Cherokee / Great Smokies KOA Holiday — Hotel in Big Cove Community

An amazing campground for families! We loved our stay with teens + 6 year old + a toddler. There is SO much for adults and kids both to do and this was another great KOA experience.

The good: Themed activity weekends Daily activities (great for those who vacation during the week) Food trucks on weekends (we had a lemonade one and cheesecake one) Nice sized pool with the perfect water temp, plenty of chairs, tables and umbrellas and a splash pad for the little ones too Snack bar at the pool with great options for lunch (pizza, pretzels, etc.) Arcade/game room/board games Indoor pool (closes at 7 p.m. but they left it open later one night when the outdoor pool closed for rain, which was really nice) Corn hole and ladder golf VERY clean facilities all around. We didn't use the shower houses but I did check them out Absolutely beautiful sitting areas all around the office/pool areas of the campground - lots of propane fire pits with adirondack chairs - we saw people using these every night, the views were nice and you don't have to worry about having firewood Staff in the office were so nice and friendly. Huge camp store with lots of the necessities, fishing gear, groceries, beer/wine and a huge selection of souvenirs You can tube down the river that runs along the side of the campground (bring your own tubes, they're expensive if you have to buy them locally). The KOA does not sell these but the gas station right before the campground on Big Cove Road does. Some stores in town in Cherokee sell them too. The rapids on this river are a little intense in places and there are rocks, so it's better for older kids (I'd say 8 or 10 years old+). We had a 6 year old go and he was fine but wore a life jacket and is an excellent swimmer. Put your tubes in by cabin 251 and then you'll float down and get out down behind the office area (there's a nature trail to walk back up to the campground). The teens loved this! We stayed at the Asheville KOA before the hurricane last year and their river tubing was a little more mild than this one, so if you've been there, this one is a little more adventurous. :) There's a beautiful deck and another fire pit overlooking the river behind the cabins by the office - we didn't find this until the last night, but it was a great spot and you can fish the river from up on the deck. Golf carts are allowed and there is no fee to bring your own They have your basic campground rules in place but we also didn't feel like people were constantly being policed, which is what we like - as long as people aren't being crazy, let the people have fun. Very welcoming environment! Campground wifi was good. We got zero cell service in this location, so were thankful for the wifi and it worked well in most places throughout the park. 3 ponds to fish from

The "needs improvement": Sites can be pretty close together. It was very tight with no room beside or behind our RV, so it was tough to gather at our site at all. We didn't have a campfire because we were afraid the fire pit was too close to both our camper and our neighbor's camper when we both had our slides and awnings out. We were on site 210. Our neighbor was on 209 and had a bit more green space to the rear of his camper, so some sites are better than other (these are pull through sites). Our pull through site was hard to get out of when the park was full. We have a 46' fifth wheel and I think I'd probably ask for a longer site next time. If our neighbors hadn't been there to move their vehicles, we'd have had trouble making the turn out of our site. Ponds were not being stocked due to heat/water temp. Not KOA's fault but we wish we'd have been told before buying a fishing license at $10/day for 4 days for multiple people. You can leave and fish elsewhere but not everyone can do that (motorhomes, for example). Ping pong table was broken - not KOA's fault, just probably rough kids. Please take care of the amenities! Need more balls for ladder golf - some were missing (again, probably...

DO BETTER! This was the third time that we have stayed here. The first 2 years had minimal issues but nothing that would sway our decision to return, this year we even invited 3 other families to join us because of how much fun we have in the area. This year was VERY different from the last 2, I was embarrassed to have vouched for this campground and saddened that they had dropped the ball so badly for the entirety of our stay. We live in the north east and had planned to make the 12 hr drive in one day. I had left our home so that we would arrive just about 4pm when cabin check in was, however I was able to make decent time and arrived an hour early at 3pm. I went to the desk and spoke with a younger woman with glasses seated at the station that doesn't allow liquor sales. I informed her that we were here for our stay and that I would like to see if we were able to check in early (in the last 2 years we visited our cabins were ready and they allowed an early check in) I was rudely cut off and told that check in was at 4, I asked if it was possible that our cabin was ready early (come to find out that it was) and I was very tired from our long drive. She again cut me off and said NO and that we will see you in an hour. I asked if we could at least pay for our stay and handle all the paperwork so that when 4pm arrived the process would be faster and I could begin to enjoy vacation. I was cut off for a 3rd time and she stated that there is nothing she will do and to return in an hour. I returned in an hour after taking a much needed nap in the truck to a lengthy process of checking in and making payment. When I confirmed that we had the cabin that I reserved she very curtly said it's whatever you reserved. I wanted to confirm that the reservation was CORRECT but was ignored while she went through her spiel about how to unlock the door and when check out time was. (Luckily we were in the proper cabin)

