Compare Knoxville, Nashville, Chattanooga (Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg: transplants, hotels, living in)

[FBoet]

On Independence weekend we drove through Chattanooga to stay a couple of days in Nashville. I wasn't impressed with either city. There was a smokey haze over the cities and it was hotter then in Miami! Is Knoxville similar to Nash and Chat? They didn't feel like modern cities. There was nothing to do there. The interstate highway is full of billboards advertising hotels and restaurants. Is that it? In contrast, I really liked Alpharetta, Ga in our stop over to Nashville.

We really enjoyed Pigeon Forge when we stayed there 6 years ago and I hope Knoxville is as lively and outgoing.

[ariesjow]

Originally Posted by FBoet

On Independence weekend we drove through Chattanooga to stay a couple of days in Nashville. I wasn't impressed with either city. There was a smokey haze over the cities and it was hotter then in Miami! Is Knoxville similar to Nash and Chat? They didn't feel like modern cities. There was nothing to do there. The interstate highway is full of billboards advertising hotels and restaurants. Is that it? In contrast, I really liked Alpharetta, Ga in our stop over to Nashville.

We really enjoyed Pigeon Forge when we stayed there 6 years ago and I hope Knoxville is as lively and outgoing.

If you didn't find Nashville to be fun, then Knoxville almost certainly won't be very appealing to you either. May I ask what you enjoy doing that you couldn't find in either Nashville or Chattanooga but could in Pigeon Forge of all places? Kitschy tourist traps and shops? Mountain scenery? Nashville and Chattanooga respectively have those. It just seems paradoxical that you enjoyed PF considering one of your chief complaints was that the former two didn't seem modern. You're not going to find a place in TN any more modern than Nashville. I can only imagine someone steered you in completely the wrong places here if that's your main quibble.

Also, remember Alphretta is a suburb of Atlanta, a metro that has over three times as many people as Nashville and ten times as many as Chattanooga. It should go without saying that those three places will feel like they're on completely different levels from each other.

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by ariesjow

If you didn't find Nashville to be fun, then Knoxville almost certainly won't be very appealing to you either. May I ask what you enjoy doing that you couldn't find in either Nashville or Chattanooga but could in Pigeon Forge of all places? Kitschy tourist traps and shops? Mountain scenery? Nashville and Chattanooga respectively have those. It just seems paradoxical that you enjoyed PF considering one of your chief complaints was that the former two didn't seem modern. You're not going to find a place in TN any more modern than Nashville. I can only imagine someone steered you in completely the wrong places here if that's your main quibble.

Also, remember Alphretta is a suburb of Atlanta, a metro that has over three times as many people as Nashville and ten times as many as Chattanooga. It should go without saying that those three places will feel like they're on completely different levels from each other.

I completely agree with you.

I do want to clarify that neither Chattanooga or Knoxville has kitschy tourist traps and shops. Hardly.

But you might not be saying that. I might have misinterpreted.

Hotter than Miami? Doubtful. I know that Chattanooga in comparison to South Florida with the heat index is not hotter, nor is Knoxville. In comparing Knoxville and Chattanooga for six years with Naples and Cape Coral I can tell you that the heat index has never been the same.

Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg are tacky tourist traps, one step above Myrtle Beach. Eww. And as said, Knoxville, Chattanooga and Nashville will never compare to Miami and for most of us that escaped the hell that is South Florida that is a FABULOUS thing.

This area is probably not for you. That's why we encourage people to first visit. My utopia is not yours and yours is a living hell to me.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by FBoet

On Independence weekend we drove through Chattanooga to stay a couple of days in Nashville. I wasn't impressed with either city. There was a smokey haze over the cities and it was hotter then in Miami! Is Knoxville similar to Nash and Chat? They didn't feel like modern cities. There was nothing to do there. The interstate highway is full of billboards advertising hotels and restaurants. Is that it? In contrast, I really liked Alpharetta, Ga in our stop over to Nashville.

We really enjoyed Pigeon Forge when we stayed there 6 years ago and I hope Knoxville is as lively and outgoing.

How would you know that there is nothing to do in Chattanooga if all you did was drive through it?

Most big cities are very hazey in the summer, especially in humid parts of the world. Coastal cities seem cleaner because their haze often gets swept out over the sea. Knoxville has a smoky haze over it, too (remember our mountains are called the Smoky Mountains for a reason).

Interstate highways in Florida are full of billboards advertising hotels and restaurants, too. And Nashville is every bit as "modern" (whatever that's supposed to mean) as Miami or Alpharetta. I'm not sure what you were expecting up here, but it sounds like you had either completely unrealistic expectations or you're making this all up.

[ariesjow]

I definitely meant Nashville for the tourist traps since those line 2nd and Broadway.

I'm a bit lost with this one without some additional criteria from the OP. From the information we've been given, it sounds like Tennessee (or most of the southeast outside of southern FL for that matter) isn't going to be the OP's cup of tea. Perhaps the OP may possibly like Charlotte, NC. It's a little bigger than Nashville, growing faster and has done a better job of acquiring modern amenities like the popular chains, light rail, skyscrapers, etc. in the process. It also has way more transplants from the NE similar to south FL. Unfortunately, that particular city just doesn't have much in the way of a distinctive personality but it doesn't sound like that's of much concern for the OP considering the Alpharetta and Pigeon Forge mentions.

[weisgarber1]

Originally Posted by ariesjow

If you didn't find Nashville to be fun, then Knoxville almost certainly won't be very appealing to you either.

Not sure what the op means by fun and lively, but Knox and Nashville are two completely different cities, not all that comparable, in many categories, imho.

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by JMT

Interstate highways in Florida are full of billboards advertising hotels and restaurants, too.

And worse. They advertise much worse like strip joints and "adult" stores.

When I moved from New England to Florida I got major cultural whiplash. Southeast and southwest Florida, and many other areas of the state are littered with strip malls, billboards and tract housing. A lot of residents, a lot of transplants, really, have never met a historical building they wouldn't like to bulldoze.

I moved to East Tennessee to get away from that mentality and the people behind it. Knoxville has a beautifully restored and revitalized downtown but it is a small city and I like it that way.

I'm not a huge fan of living in Chattanooga but it fits for a lot of people. Say what you will, it has a beautiful riverfront; an incredible success story. I guess if you prefer Cooter's Dukes of Hazard Museum to the world's longest pedestrian bridge spanning The Tennessee leading to a charming park and carousel, two beautiful, award-winning aquariums and the Hunter Museum and art district overlooking a stunning bluff, well have at it, bubba.

[nashvols]

Originally Posted by FBoet

On Independence weekend we drove through Chattanooga to stay a couple of days in Nashville. I wasn't impressed with either city. There was a smokey haze over the cities and it was hotter then in Miami! Is Knoxville similar to Nash and Chat? They didn't feel like modern cities. There was nothing to do there. The interstate highway is full of billboards advertising hotels and restaurants. Is that it? In contrast, I really liked Alpharetta, Ga in our stop over to Nashville.

We really enjoyed Pigeon Forge when we stayed there 6 years ago and I hope Knoxville is as lively and outgoing.

Are you 12?

[FBoet]

Wow, seems like I struck a cord here. Forget I asked.
Moderator, you can delete this post. Thank you.

[IngleDave]

Seems you did. That surprises you?

That surprises me.