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If you’re planning a vacation over the festive period, then there’s no better to feel the festive cheer than in the Appalachian Mountain region, specifically Chattanooga, Tennessee and Huntsville, Alabama – two destinations known for their spirit of Christmas whilst only being 1.5 hour’s drive from each other.
We didn’t plan to visit Chattanooga or Huntsville for the holidays, but due to snow storms, we had to make other plans, and we’re so glad we did!
There was so much to see and do and we felt the magic of the holidays oozing out of every attraction – from festive holiday music to holiday lights and holiday events, there were so many ways to get into the festive spirit and keep the whole family entertained.
Here are some things to do in Chattangooga and Huntsville during the holiday season.
Christmas in Chattanooga: Things to Do + Events
We like Chattanooga and always want to come back, but unfortunately it rained the entire time we were there for our holiday festivities – and quite heavy rain too – which limited what we were able to do.
Thankfully there are a lot of indoor activities and we were exploring slowly anyway due to the workload we want to catch up on.
1. Ride the Chattanooga Choo Choo
We’ve visited Chattanooga a few times, and one of the attractions we always remember is the Chattanooga Choo Choo.
The Chattanooga Choo Choo is a former train yard turned into a cool entertainment space.
The terminal station is a lobby to the hotel and the former train carriages have been turned into breweries, restaurants, draft houses, escape rooms, and accommodation.
Much of the 1909 historic features still remain, such as the train tracks and the former steam train used over 100 years ago. It’s one of our favorite attractions in Chattanooga with kids.
2. Visit the Chattanooga Christmas Village Holiday Market
Chattanooga is often a winter wonderland in the Holiday season, covering the town in a blanket of snow and sparkling icicles.
Which is why you might love to warm up a bit with a cup of mulled wine or hot chocolate at the Chattanooga Christmas Village Holiday Market.
Every year for a weekend only in November, the Christmas Village Holiday Market comes alive at Camp Jordan Arena.
Featuring live entertainment, food stands, and more than 140 vendors, it’s the perfect place to shop for unique gifts and cozy up with refreshments, enjoy the sounds of carols singing and feel the festive cheer.
3. See Scuba Claws at Tennessee Aquarium’s Holidays Under the Peaks
We’ve all heard of Santa Claus, but have you met Scuba Claws?
Every year, the Tennessee Aquarium welcome their Holidays Under the Peaks festival which starts at the end of November and ends on Christmas Eve.
The reason this event is so famous is because you can see Santa Claus diving into some of the biggest tanks in the aquarium, River Giants and Tennessee River exhibits, every day at 2pm.
As well as this, the tanks have been decorated with festive decorations, and you can have photo ops with a beloved elf or Scuba Claws himself!
4. See the Enchanted Garden of Lights
For more than 30 years, Rock City’s Enchanted Garden has been bringing joy and festive cheer to the people of Chattanooga at Christmas time.
Take a stroll through Rock City Gardens which has been decorated with thousands of Christmas lights before visiting Santa Claus for a photo op.
This event runs from November 15th to January 4th, and is a timed-ticketed event. See the website to book your tickets.
5. Go Ice Skating at Ice on the Landing
A winter tradition in Southside Chattanooga is Ice on the Landing, a covered ice skating rink at First Horizon Pavilion.
Ice on the Landing is so popular that they now keep the rink open until the end of January.
6. North Pole Limited Adventures Train at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum
Go on a magical Christmas train ride to the North Pole at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum this holiday season!
Every year since 1999, the North Pole Limited Adventures Train has been going on an imaginary journey to the North Pole where passengers can have cookies and hot chocolate, just like in the Polar Express.
There’s also some light displays to look at outside and Santa will come on board at your destination in the North Pole. Kids will love it!
7. Walk the Trail of Lights
Another Christmas Light display to get you in the holiday spirit is to walk the Trail of Lights, which is a self-guided trail that takes you around Chattanooga’s top attractions and landmarks, to see millions of Christmas lights.
The light displays are open from November until January, and you can see the full trail here.
8. Watch the “Home for the Holidays” concert by Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra
If you love live music, head to one of Chattanooga’s most magical music events, which takes place in the days leading up to Christmas.
The Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra bring their Home for the Holidays seasonal celebration, together with the CSO Chorus, to sing carols and hymns and spread the Christmas cheer.
See dates and times via the official website.
9. Christmas Tour of the Racoon Mountain Caverns, Chattanooga
The Christmas version of the Crystal Palace Tour in the Raccoon Mountain caverns was pretty cool. Firstly, we only had a two minute walk from our travel trailer to get there. The campground is right at the entrance to the caves.
The Crystal Palace tour is a 45-55 minute guided walking tour through the front, lit portion of the cave and covers nearly half of a mile.
The Raccoon Mountain caverns are said to be 10 million years old and one of the most geologically active caverns in the South.
They looked spectacular dressed in fairy lights and colored Christmas lights.
There are cardboard cutouts through out of the gingerbread men and polar bears and penguins, which was a little corny but the girls seemed to enjoy it.
I was quite smitten with the stalagmites and stalactites.
I travel to experience awe and wonder and thinking about the slow beauty of a stalagmite growing just one cubic inch every hundred year astounds me and puts me in my humble little place of insignificance.
We merely are but a speck.
And of course, Santa was waiting for us in his specially decorated cave with Christmas trees and presents
10. Visit Ruby Falls
We did want to visit Ruby Falls, the underground waterfall, which is known for becoming a festive forest throughout the winter months.
Over at Ruby Castle, they have the Forest of Wishes, which has been decorated with festive lights and where you can make your own festive wish.
You can see Santa and have seasonal treats by the fireplace in the Castle Cafe.
Thanks to all the rain, it was closed due to flooding when we visited over the holiday period, but we’ve been before and know it’s spectacular!
11. Watch the Red Bank Christmas Parade
A family tradition for us is to watch a Christmas parade. There’s something about a parade that just oozes Christmas spirit and charm for me!
In Chattanooga, the biggest Christmas Parade is the Red Bank Christmas Parade, which is on Saturday December 14th between 3pm and 8pm, and the parade beginning at 6pm.
The parade sees businesses and community organizations with decorated floats and trucks, spreading cheer through song, dance, and festive decorations. It’s fun for all the family!
12. Have Breakfast with Santa
If you want to meet Santa in a unique way, why not have breakfast with Santa at the Read House Hotel?
On November 30th and December 7th, head to the hotel’s lavish Silver Ballroom for breakfast with Mr and Mrs Claus.
And of course, there will be a chance to get your photo op with them.
See prices and availability here!
13. Cruise down Tennessee River on the Southern Belle Riverboat
If you want to do some sightseeing as well as feel the holiday spirit, head out on a Christmas Carol Dinner Cruise on the Southern Belle Riverboat.
This evening event features the usual riverboat excursion tour, plus some live music, a fabulous buffet dinner, and an appearance from Santa.
Christmas in Huntsville: Things to Do + Events
1. Ice skating in the park at the Huntsville Art Museum
I think we’re going to make ice skating a family Christmas tradition.
It was one of our favorite things to do in New York at Christmas, and we loved our experience on the outdoor rink in Huntsville.
Each of us got better over the 90 minute sessions, skating for the entire time, while squealing and singing to Christmas tunes.
I love how no matter how many people are gliding, sliding and slamming on the ice, everyone is wearing an expression of joy and laughter.
We particularly loved the use of the green supportive scooters as it meant all inhibition slipped away and you cold attack the ice with the speed skating flair of Steven Bradbury.
(I hope it’s not just Australians who understand that reference as he is an absolute legend of the sport. Here it is. The commentary by Roy & HG is GOLD!!)
2. Check out the Tinsel Trail
In the middle of Downtown Huntsville sits a wide collection of decorated Christmas Trees, known as the Tinsel Trail.
High above the hill watching over them is a huge nativity scene and the Three Wise Men.
Local businesses decorate the trees in clever advertising and messaging statements. It was fun to wander around and get into the festive spirit looking at them.
It gave me some ideas for Christmas tree decorating when we eventually get our own home.
3. See the Galaxy of Lights
The Galaxy of Lights is held of an evening in the Huntsville Botanical Gardens (worth visiting of a day as well) I loved this experience as it was pretty and effortless.
It’s a simple drive through the gardens to look at the Christmas light displays on show.
