Tennessee · United States
Where to stay in Knoxville
Knoxville is a city in Tennessee, United States, home to about 191,000 people.
- Best months
- October
- Nearest airport
- TYS18 km · McGhee Tyson Airport
- Currency
- USDUnited States dollar
- Time zone
- America/New York
- Language
- Carolinian, Chamorro, Hawaiian
About
About Knoxville
Knoxville sits nestled on the Tennessee River about an hour from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. On any evening of the week, throngs of residents and visitors can be seen at the sidewalk cafes, theaters, restaurants and night clubs along Gay Street and Market Square. The University of Tennessee, with its 27,000 students, is within walking distance of the downtown, separated only by the World's Fair Park. You can still see remnants of the 1982 World's Fair in the Sunsphere, a rising structure topped with a gold sphere which dots Knoxville's skyline.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Things to do
What to see and do in Knoxville
See
- Market Square
- Tennessee Theatre
- Sunsphere
- Knoxville Museum of Art
- Museum of East Tennessee History
- Historic Westwood
- Ijams Nature Center
- Zoo Knoxville
- University of Tennessee Botanical Gardens
- Knoxville Botanical Garden and Arboretum
Do
- Craft Axe Throwing (West Knoxville)
- Tennessee Volunteers
- Minor League Baseball
- Ice Hockey
- Rugby
- The Clarence Brown Theatre
- The Tennessee Theatre
- The Bijou Theatre
- Blue Plate Special
- Big Ears Festival
- Knoxville Urban Wilderness
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Where to stay
Hotels in Knoxville
6 hotels within 25 km of the centre, as recorded in Wikidata. Each name links to its encyclopedia article where there is one.
| Hotel | Opened | From centre |
|---|---|---|
| Andrew Johnson Building | 1930 | 0.7 km |
| Crowne Plaza Hotel Knoxville | 0.6 km | |
| Graduate Knoxville Graduate by Hilton | 1.1 km | |
| OYO Hotel Knoxville TN Cedar Bluff I-40 OYO Rooms | 16.0 km | |
| The Oliver Hotel | 0.5 km | |
| The Tennessean Personal Luxury Hotel | 0.1 km |
When to go
The best time to visit Knoxville
The most comfortable months for a city stay in Knoxville are October. July is the warmest month, with average highs of 30 °C; December is the wettest, with about 145 mm of rain.
Comfortable means average daytime high between 18 °C and 29 °C and under 80 mm of rain in the month. Averages for 1991–2020 over the surrounding area, a grid square about 50 km across, so a coast or a nearby mountain can make the town itself warmer or cooler. Data: CRU TS v4.10, Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia (Open Database License).
Getting there
Getting to Knoxville: airports and arrival
The nearest airport with scheduled flights is McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS), about 18 km from the city centre in a straight line; Asheville Regional Airport (AVL, 138 km) and Tri-Cities Regional TN/VA Airport (TRI, 148 km) are also within reach.
Getting around
Although parking is usually easy to come by in most of the city, it may be mildly difficult at times to find adequate parking downtown and around the University of Tennessee. Walking is convenient downtown, but in other areas, most major roads are not amenable to pedestrians or bicyclists. In the outer areas of the city, because the bus service is infrequent and some places don't have sidewalks, traveling by car is the way to go.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
TYS · McGhee Tyson Airport
AVL · Asheville Regional Airport
TRI · Tri-Cities Regional TN/VA Airport
Local knowledge
Eating, drinking and staying safe in Knoxville
Eat
Knoxville has plenty of restaurants, although the diversity and quality of them can be disappointing if you're not willing to look beyond the major chain locations. Persevere, however, and you will find some diamonds in the rough. Vegetarians and vegans are generally not well catered to, there are exceptions and the vigilant vegetarian or vegan will not starve. Knoxville has most typical fast-food chains in one or more places around town.
Drink
Market Square and the Old City house a number of bars, probably too many to list here. Below are a few popular locations in those areas and elsewhere.
Stay safe
In general, Knoxville is a safe town. Practice the same precautions you would in any other mid-sized American town -- for example, lock your car and don't leave valuables sitting in plain view in your car. Low-income areas downtown should be traversed carefully. Avoid the area around University and Fifth. You don't want to go there after dark. This is not at the University of Tennessee. Be careful where you park in the "Old City" area. It's right next to the mission district.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Questions
Knoxville: questions travellers ask
When is the best time to visit Knoxville?
The most comfortable months for a city stay in Knoxville are October. July is the warmest month, with average highs of 30 °C; December is the wettest, with about 145 mm of rain.
Which airport is closest to Knoxville?
The nearest airport with scheduled flights is McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS), about 18 km from the city centre in a straight line; Asheville Regional Airport (AVL, 138 km) and Tri-Cities Regional TN/VA Airport (TRI, 148 km) are also within reach.
What currency is used in Knoxville?
United States dollar (USD).
Nearby
Destinations near Knoxville
Sources: city facts from Wikidata and Wikipedia; airports from OurAirports; climate from CRU TS v4.10 (University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit), 1991–2020 monthly means, 0.5° grid; places to stay, guest scores and amenities from each operator's own public pages. How this guide is made.