Tennessee
Tennessee & Alabama, USA
The Tennessee River winds through the Appalachian foothills of eastern Tennessee before turning south into Alabama, and river cruises here trade big cities for Civil War history, TVA-era dams and locks, and the small-town South. It's one of the quieter corners of the American river cruise map, with a fraction of the ship traffic found on the Mississippi.
Cruises run aboard small American riverboats over four to seven nights, typically sailing between Knoxville and Chattanooga or continuing on to Guntersville, Alabama, and are timed loosely around fall foliage in the Appalachian foothills and the mild shoulder seasons of spring and early fall, when the Tennessee's Southern summer heat has yet to set in.
Ports of Call
Knoxville, Tennessee
A common starting point for Tennessee River cruises, Knoxville pairs a revitalized downtown and market square with its Tennessee Volunteers college-sports culture and the nearby Great Smoky Mountains.
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Set where the river cuts through a gap in the Appalachians, Chattanooga is known for Lookout Mountain and its Civil War battlefields, along with a walkable downtown aquarium and riverfront district.
Guntersville, Alabama
A lakeside stop on the Tennessee River's Alabama stretch, Guntersville sits on a reservoir created by the Tennessee Valley Authority's system of dams, which river cruisers pass through via a series of locks.