The cabin: First off I am aware that this is a campsite, we are in the woods and there will be allowances for that. one of our cabins had dirty sheets on the pull out couch and both room ceiling fans had an excessive amount of dead bugs in the lights, there were no extra blankets or towels all of which should be easily handled by housekeeping. Our cabins issues were noticed by the first night. The filters on the Air conditioners were absolutely CAKED with dust and there was excessive mold in the vents of all three of them. It appears that they haven't been cleaned this season. There was an ant infestation that we found in one of the rooms that we noticed on day 4 after the person sleeping in that room having bites all over her arms and torso. We purchased our own spray to combat them but the damage was done. While searching that room for bed bugs (our initial thought on the bug bites) we found the missing kitchen knife under that mattress. Again, this is something that could have been easily handled by housekeeping but wasn't.

The Campground: We didn't stay on site as much as in the past but the few times we went to the pool area the jets on the hot tub didn't work and there was a lot more hair in the pool then I would expect, enough for us to not use it again for the rest of our stay. We opted for the river which was much much cleaner and more refreshing. Finally at one point I needed a refill on one of our propane tanks, I went into the front office to pay for the refill and was told to take it over the the refilling station and then come back in to pay. I asked if I could pay now and was told that it was done by the amount of propane added. I said that it's a 5 gallon tank and it's completely empty, so I just need 5 gallons (and the least amount of time I spend in here the better.) Well the same young woman with the glasses that I had the interaction with during check-in decided to speak up and say "she said go fill it and then come back in, someone will meet you there or you can get it...

Editing again after our third stay. We had a very different experience this time. We really had a great time here and all the employees we encountered were very nice and friendly. The new outdoor pool area is fantastic, could use a lot more lounge chairs there. It's a huge space, but only like 15 chairs and for a huge campground like this, they ran out fast. Also the grand opening celebration was a blast. Only negatives were the site we were on was really small. Huge parking space, but like 10 feet of space, i would just avoid those spots if you have a choice. There are lots of very roomy spaces there, but I went cheap. Lastly, dog barking. Its bad. And its all the small dogs. They bark at everything all the time. We heard dog barking way into the night, and the owners of those dogs really don't seem to care that their dogs bark incessently. I'd love to see this KOA take their threats of kicking people out for dog barking seriously. It's a huge nuisance.

This was our second time at this campground. I feel like it's a pretty nice campground and the new pool/cafe area looks like it'll be really nice. Our site was very roomy, but like others said, the sewers are in weird spots. We were barely able to reach ours after tieing two hoses together. Excellent wifi signal from our site. And the Pet Pawz sites are awesome. The indoor pool really needs a changing room. You basically have to walk back to your site soaking wet in the cold. Also the heated pool was not at all heated. It was freezing and we couldn't use it.

Customer service leaves a lot to be appreciated it, and really destroys almost every other aspect of a stay. While my experience with the desk staff was positive, they were really nice to me and my children whenever we were in the office, my sister had a very different experience. Our last night there was dropping below freezing and they didn't have a heated hose, so they loosened the hose a little bit to let it drip so it wouldn't freeze. Instead of politely speaking to them, the campers/workers next to them berated him for doing that. Told him he was wasting water and was quite rude. Yes, i suppose they were wasting a little water, but they could've easily opened up a faucet inside and wasted a lot more. I don't know if they actually worked there or not, but they claimed they did. Then they told on them, cause a few minutes later my brother in law heard them having a conversation about it with an actual worker, who never said anything to them. Thought it was over at that point, until the next morning, when they tightened everything back up the wife, i guess, came and basically told my sister they needed to fix it(not sure what) and then called my sister a liar straight to her face. This is absolutely unacceptable behavior. Our stay was pretty nice, but i don't know that I would ever give these jerks our money again. Between us, and our mother who booked a cabin we probably spent over $1,000 that weekend and talked about planning a week to come back next summer, i think we'll be looking for a different campground in that...