Need help to plan a trip to Tail of the dragon. | GTAMotorcycle.com

Need help to plan a trip to Tail of the dragon.

joey12jet

Well-known member
Hi,
A buddy of mine and I are on early stage of planning a trip to deals gap. We just secured the date(sept 4 to 8) and dont know where to make our base camp.

We are looking for motel which is close to deals gap but not to far to other fun roads as well.

Should we book a motel for four days or is it better if we book different motels in different places?

Which roads are a must if we do this trip? We need suggestions for good roads along the way so we dont need to haul our bike 13hrs in one shot.

Ive been looking at some roads in tennessee which is on shanekingleys thread.

Thanks,
Joey

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk
 
Just stay in one place. Either right in robinsville or at the deals gap hotel (really a motel) at the cross roads of time (129 and 28 ), or if you want fancy and comfortable, Fontana village resort
 
There's lots of great roads down there within a day's ride and back from deals gap. Almost too many to mention
 
Just stay in one place. Either right in robinsville or at the deals gap hotel (really a motel) at the cross roads of time (129 and 28 ), or if you want fancy and comfortable, Fontana village resort
Ok ill look into these places. Tnx

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk
 
Check AirBnb as well...you might do better unless you are sharing a motel room.

https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/4379123?guests=2&adults=2&location=Deals Gap, NC&s=DYqb5NAc

$129 a night for the whole place

full kitchen etc

83f7f030-7b33-45d2-b0d3-b0eb52a253f2.jpg


Best to stay in one space then ride from there.

this is only $85 CDN a night
https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/20029659?guests=2&adults=2&location=Deals Gap, NC&s=O3tIwPhX
 
Check AirBnb as well...you might do better unless you are sharing a motel room.

https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/4379123?guests=2&adults=2&location=Deals Gap, NC&s=DYqb5NAc

$129 a night for the whole place

full kitchen etc

83f7f030-7b33-45d2-b0d3-b0eb52a253f2.jpg


Best to stay in one space then ride from there.

this is only $85 CDN a night
https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/20029659?guests=2&adults=2&location=Deals Gap, NC&s=O3tIwPhX
We dont mine sharing room as long as we can save $.

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk
 
I would like to have some suggestions on good places to eat good food as well.

What can we do during nightime in the area when we are not riding?

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk
 
It's always a trade off ...for instance this is $59 a night ( I'm going to the Eclipse )

https://secure.booking.com/myreserv...d5RAZABdzfBBFWUYWvAAeEUJMVN3RkAGrTA==#gallery

as there are no comparable AirBnb and it's one night.
With a four day stay I'd strongly suggest someplace you can cook - gearing up ...then ungear for breakfast etc gets old. Get your place first then consider your food choices...eating every meal out can get expensive.
Can't help you with nightlife ...I just veg in front of the computer and watch movies or chat with partner in Australia.
 
not much of a nightlife in those parts,stock up on beer because a lot of the places close early, and depending on where you stay it may be a dry county.
 
Places I've stayed at with lodging:

IronHorse Moto Lodge - awesome place with many large cabins. Not far from the dragon and located right on the 28 in the heart of the good stuff. Well priced.

Dragons Rest Cabins - short ride to the dragon and well priced with nice cabins.

Blue Ridge Moto Campground - they had nice cabins which I would recommended. They are not close to the dragon, but there are tons of nice roads nearby.

Just stay in one place for your first trip. Take the most direct route there if you are hauling bikes, so you can spend more time riding down there.

As for roads to ride, anything in North Carolina or Tennessee is it. You can check out a ride report I did a called 'smoky mountains ride report', because that also has some great routes and roads mapped out.

Safe trip.
 
Fontana Village is a nice place to stay, has most things that you could want. Downside is that it's a jog to anything else. The Deal's Gap Hotel is right in the middle of everything, even farther to anything else, and isn't really a great place to wind down. If you stay anywhere near the Dragon, your options for food are kinda limited. That said I would still consider staying at Fontana Village again. I guess it all depends on how long you plan on staying. Going during the week is smart though.

*This is all based on dated experience, I need to get my **** together so I can go back
 
Simple campground right in robbinsville cheap and clean cabins with air conditioning. 10 minutes to dragon 40 minutes to nearest walmart 5 minutes from main part of town.

Sent from my LG-H831 using Tapatalk
 
I go every year from Toronto. 2 years ago we based in Knoxville, TN at the best western and drove into robinsville and back every day. This year we traveled to multiple hotels in different areas. Highly recommend at micro hotel in robbinsville, check out the Mexican place near by, forget the place. Good food. Cherahola Skyway is better than the dragon


Sent from my iPhone using GTAMotorcycle.com
 
Just stay in one place. Either right in robinsville or at the deals gap hotel (really a motel) at the cross roads of time (129 and 28 ), or if you want fancy and comfortable, Fontana village resort

I disagree. Booking in advance forces you to get to specific places at specific times. That's just not my idea of a vacation. Any time the Squeeze and I have been down (or on any bike trip for that matter) we find a low budget mom & pop hotel each night where ever we happen to be.

There are so many great roads down there you may want to follow one all day. We have.
 
Don't think he said to book in advance - just to stay in one spot while down there:)

Also with a trailer in tow, it might be easier to just stay in one place.
 
Don't think he said to book in advance - just to stay in one spot while down there:)

Also with a trailer in tow, it might be easier to just stay in one place.
Thats another area we need help. To book it in advance or pay as we go?



Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk
 
Too bad you are trailering the bikes down. The Blue Ridge Parkway is awesome and was how I got down there.

The Dragon is fun but by far not the best road in the area.

Cherohala skyway is a must
 
Too bad you are trailering the bikes down. The Blue Ridge Parkway is awesome and was how I got down there.

The Dragon is fun but by far not the best road in the area.

Cherohala skyway is a must
We dont have space on our bike for our 5 days tour. We dont want to buy saddle bag or top rack. But we already have trailer since we sometimes do trackdays.

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk
 
not much of a night life in the area. you are in the mountains, not in an urban centre.

remember: Blount county (on the north side of the dragon, in Tennessee) is a dry country: no alcohol
Beer is available at the Fontana Village store though, and in Robbinsville


There was a BBQ place just on the north end of the dragon that's open for lunch most days. We never got a chance to eat there, and last time I was down there with friends, the place had closed down (a land slide in the area choked the place out of business)

The best food I had down there was at the restaurants at Fontana Village (for breakfast, lunch and dinner).

There is a grill/greasy spoon restaurant right at the Cross Roads as part of the Deals Gap Hotel (motel).


I would say book lodgings in advance. The place is very popular.
 
Last edited:

Back
Top Bottom