Top Things to do in Tennessee
Top Hotels in Tennessee
- 1. Drury Plaza Hotel Nashville Downtown
- 2. Holiday Inn Nashville-Vanderbilt (Dwtn), an IHG Hotel
- 3. La Quinta Inn & Suites by Wyndham Nashville Downtown Stadium
- 4. The Peabody Memphis
- 5. Hutton Hotel
- 6. Cambria Hotel Nashville Downtown
- 7. Margaritaville Island Inn
- 8. Margaritaville Resort Gatlinburg
- 9. Arbors at Island Landing Hotel & Suites
- 10. Best Western Plaza Inn
What to do and see in Tennessee, United States: The Best Specialty Museums
Discover the best top things to do in Tennessee, United States including National Civil Rights Museum - Lorraine Motel, Creative Discovery Museum, Graceland, RCA Studio B, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Memphis Rock 'n' Soul Museum, Andrew Jackson's Hermitage, Carter House, Falcon Rest Mansion & Gardens, Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum.
Restaurants in Tennessee
1. National Civil Rights Museum - Lorraine Motel
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 8,750 reviews
At the place of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'S death in 1968 in Memphis, TN, the National Civil Rights Museum is a renowned educational and cultural institution. The Museum chronicles the American Civil Rights Movement with compelling presentations of iconic exhibits, oral histories of lesser-known civil rights foot soldiers, and visceral, in-the-moment experiences. Visitors will learn through emotionally charged, multi-user, multi-touch interactives, and a visually engaging, contemporary exhibit design that guides you through five centuries of history. Bring the whole family.
Reviewed By annmarieduffy - New York City, United States
National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorrainne Motel. Chilling seeing this famous site as we turned the corner to enter. Site of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. etched in our memories. Amazing exhibitions, chronologically bringing you through-the Slave trade, many hero’s including educators & pastors, the Civil War, 13, 14 & 15 Constitutional Ammendments , Jim Crow, Rosa Parks, with both her bus & the burnt out bus of the Freedom riders & of course MLK & his speech’s, the hotel room to Obama’s election. It finished with all the Civil Rights hero’s throughout the world & then award winning Civil Rights workers including many different fields such as Gore for the environment, Marlo Thomas for St Judes children’s hospital, Jimmy Carter, Anwar Sadat, Gorbachev & of course Mandela. One of my biggest shock was that 5 million Africans were captured & enslaved in Brazil & another 5 million brought to the Caribbean. 388,000 were brought to North America & 9,000 to Europe. Now looking at the Slave Trade Database 10.7 million survived of the 12.5 million people transported. Horrific history.
2. Creative Discovery Museum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 965 reviews
Creative Discovery Museum is a hands-on children's museum in the heart of downtown Chattanooga that inspires all children to explore, innovate, create, and play. Our exhibits are designed to both entertain and educate as children discover the world around them and all it has to offer including art, music, dinosaur digging, water exploration, and science. Rated the #7 children's museum in the U.S. by Trekaroo in 2015.
Reviewed By kellypM5119NE - Munfordville, United States
We had a blast with our two year old this morning! Three levels of exhibits to learn and play through; lots of opportunities for pretend play! The highlights for us were the splash zone and the dinosaur area. The more involved you are with your kid, the more fun they’re going to have! Some exhibits geared toward older kids; I wouldn’t expect this location to appeal to a kid over 10. The 2-8 crowd though will be ecstatic ???? Covid stuff- timed entry, temp checks, masks inside pretty well-enforced. The staff are making a great effort to keep things clean in an impossible environment—It’s a hands-on museum; thousands of things for kids to touch and feel everywhere you look. So fellow parents, before you go, make sure your little understands to not touch their face, not put their hands in their mouth and to sanitize often.
3. Graceland
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 19,143 reviews
Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee, is the home of Elvis Presley, the King of Rock 'n' Roll. Elvis Presley's Graceland is open daily with tours of Graceland Mansion, Elvis’ custom jets and our new entertainment and exhibit complex, Elvis Presley’s Memphis. The complex includes a new automobile museum, Presley Motors, and Elvis: The Entertainer Career Museum, the world’s largest and most comprehensive Elvis museum in the world, as well as many more exhibits, restaurants and shops. The tour of Graceland Mansion features an interactive, iPad tour with additional enhancements including photos, video and more. Continue your experience with the all-new Graceland Exhibition Center, which features three rotating exhibits, the TCB Food Hall and Jungle Room Bar.
