Welcome to CHATTANOOGA

Chattanooga is located in Tennessee, USA. The city has an area of approximately 370 sq km and a population of around 155,000. The first to inhabit the area were the Native American Indians like the Muskogee and the Cherokee tribes.

Chattanooga’s economy is dependent on its service sector and the several manufacturing industries. Tourism is an upcoming commercial activity which is also doing very well.

The city experiences cool winters and hot and humid summers. Thus, winter months are the best time of the year to visit Chattanooga. However, to avoid crowds, one should plan a trip during the spring or the summer seasons. The topography of this city is diverse and includes highlands, mountains, lush forests, lakes, rivers and so forth making the city a popular tourist spot.

Attractions

Chattanooga touts many attractions, including the Tennessee Aquarium, caverns, and new waterfront attractions along and across the Tennessee River. In the downtown area is the Chattanooga Choo Choo Holiday Inn Hotel, housed in a renovated train station and exhibiting the largest HO model train layout in the United States. Also downtown are the Creative Discovery Museum, a hands-on children's museum dedicated to science, art, and music; an IMAX 3D Theatre; and the newly expanded Hunter Museum of American Art. The Tennessee Riverwalk, an approximately 13 mile long trail running alongside the river, is another attraction for both tourists and residents alike.

Across the river from downtown is the North Shore district, roughly bounded by the Olgiati Bridge to the west and Veterans Bridge to the east. The newly renovated area draws tourists to locally owned independent boutiques and restaurants, plus attractions along the Chattanooga Riverpark system, including Coolidge Park and Renaissance Park. Chattanooga's only floating hotel, the Delta Queen, is an unique attraction alongside the North Shore, and is permanently docked at Coolidge Park.

The Chattanooga Zoo at Warner Park is not far from the downtown area.

Parks and natural scenic areas provide other attractions. The red-and-black painted "See Rock City" barns along highways in the Southeast are remnants of a now-classic Americana tourism campaign to attract visitors to the Rock City tourist attraction in nearby Lookout Mountain, Georgia. The mountain is also the site of Ruby Falls and Craven's House. The Lookout Mountain Incline Railway is a steep funicular railway that rises from the St. Elmo Historic District to the top of the mountain, where passengers can visit the National Park Service's Point Park and the Battles for Chattanooga Museum. Formerly known as Confederama, it contains a diorama that details the Battle of Chattanooga. From the military park, visitors can enjoy the panoramic views of Moccasin Bend and the Chattanooga skyline from the mountain's famous "point" or from vantage points along the well-marked trail system.

Near Chattanooga, the Raccoon Mountain Reservoir, Raccoon Mountain Caverns and Reflection Riding Arboretum and Botanical Garden boast a number of outdoor and family fun opportunities. Other arboretums include Bonny Oaks Arboretum, Cherokee Arboretum at Audubon Acres and Cherokee Trail Arboretum. The Ocoee River, host to a number of events at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, features rafting, kayaking, camping and hiking. Also just outside Chattanooga is the Lake Winnepesaukah amusement park. The Cumberland Trail begins in Signal Mountain, just outside of Chattanooga.

Riverbend Festival

The Riverbend Festival, or called Riverbend by locals, is an annual music festival in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which was started in June of 1981 as a five night festival. Over the years, the festival grew into the nine nights that it currently runs for and presently ranks in the top 10% of all American festivals. Additionally, Riverbend has won several national awards from the International Festivals and Events Association, including 8 in 2007. The attendance for Riverbend has grown over the years and there are now regularly over 600,000 people that come over the course of the festival. Individual nights can see some 80,000 people in attendance. Named for the bend in the Tennessee River on which Chattanooga was established, the festival features a wide array of performers representing different musical genres on various stages set up around the downtown area.

More than a hundred acts converge each year to perform on multiple stages. Headline performers are featured on the Coca-cola stage, a barge which has been converted into a full concert stage. The barge floats just off the shore against a large collection of amphitheater seats built into a hillside at the water's edge. Major companies, such as Covista Communications, Unum, and Budweiser, sponsor other stages throughout the riverfront area.

Admission is given to people with "Riverbend Pins", which can be purchased around town in the weeks leading up to the festival, or purchased at the gate for an escalated price. One pin provides admission to every night of the festival. Concessions are purchased using a token system and many street vendors set up food and souvenir stands.

Tennessee Aquarium

The Tennessee Aquarium, located in Chattanooga, Tennessee, is the second largest (next to the Georgia Aquarium) freshwater aquarium in the world[citation needed]. The Tennessee Aquarium's River Journey and Ocean Journey buildings are home to more than 12,000 animals including fish, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates, birds, penguins, butterflies and more. The original River Journey facility is organized around the theme of the Story of the River, following the path of a raindrop from high in the Appalachian Mountains to the Gulf of Mexico. Approximately 2/3 of the facility's display follows this theme, with the rest devoted to smaller aquatic exhibits hosting organisms from around the world. The self-guided tour takes visitors through three living forest exhibits that teem with life above and below the water’s surface. Along the way, visitors see thousands of animals like free-flying song birds, snapping turtles, painted turtles, sandbar and sand tiger sharks, stingrays, river otters, moray eels and colorful reef fish.The new facility, opened in April 2005, ostensibly follows the theme of an Ocean Journey, though with much less consistency than the original. However this facility does include more hands on displays, such as a large shark tank and ray touch tank, large macaws, a butterfly garden with South American species on constant display, as well as the very large ocean tank itself. Other visitor favorites include the Boneless Beauties gallery, where guests enjoy invertebrates like jellyfish, cuttlefish, giant Pacific octopuses and Japanese spider crabs. An even newer 16,000 gallon penguin exhibit, with ten macaroni and ten gentoo penguins, opened May 3, 2007.

Chattanooga Zoo at Warner Park

The Chattanooga Zoo at Warner Park, formerly the Warner Park Zoo, is a 13-acre (53,000 m2) zoo located in Warner Park in Downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee. The zoo was established in 1937 and is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

The Chattanooga Zoo is actively involved in conservation efforts, specifically the AZA's Species Survival Plan which manages the breeding, conservation, and welfare of endangered species throughout AZA accredited facilities in North America. Since 1998, the zoo has also been a partner with the Zoo Conservation Outreach Group/Fundacion Zoologica (ZCOG). ZCOG is an organization that partners with Latin American zoos and assists with conservation intitiatives in Latin America, specifically the saving of the Amazon Rainforest.