Cades Cove Bus Tour: Explore Historic Landmarks

Discover Cades Cove’s rich history and stunning landscapes on a 5-hour bus tour from Pigeon Forge. Uncover Cherokee heritage and natural beauty.

Duration: 5 hours
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • Cades Cove - Cade’s Cove is a broad, verdant valley surrounded by mountains and is one of the most popular destinations in the Great Smoky Mountains. It offers some of the best opportunities for wildlife viewing in the park. Large numbers of white-tailed deer are frequently seen, and sightings of black bear, coyote, ground hog, turkey, raccoon,…
What's Included
  • Headsets to hear the guide clearly
  • Driver/guide
  • In-vehicle air conditioning
  • Live commentary on board
What's Not Included
  • Gratuities
  • Hotel pickup and drop-off
Additional Information

Take a journey into the historic Cade’s Cove. Originally called Cates Cove, it was named after the wife of a Cherokee Chief who adopted a Christian name after converting to Christianity. Chief Abram, who also took on a Christian name, now has a waterfall in Cades Cove named in his honor. Discover this and more during a 5-hour bus tour of the renowned…

Location
220 Apple Valley Rd
Apple Valley Road
Meet the tour vehicle in front of the restrooms which are located in front of the Creamery. It's a large paved parking lot. You should see a winery and Christmas store nearby. Your guide will be waiting inside the tour vehicle. Go meet your guide to check in.
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.5
(58 Ratings)
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1 star
Michael
Sep 8, 2025
Great tour excellent guide - The guide was amazing and nice. Scenery was breath taking. Great experience. Must do tour. Driver had other stops as well. Will do again.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Kitchenwitch
Aug 24, 2025
Wonderful tour! - We had a wonderful morning on this tour. We learned a lot about the history of Cades Cove and saw some wildlife, including wild horses and a mama bear with her cubs. The van was comfortable and the driver, a lovely man whose name I wish I remembered, was sweet and funny. Highly recommended!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Lawrence_k
Aug 7, 2025
Great way to tour Smokey mountain - Nice drive thru Smokey Mountains. Very relaxing way to tour the area we saw deer turkeys and a bear.
Review provided by Viator
Perry_f
May 17, 2025
Great! - Our guide was very friendly and knowledgeable. We had a very good time. The bus was comfortable and nice.
Review provided by Viator
Donna_h
Aug 27, 2024
Bears were are you? - Good tour guide with great advice . Enjoy the trip but wish we would have seen a bear. We will be back to try to see a bear
Review provided by Viator
William
May 11, 2023
A worthwhile tour - This tour combined site seeing, history and folklore. I highly recommend taking this tour, particularly if this is the first time to visit the park.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Mary
Jul 15, 2021
Wonderful, funny, with history of the area included. Highly recommend! Squirrel and Buford were great guides - Buford & Squirrel were great guides. Bufords knowledge of history +great humor (w/his sidekick, Squirrel) made it a fun time! Highly recommend it!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Elainebf292kz
May 5, 2026
Lovely scenery, terrible tour guide / driver - My three friends and I were really looking forward to this trip to Cades Cove. One had been there before and highly recommended it. The scenery was lovely, it was nice to see some wildlife and historic buildings, and tour might have been great, except for the driver/ tour guide. The driver did not introduce himself, (I wonder why not), and rarely left his seat, so we were on our own with opening the van door to get in and out. (At one point, the door was actually stuck.) This was not a bus. There were six of us on this tour, and luckily there was a gentleman and his wife on the tour, and the man opened the door for us. I can’t speak for that couple, but the rest of us are over 60 years old. I am not certain whether we were supposed to have about an hour for shopping after the tour. Plus, we made an unscheduled stop, before our drop off, so he could buy himself some coffee, which he could have done while we were shopping. When all six of us went to get back into the vehicle a little ahead of time, at one of the tour stops, the driver was asleep. We did not receive headsets, and the live commentary was not always about the tour, or particularly funny. There was very little tour information given and some of it was actually inaccurate, as one of my friends actually worked for parks and knew the rules. I think there was possibly more information in the what to expect tour information, than we actually heard. We were given inappropriate personal information, e.g., about his Mister Softee truck, drinking and drugs, plus some unkind remarks about people. I won’t say everything he told us to keep this PG rated. He also continued to invite us to his Moonshine tour later in the day. I fell to the ground getting out of the van, and he said something like “you can’t take kids anywhere”, and did not seem at all concerned or ask how I was. My friends were as disappointed as I was. I paid for two tickets and would like a full refund.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Journey21452795595
Apr 27, 2026
Terrible experience! Awful tourguide! - Our tour guide didn't know anything about Cade's Cove. We were promised " live commentary that goes beyond your typical guidebook. Learn about native wildlife as well as the cove's history and Cherokee heritage." We got NONE of that on our tour. He didn't introduce himself so I don't know his name but we were on the 8am tour on April 24, 2026. We asked when the first settlers arrived in Cades Cove. He didn't know. I believe his answer was the 1800s. We asked a couple of other questions too, which he couldn't answer. One of the ladies in my group fell when she was exiting the shuttle bus. He didn't get out of the bus to check on her nor did he ask if she was ok. He made a joke, "I guess your can't take kids anywhere these days". She is 71 years old. He didn't know any more about Cade's Cove than I do. I want a FULL refund of the $80 I spent on this tour. I've been to the cove many times. I went on the tour to learn the history of the area. Well, I didn't learn one thing! He did tell us about his ice cream truck. He even showed us a picture of it on his phone. He told us that he made lots of money selling ice cream to people who were eating CBD gummies, pregnant women and kids in the area. He told us a story about a woman pulling her shirt up just in time for someone to take her picture. At the end of the tour, he brought us to a retail area for us to shop. Are you kidding me? I didn't pay all of that money to take the tour to be dropped off for an hour at a retail store! He must get a kickback for dropping us off at that shop. Plus, I had been to that shop two days prior to the tour so I was bored senseless! At the end of the tour, he stopped at a gas station so he could get himself some coffee. He went in by himself, while we sat in the bus, bought his coffee and came back to the bus bragging that this huge cup of coffee only cost $2. I was VERY DISAPPOINTED in this tour. I want a FULL REFUND! You're welcome to call me if you'd like. My cell number is 504 554 4667. Erin Druhan
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Flyer594680
Aug 7, 2025
Do not recommend - Do not recommend. The tour van was not air conditioned, headsets were not provided and was not what we would consider a tour with a guide. We had to pull up our our guide on a phone to get information.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
From $80
up to 15 guests
1 - Adult
Cancellation: Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start of your experience (local time).