Reviewed By SpanishNeedle - Memphis, United States
A must do - if you're an Elvis fan...or not! The tours include - house tour, private plane viewing, meditation garden, then head across the street and select Elvis keepsake to memorialize your visit. Take lots of pictures that last a lifetime. Wonderful staff and service in addition to amazing tour guides! Great for all ages.
4. RCA Studio B
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 3,349 reviews
Historic RCA Studio B--once the recording home of popular music titans such as Elvis Presley, Chet Atkins, Eddy Arnold, and The Everly Brothers--is both a classroom for Nashville area students and a popular cultural attraction. First made available to Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum visitors in 1977, RCA Studio B was donated to the Museum in 1992. Studio B tours are available as part of the Museum's platinum ticket package, which also includes Museum admission and audio tour, and depart from the Museum hourly between 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. daily. Transportation provided.
Reviewed By PamThuer - Middletown, United States
By far a must see! Definitely worth the extra money to tour Studio B. Our tour guide was amazing and extremely kind, very knowledgeable on artists. Loved this tour!
5. Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 14,476 reviews
The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is the home of this popular American art form, safeguarding over 2.5 million artifacts, with two expansive floors of gallery space featuring permanent- and limited- engagement exhibits. The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is also home to Historic RCA Studio B and Hatch Show Print. It offers three dining and four retail options, all open to the public. Closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day.
Reviewed By 866TaylorB - Chicago, United States
If you are visiting Nashville, Tennessee, chances are you are here to see what makes Music City tick, from the Grand Ole Opry to Ryman Auditorium to the many museums dedicated to country music and its legendary recording artists from Jimmie Rodgers to Hank Williams to Roy Acuff to Patsy Cline to Johnny Cash. Located at 222 Fifth Avenue South, the 350,000-square-foot Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is one of the world's largest and most active and popular music research centers and the world's largest repository of country music artifacts, more than 2.5 million. Chartered in 1964, the museum houses 200,000 sound recordings, 500,000 photographs, more than 30,000 moving images on film, video and digital formats, hundreds of musical instruments, thousands of items of clothing, oral histories and iconic vehicles, including Elvis Presley's 1960 "Solid Gold" Cadillac and Jerry Reed's 1980 Pontiac Trans Am from Smokey and the Bandit II. The museum attracts more than 1.1 million visitors a year. So what do you want to see? Historic RCA Studio B, Nashville's oldest surviving recording studio, where recordings by Elvis Presley, Dolly Parton and Waylon Jennings were made. The bronze plaques of the Hall of Famers that are displayed in the museum's 70-foot-high rotunda. Glen Campbell narrating the history of country music. Maybelle Carter's Gibson L-5. Earl Scruggs' banjo. Bill Monroe's mandolin. Patsy Cline's cocktail dress. Johnny Cash's black suit. Reba McEntire's red dress. Start with the museum's core exhibit, "Sing Me Back Home: A Journey Through Country Music," which immerses visitors in the history and sounds of country music, its origins and traditions, and the stories and voices of many of its architects, then take a tour of the museum to experience what country music is all about.
6. Memphis Rock 'n' Soul Museum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 2,299 reviews
Chronicling the artists and the music that shaped the legacy of "Memphis Sound," this museum features the Smithsonian's "Rock 'n' Roll: Social Crossroads" exhibition.
Reviewed By 851bobw
Being able to go through museum at your own pace and choose what audio points you wish to listen to and the additional opportunity to listen on your own audio music from the past was great
7. Andrew Jackson's Hermitage
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 5,595 reviews
The Hermitage, Home of President Andrew Jackson, is one of the largest and most visited presidential homes in the United States, and recently named the #1 historic house in Tennessee. Today, The Hermitage is a 1,120-acre National Historic Landmark with over 30 historic buildings, that welcomes some 200,000 annual visitors, including 30,000 schoolchildren, from all 50 states and many foreign countries. Visit Andrew Jackson's Hermitage to witness "The Duel: The Art of the Southern Gentleman." This 30-minute visitor experience will answer questions about dueling followed by an ACTUAL demonstration by our historic re-enactors. “The Duel” takes place every Thursday through Sunday throughout the day, free with paid admission.
