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United States · regional guide

Tennessee travel guide

This guide gathers everything TripsCircle knows about Tennessee: 11 destinations, 96 places and 6 curated routes. The most common route styles are nightlife, culture and food journeys. Trips run 3–5 days, most often 3 days.

See destinationsBest restaurants in Tennessee
Ijams Nature Center in Knoxville, Tennessee
Ijams Nature Center · Brian Stansberry (photographer) · CC BY 3.0
Destinations
11
Places
96
Curated routes
6
Trip lengths
3–5 days
Routes favor
Apr and Dec – Jan

Where our routes go in Tennessee

Tap a dot to open that destination's guide.

Beale Street & Downtown MemphisBeale StreetDowntown NashvilleDowntown NashvilleEast NashvilleEast NashvilleFranklinFranklinKnoxvilleKnoxvilleLower BroadwayMemphisMemphisNashvilleSouth Main & the RiverfrontThe GulchTownsendTownsend
Dots show the 11 destinations from our curated routes, plotted by latitude and longitude. Not to scale for borders.

11 destinations in Tennessee

Ordered by how many of our curated routes stop there, then by how many places we have picked.

Best of Tennessee

Our curated picks by theme, drawn from the places our route editors chose for their routes.

Places worth planning around

A short sampler from the 96 places in Tennessee, starting with those featured on the most of our routes.

Curated routes through Tennessee

6 routes with at least one stop here. Some continue beyond Tennessee.

Best time to visit Tennessee

Of the 6 routes here with a recommended season, at least half point to Apr and Dec – Jan. December is the most-recommended month (4 of 6 routes).

Climate averages (NASA POWER, 2001–2025) for 5 of our destinations here: August is the warmest month, with average highs near 90°F (32°C), and January the coolest at about 47°F (8°C). December is the wettest, around 5.1 in (130 mm) of rain, and September the driest at about 3.7 in (94 mm).

NASA POWER is a gridded model (roughly 50 km cells), so coastal and mountain spots read as regional averages.

47°F8°CJan4.1 in
51°F10°CFeb4.9 in
61°F16°CMar4.7 in
70°F21°CApr5.0 in
78°F25°CMay4.8 in
86°F30°CJun4.1 in
89°F32°CJul5.0 in
90°F32°CAug3.9 in
84°F29°CSep3.7 in
73°F23°COct3.9 in
60°F16°CNov4.1 in
51°F10°CDec5.1 in
Average daily high in °F (°C below) and monthly rainfall in inches (bars), NASA POWER 2001–2025 averages across 5 destinations.

Weather by destination

Getting around Tennessee

Legs between consecutive stops on our routes. Distances are straight-line estimates, not driving distances.

Planning a trip to Tennessee

How many days do you need for a trip to Tennessee?

Our 6 curated routes with stops in Tennessee run 3–5 days, and 3 days is the most common length. Some of those routes also cover places outside Tennessee, so a trip focused only here can be shorter.

What are the best places to visit in Tennessee?

Going by how often our route team includes them, the most-featured destinations in Tennessee are East Nashville, Downtown Nashville, Franklin, Lower Broadway and Memphis. East Nashville alone has 11 hand-picked places in our guides.

When is the best time to visit Tennessee?

At least half of our routes here recommend Apr and Dec – Jan. NASA POWER averages put the warmest weather in August and the most rain in December.

Where can I find the best restaurants in Tennessee?

See our curated picks: best restaurants in Tennessee, chosen from 23 places in our curated routes. We also have lists for bars & cafés and things to do.

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Plan it together

Take your crew to Tennessee

Start from one of our Tennessee routes in TripsCircle, then shape it together: shared itinerary, polls for the big decisions, split expenses and packing lists.

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