Dragons Tail

[rshepler217]

This weekend i am going on a ride with my father, mother, and girlfriend to the dragons tail in north carolina. Has anyone rode on this road and have any input into which hotels to pick or places to eat?

[50dro]

There is an annual Buell meet there in April at the Deal's Gap Resort. This year's was called "Dragon V." There's a thread on here somewhere. I'm sure someone will chime in on places to eat etc but make sure you hit up the Cherahola (sp?) Skyway! What a fantastic road!!!

[snrusnak]

I second the Cherahola Skyway, one of the best roads.

There is a little resort there called Fontana IIRC. They have a nice hotel like lodge type place you can get rooms there. That's where we stayed, and where I'll stay again in september. The motel right off the dragon just didn't look appetizing IMO lol. There's also a restaurant up by Fontana and they have a bar there too [up]

[50dro]

Yeah...Deal's Gap is pretty basic but gets the job done. I use the word "resort" with it loosely. It was clean and the price was good at only $59! :) I'm sure there are many options though. Ride safe out there!

[snrusnak]

Yeah if it was just me I'd stay just about anywhere, but bring a gf or wife along and they probably wouldn't like it haha.

Fontana was comparable to a holiday inn IMO. I hadn't seen the inside of deals gap motel but I'm sure it'd be ok.

From what I understand, there's not much else within about an hour other than those two choices.

[FlaXB9R]

Pretty sure there are some other choices. Maybe someone can chime in but I know for sure at least oneone other place to stay because there was a couple night stay somewhere not mentioned above in the raffle at the Dragon V . With that said Deals Gap was plenty good enough for me but I didn't go to hang out in a room so....... Another thing from my understanding deals is a deal compared to Fontana so personally if those were the options Deals it is. Vacation is expensive enough as it is save where you can and blow the rest on fun, food, and booze is my suggestion.:D

[snrusnak]

Yeah IIRC Fontana was like $120/night. But we split it between 3 people so not bad. "nice" is relative. Just to be clear...I wasn't trying to sound prissy or anything, just saying that if some people will only stay in real nice places then they probably won't want to stay there.

I booked a motel for my wife and I once, not caring what it was like so chose the cheapest one. We got there and it wasn't real nice, so there was a lot of arguing and time wasted to get our money back and go elsewhere. That was about 3-4 years ago. She hasn't forgotten about it lol.

[redrider]

Cherahola for sure [up]

[user_deleted]

what sean and red rider said and i'll add that at the southerly end of chrahola skyway there is little town of tellico plains, TN. has nice KOA campground as well as a few small mom and pop motels, nice little town. cherahola is like 65 miles long and fabulous road. and of course being in the south the people are wonderful. small motel at foot of deals gap is recently renovated and has everything a rider needs...clean, convenience, beer, gasoline and great pricing.

[GAXB9R]

The deals gap resort wasn't to bad. They did take care of our newly found friend mr squiggles... Stay safe while riding the dragon. It's fun, but there are a lot of idiots up there as well. Had to have been a VW convention during the dragon event with probably 20-30 of them. I was always worried they would slide into me on a curve. Have fun and be aware of everythIng. Be cautious of cops too. Convickpitbull and I got ourselves warnings.:D 55 in a 35! Luckily it was just a warning[cool]

[byrdock]

I always stay in Franklin when I go to the mountains. Puts you in the middle of hwy 28 (the moonshiner) which will take you to Cherohala and the Dragon. Plus it let's you ride 64 to Brevard, which is a good ride. The Sapphire Inn is motorcycle friendly (they even keep a bin of rags for bike cleaning) motel(not fancy but good) with good rates and lots of places to eat in town.

[Bossanova]

Phillips in Robbinsville, NC. Nothing fancy but clean and bike friendly. They keep a rag bin too in the front office.

www.phillipsmotelonline.com

If your into camping I suggest The Simple Life Campground also in Robbinsville. They have some neat small cabins that sleep 4. The guy that owns it is a nice guy.

www.thesimplelifecampground.com

Have fun no matter where you stay and be careful...

[rshepler217]

I found twowheelinn.com pretty nice from what ive read on them and from the pic. for a suite at 120 a night that has its own garage attached to each room i dont think you could go wrong. And i would be splitting it 2 ways so 60 each I think thats what im going to do. has anyone stayed there?

[vtech007]

Just a bit further west of Tellico Plains, TN is Athens, TN. Head west on Hwy 30. There are all kinds of hotels including the big name chains and all kinds of places to eat there. Nice area, nice little city. My dad moved there when he retired, lives in Athens. Be sure to pick up a Tail of the Dragon T-Shirt while you're there. Rides safe. That is the curviest road I have ever been on. And you don't want to loose control and go off the road. No.

[user_deleted]

byrdock: i forgot all about franklin. that is damn good riding over there, isn't it?

[byrdock]

lunaticfringe; lot's of backroads in the area with little traffic. And really like 64 and 28 if traffic is lite:-)

[mchall629]

If you really want choices of places to stay and eat, just stay on 129 coming out of NC into TN and it will run you into HWY 411. Turn right and it will take you into Maryville, TN. I lived there for years and rode Deals Gap everyday...