Do the Cades Cove tours work without cell signal?

Yes. Download before you go and the audio plays by your phone's location even with no signal — ideal for Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee.

How do I get the tours?

Download the free Ranger Tales app from the App Store and unlock the Cades Cove tour(s) inside the app.

Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee

Cades Cove

The most beloved valley in the Great Smoky Mountains — an 11-mile, one-way loop past historic log cabins, three white frame churches, and a working grist mill, through open fields grazed by deer, turkey, and black bears.

Get it on the App Store

Self-guided audio tours

The Cades Cove tour

Driving tourCarPlay

Cades Cove: The Smokies' Lost Valley

26 stops· 49 min· 10.6 mi

An eleven-mile, one-way loop around the most beloved valley in the Great Smoky Mountains — a broad, green cove ringed by peaks, dotted with log cabins, three white churches, and a working grist mill. Ranger Quinn walks you through the ground itself: why this valley is flat and fertile when everything around it is mountain, how a War of 1812 veteran and his wife survived their first winter here in 1818, and how a thriving community of nearly seven hundred people was bought out and moved off to build America's most-visited national park. Ranger Boone Merrick rides along with tales of the pro-Union cove in a Confederate state, the bears that stop traffic, moonshine and the men who chased it, and the family who fought the park all the way to Christmas Day 1937. Drive it slow. Every cabin has a door you can walk through.

Waterfalls & landmarks

What you'll see

Tap any landmark for a visitor guide — what it is, where it is, and how to hear its story.

Plan your visit

Good to know

Is there a self-guided audio tour of Cades Cove?: Yes — Ranger Tales offers 1 self-guided audio tour of Cades Cove. The most beloved valley in the Great Smoky Mountains — an 11-mile, one-way loop past historic log cabins, three white frame churches, and a working grist mill, through open fields grazed by deer, turkey, and black bears. Each plays by GPS and works offline.
Do the Cades Cove tours work without cell signal?: Yes. Download before you go and the audio plays by your phone's location even with no signal — ideal for Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee.
How do I get the tours?: Download the free Ranger Tales app from the App Store and unlock the Cades Cove tour(s) inside the app.

🎧 Get the tour

Explore Cades Cove with a ranger

Download the tour, leave your phone in your pocket, and let it play itself as you go. Works offline.

Get it on the App Store