Sky Bear-Epic Views-Big Groups-3LittleBearsRetreat

Entire cabin in Bryson City, North Carolina

  1. 15 guests
  2. 6 bedrooms
  3. 11 beds
  4. 3 baths
Hosted by Matthew
  1. 7 years hosting

Listing highlights

30-min drive to Great Smoky Mountains National Park

This home is near the national park.

Self check-in

Check yourself in with the smartlock.

Extra spacious

Guests love this home’s spaciousness for a comfortable stay.
😍Sky Bear Lodge at 3LittleBears 🐻🐻🐻Retreat

Disconnect & Reconnect to nature & your group in this elegant, authentic and historic luxury lodge on 3 Little Bears Retreat with views of the Smoky Mountains and the nature amenities of our resort adjacent to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

• No Cleaning Fees! 3% for Nature!
• Outdoor Swings
• Hot tub
• Game Room
• Trails & Creek
• SOLO firepit
• NEW! SOLO Gas Pizza Oven
• Paved Drive & Parking for motorcycles, luxury cars & trailers

The space
Major upgrades in 2025! Welcome to Three Little Bears Retreat, THE only place to retreat, reconnect, relax and experience great adventures with your family and friends! You’ll feel like a new person the moment you arrive at this view! Come retreat, renew, and refresh at our regenerative nature resort.

Social
Follow us on social @3littlebearsretreat 📸

5️⃣ Cabins to Choose From
Copy these links to view our other two cabins.
•airbnb.com/h/3bears-smoky
• airbnb.com/h/3bearspoppa
• airbnb.com/h/3bearsairstream
• airbnb.com/h/3bearsbryson

💍🛖❇️ Wedding Venue, Meeting Space & Nuwati Spa - inquire for more information.

Location
Sky Bear Lodge is located 5 minutes away from a variety of breweries, restaurants, the train, downtown Bryson City, and 2 entrances to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, where you can hike, bike, fly fish, paddleboard and kayak to your heart's content.

And only 3 hours from Atlanta, 3 hours 20 min from Charlotte, and 2 hours from Greenville, SC


Lodge
Elegant and authentic lodge created in the mid 1900’s as a wealthy businessman’s private escape is now yours to experience! Watch the eagles and ravens soar amongst the summits. Hear the many species of songbirds whistling while enjoying outdoor luxuries including hot tub, swings, cornhole, covered dining, and rocking chairs, breakfast bar with a breath-taking view that is hard to imagine until standing there in awe.
Refresh yourself indoors with luxury memory foam king beds, cathedral rough hewn wood ceilings, expansive A-frame windows, natural local stone gas fireplace , and a fully-equipped chef’s kitchen. See your night’s end with a cozy blanket and fire watching a movie with our streaming wifi or commune with friends over smores and a fire.

Nature
Experience nature in a setting that immerses you in the culture and history of the area, the sustainable and regenerative efforts to nourish the environment by the Retreat, along with all the luxuries of the modern world. This luxury alpine lodge is the pinnacle of a mountain vacation where it is secluded and adjacent to the National Park; has its own trails, creeks, and ponds; provides the concierge level services of a resort; and is only minutes from wineries, whitewater rafting, hiking trails, waterfalls, the railroad and downtown Bryson City (the adventure capital of the Smokies!). It is the perfect basecamp for a group, corporate retreat, wedding party, or family to not only relax at the lodge, but be a basecamp for indelible memories of incredible experiences and adventures.

Sustainability & Regeneration
The Retreat is also on a constant quest towards not just sustainability, but regeneration of nature. We work with wildlife rehabilitators to heal and release injured wildlife, are actively working on healing our Hemlock trees from the adelgids that are killing them, have implemented our own recycling pickup and transfer program, and also look towards adaptive reuse and consistent modifications in the properties towards better energy efficiency and use of materials. The Retreat wants to be the great national park lodge model for the next generation and is constantly marching towards the Cherokee tradition of ᎣᏍᏓ (Osda) ᎤᏃᏴᏫ (Unolvtanv) "Sacred harmony with all living things" through our own motto of “Beyond Just Right, Be Livin’ Right.” Your “3% for the Mountains” resort fee goes directly to these ongoing efforts, and we appreciate you being a part of our path forward!

Privacy
Every cabin on the Retreat is designed to have incredible privacy. This lodge is at the end of a 1/4mile driveway through the Retreat and sits perched at the top of the Retreat with nothing within several hundred feet of the lodge.

Other things to note
Updates
Winter of 2025, we took on accomplishing the recommendations of our guests and ways to improve our guest experience, which included hiring an onsite guest experience manager, adding in-cabin spa services, new SOLO fire pits and pizza ovens, a greatly expanded common area with the Nuwati trail extending from our activities pavilion closer to the top down to Lands Creek at the bottom giving access to waterfalls, hammocks, a hideaway playground, a stream fed oasis pond and more to come. We also added an event/meeting space/wedding venue, which will open up in Summer 25 for weddings, group retreats, family reunions, and other experiences that we do in common for our guests at the Retreat.

