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Itineraries

From the summit of Lookout Mountain to the depths of the Tennessee River, Chattanooga's unique natural phenomena bind together to form a spectacular marvel in which nature itself becomes the attraction. With Chattanooga's scenic beauty, rich history, outdoor adventure, and family fun activities, the Attraction's Only Natural.™

To make your planning a bit easier, we've compiled a few examples of how you can experience Chattanooga.

Click on any of the ideas below for a complete itinerary.

Family Fun in Downtown Chattanooga
A Historical Tour of Downtown Chattanooga
Civil War Historical Tour
A Day on Lookout Mountain
Downtown & Lookout Mountain Attractions
Art & Artists
Gardens Tour
Outdoors
Urban Renaissance
After the Meeting Adjourns

For more ideas, visit the Getaway Planner on the Tennessee Aquarium's web site.

Family Fun in Downtown Chattanooga

  • Tennessee Aquarium
  • IMAX® 3D Theater
  • Creative Discovery Museum
  • Chattanooga Choo Choo
  • Trolley Rides
  • Model Railroad Museum
  • Coolidge Park Carousel & Interactive Water Fountain
  • Walnut Street Bridge

Start off at the Tennessee Aquarium where you'll discover otters, turtles, alligators, butterflies, sharks, jellyfish, penguins and more.

Next, check out the IMAX 3D Theater and go scuba diving without getting wet in "Deep Sea 3D."

After a nice lunch break at one of Chattanooga's downtown restaurants, visit the Creative Discovery Museum where children can pilot a riverboat and dig for dinosaur bones.

And everyone loves to take a trolley ride at the Chattanooga Choo Choo. This 15-minute tour takes you around the 24-acre property in an authentic New Orleans trolley used in the early 1900's. After the trolley ride, check out the model railroad museum, one of the largest HO gauge model railroads in the country! It features 3,000 feet of track and over 300 locomotive cars.

Then take a stroll across the world's longest pedestrian bridge, the Walnut Street Bridge, to Coolidge Park, a 12-acre urban park featuring an interactive water fountain and fully-restored antique carousel.

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A Historical Tour of Downtown Chattanooga

  • Chattanooga Regional History Museum
  • International Towing & Recovery Museum
  • Chattanooga Southern Belle Riverboat Cruises
  • Tennessee Valley Railroad
  • Chattanooga African-American Museum

Start the day at the Chattanooga Regional History Museum and learn about Chattanooga's history through the museum's variety of exhibits that feature Chattanooga "firsts" like Coca-Cola and MoonPies. Then take a tour of the world's ONLY Tow Truck Museum! After that, hop aboard the Chattanooga Riverboat's Southern Belle for a sightseeing cruise of the Tennessee River. Then take a step back in time aboard the Tennessee Valley Railroad as it travels through a pre-Civil War tunnel via an authentic steam-blowing locomotive. End the day at the Chattanooga African-American Museum where you can see a special exhibit commemorating Chattanooga's own Empress of the Blues, Bessie Smith.

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Civil War Historical Tour

  • Point Park
  • Chickamauga Battlefield
  • Incline Railway
  • Battles for Chattanooga Electric Map & Museum

Take a walk in the shoes of 124,000 Civil War soldiers through the Chickamauga Battlefield, the site of the bloodiest two-day battle of the entire Civil War. Learn more about the horrors these men faced as you watch the 30-minute Multimedia show in the Visitors Center.

Continue your journey of the Campaign for Chattanooga as you enter the gates of Point Park. A seven-minute narrative about the famous "Battle Above the Clouds" depicts the climatic fighting atop one of Chattanooga's most well known landmarks, Lookout Mountain. Then walk next door and visit the Battles for Chattanooga Electric Map & Museum where a 3-dimensional electronic map takes you on a journey of the battles that ravaged the land from September to November 1863.

For more Civil War history in a unique atmosphere, take a ride down "America's Most Amazing Mile" aboard the Incline Railway, the world's steepest passenger railway.

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A Day on Lookout Mountain

  • Battles for Chattanooga Electric Map & Museum
  • Rock City
  • Ruby Falls
  • Incline Railway
  • Point Park

If you're in the mood for underground fun, visit Ruby Falls where you can view a 145-foot waterfall and caverns deep within the heart of Lookout Mountain. Or, if you like living on the edge, visit Rock City and famed Lovers' Leap, Fat Man's Squeeze, Mother Goose Village, and the Swinging Bridge. These natural wonders will take your breath away!

Take a ride along America's Most Amazing Mile on the Incline Railway, the world's steepest passenger railway. Then for some Civil War history, enter the gates of Point Park where you can enjoy the park's 38 miles of hiking trails, rock climbing and rappelling, and an in-depth history lesson on the Campaign for Chattanooga. Then stop by the Battles for Chattanooga Electric Map & Museum to get your perspective on the battles that took place here in the fall of 1863.

