Little Arrow Outdoor Resort — Hotel in Gatlinburg

We had neighbors stay twice (their first two camping adventures with their brand new camper) from our referral even before we had stayed our first time here. They had a delightful experience both times.

However, our first time had both good and bad.

The Good: Staff is super friendly, lots of things going on for the kids, nice grounds, clean facilities, a lot of new or remodeled items on the grounds, and easy to get to. You feel like you are in the mountains.

The Bad:

The pool 'deck' is VERY Slippery. I saw two kids and one adult fall just walking normal. When it is wet, I bet I could slide 15 ft + in my shoes with a good start. The paint/surface is very slick when it gets wet. Maybe a paint with sand mixed in or something else on the surface would fix this. Someone is going to get hurt (busted head, etc) on this surface.

I also noticed people driving way too fast. Speed bumps or something on the road down near the "Y" and where they come from the cabins may help this. A lot of kids there at the playground, on bikes in that "y" area by the office, etc. for idiots to be driving that fast.

None/spotty cell service, our spot had little to no WIFI (B10), and the spot we were in was advertised as a 40' spot (it is 33' upon measuring from back of pad to where the grass starts - 35' total from back of pad to shade tree) and we had to hang several feet behind the pad to really fit with the slide (and my truck still blocked just about the entire road when unhooking and hooking back up). There are also two random giant rocks across from that site that make it pretty hard to back up a 33' camper with a Ram 2500. Maybe a smaller camper and tow rig would be easier, but it took 3 times to get into that site in the right spot.

The big thing for me was the no cell service AND poor WIFI at our site. Saturday I needed to do some remote work and need either cell phone service (to do it on my phone or with my Verizon MIFI) or reliable, strong WIFI. I had neither. I walked around quit a bit trying to even make a call, but even though it would connect, they couldn't hear me (Verizon service). So, I had to go home (luckily we only live 20 min away) on Saturday from 11am to 6pm so I could do the work needed and then returned that evening.

Yes, I know camping is to disconnect, but my job pays for the camper and camping experience and sometimes I have work to do during camping adventures. It was never an issue anywhere else we had camped before (Spotty WIFI at campgrounds is pretty normal, but I have never had cell phone reception issues) and not having 1 of those two items I need for camping with my job made this a not enjoyable experience.

I don't know when we will return, but we do plan to give it another try. If the WIFI situation is not resolved by being closer to the repeater antennae's, we will cross this one off our list moving forward. This review will be updated upon completion of that next trip.

EDIT 11/12/18: We have referred several friends to stay here even since the above review and prior to this most recent visit. We just completed another stay on A14.

While cell reception is still pretty unreliable/spotty, WIFI at this spot was decent while outside of the camera, spotty inside the camper (I plan to get a WIFI booster to help correct this) and I also utilized the WIFI at the little lounge on Saturday morning without any issues.

I still saw people driving up past the playground much faster up towards the tiny homes and cabin than they should have. Again, speed bumps might help curb this.

Staff is incredibly helpful and friendly. We expect to stay here again next year as an addition to the other normal spots we stay throughout the year here in the area (we live locally) and hopefully have us along with 3 other campers come in for maybe Thanksgiving next year or sometime...

UPDATE: We were aware prior to our visit that the tiny home model we booked did not have a microwave. I still believe that at this price range all the tiny home kitchens should have a small microwave. Placing a blanket in each bedroom during the winter months (we were there in January) makes more sense than the terry cloth robe on the hanger that we constantly bumped into because it stuck out of the narrow, open cabinet, the only place to store clothes.

We also enjoy cooking outsid in better westher. We did visit two restaurants during our stay, but found most of the area restaurants were closed or only open limited days/hours in January.

We did see the hot tub when we checked out the pool. It certainly looked inviting, but the air temperature was just too cold during the winter storm to even think about a swimsuit.

Although the owner commented on my original review that the park has good internet service, this was not true in our tiny home. Although we had excellent tv reception, we had to visit the office twice for help with the internet. The office staff installed the original and second set of codes for us that never worked, and acknowledged the poor internet reception in the park. They suggested we use the internet in the coffee lounge, which we did one morning.

The office and maintenance staff were extremely helpful and salted the ramp up to the tiny home deck and a path across the deck to the door after we asked about this. It safely prevented ice from freezing on the deck.

