This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of the Pigeon Forge Department of Tourism. All opinions are my own. For more information on Pigeon Forge, visit their official website here.

If you’re from Nashville or the surrounding areas, chances are you’ve heard of Pigeon Forge, but you may not know just all they have to offer besides the typical sites you see advertised on billboards as you’re driving in. If you’ve never heard of Pigeon Forge before, this one’s for you too! Pigeon Forge is a hidden gem of a town nestled in the Great Smoky Mountains full of amazing food spots, incredible museums and dinner theaters, plus fun for the whole family! Most people think of Pigeon Forge as an amazing destination for Christmas, or the summer vacation months, but there are incredible things to discover all year round and I’m here to share a few slices of our trip with you!

Pigeon Forge hosted Kyle and I for a long weekend this past week (February) to celebrate my birthday a little early! They put us up for the weekend in a suite at Black Fox Lodge and it was the PERFECT location to stay. We were close to everything, walking distance to stores, shops, & restaurants, plus had hot breakfast daily next to the first in the expansive lobby. When we entered our room, we were greeted with a welcome bag of goodies, everything we needed for our trip, plus a water-side view (see my reel on Instagram for the full room tour).

After we rested up and got ready, we headed to The Island to check out all of the shops and options for dinner! We chose The Island because they had a lot of space to hang outside and their restaurant options also had heated patios.

Even though it was a little chilly, we loved spending the time outside and seeing all of the incredible views from the water shows to the Great Smoky Mountain Wheel making it’s multiple trips above The Island.

After some shopping and exploring, we had dinner on the patio at Mellow Mushroom and let me tell you, you’ve never had a better buffalo chicken pizza in your LIFE. The music selection doesn’t hurt either (you can catch me jamming to some Whitney Houston in my reel on Instagram). After dinner, we had a surprise photoshoot with a local photographer that spotted us and it was so much fun! Can’t wait to get these printed on canvas for our house!

There is so much to do at The Island we stayed there for the rest of the night. The next morning we were off to the TITANIC Museum Attraction. After a breakfast of eggs, biscuits, and yogurt from Black Fox Lodge, we headed to the the museum and got our boarding passes before entering the “ship”. This was the coolest part to me because you were so invested walking through the different portions of the space to see if you could find any information on the person whose name you had in your hand. I was SO impressed by this experience. We spent almost 3 hours in there and didn’t even realize that much time had passed! You can’t take photos or videos inside due to the historical nature of the artifacts, but if there’s anything I would recommend you do before leaving Pigeon Forge, it would be this!

After the TITANIC experience, we headed to The Old Mill for lunch at The Old Mill Pottery House Cafe where they make their own bread AND plates! We did have a wait for lunch, but there are lots of shops and attractions in the area so you don’t realize how long you’re waiting. We found out later you can put your name on the list in advance of arriving, so I’d highly recommend doing that when you can! We had so much food and it was really reasonably priced, too!

After lunch, we headed straight to the Alcatraz East Crime Museum that was back closer to Black Fox Lodge. If you’re a true crime fan or history buff, this is DEFINITELY the place for you! They have everything from artifacts of Jesse James and Bonnie and Clyde, to more modern-day serial killers like Ted Bundy’s car. If you’re a My Favorite Murder or Crime Junkie podcast listener, you’ll spend so much time in this place and they even have an immersive experience called Top Detective Challenge where you work to find a missing artifact from the museum’s collection.

On our way out of town, we made a must-stop shop at Sunliner Diner! Both being from the northeast, we know our diners and don’t have any good ones close to us in Nashville, so we couldn’t pass up the chance! The wait was about 45 minutes for breakfast and you can’t put your name in in advance, so I’d definitely suggest getting there early, or at least leaving room in your day for it. This 50’s themed diner plays all the old school hits while wait staff intertwines the dining room in period clothes! They even take breaks to each get up and sing a song from the time period. Our waitress took a minute to sing “At Last” Etta James and it was SO good. We got omelettes and pancakes the size of our heads, which were the perfect breakfast to fill us up before a long drive home.

You don’t want to miss these spots on your trip to Pigeon Forge!