As you enter, you are told to put your radio onto a particular channel that is playing Christmas music for the event.
It was cute. The lights were gorgeous and we loved singing along to the tunes. It put us in a jolly Christmas vibe.
4. Visit Lowe Mill Arts & Entertainment
I enjoyed the Lowe Mill Arts and Entertainment space when I visited Huntsville at Christmas.
They often host seasonal workshops and classes, and we were lucky to take part in a Christmas decoration making workshop.
This is how we discovered Denise Onwere‘s colorful and vibrant art studio.
She offers a variety of art classes and they are reasonably priced.
We didn’t have a tree yet, and definitely didn’t have any ornaments to go on it, so we jumped at this opportunity for the girls to make the first one.
We then bought a few more ornaments at the Santa’s Village that evening What a good idea to buy Christmas ornaments as mementos of your travels – what a fun tree to talk about to others!
It was a lovely way to spend half an hour. The girls loved painting their ornament and they look great on our now Christmas tree.
Be sure to check the website to see what events are happening when you visit!
5. Visit the U.S. Rocket & Space Center
Not Christmas related, but extraordinary and worth doing when you visit Huntsville is the U. S. Space & Rocket Center.
As usual the girls complained about having to go to an educational facility, and as usual ended up loving it! How could you not?
It allows your curiosity to wander and imagine and feel relieved that you’re not the one launching into the darkness of outer space with a high probability you could explode on the way out and in.
Not to mention you might float off into a black hole or two!
I have so much respect and admiration for astronauts. They are our most fearless (and probably smartest) explorers.
They have helped society evolve and achieve so much as a result.
Standing under the Saturn V Apollo rocket and learning about the power behind this machine was awesome.
We highly recommend joining the free 45-minute guided tour to learn more about the rocket and Apollo missions to the moon.
There are plenty of interactive areas the kids will enjoy, especially the flight simulator and the outside rides like the G –Force simulator and the moon rocket, which sadly was closed due to the cold weather.
For a deeper educational experience, take in one of the movie experiences.
The girls chose the National Geographic 3D Extreme Weather documentary, which was very frightening, yet eye opening for our girls (and us) to think about ways we can help protect Mamma Earth and stop the current madness where we are slowly killing her, and us in the process.
Where we stayed in Chattanooga: Raccoon Mountain Campground
I was quite impressed by this campground in Chattanooga. I liked it a lot more than our one in Asheville.
It was at the base of a mountain, and in the summertime, I’m sure would be very pretty and shady with all the trees and nature surrounding it.
The sites were spacious and the campground large and very clean and tidy.
The showers were hot with great pressure and warm heating inside. All three of us girls were very happy! In the warmer months they have a pool, a playground and various other games like shuffleboards and basketball courts.
They even had a fitness center. While most of the equipment was old, and there were only 35 lbs and 15 lb dumbbells, I appreciated having a warm room to work out in while the rain poured down outside.
Raccoon Mountain Campground is located about 15 minutes from Downtown Chattanooga.
Where we stayed in Huntsville: Monte Sano State Park
We love camping in State Parks. It’s a little more raw and a ton more natural. Arriving into Monte Sano State Park on the top of Monte Sano Mountain was a thrill.
It was snowing!! Can you believe it?
We ran from Asheville to escape the cold and here it was greeting us at an elevation of 1,621 feet above Huntsville.
While RVing in the snow was never in the brochure for us, I have to say it was kind of cool and nowhere near as bad as what I thought it would be.
I am so happy we have Goldie and not the Australian pop up Jayco, or worse a tent.
Goldie is glamping so we have plenty of warmth inside. If you didn’t look outside at the white landscape you wouldn’t even know it was snowing.
This would be one pretty campground in the summertime. We even saw a doe and her fawn in the snow one morning.
The showers here were extraordinarily good – like as good as your bathroom back home. Hot with full power and very clean.
It only has internet service if you are with A T & T. You might get one bar with Verizon and an email notification may sneak through it if you’re lucky.
There is public Wi-Fi at the registration building. The campground is about a 15- 20 minute drive into downtown.
Chattanooga and Huntsville Christmas Video
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Are you getting into the Christmas spirit? Are you planning to visit Chattanooga and Huntsville? Let us know in the comments.