The 12 Best Places to Buy a Cabin Vacation Rental in 2023

Located at the base of the Great Smoky Mountains, Gatlinburg offers easy access to year-round natural beauty in the country’s most-visited national park. Fireflies light up the Smokies each spring, wildflower hikes peak in popularity through summer, fall foliage is an autumn must-see, and snow tubing reigns supreme come winter. 

To be close to all that action, the area’s steady stream of tourists favor Gatlinburg cabins — which makes this market so profitable for investors that it tops our list of best places to buy a cabin. 

High-performing vacation rentals are spacious (think 4+ bedrooms), though they do tend to be much more expensive than Gatlinburg’s $300,000 median list price. Still, profit potential in the area grows with square footage — especially when you have key amenities like hot tubs, game rooms, and comfy outdoor living spaces with panoramic mountain views. 

All of this can contribute to an annual revenue well above the median. When hitting all the right notes, top Evolve cabin owners have earned over $105,000 in yearly profits.

Even better news: you don’t have to limit yourself to just Gatlinburg. If you can’t find the just-right cabin there, our Real Estate Services (RES) team recommends looking for homes in Sevierville and Pigeon Forge. All three close-together markets overlap pretty heavily when it comes to list prices, income opportunity, and cabin-specific success.

Hocking Hills has hiking trails that lead to waterfalls, large caves for exploring, and rivers to canoe on. Outdoorsy and peaceful, cabins feel like the perfect type of place for getaways in this region of rural Ohio.

When browsing investment options in the Hocking Hills area, our RES team says to set your sights on the towns of Logan, Hamden, and Amanda more specifically. They all carry strong revenue potential at a 9% cap rate — which is the ratio between a property’s net income and its market volume, and a great indicator of return on investment. 

And while the average Hocking Hills owner brings in $39,000 annually, some of Evolve’s top-performing properties net six figures during the same time period. Our RES team says these high-earners are cabins with hot tubs, fire pits, or fun features like a catch-and-release pond.

Bryson City is considered “the outdoor adventure capital of the Great Smoky Mountains.” But those who vacation here don’t just want to hike, bike, and raft in one of the country’s best national parks — they also want to wake up in a cozy and secluded home with scenic mountain views that beckon them to come play. 

That’s why cabins are king in Bryson City. And because this destination attracts honeymooners as frequently as families, cabins of different sizes — from one- to four-bedroom — all share high profit potential. 

This means investors can broaden their property search and still find success with a variety of options, whether a quaint and romantic A-frame or a family-friendly cabin is more your style. (Bryson City’s versatility is also why it nabbed a spot on our overall list of best places to buy a vacation rental in 2023.)

To help make sure your cabin stands out, our RES team says to look (or budget) for wraparound decks or screened-in porches so guests can take in views that are as great as their morning coffee. Relaxation-promoting amenities like hot tubs and fireplaces can help bring in bookings, too.

Located in the Ozarks, Eureka Springs is an enchanting destination. Victorian buildings make up the historic downtown and cluster around the city’s natural hot springs. The Thorncrown Chapel — a 6,000 square-foot glass structure nestled in woodlands — draws in loads of visitors, as does a popular swimming hole with forested shores called Beaver Lake. 

Median home prices hover below $240,000, which makes Eureka Springs one of the best places to buy a cabin for first-time investors. Plus, our RES team says buyers can essentially take their pick of property type. From modern and sleek to rustic and cozy, top-performing cabins come in all shapes and sizes here. 

Regardless of what kind of cabin you’re most drawn to, our RES team recommends looking for homes in secluded settings with scenic views. Features like hot tubs, porch swings, and fireplaces are all tickets to success in the area, too.

Championship golf courses, fishing charters, and the scenic 115-mile Paul Bunyan Trail that meanders by lakes and forests are just a few reasons tourists love Brainerd Lakes.

Given the appeal to outdoors enthusiasts and lake lovers, it makes perfect sense that waterfront properties outperform the market in Brainerd Lakes (and that this region secured a spot on our list of best places to buy a lake house, too). But investors can double down on profit potential by scooping up cabins, as that’s the favored type of property for those seeking waterside Brainerd Lakes getaways.

