Nashville to Chattanooga drive: Best stops, time & distance
The distance from Nashville to Chattanooga by car is 133 miles, with a 2h3m driving time. The best Nashville to Chattanooga road trip stops are Earth Experience, Manchester and South Cumberland State Park.
Planning a Nashville to Chattanooga road trip itinerary
The drive from Nashville to Chattanooga takes you from America’s country music capital to the outdoor activity hotspot of southern Tennessee.
Nashville is renowned for its country music, but the National Museum of African American Music is also in the Tennessee capital.
The best Nashville experiences include backstage tours of the Grand Ole Opry House, helicopter flights over the city and tasting tours at the Big Machine Distillery. You can also try line dancing classes, the Country Music Hall of Fame and haunted pub crawls. Or, for lavish old homes, visit Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage, the Travellers Rest Historic House Museum and Belmont Mansion.
Excellent Nashville accommodation choices include the gloriously evocative Belle Air Mansion and Inn, plus downtown’s grand dame, the Hermitage.
How to see Nashville the smart way
You can save money in Nashville by combining a tour ticket with admission to two top attractions. These combo tickets give you a half day tour of the main sights, plus entrance to the Ryman Auditorium and Country Music Hall of Fame. Find out more here.
Chattanooga in the foothills of the Appalachians is home to the National Medal of Honor Heritage Museum and the Tennessee Aquarium. But it’s mostly an outdoorsy place. Great Chattanooga experiences include rafting on the Middle Ocoee River, backcountry tours in Swincars and kayak adventures to the Nickajack Bat Cave. You can also try Segway tours, guided ghost walks and trolley tours.
Nashville to Chattanooga distance and driving time
By car, the distance from Nashville to Chattanooga is 133 miles. That makes for a driving time of around two hours and three minutes. The quickest route is usually along the I-24.
The best stops on a Nashville to Chattanooga road trip are Earth Experience in Murfreesboro, the waterfalls of Manchester and South Cumberland State Park.
Nashville to Chattanooga road trip attractions: Earth Experience
Also called the Middle Tennessee Museum of Natural History, Earth Experience in Murfreesboro is all about archaeological relics. That means gems and minerals, but mainly dinosaur bones.
The highlight is the big T-Rex skeleton, but you can also visit the working paleontology laboratory, see how replica bones are moulded and cast, then touch petrified wood and dino bones.
Best stops between Nashville and Chattanooga: Manchester, Tennessee
The town of Manchester isn’t especially riveting, although you can visit Common John Brewing and the Beans Creek Winery.
It is, however, the gateway to several photogenic waterfalls. The closest to the town centre are Blue Hole Falls and Big Falls in Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park. Head a little further west, and there are plenty more – Rutledge Falls has a glorious swimming hole at the bottom.
Nashville to Chattanooga drive: South Cumberland State Park
South Cumberland State Park is pretty big, and it covers a significant chunk of the Cumberland Plateau. There are several hiking trails and camping spots, plus a series of waterfalls. The largest of these is Foster Falls, but the easiest to access from the I-24 is Sycamore Falls near Tracy City.
This is only a 12ft waterfall, but it’s wide and there’s a great swimming hole at the bottom.
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