Road Trip Issue 2026: Knoxville

Nashvillians typically go to Knoxville for one of three reasons: work, football or friends. The latter two are a powerful combo for the roughly 26,000 of us who graduated from UT and settled in Nashville. But if you visit Rocky Top only for meetings or one game each fall, you’re missing the best parts. The city’s walkable downtown area, access to nature and bona fide food scene make Knoxville a low-stress getaway that’s 100 miles closer than Asheville and far cheaper than Music City.

Stay

If your memories of downtown Knoxville are limited to blurry nights at Preservation Pub, you’ll be delighted to find that the area has grown up but not sold out, which makes it an ideal home base.  

For plush, intimate accommodations, choose the 28-room Oliver Hotel. Originally a bakery in the 1800s, it’s full of charming touches, from local in-room snacks to Peter Kern Library, a literary speakeasy hidden behind a secret wall panel. If you visit on a weekday, be patient if it takes a moment to order room service or get your car — because when that car’s battery dies and the valet jumps it off and pulls it around quicker than you can even call AAA? You know they understand service. 

If you have kids, Oliver is still great — my daughter (and dog) loved the comfy rooms — but Embassy Suites is the undisputed family fave. The rooms are huge, the free breakfast is solid, and the rooftop pool offers a peek at mountaintops. Plus, I’ll never tire of the free cheese cubes and white wine that a complimentary evening reception offers.

Both hotels are near Market Square, a pedestrian-only street dating to 1854 that’s full of eating, shopping, music and events like the Market Square Farmers Market or winter ice rink. Bonus: Parking is still free on nights and weekends in most garages.

Do

Start with a latte from Mahalo Coffee Roasters, a croissant from The French Market Creperie or a seat at Pete’s Restaurant & Coffee Shop, a local diner that’s as friendly today as when it opened in 1986. Cruze Farm Ice Cream is a must for decadent, freshly churned soft serve that’s positively bonkers (especially their Butterscotch Dip), but go during the day to skip the lines. Around the corner, check Golden Threads for whimsical vintage, CitiFid-O for furry friends, and Nothing Too Fancy for good-looking Tennessee gear.

Start your cultural education at Tennessee Theatre, an elaborately decorated “movie palace” built in 1928. They host it all — symphonies, concerts, plays, comedy. When we walked in to see Pixar’s Cars, I was stunned. Crystal chandeliers, painted ceiling, lavish fabrics; it was all more sumptuous and gorgeous than I remembered, which isn’t surprising as the last time I visited I was several beers deep, being dragged to Widespread Panic against my will. (Tip: For kids’ movies, come a few minutes late unless your toddler is more eager to hear the theater’s famous Wurlitzer organ than to see Lightning McQueen.)

Outside you’ll find Gay Street, Knoxville’s historic main drag, and at its north end, the funky, floral Potchke Deli. Yiddish for “to fuss or tinker,” Potchke nails the basics while also making things feel new. Sweet pepper relish on the flawless lox bialy; a fresh, hand-rolled celery-salt bagel topped with labna and chili oil; or the ne plus ultra of matzoh ball soup. Order the latter with “fuss” (chili crisp, pepper sauce, herbs) on the side, and enjoy the first half Bubbe’s way before dropping your flavor bomb. (Tip: Hit their Cedar Bluff bagel shop on your way out; you will crave their so-tender-they-don’t-need-toasting bagels when you get home.)

A couple blocks away is The Old City, the artistic, industrial heart of downtown where 19th century warehouses became bars, studios, shops and more. Hit the boisterous Brother Wolf for a Tomato’tini (a “bloody” martini garnished with mozzarella), grab Japanese treats at Red Panda Grocery or tuck into Kaizen for Wild Boar Lumpia and Thai Wings (fish sauce, black vinegar). Next door, vintage store Contra is a must for any Vol fan — I found a Tennessee “Liberty Bowl Champs” hat from 1986, which feeds my soul twice as both a UT grad and Memphian. Have a pint at Pretentious Beer Co., where artist-turned-brewer Matthew Cummings crafts experimental beers like Squishy Cherry sour and Triple Catstronaut IPA. And don’t miss the adjacent Pretentious Glass Co. for colorful, chic, otherworldly glassware that you can blow yourself or watch being made.

Find fresh air at the World’s Fair Park’s lawns, splash pad, short trails or playground. But know that the people who will enjoy it most are: 1. young kids who want to visit “the disco ball,” aka The Sunsphere, or 2. parents who want to bore teens by looking down at the city, pointing and saying, “Wait, no ... that’s where I lived in The Fort!”

Ijams Nature Center offers hiking, watersports and outdoor rock climbing, plus a playscape and kids’ classes. But my favorite urban oasis is Fort Dickerson Park and Augusta Quarry, four minutes from downtown. The overlook boasts an earthen Civil War-era fort and views of the Great Smoky Mountains, and you can enjoy 350-foot deep turquoise water with free life jackets, on floating swim platforms or by renting paddleboards and tubes on site.

Dinner means Kerns Bakery food hall for Disco Chicken & Donuts, which will leave you craving both their succulent, salty tenders and piquant Gouda Mac. For something nicer, reserve a table at A Dopo Pizza or J.C. Holdway, the latter of which has been my go-to for a decade. Despite being decorated by Michelin and James Beard, chef Joseph Lenn is in the dining room most nights, setting the sophisticated but unfussy tone. Try the Joyce Farms chicken (smoked as wings or roasted with chicken jus), the Benton’s Bacon bolognese or the whole grilled sunburst trout with yogurt-and-mint pistou. If it’s on their menu, they know where it came from, and you can taste that love of all things Appalachia in every bite.

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Road Trip Issue 2026

From Asheville and Highlands to Little Rock and beyond, here are our recommendations for late-summer getaways

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