Top 5 Best Motorcycle Rides in Tennessee (2021 Riding Season Year-End Review)

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We looked at a full collection of 2021 motorcycle riding season data when millions of riders visited MotorcycleRoads.com to find the best motorcycles rides and routes in the USA, Canada, and abroad.  For over 20 years now, MotorcycleRoads.com has been documenting the best/most-popular motorcycle roads, routes, and rides and for about a decade, we have published annual reports after diving into the website's statistics (which routes are riders researching the most, which routes are getting the most photo/video/comment uploads, etc., etc.) to determine which of the motorcycle routes have risen to the top in motorcycle rider popularity.  We look at a complex set of factors (see Note 2 below) to determine which of the motorcycle rides in each of the states and US regions are the most popular and rated to be the best by motorcycle riders just like you.  Our very popular annual "Top Motorcycle Rides per Region" guides cover the best rides for each of the four official riding regions of the USA: the Northeast, the South, the Midwest, and the West.  This year we took things a step further and decided to gone one level deeper and develop guides outlining the Top 5 Best Motorcycle Rides in for the US states and so you are seeing one of those such guides on this page.   

Tennessee stands out for having some of the best motorcycle rides in the entire USA.  In fact, its world famous Tail of the Dragon (AKA Deal's Gap, Dragon's Tail, etc) is probably the most famous motorcycle rides in the country and probably the entire world.  In fact the Tail of the Dragon is so famous that it is sprouting up "dragon parts" all over the country as other states and areas hope to cash in on its fame. But Tennessee simply has many other great motorcycle rides and we've gone through them to find the very best motorcycle rides in Tennessee and present them to you in one short guide.  So, starting from #5 and working our way down to the #1 best motorcycle ride in Tennessee.

 

After reviewing an entire year of activity of Tennessee motorcycle riders, here are the results:

Top 5 Most Popular Motorcycle Rides in Tennessee!

#5 "The Snake" - Hwy 421 & 34

"The Snake" motorcycle ride is reputed to feature 489 turns, three mountains, and one valley crammed into 23 miles of magnificent alpine views! The route is located to the north of Asheville, close to the Kentucky border. It takes you through the Cherokee National Forest.

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#4 Great Smoky US441

The route includes a remarkable 360-degree bend, which should be on everyone's bucket list. The route is roughly 42 miles one way, including the side drive to Clingmans Dome, which is the highest point in Tennessee and gives spectacular vistas of the Smoky Mountains.

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#3 Natchez Trace Parkway

This 400-mile picturesque parkway connects Natchez to Nashville and passes through some of the most magnificent landscapes in Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee. The roads you will be driving on throughout this route are typically in good shape and mostly straight, with a few hills thrown in for good measure.

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#2 Cherohala Skyway

Take a drive over the Cherohala Skyway, a National Scenic Byway, and enjoy panoramic vistas of the Great Smoky Mountains to the northeast and the Tennessee River Valley to the west. The Cherohala Skyway runs through the Cherokee National Forest and provides a sight of the natural surroundings.

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#1 Deal's Gap (AKA "The Dragon" Or "Tail Of The Dragon")

Deals Gap is a prominent and worldwide recognized destination for motorcycle and sports car fans since it is located along a two-lane road known as "The Dragon" and the "Tail of the Dragon". The Dragon's 11-mile segment in Tennessee is reputed to contain 318 turns.

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Note 1:  All facts and figures below were gathered in Dec of 2021 and will change over time as new motorcycle roads are added to the collection.  For an update listing, you can go to MotorcycleRoads.com at any time, search on a state of your choosing, and you'll be presented with a list of the best motorcycle roads in that state.  You can also search on the newest motorcycle routes to be registered in that state as well as sift through the routes based on other filters.  Some examples of filtered searches you can do is to filter results based on - only the routes in your state that have 5-star scenery ratings, or only routes with a 5-star driving excitement rating and at least a 3-star rating for scenery, etc. etc.

Note 2:  How were these popularity ratings calculated? 
A motorcycle road’s popularity can be based on a wide variety of factors.  Our analysis considered some obvious indicators of motorcycle road popularity such each roads’ “Rider Rating” scores (star ratings) and which motorcycle road description pages were visited the most.  But, the analysis dug deeper and looked at some less obvious yet valuable indicators of a motorcycle road’s popularity such as how often a given motorcycle road was added to riders’ “To Ride” lists, how often a given motorcycle road was added to riders’ “Rode it” lists and enthusiasm indicators such how often photos and/or videos were uploaded for a given road and which roads are attracting the most buzz among motorcycle roads indicated by those roads that are receiving the most number of new/recent comments.  For the sake of being consistent and as objective as possible we use a popularity algorithm that “crunches those number” and allows us to develop a ranking of the popularity of each of the motorcycle roads used as a basis for this guide.


Conclusion

As always, I hope to provide you with insightful & valuable motorcycle riding community information to help you get the most out of all of your motorcycling experiences.

I'm always looking for ways to make MotorcycleRoads.com better and more helpful so if you have any suggestions to improve the website, just contact me through the Feedback button you'll find near the top of every page.  And as always, if you have a favorite motorcycle road of yours that is not yet registered on MotorcycleRoads.com, please get that favorite of yours "on the map" by registering it at MotorcycleRoads.com.  Registering a motorcycle road (or event, or club, or place) is quick and easy and you'll be helping out our motorcycle riding community!!! 

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McR - Great motorcycle roads lead to great motorcycle rides!