A few days ago we asked for your suggestions of things to do in Washington D.C. as we made some (relatively) last minute changes to our upcoming plans.
Well, after Washington D.C. we’re heading down to Virginia for Thanksgiving and then on to Tennessee. We’ll be spending four weeks there which will take us through to the new year, so I need to get around to booking our hotels/Airbnbs.
Accommodation
I mentioned above that I need to get around to booking our Tennessee accommodation, but some of that is actually already done. We’ve booked an Airbnb in Knoxville for Christmas as Shae’s parents are coming to join us for the week. We then have a hotel in Nashville booked for New Year’s Eve.
That still gives us three weeks for which we need to make reservations. Based on the big cities in the state, I had been leaning towards Chattanooga for five nights, Memphis for five nights and Nashville for ten nights. However, the next section has made me rethink that a little.
Things To Do In Tennessee
We have a spreadsheet for our 50 state road trip with 51 tabs (as there’s one for D.C.) where we keep track of people’s suggestions of things to do in each state, along with things we’ve come across ourselves.
Our list of things to do in Tennessee has quite a few things on it already:
- Graceland
- Bristol – half of road in VA, half in TN
- Memphis – Central BBQ, Gibson’s Donuts & Uncle Lou’s Fried Chicken
- Tiger statues in Memphis
- Memphis Zoo
- Pedal Tavern in Nashville
- Cherokee Removal National Park
- Wine train
- Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary in Mt Juliet
- A Schwab in Memphis
- Gus’s Fried Chicken in Memphis
- Grilled Cheeserie food truck in Nashville
- Reelfoot Lake State Park
- Crockett’s Breakfast Camp in Gatlinburg
- Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge
- Cove Lake State Park in Caryville
- Ruby Falls in Chattanooga
- Bush’s baked beans visitor center in Dandridge
- Greetings from Knoxville postcard mural
- Lookout Mountain
- South Cumberland State Park in Monteagle
- The Lost Sea Adventure in Sweetwater
- Bald River Falls in Tellico Plains
- The Townsend Abbey in Townsend
- Cummins Falls State Park in Cookeville
- Rock Island State Park
- Burgess Falls State Park in Sparta
- Falls Creek Falls State Park in Spencer
- Chattanooga Zoo
- Stax Museum in Memphis
- McCloud Mountain Restaurant & Lodge for dinner with view
- Knoxville zoo
- Biscuit Love in Nashville
- Choo Choo Centennial Theatre in Chattanooga
- The Wandering Llamas in Mosheim
- Gibson’s Donuts in Memphis
- SkyBridge Gatlinburg
- Mt LeConte
- Ducks at Peabody Hotel
- Blackberry Mountain for Thomas Dambo troll
- Music show at Ryman Auditorium
- Beale Street in Memphis
- Eat meat & three
- Uncle Nearest distillery in Shelbyville
- George Dickel whiskey in Tullahoma
- Christmas in the Cave at Historic Cherokee Caverns in Knoxville
- Bennett’s Pit Bar-B-Que in Pigeon Forge or Gatlinburg
- Jack Daniel’s Distillery
- Cades Cove
I’ve pinned all those locations on Google Maps and it looks like we have more stuff listed for Memphis than we do for Nashville. I’m therefore wondering if we’d be better off doing ten nights in Memphis and five nights in Nashville rather than vice versa like I’d originally been considering.
This is where you come in.
Your Suggestions
Do you have any additional suggestions for things to do in Tennessee? If so, please let us know in the comments below and we’ll add them to our list and map.
Also, if you’ve visited both Memphis and Nashville, which of the two cities would you choose to spend longer in?
While in Memphis I went on the Backbeat MoJo Bus Tour which took about 90 minutes and was fun and informative. It leaves from the Beale Street area. Our guide played music on his guitar originating from Memphis (we had egg shakers and tambourines) while we rode the bus and we had stops to tour Sun Studios, the park and band shell where Elvis got his start, former homes of Elvis and Johnny Cash and other places as well. I didn’t get a chance to see it, but have heard the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis is a must see. The bus tour did go by the motel where Martin Luther King was shot and the museum is located there.
A big recommendation from me is the Museum of Appalachia located in Clinton. It is a large collection of buildings and artifacts in several buildings. One of my favorite museums in our U.S. travels. The on-site cafe has excellent home cooked southern food and there is sometimes live mountain/bluegrass music in the adjoining gift shop.
Thanks for all those suggestions – I’ll add them to the list 🙂
I stopped on a road trip to the Memphis area for a family event at the home of President Andrew Johnson. https://www.nps.gov/anjo/index.htm. It is a National Park site and free. The Ranger gave an excellent tour and we were the only ones on the tour even though it was the end of July. It is located in eastern Tenn and would probably be on your way from the the Tidewater area. I was underwhelmed with Graceland when I visited years ago. The zoo was nice in Memphis when I went about 20 years ago.
Thanks for the suggestion of the Presidential home – I’ll add that to our list too 🙂
Chattanooga is awesome! I see you have some of the best sites to visit in your list. There is quite the music culture there. And many craft breweries and yummy restaurants. Clumpies Ice Cream shops are a must visit.
Thanks for the suggestion – I’ve added Clumpies to our list 🙂
When we visited Memphis we enjoyed eating in the Midtown/Overton Square area. Lots of different restaurants and music in a fun part of the city but our favorite was Babalu. Also enjoyed the Civil Rights Museum, Whimsy Cookie Company, Mississippi River Walk along Mud Island, concerts at the Shell and the ducks as well as the candy shop and ice cream store in the Peabody hotel. The Memphis Zoo is fantastic!
Thank you – I’ve added all your suggestions to our list. It looks like there’s a lot of fun stuff to do in Memphis!