The best road trip stops on the Memphis to Chattanooga drive are Jackson TN, Earth Experience and Manchester TN. The distance from Memphis to Chattanooga by car is 337 miles, with a 4h53m driving time.
Planning a Memphis to Chattanooga road trip itinerary
The Memphis to Chattanooga drive connects two Tennessee cities with very different vibes.
Five great things to do in Memphis
- 🎸 Enjoy a private luxury tour of Memphis – with Graceland tickets included.
- 🍖 Get a taste of Tennessee – on a Downtown Memphis food tour.
- 🛥️ Take a Memphis discovery tour – with Mississippi cruise and Sun Studio add-on options.
- 🏙️ Discover Memphis beyond Beale Street – on a historic walking tour.
- 🚗 Hop on a day tour to Tupelo – and see Elvis’ childhood home.
Memphis, Tennessee, is a pilgrimage site for Elvis fans. The King’s Graceland mansion is one of the top tourist sites in the US. But the cultural heritage extends beyond music, as you’ll discover on an African-American history tour.
Music fans should also try the Try the Rock and Soul Museum, plus the Memphis Music Hall of Fame and the Stax Museum of American Soul Music.
Ways of seeing the city include ghost walks, Downtown food tours and musical bus tours. There are also guided walks down music central, Beale Street, and city tours that take you inside the legendary Sun Studio.
Outdoors, Shelby Farms Park is one of America’s great urban parks and the Memphis Botanic Garden is expansive.
Chattanooga in the foothills of the Appalachians is home to Chattanooga Zoo, the Creative Discovery Museum and the Hunter Museum of American Art.
But it’s mostly an outdoorsy place. Great Chattanooga experiences include rafting on the Middle Ocoee River and kayak adventures to the Nickajack Bat Cave.
There’s plenty to see at Lookout Mountain just outside the city – ride the Lookout Mountain Incline Railway, be wowed by Ruby Falls and see seven states from the Rock City Gardens.
5 great Chattanooga experiences to book
- 🦇 Pay a visit to the Nickajack bat cave on a guided kayaking adventure.
- 🍴 Take a Southside food tour – and get a history lesson while feasting at multiple stops.
- 🚁 See the city, river and mountains on a sights-packed helicopter ride.
- 👻 On an after-dark ghost tour, uncover murders and mysteries.
- 🌊 Tackle the whitewater on an Ocoee River rafting trip.
Memphis to Chattanooga distance and driving time
By car, the distance from Memphis to Chattanooga is 337 miles. This is along the quickest route – along the I-40, TN-480 and I-24 – rather than the shortest route via Huntsville. You can expect a driving time of around four hours and 53 minutes.
The best stops to add to a Memphis to Chattanooga road trip itinerary are Jackson TN, Earth Experience and Manchester TN.
Best stops between Memphis and Chattanooga: Jackson, TN
Jackson TN is home to the Casey Jones Home and Railroad Museum. For the uninitiated, Casey Jones was about as famous as it gets in the world of railroad engineering. The enormous locomotive outside the house tends to be the most popular attraction.
Also in Jackson is Rusty’s TV and Movie Car Museum, which features more than 50 screen-famous cars and vans. These include a Batmobile, a Jeep from Jurassic Park and Scooby Doo’s Mystery Machine.
Memphis to Chattanooga road trip attractions: Earth Experience
Also called the Middle Tennessee Museum of Natural History, Earth Experience in Murfreesboro is all about archaeological relics. That means gems and minerals, but mainly dinosaur bones.
The highlight is the big T-Rex skeleton, but you can also visit the working paleontology laboratory, see how replica bones are moulded and cast, then touch petrified wood and dino bones.
Memphis to Chattanooga drive: Manchester, Tennessee
The town of Manchester isn’t especially riveting, although you can visit Common John Brewing and the Beans Creek Winery.
It is, however, the gateway to several photogenic waterfalls. The closest to the town centre are Blue Hole Falls and Big Falls in Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park. Head a little further west, and there are plenty more – Rutledge Falls has a glorious swimming hole at the bottom.
More Tennessee road trips
Other Tennessee travel guides on Planet Whitley include:
- Getting to Nashville: What to see on the Lexington to Nashville drive, Louisville to Nashville drive and Pittsburgh to Nashville drive.
- Road trips from Nashville: The best stops on the Nashville to Atlanta drive and Nashville to Cincinnati drive.
- Getting to Chattanooga: The best stops on the Atlanta to Chattanooga drive, Clarksville to Chattanooga drive and Nashville to Chattanooga drive.
- Road trips from Chattanooga: What to see on the Chattanooga to Sevierville drive.
- Distance, driving time and best stops on a Nashville to Memphis road trip.
