Location: Chattanooga
Top Things to do in Chattanooga
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10 Hidden Gems Things to do in Chattanooga That You Shouldn't Miss
The name "Chattanooga" comes from the Creek Indian word for "rock coming to a point." This refers to Lookout Mountain, one of the city's major attractions. Here visitors can explore extraordinary rock formations, see a roaring enclosed waterfall and travel by train to the top of the mountain for truly awesome vistas. Back down on the ground, don't miss the world's largest freshwater aquarium, the Tennessee Aquarium. History enthusiasts will love the city's museums dedicated to Civil War, Native American and 20th-century history. More than anything, Chattanooga is a scenic city, full of natural wonders waiting to be explored by foot, car, bike or train.
Restaurants in Chattanooga
1. Chattanooga Boat Charters
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 45 reviews
Offering multiple custom tour options that include tours on Chickamauga Lake as well as tours to downtown Chattanooga. The dock is only 20 minutes from downtown Chattanooga.
2. Coker Museum
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 144 reviews
The Coker Museum is open with a new entrance in Honest Charley Speed Shop. This is a self guided tour with a $10.00 general admission ticket sold at the front desk of the speed shop. Each general admission ticket has a $3.00 coupon towards any one Honest Charley apparel item. Veterans, first responders, anyone 65 and up and children 6-12 are $8.00. Children 5 and under are free!!
Reviewed By WooBa07 - Murfreesboro, United States
This was a self guided tour so you can look at items you like as long as you want. Largest collection of old motorcycles I have ever seen that were very well presented.
3. Time to Escape: the Escape Room Experience (Chattanooga)
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 299 reviews
The only downtown Chattanooga escape room, we're a short walk from the Aquarium. Find clues, solve puzzles, and escape against the clock! Uncover a saboteur during WWII in Chattanooga. Infiltrate your rival’s locker room and find your stolen mascot in Locker Room Lockdown. Use your spy gadgets in 1960s Britain in Secret Agent Escape. Seasonally we also have the Saving Christmas escape room. Book online or call today to reserve your experience and live the fun with your friends and family. Call for group events such as team building, reunions, kids birthdays or other special events. Check out our two Atlanta locations in Brookhaven and Peachtree Center-Downtown for other unique escape room experiences!
Reviewed By 224jilm
Our visit to Time to Escape was awesome! We escaped with just 2 seconds to spare. We did an escape room as a school activity. We did the Sabotage Room -- I love the historical aspect of this room and the collaborative effort it takes and allows all students to be involved. Katie was very accommodating in our schedule. We arrived a little early, but due to no one in the room, we were able to get started. Thank you for a great time!
4. Escape Experience - Chattanooga Escape Room Games
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 1,552 reviews
Escape Experience is a fun entertainment activity located in Downtown Chattanooga’s Southside Historic District; just a few blocks from the Chattanooga Choo Choo. Each escape room game is a real-life interactive adventure designed for team building groups, friends, family or co-workers. With just one hour, come find out if you have what it takes to break out of prison, rob a bank, discover your inheritance, or find the cure that will save the world, or jump off a runaway train? Book your next Escape Experience with us online today. Looking for a better way to do Team-Building? Escape the mundane and let us strengthen your team’s bonds through one of our interactive experiences. Enhance group communication and foster teamwork in just one hour or less while learning The Escape Experience concept is a recognized form of corporate team building entertainment in Europe and Asia. Now this fun group development activity is available to companies in Chattanooga.
Reviewed By candiemerson - Plano, United States
An hour flies by when a family of four, 2 being teenagers, work together to escape from prison. Great fun! Fantastic family bonding time while on vacation (visiting from Texas). Teenagers didn’t get bored or use their phones! (Except as a flashlight or calculator). We escaped with 6 minutes and 47 seconds to spare and thoroughly enjoyed it all!
5. The Spice & Tea Exchange of Chattanooga
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 85 reviews
Come In and Smell the Spices! The Spice & Tea Exchange® offers food lovers, chefs, and tea enthusiasts a unique shopping experience filled with culinary delights. Explore your inner chef and shop over 140 fine spices, 75+ hand-mixed seasoning blends, sugars, salts, loose-leaf teas, and accessories. Create your own gourmet gift, or choose from a variety of gift boxes and recipe samplers!
