Hotels in Chattanooga, Tennessee

A little about Chattanooga...

Chattanooga is the fourth-largest city in Tennessee (after Memphis, Nashville, and Knoxville), and the seat of Hamilton County, in the United States of America. It is the state's second oldest major city behind Knoxville. It is located in southeast Tennessee on Chickamauga and Nickajack Lake, which are both part of the Tennessee River, near the border of Georgia, and at the junction of three interstate highways, I-24, I-75, and I-59.

The city, which lies at the transition between the ridge-and-valley portion of the Appalachian Mountains and the Cumberland Plateau, is surrounded by ridges.

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, which is also known locally as UTC, is the second largest campus of the University of Tennessee System. Boasting a student population of over 9002, UTC students, staff and faculty play a major part in contributing to the local economy. In addition to UTC, there are several other institutions of higher learning in Chattanooga. Several miles from UTC is Chattanooga State Technical Community College. Other institutions are the privately run Tennessee Temple University, Miller-Motte Technical College. Southern Adventist University, Lee University and Covenant College, which overlooks the city from atop nearby Lookout Mountain, are all located fairly close to the city.

Chattanooga is home to the Chattanooga Branch of the University of Tennessee College of Medicine to provide medical education to medical students, residents, and other medical professionals in Southeast Tennessee through an affiliation with Erlanger Health System.

Chattanooga is the home to the Hunter Museum of American Art, a well known art museum. As birthplace of the tow truck, Chattanooga is now home to the International Towing and Recovery Hall of Fame and Museum, as well as another transportation icon at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum, the largest operating historic railroad in the south. Other notable museums include the Chattanooga Regional History Museum, the National Medal of Honor Museum, the Houston Museum, and the Chattanooga African American Museum

Chattanooga has traditionally touted its tourist attractions, including the Tennessee Aquarium (a freshwater and, as of May 2005, a saltwater aquarium), caverns, and heavy development along and across the Tennessee River. In the downtown area are the Creative Discovery Museum (a hands-on children's museum dedicated to science, art, and music), an IMAX 3D Theatre, and the newly expanded Hunter Museum of American Art. The red-and-black painted "See Rock City" barns along highways in the Southeast are remnants of a now classic Americana tourism campaign to attract visitors to the Rock City tourist attraction in nearby Lookout Mountain, Georgia. The mountain is also home to Ruby Falls, Craven's House and the Lookout Mountain Incline Railway, a steep funicular railway which rises from historic St. Elmo to the top of the mountain to drop passengers off at the National Park Service's Point Park and The Battles for Chattanooga Museum (formerly known as Confederama), a quirky diorama that details, of course, the Battle of Chattanooga. From the military park, visitors can enjoy the panoramic views of Moccasin Bend and the Chattanooga skyline from the mountain's famous "point" or from vantage points along the well-designated trail system. Just outside Chattanooga, the Raccoon Mountain Resevoir, Raccoon Mountain Caverns and Reflection Riding Arboretum and Botanical Garden boast a number of outdoor and family fun opportunities, while the Ocœe River, host to a number of events from the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, features rafting, kayaking, camping and hiking. Back in Chattanooga, smaller tourist attractions include Lake Winnepesaukah amusement park, Chattanooga Zoo at Warner Park, Bonny Oaks Arboretum, Cherokee Arboretum at Audubon Acres and Cherokee Trail Arboretum.