Tennessee

Music History on Every Corner

When it comes to music, Tennessee is legendary for the foot-tapping, soul-saving kind – blues, bluegrass, country, rock and roll, and everything in between. In Memphis, pay homage to the King at Elvis Presley’s estate at Graceland, or duck into a blues bar on Beale Street.

Catch live music at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium and get a little bit country at the Grand Ole Opry. Visit Bristol, the Birthplace of Country Music, where the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers found their fame, and check out the schoolhouse-turned-museum honouring Tennessee native Tina Turner in Brownsville.

The Great Outdoors

Discover Appalachian mountain culture, witness the breath-taking beauty of autumn leaves or explore endless hiking trails and peaceful waterfalls. These are all reasons why Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the USA’s most-visited natural treasure.

Beyond this famed national park, outdoor thrill-seekers can raft the Ocoee River in Cleveland, zip-line through treetops in Gatlinburg or explore one of the 56 state parks. Don’t miss a chance to take a riverboat cruise on the mighty Mississippi in Memphis.

Southern Cuisine and Beyond

Satisfy your appetite with the made-in-Tennessee flavours of slow-cooked Memphis barbecue and Nashville hot chicken, then wash it all down with oak barrel-aged whiskey at Jack Daniel’s in Lynchburg. Food festivals are plentiful, celebrating everything from cornbread and biscuits to the marshmallow-y goodness of the RC MoonPie Festival in Bell Buckle.

Of course, there’s barbecue galore to sample, especially at Lynchburg's Jack Daniel's World Championship Invitational Barbecue, recognized as the largest of its kind in the world. Cold beers are on tap at dozens of craft breweries in Knoxville, Memphis and Nashville, or go for the hard stuff at one of 30 distilleries along the Tennessee Whiskey Trail.