Reviewed By MC_Bowlin - Hoover, United States
I love tea and I love whiskey. The fact that I can get both in Chattanooga is amazing. This store... y’all, this store is where I get my tea from. If I can’t make it up here I get it shipped to me. The Earl Grey Creme is delicious when you’re in the mood for a dessert, and their lapsang souchong is the best, smokiest tea I’ve ever found in this part of the country. But they’re not just tea! They’ve got all kinds of amazingly unique sugars like their espresso sugar or the blueberry sugar they had today. Plus they sell salts and spices that are absolutely one of a kind. Calvin T. was very helpful in preparing my tea at the tea bar and in filling my request for canisters of the Earl Grey Creme and Lapsang Souchong. This is always the highlight of my visit to Chattanooga.
6. International Towing and Recovery Museum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 232 reviews
A museum commemorating the history of the tow truck.
Reviewed By Rhonda4713 - Moss Point, United States
We found the museum to be VERY interesting. Lots of history and timelines of vehicles and their history. Before entering the museum you are shown a brief video which reveals dates and history of this amazing towing industry. The staff are very friendly and knowledgeable. A big plus to their interesting gift shop! We highly recommend this museum.
7. Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 1,307 reviews
Take a trip back in time, to a slower-paced era when railroad travel was a way of life. Relive the romance of the rails when vintage trains provided an escape from the everyday routine. The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum provides an interactive, historical experience that will add an extra dimension to your visit to Chattanooga’s popular attractions. Here you will find the only regularly scheduled, full-sized train ride in Tennessee. The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum is so much more than entertainment… it is your chance to experience the sights and sounds of yesteryear!
Reviewed By lilbunnygirl - Panama City Beach, United States
We were visiting from Florida and took the 1 hour missionary ridge trip just to have the experience of riding on an old fashioned train fir our teen son who has always loved them. It was a fun little trip, the conductor did a great job of explaining the history as well as making good jokes. Watching the turntable turn the engine was really cool. My son is very interested is someday coming back for the teen camp. They were also very diligent about social distancing, enforcing mask wearing, and keeping the train clean. I highly recommend this company!
8. Chattanooga Ghost Tours
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 677 reviews
Ready to get chilled while hearing some of the city's most fascinating history? Join us nightly (or weekends winter) at our haunted steampunk shop at 57 E 5th St (back side of the Taziki's building). Or for the truly adventurous, come on the ghost hunt to use some of our cutting edge equipment in some of the city's most haunted locations.
9. Raccoon Mountain Caverns
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 1,779 reviews
Raccoon Mountain Caverns is located just 1.3 miles off of I-24 at the Lookout Valley exit (#174), and is less than ten minutes from downtown Chattanooga. Visitors are presented with a cave in its natural state and our 45-minute (+/-) Crystal Palace Walking Tour allows them to view thousands of diverse formations - stalagtites, stalagmites, delicate soda straws, flowstone, rimstone pools, draperies, columns, natural bridges, and a rare shield formation. We also offer a variety of wild cave "spelunking" expeditions for those who want to view beyond the lighted pathways and explore deeper into the mountain. Our Waterfall Dome expedition permits visitors to view the areas tallest underground, natural (unassisted) flowing waterfall.
Reviewed By P8878RImarkl
So glad we added the Crystal Palace tour to our weekend trip!! Our guide, Landon, did an awesome job explaining the history and science of the caverns!!!
10. Raccoon Mountain Dam
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 161 reviews
Reviewed By mvmaithai - Largo, United States
One of our favorite attractions in Chattanooga. Stop by the visitor center to see a breathtaking view of the TN River Gorge, and at the same time, learn about TVA (TN Valley Authority, a federal agency that provides hydro-electric power through its dams) and its history. There are hiking trails, and picnic and fishing areas. If you're lucky, you may see some wildlife - deer, wild turkey, eagles. Fun for the whole family!
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