Tennessee Road Trip (Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga: rental car, 2013, rental)

[TravelChange2012]

As part of my Southeast trip, I'm going to TN in April/May . I choose Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga. I've never been there, so I really have no idea if those are good places to see.

Can someone tell me:

a) if these are great places to see
b) suggest things to do in each area

I'm in my early 30's --- and like fishing, outdoors, hiking, sports, eating healthy food, drinking unique beer, drinking wine, bars/music/jazz all great.

I'll have a rental car the entire time - and I plan to fly to areas where the drive is more than 4+ hours. And there's no time limit on my trip.

Thank you all.

[DubbleT]

In Memphis
Memphis Zoo
Botanic Gardens- which ought to be really something at that time of year
Gibson Guitar Factory, Sun Studios, Beale St, Graceland
Memphis in May Festival Memphis In May International Festival 2013: Salutes the Kingdom of Sweden
Ornamental Metal Museum
Mud Island to walk the riverwalk, maybe visit the riverboat museum, followed by a cruise on a paddleboat Mud Island
Plenty to see and do. If you like barbeque hit the Memphis subforum and find a ton of places suggested for good eats.

[TravelChange2012]

Added the zoo. Do you think i would like the gardens? I'm an outdoors guy, but hiking, sports, skydiving etc

[Spikett]

Don't know where you are coming from but you're missing the mountains in the eastern part of the state. If you like the outdoors, the Great Smokey Mountains are well worth the visit.

[TravelChange2012]

Spikett: What do you mean? Isn't the GSM in Chattanooga?

[Spikett]

Originally Posted by TravelChange2012

Spikett: What do you mean? Isn't the GSM in Chattanooga?

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is east of Knoxville and straddles the North Carolina state line. They are part of the Appalachian chain which runs down through Chattanooga and into northern GA and Alabama. So there are mountains in the Chattanooga area and to the east - but to really see the GSM you need to go to the Gatlinburg/Townsend TN area. You can take I-75 from the Chatt area to Knoxville then head east on I-40 (or vice versa).

Chattanooga is very nice. Lots of outdoors things to do in the area. Very pretty.

[TravelChange2012]

I see. Then would I hit up GSM after Chattanooga, on the way to Atlanta?

[BirdieBelle]

It would be very helpful for you to look at a map online to see where all these places are located, and notice that the national park is northeast of Chattanooga, and definitely not on the way to Atlanta.

This link is just a sample of the many itineraries offered online. This one starts in Memphis, goes through Nashville and Knoxville and ends in Pigeon Forge, on the edge of the Smokies (bypassing Chattanooga). It's heavy on music attractions (and I think some of the restaurants may be closed), but it gives you a good list of the typical must-do tourist spots in each city.

If you are, in fact, heading to ATL and want to go through Chattanooga instead of east TN, I like Highway 64 across the south side of the state:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic...Tennessee.html

Other stuff Google offers:

http://www.tnvacation.com/multimedia/road-trip/

[TravelChange2012]

The thing is, I was told to def hit up Chattanooga. So perhaps I goto GSM BEFORE Chattan? Because I was going straight to ATL, GA after Chattan.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by TravelChange2012

The thing is, I was told to def hit up Chattanooga. So perhaps I goto GSM BEFORE Chattan? Because I was going straight to ATL, GA after Chattan.

If you want to see pretty much the entire state, that's what you should do. Memphis -> Nashville -> Knoxville -> Chattanooga -> Atlanta.

Between Nashville and Knoxville you'll pass some beautiful waterfalls located within just a couple of miles from the freeway (Interstate 40). They'll be nice little diversions on an otherwise long 3-hour'ish drive (depending on how fast you drive).

TN State Parks: Burgess Falls State Park

Tennessee State Parks: Cummins Falls State Park

If you're there around lunch time you can head into nearby Cookeville for lunch in its historic downtown at Crawdaddy's which serves locally brewed Calfkiller Beer.

Then from there it's a couple of hours to Knoxville and the Great Smoky Mountains.