Smoky Mountain River Rat Tubing
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Closed until May 22, 2025

Smoky Mountain River Rat Tubing

Smoky Mountain River Rat Tubing
4.5
River Rafting & TubingAmusement & Theme ParksWater Sports
Temporarily closedClosed until May 22, 2025
About
OPEN: May 23 - Sept 1, 2025 || River Rat has offered tubing adventures on the Little River since 1995! We're the highest-rated and closest river tubing to Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, and Knoxville. Tube once or all day long down 2 routes. River Rat provides high-quality equipment, great amenities, and an unforgettable getaway in Mother Nature's water parks. Suitable for ages 3+. Riverside Cabana Rentals also available (no age requirement). Open 7 days/week in the summer. **Reservations Required Before Arrival** || Want more PADDLE, SPLASH & PLAY? Across the mountain at our River Rat Whitewater Rafting Outpost in Hartford, TN, we offer thrilling guided rafting expeditions for the whole family - from Extreme to Serene. Conveniently located off I-40 at the TN/NC border, we are the closest rafting outpost to Gatlinburg, Knoxville and Pigeon Forge. The most fun you will ever have on the water awaits you on the Pigeon River. All experience levels welcome!
Townsend, Tennessee

Awards
Travelers' Choice
2024

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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Popular mentions

4.5
4.5 of 5 bubbles1,774 reviews
Excellent
1,420
Very good
233
Average
53
Poor
19
Terrible
49

Pamela R
12 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2024 • Couples
Highly recommend Rat Tube at the Townsend location.
Staff were so friendly and informative. Very clean.
The sight seeing was just beautiful. Not buggy at all.
Must bring sunscreen!!
I also recommend making reservations 1 day in advance, you save a lot of money. Also, make sure the River is high, other wise it can be very slow and difficult to manner around the rocks
Written August 8, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Tarah B
Escanaba, MI381 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2023 • Family
This was an OK experience for us... We were glad we did it but we probably wouldn’t do it again. Maybe it’s because it was the last day and we had a very busy week with very exciting things like zip lining and Dollywood and this seemed a little slow for us?
We did outpost A, and it took us three hours to get down the river. It was a very hot day and I’m not sure if the water was low, but there were many times when I felt like the current wasn’t even moving and I was just sitting there baking in the middle of the river not moving. If the current move a little quicker, then maybe it would’ve been more exciting?

Tip- We bought the push sticks for $6 each and I definitely recommend it because it would’ve been a huge pain without them.

Note- sadly the push sticks are like 5 feet tall so after we paid for them, we couldn’t even take them home on the airplane. We just gave them to other people in the parking lot as we left.
Written August 29, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Snowflake1211
Neenah, WI181 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2021 • Family
We were suppose to go white water rafting with River Rats in Hartford, TN but the river was too high and weren't taking anybody. I had paid for tubing (only $13 with white water rafting). They refunded my money no problem but when we got to the tubing, it cost us $65. I guess if your white water rating trip gets canceled they don't honor the $13 tubing. It was a bummer. But we had a ton of fun so didn't damper our experience. You can buy tethers for $5 ($2 refund if returned) so you can tie your tubes together. Lots of people used their lifejackets as well.

Because of the high water level, Outpost B was 18+ (normally I think it's 6+). But we did Outpost A 3 times in 1 day. After you finish your trip, you load up on a bus and it takes you back to River Rats. Normally it was pretty fast (less than 5 minutes) but the 2nd time we went there was a large backup as a balloon festival was in town and caused a huge traffic jam on the highway. The bus line was long but one young man kept the line in good spirits by throwing tubes to the top of the pile. We all watched as he threw it to the top, probably 10 tubes high, all cheering when it stayed and sad if it rolled off. People started chanting "tube god, tube god". You had to be there but I wanted to give him a shout out for keeping us entertained.

