The essential guide to visiting Tennessee (2024)

Why you must visit Tennessee

Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Lookout Mountain. Vibrant big cities and charming small towns. Country music in Nashville and the blues in Memphis. Tennessee whiskeyand Nashville hot chicken.

Best time to visit

Spring: Warm weather brings colorful wildflowers, blooming magnolias, and flowering redbuds. Enjoy the bloom boom at the Flower&Food Festival at Dollywood or Nashville’s Cheekwood. In April, Mule Day in Columbia features livestock races and Appalachian music, crafts, and food.

Summer: There’s a great debate about whether those glow-by-night insects are fireflies or lightning bugs, but regardless, you’ll find them making summer nights in Tennessee a little brighter, particularly in Great Smoky Mountain National Park. The state is geographically landlocked, but visitors can still make a splash by launching a boat in Nashville’s Percy Priest Lake, whitewater rafting along East Tennessee’s Nolichucky River, or chasing more than 150 waterfalls in Cookeville.

See Also

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Autumn: Leaf peepers will love Tennessee’s orange, red, and golden hues in the fall. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park offers more than 800 miles of trails to explore by foot, or take a scenic drive along the Natchez Trace Parkway that begins in Nashville and winds south into Mississippi. Thanks to colorblind viewfinders, installed at lookouts statewide, more people can see fall foliage.

Winter: Get cozy during colder months at one of the state’s mountain hotels and resorts. Many flock to Gatlinburg during winter for a chalet stay in the mountains or skiing at Ober. Other overnight choices include the cabins of Windy Hill Farm, the plush wellness resort Blackberry Farm, or Coffee Ridge Resort, a new mountaintop retreat with a spa, fly-fishing, and lodgings.

Lay of the land

Major cities: Music is the common thread through Tennessee’s biggest cities, with country artists performing in every honky-tonk on Nashville’s Broadway and the blues blaring down Memphis’ Beale Street. Adventurers and outdoor enthusiasts will enjoy Chattanooga’s rock climbing and mountain biking, and Knoxville—home to the University of Tennessee—for its forested hiking trails.

Small towns: Johnson City is a jumping-off point for hiking and biking, plus a few sites related to 20th-century mobsters like Al Capone. Visit Franklinfor itscharmingmain street lined with shops and restaurants, plus battlefields, hospitals, and historic homes related to the American Civil War.

Tennessee Whiskey Trail:TheTennessee Whiskey Trailmaps 26 of the state’s distilleries, including the famedJack Daniel’s Distilleryin Lynchburg. Visit theNearest Green Distilleryin Shelbyville, which pays tribute to Daniel’s original mentor and the first known African American master distiller, Nathan “Nearest” Green.

Getting around

By plane: Nashville International Airport (BNA) is the state’s largest, with 19 passenger airlines offering routes throughout the United States and nonstop international flights to London, Canada, and Cancun. Memphis International Airport (MEM) offers nonstop flights to cities around the U.S. and Cancun. Smaller regional airports include Knoxville’s McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS) and Chattanooga’s Chattanooga Airport (CHA).

By car: Tennessee has more than 1,200 miles of interstate highways, allowing travel by car to major cities and neighboring states. Major routes include I-65 from north to south, I-40 from east to west, and the slow and scenic Natchez Trace Parkway which winds from Nashville to Tupelo, Mississippi.

By train: Tennessee offers one passenger train route connecting Memphis to both Chicago and New Orleans via Amtrak.

Know before you go

Cultural History: Tennessee is the ancestral homeland of two Indigenous groups: the Chickasaw in the west and the Cherokee in the east. The name Tennessee is derived from a Cherokee village called Tanasi. The Trail of Tears National Historic Trail runs across the state. To learn more about Tennessee’s Indigenous history, discover mounds at Pinson Mounds State Archaeological Park in West Tennessee and the Mound Bottom State Archaeological Area near Nashville, or visit the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum that dives into Tennessee’s Cherokee history.

Tennessee was the last state to join the Confederacy during the American Civil War, though residents in the east remained loyal to the Union. Outside of Virginia, Tennessee saw the most fighting of any state. Many preserved sites are available to visit today, including one of the war’s deadliest battlefields, Shiloh National Military Park.

Tennessee cast the deciding vote that ratified the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote. Nashville’s historic Hermitage Hotel housed the lobbyists from both sides of the suffrage movement and has historic artifacts throughout the property. The state also holds tragic significance in the Civil Rights movement. Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated at Memphis’ Lorraine Motel, which is now the National Civil Rights Museum. Following the Brownv.Board of EducationSupreme Court ruling stating state-sanctioned segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, Clinton High School in East Tennessee became the first in the South to integrate classes. Learn more about the tumultuous transition at the Green McAdoo Cultural Center.

Cuisine: No one leaves Tennessee hungry. Southern soul food and Memphis-style barbecue are primary draws for visitors. Try an iconic “meat and three” plate, choosing between one protein option—usually including fried chicken, catfish, or pot roast—and a collection of vegetables. We use the term “vegetables” loosely here, as options include anything from macaroni and cheese to baked apples and fried okra.

Festivals: This musical state hosts a range of tuneful festivals, including Bonnaroo Music&Arts Festival in Manchester, CMA Fest in Nashville, and Beale Street Music Fest in Memphis (paused for 2024).

LGBTQ+: In the 2023 24/7 Wall St. report for LGBTQ+ friendly states, Tennessee ranked last. The state’s conservative lawmakers have passed discriminatory bills impacting transgender people and prohibiting public education institutions from requiring implicit bias training. Major cities like Nashville and Memphis regularly host Pride events, such as the Nashville Pride Pageant and the Nashville Pride Festival each June, or run the Rainbow Dash 5K in Memphis each March.

How to visit sustainably

Outdoors: Tennessee State Parks have implemented “Go Green With Us” guidelines, which focus on conservation and sustainable operations. The program encourages visitors to lower energy usage by turning off lights when not needed, planting trees to provide shade, and unplugging appliances when not in use, along with efforts like planting community gardens and using sustainably produced and packaged products.

Dining: With vast farmlands in Tennessee, it’s not difficult to find restaurants that source their ingredients locally. Try Nashville’s Miel, which saved more than 12,000 pounds of compostable material from landfills in 2023, or The Old Mill in Pigeon Forge. Dating from 1830, The Old Mill grinds 700,000 pounds of corn, grits, and other grains annually to be used in breads, sweets, and spirits. Plus the restaurant makes its own ice creams, jams, confections, and even pottery pieces for serving.

Lodging: Southall Farm&Inn in Leiper’s Fork collects rainfall to water its grounds and serves produce and meat grown onsite in its restaurants.

What to read and watch

Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business, by Dolly Parton. The country music icon’s autobiography details her rags-to-riches story growing up in the foothills of Tennessee’s Great Smoky Mountains.

There are many music themed shows and biopics that focus on Tennessee artists both real and fictional, including the story of Johnny Cash in Walk the Line, the TV series Nashville, and the 2022 blockbuster Elvis.

Love & Whiskey: The Remarkable True Story of Jack Daniel, His Master Distiller Nearest Green, and the Improbable Rise of Uncle Nearest, by Fawn Weaver. This 2024 summer release explores the forgotten history of the enslaved man who taught Jack Daniel to make whiskey.

(For more tips on what to do in Tennessee, see our Explorer’s Guide.)