Speaking about the storm, we delayed our arrival by two days due to repeated warnings about an incoming winter storm. Schools, numerous businesses, and Cades Cove were closed, and the National Weather Service and local tv weather reports advised staying off the roads. We decided to delay our arrival two days because we were concerned about the condition of the narrow, mountain road we had ro drive. Little River charged us a $50 reservation change fee since it was close to our arrival date. Once we arrived, we were surprised so few of the tiny homes were occupied. The park was not busy and most of the tiny homes remained vacant during our entire stay. Considering the low occupancy and weather advisories being issued, we felt not waiving the change fee was poor customer service. We still stayed the same number of nights at Little Arrow and spent the same money. Little Arrow certainly had the right to charge the change fee, but as guests we will consider this when deciding where to book our annual winter and summer trips to the Smokies..

ORIGINAL POST: This was our second year to stay in a tiny home at Little River during the winter. The staff is friendly and was exceptionally quick to respond to our requests.

The tiny home we selected had two bedrooms and two bathrooms on the same floor -- we specifically booked this unit because there was no loft to climb! Our model did not have a microwave in the kitchen, which I consider a kitchen staple. The refrigerator and stove were sufficient.

Keeping the heat set at 70 degrees was impossible. It kept returning to a preset lower temp after a few hours, although we carefully followed the printed directions for increasing the heat. Three maintenance staff were not able to reset the heat either, so we gave up and manually increased the temp every 3 to 4 hours. Recommend you bring blankets if you are here during the winter.

The coffee lounge was nearby and very nice. It was too cold to use the new pool, but it will be lovely during warmer months. The cable TV is excellent, but the internet did not work at all and our cell phones had no service. Undoubtably, this is due to the distane from the internet tower in Townsend.

This is the closest RV resort to Cades Cove, which is a huge plus. An IGA grocery and several...

This has to be the nicest campground I've ever visited! We chose a glamping tent (Tent 45), and we were not disappointed! The decor and finishes were amazing with just the right amount of rustic flare. The white, fluffy robes, designer toiletries, fancy shower heads and glass bowl sink in the bathroom gave it a 5-star hotel feeling.

The kitchen comes equipped with a microwave, larger size mini fridge (fits a bag of ice in the freezer), a toaster oven and a griddle. It has no stove, which was fine with us because we had no plans of cooking! There’s a wooden table/chairs in the kitchen area.

The primary bedroom is a decent size with these great large cubby holes built into the wall. The second bedroom is tiny with bunk beds and a small unit with cubby holes. Both bedrooms have an AC/heating unit. There's an oscillating fan in both bedrooms and the kitchen area.

The tent sits on a deck, which contains a large picnic table, and patio furniture that seats four people. There’s a firepit and parking for one car.

The campground is quite pleasant looking. There is a large swimming pool and hot tub. That whole area is beautiful with multiple levels and attractive hardscaping. Across from the office, there is a giant Teepee and play area. The cabins and tiny homes sit up on the hill overlooking the RV spaces.

Little River runs along the campground, and there is a put-in and put-out a ways down the river for tubing, so you don’t even have to leave the property! That was a lot of fun😊 A short bike ride from the grounds, there is the Greenway Loop, which is a 10-mile walking, hiking, biking paved path. We rode the 5 miles out and stopped at the Apple Valley Mountain Village for a short break. After perusing the gift shop, we rode the 5 miles back on the opposite side of the E. Lamar Alexander Parkway.

There are only a few complaints I have about the campground and the tent space we occupied (Tent 45). Most of the campground spaces and all the other glamping spaces have a “driveway” that you can pull forward into for parking one car, but Tent 45 has a smaller space that sits alongside of the brush. I stupidly pulled forward on Day 2 instead of backing up first and ran into a boulder that I forgot was there. It scratched the underside of my bumper (new car!), but you can’t see it unless you crawl under. The size of the parking space was a bit tight for my large SUV.

The second complaint is the primary bed was a bit too firm for my liking, but it wasn’t a deal-breaker.

Opening the “windows” wasn’t as easy as it looks. Some flaps are not accessible from the outside because of the height of the tent, so you couldn’t open them at night when sleeping. The front flaps were very large, and we just didn’t know how to tie them up, and then we saw a neighbor’s and felt silly. So for “denser” campers, maybe instructions would have been helpful.

The first day, we rode our bikes around the campground to get a feel for the lay of the land, but the gravel rocks were so dense that it was quite difficult to navigate. I even saw several cars and RVs struggle to get through in some places, with their rear wheels spinning. And lastly, we made our getaway for midweek after Labor Day to avoid crowds and noisy kids. It wasn’t too crowded until Thursday (we checked out Friday morning), but there were quite a few kids, which surprised me because I thought they would be in school. I’m sure, for families, this would not be an issue, but we like quiet adults when on vacation.

All in all, it was a wonderful getaway. The reason we chose this location was to ride the 11-mile loop at Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park but learned just a couple days before that it was closed for paving. We found plenty to do and see in Townsend, TN, and will definitely be returning to Little Arrow...