Hungry? When visiting Gatlinburg, you’ll find dozens and dozens of dining options, from fast food to fine dining and local restaurants to national chains. How do you decide where to go? Here are a few suggestions for eateries that have good food and also a solid, established theme that will engage senses besides the one of taste.

• Bubbba Gump Shrimp Co.
If you liked the movie Forrest Gump, you’ll love this restaurant on the downtown Parkway, where the movie comes to life through fun memorabilia, and your taste buds will come alive to the flavors of a wide variety of shrimp dishes, of course, as well as other seafood delights.

• The Park Grill
The mighty hand-hewn timbers that make up this Parkway eatery have a mountain lodge feel, which is appropriate since Great Smoky Mountains National Park is only a stone’s throw away. Dine on steaks, chicken and regional recipes like Smoky Mountain trout.

• Hard Rock Café
Experience the entire history of rock and roll—the sights, the sounds, the smells—inside this restaurant, where the food rocks as much as the décor.

• Best Italian Café
A local favorite since 1976, this Mediterranean café serves Italian cuisine that’s delicioso, from their famous garlic rolls to the pizza and other gooey, cheesy entrees.

In most cases, you’ll enjoy dining in, but if you want to just try the food, get an order to go and enjoy it in the comfort of one of our Gatlinburg, TN, cabin rentals.

Halloween may be behind us, but that doesn’t mean you can’t trade in the chills of winter for the chills of a scary good time in the Smoky Mountains. Several area attractions make it their business to make sure you’re frightened out of your wits but leave you screaming for more.

The Mysterious Mansion on River Road is one of the town’s older attractions, but it’s still one of the ones people come back to again and again. This turn-of-the-century-style Victorian house has secret passageways, a damp dungeon and lots of things that go bump in the night (and the day). Some folks say the ghosts are real, but you can find out for yourself when you pay a visit—if you dare.

At Ripley’s Haunted Adventure on the Parkway, they use state-of-the-art technology and special effects to make customers’ skin crawl, but live actors in makeup also add to the thrills as you shriek your way from room to room.

There are also a couple of haunted tours of the city, including Gatlinburg Ghost & Haunt Tour and Ghostwalk of Gatlinburg, both of which lead groups of guests on walking tours of town, pointing out a lot of local history and weaving in tales of the strange and the macabre.

When visiting Gatlinburg, we can provide you with first-class, non-haunted accommodations in one of our secluded Smoky Mountain cabins. If we made them any more secluded, no one would be able to hear your screams! Muwahahahaha!!!!

There’s a lot of choices out there when it comes to vacation lodgings in the Smokies. While location and amenities are very important factors in the decision-making process, folks naturally consider price also when making their selections. But when you’re searching for cabin rentals in Gatlinburg, TN, cheap prices don’t necessarily mean that you have to sacrifice comfort and entertainment.

At Heartland Rentals, our prices are very competitive, yet we offer more for the money than the other companies. All our cabins feature must-have amenities like central heat and air, fully equipped kitchens, outdoor hot tubs and either satellite or cable television service. It’s not unusual to also find things like pool and air hockey tables, whirlpool bathtubs and gorgeous mountain views.

Plus our cabins are within a 10- to 20-minute drive of downtown Gatlinburg, meaning that you have handy access to all the city’s attractions, shops, restaurants and special events.

Lately, there’s been a feeding frenzy taking place in Gatlinburg. Folks from all over the country have been circling Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies and then moving in to kill a few hours at the attraction’s new shark exhibit, “Perfect Predators: SHARKS!” This family-friendly exhibit is both educational and fascinating and is designed to leave visitors mesmerized by its variety of live sharks.

The exhibit, which features more than 30 hands-on, interactive displays, is free with paid admission to the aquarium and will be on display throughout 2012. SHARKS! takes visitors beyond the superstitions surrounding these creatures, offering insight into why sharks attack and exploring their daily struggles to survive.

During a walk-through of this amazing exposition visitors will be able to:

• Guess what unusual man-made objects have been found in a shark’s stomach
• Have an up-close view of shark skin
• Experience “shark vision”
• Experience the force of a shark bite
• See why sharks have endured for millions of years

Before you head to Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies, be sure to get your accommodations lined up. Check out this Web site and see why we offer the best Gatlinburg cabin rentals in the area.

Christmas is over, but Gatlinburg Winter Magic is still going strong. That means visitors to our city will be able to see millions of brilliant Winterfest lights on display through February 28, from street-lining designs to animated diplays that tell a story.

A great way to take in all that eye candy is to take a Trolley Ride of Lights. For just $5, you can climb aboard a heated Gatlinburg trolley and sit back and enjoy all the sights as guides describe all the points of interest along the way. It keeps you from having to get out in the traffic with the car, and it frees up everyone in the family to really soak in the spirit of the season without being distracted.

Excursions embark from the city’s trolley center at traffic light #5 downtown. Rides embark on Saturday nights in January. For more information, contact the trolley center at 865-436-0535.

While planning your winter stay in Gatlinburg, be sure to peruse our selection of rental cabins in Gatlinburg. Whether you’re on your honeymoon or a large family reunion, we have just the right cabin to make your stay in the Smokies an unforgettable one.

Gatlinburg’s one of those places where you can always find something going on any time of year. And even though we’re well into winter, you can’t use colder weather as an excuse for not having fun. So unlike the Smokies’ native black bears, we expect you to get out of hibernation this winter and hunt down some action.

You can get started this weekend by ringing in the new year in the heart of downtown Gatlinburg at the city’s New Year’s Eve Ball Drop & Fireworks event. Tens of thousands of partiers will gather at the Gatlinburg Space Needle for a night of music and fun, culminating in the countdown to midnight and a spectacular display of pyrotechnics.

Other things to put on your calendar this winter include a trip up to Ober Gatlinburg Ski Resort, where snow skiing, snowboarding and indoor ice skating are the ideal way to make the cold weather work to your advantage. Meanwhile, indoor attractions like Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies and Sweet Fanny Adams Theatre are great at keeping folks of all ages entertained.

Of course, there are dozens of restaurants and night spots for keeping spirits bright all season long, and don’t forget that Great Smoky Mountains National Park is right at Gatlinburg’s doorstep, offering miles and miles of hiking and scenic driving. Just don’t forget to check back with us and browse our selection of Gatlinburg cabins when booking your next trip back to the Smokies this winter.