To find these sought-after cabins, our RES team recommends searching in towns like Pequot Lakes, Nisswa, Emily, Brainerd Lake, and Crosslake. Investors in all five spots enjoy cap rates in the 5% range, and while the average owner in the area earns about $27,000 in annual revenue, Evolve’s top-performing lake cabins net nearly three times that amount in the same period.

Fireplaces, game rooms, grills, private beaches with docks, and decks or screened-in porches are all key perks that these high-earners share — and they can help your property rise above the competition.

Once a railroad town, Blue Ridge is now a charming mountain escape with breathtaking vineyards, waterfall hikes in the Cohutta Wilderness, and whitewater rafting on the Ocoee River. (Though you can still take a train ride through the Appalachian foothills in this family-friendly spot, too.) 

After a day of exploring, those who come to Blue Ridge need a peaceful retreat to recharge — so cabins plopped in the middle of the woods do especially well here.

Our RES team says two- to four-bedroom cabins perform best, but the area’s family draw means maximizing space for guests is a good idea no matter where you land on property size. Adding pull-out couches and bunk beds can help attract multi-generational groups who could be traveling with family members of all ages. 

Features like wooded or water views, hot tubs, fire pits, and big windows all offer an added boost to daily rates and booking interest as well — particularly when paired with kid-friendly amenities like game rooms and entertainment systems.

A quaint New England town with more than enough charm to share, Dover offers a variety of traveler draws. Powderhounds book Mount Snow cabins in the winter, the summer bustles with lift-serviced mountain biking, golf, and hiking, and leaf peepers can have a fall foliage field day when the leaves start to change colors. 

All of this means investors can find multi-season value in a Dover vacation cabin, and that can translate to increased bookings and income opportunities. Average annual revenue hovers around $25,000, but top Evolve owners have raked in more than $91,000 in the same time period. 

High-earning properties have a few things in common: They’re within five miles of Mount Snow, and they tend to be larger cabins with three to five bedrooms, mountain views, and great outdoor spaces. Some also include game rooms and wood-burning fireplaces for colder nights spent indoors.

Set on the banks of the Yellowstone River, the town of Livingston strikes a special balance between artsy and outdoorsy. With its abundance of art galleries and fly-fishing spots, plus its close proximity to Yellowstone National Park (which sees nearly five million visitors a year), Livingston investors have the opportunity to capture bookings from anglers, art enthusiasts, travelers looking for wide open spaces, and national park daytrippers eager for a unique Old Faithful basecamp.

As such, top performers here tend to be rustic, yet comfortable one- to two-bedroom cabins. It’s best if they have picturesque mountain views, open land to explore, nearby fishing spots, or an easy commute to Yellowstone and other area must-sees (like the Chico Hot Springs mineral pools) to grab travelers’ attention.

With these kinds of perks included, top Evolve cabins in the area have earned more than double the median market revenue.

Colorado’s Grand Lake offers the best kind of two-for-one: the namesake lake is a fun spot for kayaking and paddleboarding in the summer, and the area’s draw remains potent in the winter months as ski season gets underway. It’s also located at Rocky Mountain National Park’s west entrance, making it perfect for nature-loving guests — and a great contender as one of the best places to buy a cabin.

That said, cabins do come with higher price tags in Grand Lake — particularly when you start to zero in on larger properties or those super close to the lake, where home values rise above the $747,000 median. 

But our RES team says the area is still a great value in Colorado, especially when stacked against the multi-million dollar homes that have become the norm in towns like Vail and Aspen. And if you’re able to squeeze some luxury amenities into your budget, hot tubs, spacious decks, fireplaces, and panoramic views can all help you get an even higher return on your investment in Grand Lake.

Our RES team also notes that the area has a mandatory fire inspection (alongside a standard rental license requirement) that needs to be scheduled with the Grand Lake Fire Protection District before your vacation rental can operate. This isn’t as commonly part of the short-term rental process, so it’s simply something to keep in mind as you manage your business timeline.