Hello,

I am gathering information and researching for a long weekend in Chattanooga with my husband and two boys.

Would love some feedback about the Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel. After talking to friends and reading online, it seems one night in a train car would be exciting and sufficient? And then moving ourselves to two nights in the city? What city hotel would you suggest...anything around $100-$200 a night is fine. Or should we stay the entire timei at the Chattanooga? I've read some reviews that call it tired and shabby?

We would like to do incline railway, aquarium, Ruby Falls, Coolidge Park, TVR and see Rock City..and just be on vacation!! Is this too ambitious for 3 1/2 days? Our boys have heard about Rock City from I don't know where; but they want to see it. We are a very active family from the Indianapolis area, we have access to great museums for kids here; so going for something other than museums. We love to hike and the boys travel really well. Trains are pretty exciting, but the boys are getting more into the history of trains as opposed to just "Thomas".

We plan to get to Chattanooga around 1pm on Friday and stay until Monday mid-morning. Thanks for any advice or suggestions!!!

Jessica

We liked Rock City, but thought Ruby Falls was a waste of time and money--with lots of waiting in line.

Rock City would be great for them. Also the Chattanooga Aquariuim is fantastic.

WE like Ruby Falls, too.

We recently stayed at the Chattanooga Choo Choo when my husband had a meeting there. We just stayed in a regular room and it was okay-it was a little tired. Maybe the train cars are better. I am sure your boys would like seeing the train cars, but they might just like looking around there and staying somewhere else downtown nearer the aquarium. I think they will love the aquarium-check the feeding schedule for the penguins-that is a lot of fun. Hope you have a good trip.

We took our little train fan when he was 4 and he (and his parents) enjoyed both the incline railway and the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum (http://tvrail.com/). The latter has a 15-minute ride on a real train and has lots of older models to check out and explore.

We didn't bother with the Chattanooga Choo Choo - instead choose a mid-level hotel (Residence Inn by Marriott) right downtown within walking distance to the aquarium and all the other great things downtown offers. Chattanooga is one of my favorite small cities and is great for kids.

Thank you!

If you do choose the Chattanooga Choo Choo, there is a free electric shuttle that runs right by and goes downtown. Runs very frequently. Ruby Falls is in a cave, you ride an elevator down and then a long walk to the falls (should be great if your boys like to hike!). There were kids there when hubby and I went last year and they seemed to be enjoying it. The aquarium is great. You might also want to consider a cruise on the river-maybe the Chattanooga Ducks tour.
It is just a neat place to visit.

My wife and I recently went to the area and I read too that staying in the trains is not all that. I can dig up the stuff we did and see if I can find the info on what hotel we stayed at. The pedestrian bridge is nice to walk on and stand over the river. We also went to an overlook and they were going to start a war re-enactment, you might want to check on that. The kids might think that is cool. We also went to the Moon Pie store and got some pies to snack on. Will try and dig up info.

When doing research, many people pushed me away from Ruby and Incline.

Oh, down near the river and aquarium, there are areas where you can run in and out of public fountains and water area. This was weird to us because in our area, people are not allowed to do this.

Downtown Riverfront District: Walnut Street Bridge
Moon Pie General Store: 429 B Broad Street
Point Park (Lookout Mountain): East Brow Road

About 30 minutes Northwest: Prentice Cooper State Forest

About 35-40 minutes South in Georgia: Cloudland Canyon State Park

About 1 hour 15 minutes West in Alabama: Russell cave National Monument

jessica, when are you all going to be in the Chattanooga area? FYI, The Riverbend Festival runs from June7th thru 15th. The town will be crowded and hotel rates will be high. It's a great music festival, but not sure you will want to get your 5 and 7 year olds in that crowd.

Also, I wouldn't pay extra money to stay in one of the train cars at The Choo Choo.

Have fun. Chattanooga is a great scenic city!