Knoxville

Understand

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. Most of the other structures from the Fair were removed to create a large city park, which attracts families, students, and artists on weekends and sunny days. The World's Fair brought a lot of attention and development to the city, including high-rise office structures, and the four-star Hilton, Crowne Plaza and Marriott hotels.

The city is home to a thriving college athletics scene, with the University of Tennessee Volunteers football team. The basketball teams play in the more-than 21,000 seat Thompson–Boling Arena, and the football team plays in Neyland Stadium, one of the largest on-campus stadiums in the world at 103,000 seating capacity. During the fall you will find plenty of orange in the foliage, but you will see Big Orange (another nickname for the UTK athletic programs) year-round with the people of Knoxville.

The city is also the home or birthplace of a number of cultural figures, such as authors Cormac McCarthy, James Agee, and Alex Haley, and filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, who mentions the city in all of his films (remember the watch in Pulp Fiction?) The Everly Brothers attended high school here and began performing on radio in Knoxville. Dolly Parton began her career in Knoxville. Senator Howard Baker, actor David Keith, film director Clarence Brown and opera singer Mary Costa are all from the Knoxville area. Actor and daredevil Johnny Knoxville is from the city.

Get in

By plane

• is serviced by:

• American Eagle, +1-800-433-7300. **Delta Air Lines, +1-800-221-1212.
• United Express, +1-800-241-6522.

The following cities are served non-stop from Knoxville by air: Atlanta (ATL), Charlotte (CLT), Chicago (ORD),Cincinnati (CVG), Cleveland (CLE), Dallas (DFW), Denver (DEN), Detroit (DTW), Houston (IAH), Memphis (MEM), Minneapolis (MSP), New York (LGA), Newark (EWR), Orlando (MCO), Philadelphia (PHL), Washington (DCA), Washington (IAD).

McGhee Tyson Airport is a few miles south of downtown in nearby Blount County.

By car

Southbound Interstate 75 and westbound Interstate 40 converge in the middle of Knoxville via Interstate 275 and run concurrently through western Knoxville. I-75 and I-40 split at the western edge of Knox County.

By bus

• Greyhound, 100 East Magnolia Avenue, +1-800-231-2222. National bus service.
• Megabus. Service from Washington, D.C., Christiansburg, Atlanta, Chattanooga, Memphis, and Nashville. Buses arrive and depart at the Knoxville Transit Center at 301 Church St. E. Fares from $1.

By boat

The Tennessee River runs through Knoxville and is accessible by personal watercraft. Many boaters routinely navigate the Tennessee River for both pleasure and travel. Some arrive at Neyland Stadium by boat, avoiding Knoxville's worst traffic and parking problems. The Holston and the French Broad Rivers join just upstream of Knoxville to form the Tennessee, which is navigable, courtesy of the TVA dams along the Tennessee River and U.S. Army Corps of Engineering dams along the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.

Get 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.

Public transportation

• Knoxville Area Transit, or KAT. KAT runs a bus service throughout the City of Knoxville and parts of Knox County. Most KAT bus stops are served on an hourly interval, so exploring Knoxville via KAT bus is somewhat difficult. The ultra-modern Downtown Station bus terminal is a focal point for public transportation within the city. All KAT buses are equipped with flip down bicycle racks and many are powered by biodiesel or other alternative fuels. KAT operates special routes for some events, a downtown trolley service, and bus services for the University of Tennessee.
• Knoxville Trolley Lines. The trolley runs several free downtown and University routes during business hours and one "Late Line" route on Friday and Saturday nights during the University of Tennessee fall and spring semesters. Most daytime stops are served on ten to twenty minute intervals.

Biking and walking

Knoxville is slowly building a paved greenway system that allows cyclists and pedestrians to travel into downtown from nearby suburbs such as Sequoyah Hills and Island Home.