I'm hoping we can go back and try Outpost B or their White Water Rafting someday. Highly recommend!
Written August 22, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Kathie W
Decatur, IL14 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2023 • Family
This is my favorite thing to do. It is so relaxing and fun. The young lady at the counter was very helpful getting us registered and giving us the discount. I would recommend everyone to download the App and register and sign your waiver before you arrive. Certainly worth the money.
Written July 14, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Kelly K
Menomonee Falls, WI27 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Jun 2022 • Family
I would have given a 3 for my actual float today but I consider it my fault as I assumed it would be like tubing back in WI, where you tie your tubes together and the only concern is running out of beer…this is a river that REQUIRES you pony up the $7 to buy a river stick or a paddle. We only had 1 stick for 4 of us and the 3 without a stick spent the entire ride getting un-stuck from the rocks, edge of the river etc. just buy the stick or paddle and your float will be a five or better yet bring one and don’t forget rope to tie yourselves together. Some float places provide rope and carabiners to connect the tubes but they don’t here. I consider myself a float expert of the wisco variety but failed here. Definitely come as the staff is fabulous and the river beautiful just do it better than me! Have fun and float on!!
Written June 13, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Tiffany S
Newport News, VA26 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Jun 2022 • Couples
They definitely have a great system going, especially compared to places in other states where we have tubes. We did not have to wait for the shuttle at all once we reached our exiting point which was nice.

The reason I rated this just average is because I feel like before you pay they should tell you that you need to expect to do a lot of walking and a lot of using your arms to get down the river. The water level read “low” on their website, however not knowing exactly what that meant like many others we bought tickets. It wasn’t until we entered the tunnel to get into the lake that a staff member told us that we would be doing about 30 mins of walking total. Convenient now that we had paid $50 to tube. I was miserable. Tubing is supposed to be relaxing but we were unable to do that because as soon as you lay your head back to chill, you’ve got to get out of your tube and walk it for 5-7 mins. Then you get back in and a few minutes later you’re having to use a stick or your arms to push off of rocks. It was very tiring and I would not recommend going when the water reads very low or low, most especially if you aren’t wanting a workout!

I know if the water had been higher it would probably have been one of the better tubing experiences we’ve had, but unfortunately we missed out and won’t be back in that area again so we won’t be able to give it another try.
Written June 25, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Melissa
Jacksonville, FL8 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2023 • Family
We are from Florida and called ahead of time with questions before booking a cabana. We ended up securing a party cabana, next to the river. WASTE OF MONEY. By the time we tubed Outpost B, had lunch at Burger Master, then tubed Outpost A- we had ZERO time for the cabana!
Tubing was fun but Outpost A was way more crowded & significantly longer. That side had some rocks to jump off of. Outpost B was more fun to us, as it had more rapids.
We will definitely be back to tube, but I highly recommend NOT wasting money on a cabana, unless you have people in your party that won’t be tubing. I just wish this was communicated to us before spending all that money.
Written July 9, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Angela F
2 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2023 • Family
We were blown away by how clean and professional this place is! They truly employ a Disney level of attention to customer service and atmosphere. There are a few food trucks with amazing offerings, picnic tables, and fun merchandise stores. As for the tubing itself, I’d recommend that you buy the $6.99 stick to help you maneuver through rocks. The water temp was great and the River had a slow pace for the most part, with the exception of a few “rapids” areas. It took us about two hours, without stopping to swim.
Written July 6, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Theresa L
1 contribution
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2023 • Friends
Great experience on the River Rat tubing.... (be sure to take strap on shoes). I wore my Croc sandals because that was all I had brought with me for the weekend and lost them on the second trip around. It is very difficult to stand on the slippery rocks with the current. Great fun and affordable for a single. If you don't count loosing 75.00 Crocs and a 25.00 pair of sunglasses (I know it could have been worse they could have been Rayband sunglasses) and have to then buy a pair of 18.00 water shoes and 12.00 for a tee-shirt (remember to bring sunscreen....) for the longer tubing session. We took the shorter way twice and the longer way once. The longer way takes a good hour and 45 minuets without an ore. (My arms were sore the next day from paddling with my arms.) There are places where there isn't much of a current and you will stall and bunch up with other tubers. (Great time to meet and chat for a short time.) I would recommend splurging for an ore or a stick especially if the water is low. You will get stuck on the rocks and have to try to walk on those slippery rocks. (Not an easy thing to do in the current even though the water is knee deep.)
Had a great time.
Theresa L.
Written August 15, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

5.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2021 • Family
We have been coming to River Rat for multiple years now as an annual family vacation activity. The rafting upper pigeon with unlimited tubing add on is definitely the way to go, but be sure to book your rafting trip at time of purchase so you don’t miss out.

We had 15 participants, so they required 2 boats. Our guides, Rein and “Frank”, we amazing! They coordinated splash challenges and “King of the Boat” activities that allowed us to interact with each other during calmer parts of the trip.

10 out of 10, SO much fun!!!
Written August 5, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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Smoky Mountain River Rat Tubing - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2025)

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