Visiting Tennessee on a Budget
Tennessee is one of the most underrated budget destinations in the South — the kind of state where the biggest names cost the least. Nashville's Lower Broadway hosts world-class country, bluegrass, and Americana every afternoon for the price of a tip. Memphis adds free Beale Street, the Peabody duck march, and $20 tours of Sun Studio and Stax. Chattanooga's Tennessee Riverwalk runs 13 free miles past the world's longest pedestrian bridge. Gatlinburg is the main gateway to Great Smoky Mountains National Park — free entry, $5 daily parking tag. Between them all, Murfreesboro (35 miles southeast of Nashville) adds the free 570-acre Stones River National Battlefield and a 17-mile riverside greenway system. The shoulder seasons (April–May and September–October) deliver the best weather and smallest crowds; the Smokies in mid-October are unforgettable.
Cities in Tennessee
Pick a city to see free attractions, cheap activities, and budget travel tips.
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Squeezed between Lookout Mountain and the bend of the Tennessee River, Chattanooga punches well above its weight for affordable attractions — a free 13-mile Riverwalk, bluff-top parks, and the Bluff View Art District anchored by the Hunter Museum of American Art (free first Thursdays). Coolidge Park, Ross's Landing's Cherokee memorial, and the 33-acre Sculpture Fields at Montague Park are all free to wander; the historic Walnut Street Bridge is the world's longest pedestrian bridge; and quirky stops like the International Towing & Recovery Hall of Fame Museum ($12) round out a weekend that never breaks $20.
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Nashville, Tennessee
Music City built its name on Lower Broadway's neon honky-tonks, where the cover charge is almost always zero — meaning you can hear world-class country, bluegrass, and Americana every afternoon and evening for the price of a tip. Beyond the music, Nashville has a free walk down Music Row (16th and 17th Avenues, where Elvis and Dolly recorded), a full-scale Parthenon replica in Centennial Park, free guided tours of the Tennessee State Capitol, the always-free Tennessee State Museum, and the 1,332-acre Radnor Lake State Park. Cap it with the $20 Frist Art Museum (free for ages 18 and under) and the $15 Lane Motor Museum.
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Gatlinburg, Tennessee
The main gateway to Great Smoky Mountains National Park — the most-visited national park in the country. Park entry is free; just a $5 parking tag is needed for stops longer than 15 minutes. Inside the park, Cades Cove Loop, Newfound Gap, Kuwohi Observation Tower, the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, Mountain Farm Museum, Mingus Mill, and Elkmont Historic District are all free. In Gatlinburg proper, Ole Smoky Moonshine pours free tastings, Sugarlands Distilling runs free tours, the Salt and Pepper Shaker Museum charges $3, and the Gatlinburg Space Needle is $15.95 — capped under $20 across the board.
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Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis built American popular music — from Beale Street's birth-of-the-blues juke joints to Sun Studio's first Elvis recordings and Stax's soul soundtrack — and most of those landmarks remain $20 or under. Beyond the music history, the Mississippi River sets the stage: Tom Lee Park and Mud Island River Park line the waterfront for free, the Peabody Hotel's twice-daily duck march draws a crowd at no cost, and the 32-story Pyramid is now an over-the-top free-to-enter Bass Pro Shops. The bizarre, free Crystal Shrine Grotto rounds out a weekend that stays under what one Beale Street brunch would cost in Manhattan.
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Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Tennessee's geographic center and an old college town 35 miles southeast of Nashville, Murfreesboro packs Civil War history, a working pioneer village, and a walkable historic square into one weekend. Stones River National Battlefield preserves the December 1862 Union victory across 570 free acres of trails, monuments, and a national cemetery. The Murfreesboro Greenway System threads 17 free miles along the Stones River, the Discovery Center at Murfree Spring blends a children's museum with a wetland boardwalk for $15, and Oaklands Mansion ($15) and Bradley Academy Museum ($5) tell complementary stories of antebellum and African-American Rutherford County.
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More on Tennessee from TravelCheapUS
In-depth budget travel guides from our companion blog that mention Tennessee.