Best waterfalls in Tennessee
Tennessee’s falls split between the misty Great Smokies and the gorge-cut Cumberland Plateau, where rivers drop off the tableland in spectacular plunges like Fall Creek Falls. Spring is peak after the rains; summer brings the swimming-hole crowds. Easy paved walks and lung-busting gorge hikes both deliver.
one of the tallest falls in the eastern U.S., in its namesake state park.
a 145-ft fall deep inside Lookout Mountain, reached by elevator.
a series of cascades building to a big plunge near Cookeville.
a stream emerges from a cave, falls, and vanishes back underground.
the tallest fall in the Smokies, deep in old-growth forest.
a powerful fall near the nature center at Fall Creek Falls State Park.
a paved walk to an 80-ft fall, the most popular in the Smokies.
a wide curtain bursting straight out of a rock wall at Rock Island.
a popular swimming-hole fall; a gorge permit is required.
a broad plunge in the South Cumberland, popular with climbers.
a wide, lush fall in the Short Springs natural area.
the centerpiece of Colditz Cove on the Cumberland Plateau.
upper and lower falls with a spiral staircase in Savage Gulf.
the only Smokies fall you can walk behind, on Trillium Gap Trail.
low but powerful, with a huge plunge pool off Cades Cove.
Flows change with the season and recent rain — many falls roar at spring snowmelt and slow by late summer. Check conditions and any permit or reservation rules before you go.