Getting Around Chattanooga

Major airlines serve the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport (tel. 423-855-2200) from Atlanta, Cincinnati, Memphis, and Charlotte. To reach the city center, take Highway 153 south to I-75, and then go west on I-24. Exits 1A, 1B, and 1C all get you downtown.

Major routes into Chattanooga are I-75 from the north (Knoxville) and south (Atlanta), I-24 from the northwest (Nashville), and I-59 from the southwest (Birmingham, AL).

You can buy discount ticket packages, which get you into several of Chattanooga's most popular attractions. A free electric shuttle from the visitor center makes touring downtown attractions a snap.

The Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority (CARTA) provides regularly scheduled bus transportation for the area. CARTA also provides an electric shuttle system that operates downtown between the Chattanooga Choo Choo/Holiday Inn at Shuttle Park South and the Tennessee Aquarium at Shuttle Park North.

For such a popular tourist destination, Tennessee has disappointing transportation connections. Amtrak only calls at Memphis, and while Greyhound provides a reasonable service to major towns and cities, traveling by bus through the small towns in the east is very difficult. The airports at Memphis and Nashville have extensive connections throughout the US, though fares between the two are high. If you harbor fantasies of traveling by boat along the Mississippi, note that only luxury craft make the trip these days, at prohibitive prices.