA Patio "Paw Pen" sites have concrete pads with a fenced dog area attached. Per the KOA Pigeon Forge listing, the resort runs a heated pool, lazy river, jacuzzi, a gemstone mine that kids love, and an outdoor cinema. Open year-round, which matters in November and December for Dollywood's Christmas season.
It's less than five minutes to Dollywood and Splash Country and roughly 15 minutes to the Gatlinburg park entrance. For a Class A, a fifth-wheel, or any rig with slide-outs, this is generally the easier Smokies base than the in-park sites.
A quieter alternative: Adventure Bound Gatlinburg
Adventure Bound Camping Resort - Gatlinburg sits closer to the Gatlinburg entrance with full-hookup sites and a more wooded feel than the KOA. RVers we talk to who've done both tend to pick KOA for the family amenities and Adventure Bound for the slower pace.
Where do you camp around Knoxville and the Volunteer State college corridor?
Knoxville is the front door to the Smokies for travelers coming from the north or east, and it's worth a night or two on its own — University of Tennessee football fall Saturdays, Market Square, the Tennessee Theatre.
Clinton / Knoxville North KOA
Clinton / Knoxville North KOA is the easy base just off I-75 about 20 minutes north of downtown. Full hookups, big-rig access, and a good launch point for either Knoxville or driving down toward Townsend and the Smokies' western entrance.
Townsend area: Camping in the Smokies
For the "peaceful side of the Smokies" near Townsend, Camping In the Smokies is closer to Cades Cove than any Pigeon Forge campground — about 30 minutes versus an hour-plus from Pigeon Forge. RVers we hear from who base for Cades Cove specifically prefer the Townsend side.
What about Chattanooga and the Tennessee River?
Chattanooga is the most underrated TN city for RVers — Tennessee Aquarium, Lookout Mountain, the Walnut Street Bridge, and the river itself for paddling and tubing.
Chattanooga North / Cleveland KOA
Chattanooga North / Cleveland KOA sits north of downtown on I-75 with full-hookup pull-thrus and a pool. From here, it's about 35 minutes to the aquarium and Lookout Mountain attractions. The Ocoee River and the Cherokee National Forest are about 45 minutes east — worth a day trip if you've got time.
Parksville Lake (Cherokee National Forest)
For a quieter, water-side option, Parksville Lake RV Campground is inside Cherokee National Forest near Reliance, about an hour from Chattanooga. Forest Service rates, lake access, no hookups. Trade-off worth making if you want the river-and-mountain experience without driving into downtown.
Where do you camp around Nashville and Music City?
Nashville is the most-requested Tennessee destination on Outdoorsy in our experience. The campground decision usually comes down to one trade-off: how close to Lower Broadway you actually want to be, and whether you want resort amenities or a parks-and-recreation feel.
Nashville KOA Resort (Music Valley Drive)
Nashville KOA Resort is the closest full-amenity RV resort to downtown — about 10 minutes to the Grand Ole Opry, 15 to Broadway. Per the Nashville KOA listing, the resort runs full-hookup back-ins and pull-thrus with 50/30-amp service, KOA Signature sites with concrete pads, a resort pool, and roughly 250 live music events on-property per year — which is the kind of detail that makes it weirdly authentic to the city it's in.
Nashville Shores Lakeside Resort
Nashville Shores Lakeside Resort is the family-friendly answer — RV sites combined with a waterpark, beach on Percy Priest Lake, and lake activities. About 20 minutes from downtown but a different kind of trip; if the kids are along, this is usually the better call.
Two Rivers Campground
Two Rivers Campground is convenient with full hookups and easy access to Opry Mills and the Cumberland River. RVers who've stayed at all three generally call Nashville KOA the resort, Nashville Shores the family pick, and Two Rivers the simpler basecamp.
Free or low-cost: Anderson Road and Seven Points Campgrounds
If you'd rather skip resort pricing and don't need full hookups, Anderson Road Campground and Seven Points Campground are Army Corps of Engineers campgrounds on Percy Priest Lake — electric-only hookups, lake access, much lower nightly rates. Both fill fast in summer.
What about Memphis and West Tennessee?
Memphis is the only TN city where one campground sort of dominates the conversation — and that's because of where it sits.
Memphis Graceland RV Park
Memphis Graceland RV Park and Campground is on 19 acres along Elvis Presley Boulevard, within walking distance of the Graceland mansion. Per the Graceland RV Park listing, the campground has gravel pull-through and back-in sites with full hookups supporting 30/50-amp service, a swimming pool, playground, laundry, walking trails, and 24-hour security. Pets are allowed in your own RV at no charge.
From here it's about 15 minutes to Beale Street and the Mississippi riverfront, and roughly 20 minutes to the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel. If you're in Memphis at all, this is generally the easiest answer.
Memphis East Campground
For a less touristy base, Memphis East Campground sits east of downtown — quieter, less expensive, and a longer drive to the headline attractions.
When do Tennessee RV campgrounds book up?
Here's the pattern we see every season. Smokies in-park sites (Cades Cove, Elkmont) book six months out the morning reservations open, especially for June, July, October weekends. Pigeon Forge has a regular peak (June–August) and a second peak in November and December for Dollywood's Christmas — which catches first-timers out. Nashville books especially hard for spring festivals (CMA Fest in early June, weekend bachelorette traffic year-round) and fall football weekends. Memphis is the easiest to land last-minute except during Elvis Week in mid-August.
If you're late and committed to going, here's the move:
- Refresh cancellations 48–72 hours out on recreation.gov for in-park Smokies sites and Reserve America for state parks.
- Build the trip around shoulder-season weeks. Late March to mid-May and late September to early November are the sweet spots for the Smokies — fewer crowds, better leaf color in fall, comfortable temperatures.
- Mix in a non-headline night. Spending two nights at a Corps of Engineers campground on Percy Priest Lake outside Nashville on either end of a Broadway trip is often the only way the booking math works.
We have a whole guide on boondocking and free camping if any of your itinerary lands on Forest Service land in Cherokee National Forest — we'd recommend giving it a read before you go.
Plan the rest of the trip
Browse RV rentals in Tennessee for rigs you can pick up near your gateway — Nashville, Knoxville, Memphis, or the Smokies. For more park-by-park reading, the Outdoorsy Great Smoky Mountains guide covers the park itself in more depth.
Find what moves you. Then book the campground before everyone else does.
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About this guide. We compile our Outdoorsy guides from verified national-park and state-park data (recreation.gov, National Park Service, Tennessee State Parks), KOA and private-campground listings, conversations with Outdoorsy hosts and renters who base near these gateways, and well-traveled patterns in the RV community. Site sizes, fees, generator policies, and reservation windows reflect public information current at the time of publication; always confirm with the campground or reservation system before booking, especially for in-park Smokies sites, where availability shifts week to week in peak season.