Reviewed By 866TaylorB - Chicago, United States
The Hermitage, Andrew Jackson's home from 1804 until his death in 1845, has been acclaimed the fourth best Presidential site in the nation by USA Today, behind the White House, Thomas Jefferson's Monticello and George Washington's Mount Vernon. Located at 4580 Rachels Lane in Davidson County, 10 miles east of downtown Nashville, the Greek Revival structure has a rectangular layout, about 104 feet from east to west and 54 feet from north to south. The main entrance includes a central block with a five-bay, two-story structure with a portico supported by six modified Corinthian style, wooden columns. Within the portico is a two-story balcony. One-story wings flank the mansion. Inside, the main block of the house consists of four large rooms separated by a center hall. At the far end of the hall is the elliptical cantilevered staircase with mahogany handrail that leads to the second level. Notice the crystal chandeliers and Italian marble mantels and the entry hall with plank flooring painted dark and decorated with block-printed wallpaper made in Paris, France. To the right of the entrance hall are two bedrooms that were occupied by Jackson and his son. On the second level are four bedrooms that once were occupied by guests such as Sam Houston, the Marquis de Lafayette, James K. Polk and Martin Van Buren. Perhaps the most interesting feature in the house is a rustic mantelpiece called the "Eighth of January" that was carved by a veteran of the Battle of New Orleans, who worked on the mantelpiece on each anniversary of the battle until he finished on January 8, 1839. The Hermitage, which was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966, can be viewed in via a two to four-hour self-guided tour, a 90-minute guided tour of the mansion and grounds and access to the mansion's balcony, a tour of the grounds via a horse-drawn wagon allowing a glimpse of what life was like on the 1,000-acre cotton plantation and two tours that include access to the mansion, grounds and exhibit gallery, an interpreter-led tour of the mansion, a self-guided auto tour of the gardens, grounds and the other historic buildings, a self-guided tour of the farmland that used to be the Heritage Planation and viewing a film, "Andrew Jackson: Born From A Star," at the visitors center. Also of interest is the large brick smokehouse at the rear of the kitchen that was built in 1831 and cured 20,000 pounds of pork a year and a nearby slave cabin known as Uncle Alfred's Cabin, named for Alfred Jackson, who was born into slavery on the property in 1812 and worked as a freedman after Emancipation and stayed on as a caretaker following the purchase of the estate in 1889 by the Ladies' Hermitage Association. He died in 1901 and was buried near the tomb of the seventh President of the United States and his wife, Rachel, who died in 1828. There is so much to see at the Hermitage, so much history and so many stories.
8. Carter House
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 1,312 reviews
The Carter House was built around 1830 by Fountain Branch Carter. By the time of the Civil War it was a large agricultural operation. In the years leading up to the Civil War nearly thirty enslaved people lived and worked on the farm. The Carter home and property was consumed by the Battle of Franklin on November 30, 1864. The house served as headquarters for the United States Army during the battle. One of the Carter sons was mortally wounded during the terrible fighting and died in the house two days later. Sixty minute Classic house tours are offered as well as Battlefield, Slavery, and Extended tours.
Reviewed By Hadair4
My friends and I were so pleased with the tour of the Carter house, all agreeing that it was the best guided tour we've ever had. Our tour guide, David, moved through the info quickly, balancing war history, descriptions of the battle, and family history for an hour was fascinating from start to finish.
9. Falcon Rest Mansion & Gardens
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 79 reviews
Falcon Rest is the Victorian mansion where history is fun. Built in 1896 by Gorilla Pants manufacturer Clay Faulkner, it's been called "Tennessee's Biltmore" by PBS. Some say it's presided over by a friendly ghost. Open daily year round for guided tours, tea room lunches, Victorian Gift Shop, and history-based entertainment and meals for group tours. For nearby overnight lodging, see our listing for Falcon Manor B&B at Falcon Rest, the four guest suites on the mansion's grounds.
Reviewed By 865ashleyn - Somerville, United States
My family highly enjoyed our tour. It was so informative and personable. The house was gorgeous. Highly recommend for anyone to stop and take the tour.
10. Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 1,307 reviews
Take a trip back in time, to a slower-paced era when railroad travel was a way of life. Relive the romance of the rails when vintage trains provided an escape from the everyday routine. The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum provides an interactive, historical experience that will add an extra dimension to your visit to Chattanooga’s popular attractions. Here you will find the only regularly scheduled, full-sized train ride in Tennessee. The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum is so much more than entertainment… it is your chance to experience the sights and sounds of yesteryear!
Reviewed By lilbunnygirl - Panama City Beach, United States
We were visiting from Florida and took the 1 hour missionary ridge trip just to have the experience of riding on an old fashioned train fir our teen son who has always loved them. It was a fun little trip, the conductor did a great job of explaining the history as well as making good jokes. Watching the turntable turn the engine was really cool. My son is very interested is someday coming back for the teen camp. They were also very diligent about social distancing, enforcing mask wearing, and keeping the train clean. I highly recommend this company!
