This past weekend we spent a few days exploring the city of Chattanooga, less than a two hour drive north of Atlanta. We've both been there before, but hadn't really explored the city or visited very many of the big attractions. So we took advantage of the MLK holiday weekend, found a great deal on a historic hotel, and hit the road.
The core of Chattanooga is quite compact and surprisingly walkable. There were four distinct areas that we explored:
Despite being somewhat sanitized and corporate,
Downtown Chattanooga is rather attractive, very pedestrian friendly, and has a couple of big attractions. While it is the kind of place where a family can park their car in the garage of the Hampton Inn, see an IMAX movie, and eat dinner at Chili's or Applebees, it also has recently developed apartments and a rejuvenated waterfront that contribute to a lively atmosphere. The hotel we stayed in, the
Sheraton Read House, is a historic structure built in 1926.
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| Overview of Chattanooga |
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| View of Downtown Chattanooga from our hotel room |
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| Champy's Chicken, just east of downtown. Delicious! |
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| The Tennessee Aquarium is really nice |
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| Tennessee Aquarium |
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| Atrium at the top of the Tennessee Aquarium |
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| PIRANHA! |
Bluff View Art District, immediately east of downtown, has a number of galleries and restaurants, plus the large Hunter Museum of Art. There's also a nice bluffside sculpture garden. This is a really compact district (just a few blocks), but it offers great views and is a nice place to take a stroll or purchase art from a gallery.
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| Walnut Street Pedestrian Bridge as seen from the Bluff View Art District |
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| Driftwood horse |
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| Hunter Museum of Art |
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| Hunter Museum of Art on top of the bluff |
The
North Shore, just across the Tennessee River from downtown, is connected to the city center with a converted pedestrian-only bridge across the Tennessee River. It's a leafy, hilly residential neighborhood with a number of quirky shops and new apartments.
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| Walnut Street Pedestrian Bridge |
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| Breakfast at Milk and Honey |
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| Yummy Clumpies ice cream. This is Thai Peanut and Chai. |
The
Southside is probably the most interesting area we visited. It's definitely a transitioning neighborhood, full of industrial uses and empty lots. But it has a number of beautiful old brick buildings that have been converted into lofts and restaurants. It's Chattanooga's version of a hipster neighborhood. We spent a lot of time on the Southside because it has a lot of the city's most unique food and drink options. Unfortunately there's a giant chicken processing plant that can cause quite an odor. I guess that gives the neighborhood a legit industrial feel.
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| "Southside Pride" red ale from Terminal Brewhouse |
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| Brunch at The Flying Squirrel. |
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| Bike Share! |
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| Historic Chattanooga Choo Choo |
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| There was a delightfully tacky miniature train museum inside the Chattanooga Choo Choo |
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| Breakfast at Niedlov's Breadworks |
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| Excellent tacos at Taqueria Jalisco. Seriously. |
We also visited
Lookout Mountain, just Southeast of the city. It has a couple of touristy attractions, including an underground waterfall. There's also a national battlefield site and lots of hiking options. Lookout Mountain is an 80 mile ridge that traverses three states (AL, GA and TN). It starts/ends at the Tennessee River in Chattanooga. The mountain is primarily made of limestone and therefore has numerous caves. We explored one of the caves at Ruby Falls.
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| Billboards with this message line the highways for hundreds of miles |
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| It was a little hazy; I think we saw three states |
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| Nailed it |
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| Rock City had lots of slot canyons (aka fat man's misery) |
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| What could be in here? |
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| That's right, Rock City has some awesomely old-school blacklit fairy tale scenes |
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| Hansel and "Grethel"? |
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| Couldn't resist! |
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| Don't look down! |
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| Ruby falls was really neat |
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| And yes, it also has tacky color changing lights and music. Reminded us of Hwanseongul Cave in Korea. |
Chattanooga might not be a buzzing metropolis, but it's an interesting mid-size city with a wide variety of things to see and do, mostly within walking distance of downtown. We'll definitely be back!
Some of our favorites that you should check out:
Taqueria Jalisco
Flying Squirrel
Terminal Brewhouse
Champy's Chicken
Clumpies Ice Cream
Milk and Honey