• Bearden Village/ Third Creek Greenway: Beginning at Bearden Elementary School on Kingston Pike, the Third Creek Trail parallels Sutherland Avenue as it follows Third Creek's wooded path. When the trail ends at Neyland Drive, pedestrians and cyclists can continue on the Neyland Greenway to access Volunteer Landing, the stadium, and parts of the University of Tennessee campus. A spur of the Neyland Greenway connects to the World's Fair Park near Neyland Stadium.
• The Sequoyah Greenway is a gravel walking and running path in the median of Cherokee Boulevard, the main road of one of Knoxville's wealthiest neighborhoods. However, cycling the broad boulevard roadway is a pleasant and reasonably safe ride for a casual or serious cyclist. Keep right and most automobiles will have more than enough room to pass you safely. Sequoyah Hills Park and the Tennessee River parallel much of the boulevard's southern side, and the park is a wonderful place to stop for a picnic. The northern side of the street is lined with stately homes. Much of the Sequoyah Hills neighborhood is pedestrian friendly, so be sure to explore a few of the leafy side streets. The trail is accessible at several parking areas along the boulevard, and at the Laurel Church of Christ parking lot (use the crosswalk at the intersection of Cherokee Boulevard and Kingston Pike.) A spur of the Third Creek Greenway leads to the Laurel Church parking lot. This spur is extremely steep and not in the best repair. Bicyclists may need to dismount and small children will need lots of help.
• Jean Teague Greenway: Beginning at West Hills Elementary School and terminating at West End Church of Christ, the Jean Teague Greenway is an ideal trail for walkers and families with young children. As the trail passes through West Hills/John Bynon park, it divides to form a loop and winds around numerous athletic fields and playgrounds. Near its midpoint, the trail crosses Winston Road near the YMCA. Parking is available at the elementary school when school is not in session, at the park entrance on Winston Road, and at West End Church of Christ on East Walker Springs Lane. Those wishing to continue on to the Cavet Station Greenway may do so by exiting the church parking lot and traveling westbound on East Walker Springs Lane.
• Cavet Station Greenway: The Cavet Station Greenway follows the heavily traveled Gallaher View Road from the intersection of East Walker Springs Road to Middlebrook Pike. Although this may someday be a useful link between greenways, it is a less than idyllic experience for a recreational biker. Nearby residents do seem to make use of it as a convenient exercise path for jogging. A sidewalk is on the opposite side of Gallaher View, and there is a crosswalk at the intersection of Walker Springs Road. A Wal-Mart and Sam's Club are just off of the western side of Gallaher View Road.
• Victor Ashe Park This large and popular park is located at 4901 Bradshaw Road in North Knoxville. The park consists of 115 acres and has many amenities. It is popular for its playground, a paved loop for walking or biking, an open space for special events, an unpaved trail, football fields, 4 soccer fields, and a disc golf course. It is popular as a dog park. Fishing is also available. Adjacent to Badgett Field and Northwest Park. The park is named for Victor Ashe, a former mayor of Knoxville and former United States Ambassador to Poland in the George W. Bush Administration. Ample parking for 330 cars exists.

Learn

The University of Tennessee, the flagship public university, was established in 1794 on a 560-acre land-grant campus near downtown. Now part of the University of Tennessee system, it operates with more than 1500 faculty, 9800 staff, 27,800 students and $1.1 billion in endowments.

By contrast Knoxville College, a historically black liberal arts college founded in 1875 by the United Presbyterian Church of North America, is a ghost town of a campus. After a long period of decline which began in the 1970s, the college lost accreditation in 1997 and was no longer functional by 2015. The library and administration are still operational; the rest of the campus is boarded up and the buildings rank among the 15 most-at-risk historic sites in the city.

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.

Go next

• Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Gatlinburg. About an hour's drive.
• Chattanooga. About two hours' drive to the home of the Tennessee Aquarium.
• The Museum of Appalachia in Norris. About 30 minutes north of Knoxville up I75. See how settlers in Southern Appalachia lived. This area was once "the Wild West". The museum features pioneer artifacts and authentic buildings. There are special events in the spring, the Christmas season, and the Fourth of July (anvil shoot!).
• Oak Ridge, Manhattan Project site and host of the annual Secret City Festival.
• Maryville is a small college town half an hour south of Knoxville.