Houston to Knoxville road trip: Best stops, drive time & distance

The best road trip stops on the Houston to Knoxville drive are New Orleans, Birmingham AL and Chattanooga. The distance from Houston to Knoxville is 923 miles, with a 13h56m driving time.

Planning a Houston to Knoxville road trip itinerary

The Houston to Knoxville drive takes you from the biggest city in Texas to near the Great Smoky Mountains National park in Tennessee.

The top Houston attraction is unquestionably the NASA Space Center, which takes you behind the scenes of the Johnson Space Center. This includes the Mission Briefing Center, and a vast array of high tech exhibitions.

Other attractions include the Houston Museum of Natural Science and the Children’s Museum,

For more Houston experiences, try hip hop party bike tours, foodie walks in the Montrose neighbourhood and quirky tours of Houston’s tunnel system.

Top Houston accommodation options include the superb value Club Quarters Houston Downtown and the upscale but boutique Magnolia.

Highlights of Knoxville include World’s Fair Park, which hosted the 1982 World’s Fair. The often-dazzling Sunsphere is the major landmark, here. You can also visit the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame and Knoxville Museum of Art.

Other Knoxville experiences include ghost tours and downtown walking tours that pick out local secret spots, while serving up coffee and ice cream.

Top Knoxville accommodation options include the handily-located Graduate Knoxville, the affordable Hampton Inn and Suites Knoxville Downtown and the character-packed Oliver Hotel. To compare prices, search here.

Houston to Knoxville distance and driving time

By car, the distance from Houston to Knoxville is 923 miles. That makes for a driving time of around 13 hours and 56 minutes.

The best stops to add to a Houston to Knoxville road trip are New Orleans, Birmingham AL and Chattanooga.

Houston to Knoxville road trip attractions: New Orleans

New Orleans resolutely refuses to feel like any other American city. From the raucous hedonism of Bourbon Street to the European-influenced charm of the French Quarter, New Orleans is mesmerizingly unusual to hang out in.

Top New Orleans experiences include French Quarter food tours, haunted pub crawls, jazz cruises aboard the steamboat Natchez and cemetery walking tours.

For other attractions, try the National WWII Museum, the Vue Orleans observation deck and the urban enslavement tours at Hermann Grima House.

For more attractions, check out the guide to the Houston to New Orleans drive.

Houston to Knoxville drive: Birmingham AL

Birmingham, Alabama, has a rich civil rights heritage. This is best explored on a civil rights tour which links the key sites and, crucially, puts them into context. Other Birmingham experiences include ghost walks and multi-brewery beer tours.

For museums, you’ve got the McWane Science Center, the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, the Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark and more.

If planning to visit several of them, a Birmingham Area Multi-Attraction Pass will save you money.

The top-rated Birmingham accommodation picks are the Drury Inn and Suites Birmingham Grandview and the TownePlace Suites by Marriott Birmingham South.