Local Recommendations

Walk around Bryson City. A Hallmark style town that has been featured in several movies and is a quintessential mountain basecamp town. 5-minute drive. Lots of shops and restaurants.

• Our favorite winery is Deep Creek. 15-minute drive with great views.

• Our favorite hangout is Bryson City Outdoors where tourists and experienced hikers gather to buy new gear and share their experiences of the day.

• Our favorite restaurant is Bryson City Brewery. It has a great farm to table menu, excellent beer selection, live entertainment, and a huge yard for kids to play and be free.

• Our favorite Summer hike is Deep Creek Waterfall Loop Trail. 5-minute drive. 2 mile hike with 3 epic waterfalls! If you have little ones or dont want to struggle, skip Juney Whank and all ages can do the hike to see Tom Branch Falls and Indian Creek in an out and back walk along the famous Deep Creek (stay for tubing too)!

• Our favorite Winter hike is Nolands Creek Trail through the National Park entrance by the Retreat. The hike is beautiful down to Fontana Lake crossing several bridges and the water drop in the lake in the winter extends the hike into a lakebed valley that is beautiful with big cascades.

We have many more local recommendations for eateries and activities. Message us to get a link to our guidebook for the area.

House Rules

1) No pets
2) No smoking inside the cabin. No butts, cigars or other in firepits. Dispose in bagged trash.
3) Check-in after 4:00 PM (unless you have arranged for an early check-in of 2pm)
4) Checkout before 11:00 AM (unless you have arranged for a late checkout of 1pm)
5) No parties or events

Pricing
Nightly rates vary based on specific dates. Weekends are priced higher.

Depending on season a two-four night minimum is required.

Early Check-in + Late Checkout

We offer both early check-in (2 pm) and late checkout (1 pm) add-ons for $50. The amount is limited, though, depending on the date. Please message us to add it to your reservation.

Security Camera

There are security cameras in the parking area and at the garage of the cabin

Liability Waiver

After booking, you will be asked to complete a Release of Liability Waiver. The waiver is a standard step we ask all guests to take, and it helps us continue offering unique stays in a natural setting.

Where you’ll sleep

1 of 3 pages

What this place offers

Mountain view
Valley view
Waterfront
Kitchen
Wifi

Select check-in date

Add your travel dates for exact pricing

Rated 4.78 out of 5 from 74 reviews.

Guest favorite
This home is a guest favorite based on ratings, reviews, and reliability
Guest reviews mention

Where you’ll be

Bryson City, North Carolina, United States
This listing's location is verified.

Neighborhood highlights

Our Retreat is located along Lands Creek, which runs through a narrow valley adjacent to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. In our neighborhood is "The Road to Nowhere" entrance to the National Park, which is an epically beautiful drive to a tunnel where the road dead ends. There are beautiful long range overlooks and access to lots of trails for all skill levels at both Noland's Creek and the Tunnel. There is also access to Fontana Lake, and fly fishing along Noland's Creek. Not only is our neighborhood located adjacent to the National Park, but it is also only 3 miles on an easy drive straight into downtown Bryson City giving us the perfect combination of a secluded retreat surrounded by mountains and forests but also easy access to the comforts and conveniences of town. The Lands Creek community is one with a deep history first as a hideaway area for the Cherokee who avoided the Trail of Tears and later as the birthplace of the National Park with the first deed given to create the park being in this area. Once the National Park was established, it also became a resettlement area for many removed from the park to create it whose struggle to extend the park road there back to their former settlements and ancestral resting grounds later gave the road its colloquial name, "The Road to Nowhere" since it was never finished. Today, it is one of the most tranquil areas of the park for outdoor recreation and reconnecting to nature.

Meet your host

Host
386 reviews
4.85 out of 5 average rating
7 years of hosting
My work: Hotelie
Fun fact: I backpacked around the world for a year
Half surfer, half summit-seeker, and somehow also a former Ivy Leaguer and bank exec. Whether I'm barefoot on a board, boot-deep in backcountry, or buttoned up in a boardroom, I bring a laid-back Bob Marley sway to the spreadsheet in my back pocket. Life’s too short for boxes—adventure comes in many forms, and I’m chasing all of them with a grin and a goal.

Host details

Response rate: 97%
Responds within an hour
To help protect your payment, always use Airbnb to send money and communicate with hosts.

Things to know

Cancellation policy
House rules
Check-in after 4:00 PM
Checkout before 10:00 AM
15 guests maximum
Safety & property
Carbon monoxide alarm
Smoke alarm