Chattanooga, TN: Your Next Girls’ Trip Destination
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Besides solo travel, exploring with my girlfriends is one of my favorite ways to travel. It’s always a blast to check out a new destination for a weekend or mini trip. When I was still living in Atlanta, my friends and I took a girls’ trip to Chattanooga, TN one October. Here is our itinerary, including whiskey!
Day 1: Rainbow Falls and Downtown Chattanooga
Morning
We were in Chattanooga for a Friday night-Sunday, and stayed at a super cute Airbnb 10 miles north of downtown (click here to get $40 off your first Airbnb). We chose lodging a bit north of the city because we wanted to go hiking in Signal Mountain our first morning. There are tons of popular hiking spots in Chattanooga. We chose Rainbow Falls for our hike, a lesser known trail that includes a waterfall and swinging bridge. This trail is a 2.6 mile loop, but we only did about a mile to the falls and back since we still had tons of other stuff to do that day. Tip: I always research the trails I’m taking ahead of time (my tips on planning a great hike coming soon), and AllTrails is a great resource for this.
Afternoon
After hiking, we got ready for the rest of the day, which we spent in downtown Chattanooga. We wandered around the city, checking out cute southern boutiques (because it’s not a girls’ trip without shopping) and the best Frosé I’ve ever had at Hi-Fi Clyde’s. But our favorite stop was to Chattanooga Whiskey. This distillery started in 2011 and has the catchiest slogans, ‘Whiskey to the People’ and ‘Making Up For 100 Years of Prohibition.’
We signed up for a tour of the experimental distillery and a tasting, which lasted an hour and was only $12 (I know, right?!). The tour was very interesting and hands-on, and the tasting at the end in the Whiskey Lounge was very generous. As a whiskey girl, I was in heaven. My friends are not whiskey drinkers, but we all agreed this was the best part of our trip.
Day 2: Walnut Street Bridge and the Hunter Museum of American Art
On Sunday, we checked out another great area of Chattanooga before heading home, the Walnut Street Pedestrian Bridge. This bridge is a wonderful spot, as it connects two areas of Chattanooga that have a lot of attractions. Plus it’s just so darn cute!
We parked on the side by Coolidge Park and walked over the bridge to our next stop, the Hunter Museum of American Art, which contains the most complete collection of American art in the Southeast. Although the art was good, I mainly remember being so glad to be inside with air-conditioning. Tip: be prepared for sweltering temperatures, even in October. To cool off even more, we ended our trip with ice cream I still dream about to this day from The Ice Cream Show (is anyone else craving ice cream now?).
I hope this weekend girls’ trip to Chattanooga, TN made you consider this less popular Tennessee town for your next trip. If you liked the hiking, check out my solo trip to North Georgia for more trails. I’d love to hear your favorite destinations for girls’ trips, so please comment below.
22 Comments
WanderlustBeautyDreams
Looks like a fun girls trip. Never been to Chattanooga before but looks like a great place to visit!
Jordan
Chattanooga is lesser-known, compared to Nashville, but still really fun.
Smita
Great pictures – Rainbow Falls looks beautiful. I’d totally give up my morning snooze time for a hike there! The Walnut Street bridge is so unique. And it’s a pedestrian bridge?! That’s really cool – generally you don’t get to see such elaborate pedestrian bridges.
Jordan
Hi Smita,
The bridge was super cool. Just pedestrians walking or biking and enjoying the view. And the color is so fun!
Josy A
Yay for girly holidays! I love taking mini trips with my besties, so I can totally imagine how much fun you ladies had!
It’s great that you managed to fit in a hike before all the munching, museums and booze! It sounds like a well- rounded weekend.
p.s. What is a Frosé? It is frozen wine!?
Jordan
Hi Josy,
It was a great weekend. Frosé is a frozen slushie drink with the wine Rosé. So good when it’s hot out!
April Key C. Rode
This city is exciting, and it’s like you have a great girls trip there. I hope to visit this area next time but next year it will be out of our way to Texas. Hope on our next road trip we can cover this.
Jordan
Hi April,
If you’re on a road trip to Tennessee any time soon, make a stop in Nashville as well. It’s a super fun town.
Jackie Gately
I am a whiskey girl, too so I would love a tasting experience at Chattanooga Whiskey! YUM, YUM. I’m also an art fan so the Hunter Museum of American Art is right up my alley, too.
I’m overdue for a trip south and it looks like I need to schedule a visit to Chattanooga. Thanks for great ideas–also for the tip about the heat. I wouldn’t have guessed so hot even in October!
Jordan
Hi Jackie,
The whiskey tasting was so fun! I hope you’ll be able to visit and enjoy Chattanooga. Of course, there are other great things here too, like the aquarium, Lookout Mountain, and Rock City.
Rudy
It seems I missed some good things when we were in Chattanooga.
We went to Ruby Falls, Rock City and Lookout Mountain.
Jordan
Hi Rudy,
Yes, those are great attractions as well. We were looking for some less well-known choices and weren’t disappointed. I do love Lookout Mountain though!
Jessica
You had me at whiskey! That sounds like the perfect girls trip. I always hike when I go somewhere and do research beforehand too. We’d definitely be friends!
Jordan
Hi Jessica,
It was pretty great. It sounds like it! I don’t enjoy a trip as much if I don’t have at least a few things planned out ahead of time. It’s too stressful figuring things out on the fly.
Catherine
This is my kinda girls trip! Nothing better than getting outdoors and rewarding yourself with a whiskey tasting after!
Jordan
Hi Catherine,
Exactly! It’s all about balance right?
Tania Muthusamy
Chattanooga looks like a fun place for a girls’ trip. But what is a Frosé?
Jordan
Hi Tania,
Great question! It is a frozen Rosé drink. So Rosé wine in a frozen slushee mix. Super delicious and refreshing, especially when it’s hot.
Jane
Great decision to visit the Whiskey place after hiking 🙂 It looks like a perfect girls trip weekend.
Jordan
Hi Jane,
It really was! I can never say no to whiskey!