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Downtown & Lookout Mountain Attractions

  • Rock City
  • Ruby Falls
  • Tennessee Aquarium
  • Coolidge Park Carousel
  • Hunter Museum of American Art
  • Shopping on Frazier Avenue

Start the day on top of the world at Rock City as you explore Mother Goose Village and Fat Man's Squeeze. Next, explore Ruby Fall's 145-foot natural waterfall deep within the heart of Lookout Mountain.

Then dive right into the Tennessee Aquarium to watch octopus play, alligators lurk and sharks circle. Take a walk up to the Bluff View Art District where you can enjoy the River Gallery Sculpture Garden, and the Hunter Museum. Finally, take a leisurely stroll across the Walnut Street Bridge to Coolidge Park where you can take a ride on the antique carousel and do some shopping along Frazier Avenue.

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Art & Artists

  • Hunter Museum of American Art
  • Houston Museum of Decorative Art
  • Sculpture Garden
  • River Gallery
  • Bocce Courts
  • Working Artists Studios including Glass Blowing, Chocolate Making, and Bread Baking Studios

Ready to relax? The Bluff View Art District is the perfect place to bask in the ambience of the art world. With a sculpture garden, art gallery, coffee house and two other restaurants, and two incredible museums all located in the same area, the heart of the District is a wonderful on-the-river bed & breakfast that gives guests time to sit back and enjoy the finer things in life.

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Gardens Tour

  • Rock City Gardens
  • Chattanooga Choo Choo Formal Rose Garden
  • Reflection Riding Arboretum & Botanical Garden
  • Chattanooga Nature Center
  • Bluff View Art District's Sculpture Garden
  • Hunter Museum's Outdoor Sculpture Garden
  • Southern Belle Riverboat

From Spring Blossom Cruises aboard the Southern Belle Riverboat, to fragrant walks through Rock City Gardens and the Choo Choo's formal rose garden, the biodiversity of the Chattanooga area offers an impressive variety of vegetation. Explore Reflection Riding's more than 1,000 species of plant life, and then stroll through the trails at the Chattanooga Nature Center.

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Outdoors

  • Whitewater Rafting
  • Kayaking
  • Canoeing
  • Cycling
  • Hiking
  • Rock Climbing
  • Rappelling
  • Hang Gliding
  • Caving

Chattanooga is an outdoor lover's paradise! The state's first Blueway runs through the heart of the city, perfect for kayakers and canoers. Whitewater rafters can try out an Olympic course on the Ocoee River.

Ruby Falls and Raccoon Mountain Caverns offer great escapes for cavers. And the wooded trails and rugged overlooks of Southeast Tennessee give hikers and cyclers an impressive glimpse of our natural beauty and unique terrain. Rock climbers find our cliffs challenging and breathtaking in their beauty, and hang gliders from across the world are taught to fly at our flight school.

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Urban Renaissance

  • Walnut Street Bridge
  • Coolidge Park
  • Ross's Landing
  • Bluff View Art District
  • Tennessee Aquarium
  • Hunter Museum

Chattanooga's revitalization efforts have made it a model city for urban growth and renewal across the country.

Visit the Tennessee Aquarium, the $45 million anchor of the revitalized waterfront which is expanding by 60,000 square feet as a phase of the new 21st Century Waterfront Plan. Also a part of that plan is Ross's Landing, a park memorializing the Trail of Tears. The Hunter Museum of American Art will also expand its facilities, including the addition of a waterfront café.

Across the river, 12-acre Coolidge Park is just another example of our family-friendly urban growth, and it, too, will be expanding in the near future. The Walnut Street Bridge, the world's longest pedestrian bridge, connects the northshore's Coolidge Park with the Bluff View Art District and the Hunter Museum.

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After the Meeting Adjourns

  • NightFall at Miller Park
  • Club Fathom
  • Tennessee Aquarium
  • IMAX® 3D Theater
  • Chattanooga Lookouts
  • Hamilton Place
  • Ruby Falls
  • Murder Mystery Dinner Show

While conventioneers might sit in meetings all day at one of Chattanooga's meeting venues, after the conference is over, they're generally in the mood for some entertainment.

Chattanooga has many wonderful and unique restaurants which offer the perfect blend of atmosphere and southern fare. In addition, there are several nightspots around town to keep them entertained.

During the summer months, NightFall is hosted at Miller Park on Friday nights. This free outdoor concert features artists from across the world, as well an impressive array of our local talent.

Club Fathom, located on Market Street across from Jack's Alley, is a smoke-free, liquor-free club featuring contemporary Christian bands from across the country. Club Fathom is the perfect entertainment venue for youth and young adult groups.

As for family fun, several of the area's attractions stay open throughout the evening. The Tennessee Aquarium sells its last ticket at 6 pm, and visitors can walk through the aquarium until 7:30 pm.

Ruby Falls stays open until 8 pm, and the IMAX® 3D Theater shows movies through 6 pm on weeknights and through 9 pm on the weekends. For entertainment and dinner, join in a Murder Mystery Dinner Show.

During the season, you can always visit BellSouth Park and catch a Chattanooga Lookouts baseball game. And Hamilton Place is open until 9 pm for great shopping, while its restaurants are open even later.

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