Under Canvas Great Smoky Mountains

Oasis in the Mountains

10.0

Great location in the mountains with no digital signal so peace and quiet

Go somewhere else

4.0

To say I was disappointed with our tent would be an understatement. We attended a wedding on the campsite, and as wedding guest the bride and groom were told that if the guests don't stay "on site" at the campsite, they were at risk of not being able to have their wedding there. So, reluctantly, I booked a tent. I paid almost $400 a night only to arrive and find that my tent was infested with mold. After reading through the reviews from previous guest, I read that not only was management aware of the mold problem, but that they were not very likely to do much except offer to move you to a different tent. The problem with that is that other guests from the wedding party also had mold in their tents, so I didn't feel like that moving to another tent would be a very good solution. I did not want to cause a scene during the wedding weekend, so we stuck it out for the two days we were there, although def a little worried for our health as I have asthma and the breathing in viable mold did make me slightly apprehensive. When we checked out on Sunday morning, I immediately emailed the manager, with pictures attached, asking if someone could please respond to discuss the matter at hand. I sent a follow up email a week later as no one got back to me. Shortly after my follow up email, somebody did get back to me, but they called the wrong phone number. I gave them the correct phone number to call, and an email that they can follow up with me at, and never heard from anybody again. After reading through the previous reviews, it seems as though management wouldn't have done much anyway; but for almost $400 a night to camp at these campsites (which is a FAR stretch from the "glamping" they advertise themselves as), I would think that the tents should at the very least not be infested with mold. I do not recommend this campsite for anybody. There are plenty of other beautiful places you can stay in the area to actually get what you pay for and enjoy your stay. And although this next comment is completely off topic, if you're thinking of camping here because you'll see beautiful views of the mountains, don't. I have better views of mountains in my backyard in the Pennsylvania Poconos (yes, I traveled all the way from PA to be this disappointed) than they do at this campsite.

Disappointing

4.0

This is our third Under Canvas as we’ve been to the locations at Arches and Acadia. Since those were great experiences, our bar was set high going into this one. It’s located about 15 minutes from Pigeon Forge. Unfortunately, our experience wasn’t that great. With the other two, we had wonderful views of things like the Arches National Park itself, or for Acadia it was alongside a river. Here, it’s just surrounded by some trees so nothing scenic or memorable at all. Also, each park had some other nice touches such as one had some hammocks to relax, and both had games like cornhole. This one had neither and it just seemed to have the minimum setup such as the restaurant and fire pits for smores. They also had a book of trails of the national park I was hoping to leverage but it was from 2003 so that’s laughable that they couldn’t get a more recent guide. It was a hot day and within the main tent/building, they did actually have air conditioning, but it was only in the check-in desk and in the kitchen area. However, the rest of the tent was pretty warm and thankfully since it wasn’t crowded, we were able to get a box fan and put it next to our table or it would have been miserable. For dinner, we looked at the menu in advance on the website and were looking forward to the Bison Chili since it’s a unique item. And of course, once we got a menu, it was crossed out. The servers were still very nice and the food was fine, but if we were staying more than one night we would have gone into Pigeon Forge for any other meals as the menu wasn’t that large. One thing I didn’t like was that unlike the other two camps, we couldn’t even get one bar of cell reception. I then asked the front desk person if they had wireless as I wanted to send some text messages and they said they no and you shouldn’t need it anyway as you should just enjoy the area. Sorry, I disagree. Yes, I agree that the point of the area is to relax and I wasn’t trying to download movies. However, the fact I can’t even send basic text messages to other family members is a possible safety issue. Even worse, after I left her, I checked and there indeed was a wireless network, but it was for staff only, so she wasn’t being honest. Since there is no electricity in the tents (and we had a deluxe one), we were assuming trying to sleep with the heat it would be miserable. Thankfully, it cooled down a little and surprisingly, the two small USB powered fans lasted through the night so that was a pleasant surprise. While nothing really went wrong, overall, we all agreed this was easily the worst of the three locations we have been to, and if we were ever back in the area we wouldn’t come back here.

Guest review

10.0

− Der manglede a/c i teltene

Unhealthy Mold and Mildew!

2.0

We stayed in Tent 20, a deluxe king tent with a private bathroom. This was our first time staying with Under Canvas and was very disappointed! The tent canvas was covered with mildew and mold. The sink had mold all around the drain. Management wouldn't refund our money for the unstayed night even though they weren't fully booked. We were only refunded half of the unstayed night. The manager said they were aware of the mold condition. This is such an unhealthy environment staying in a tent covered in mildew and mold spores. I would move recommend Under Canvas, TN.

Underwhelming.

3.0

Remote location.

− Did not live up to expectations from videos and reviews for the price.