Chattanooga Travel, Top Ten Family Vacation Site
Hotels in Chattanooga, Tennessee Aquarium, Imax and DiscoveryMuseum
Feb 8, 2009
Chattanooga travel is a favorite option for family getaways. In addition to historic Lookout Mountain’s hands-on access to some of the world’s most ancient and astounding rock formations, popular downtown attractions such as the Tennessee Aquarium, Children’s Discovery Museum, and IMAX Theater provide almost too much to see in one visit.
Downtown Chattanooga, the Tennessee Aquarium and Imax Theater
If kids like getting wet, they’re guaranteed to have fun in the enormous model of the Tennessee River and Reelfoot lake that winds its way around the Tennessee Aquarium’s plaza. The flowing channel is complete with bubbling fountains and gurgling waterfalls. Families can pack their suits or roll up their pants for a fun-filled session of splashing and wading.
Inside the aquarium, sharks, guitar fish, stingrays, and sturgeon await kids in the Aquarium’s two touch tanks. Twenty-four species of songbirds fly overhead as parents and kids walk through a living forest complete with roaring waterfall, snakes in hollow tree terrariums, and river otters. Ten-foot sand tiger sharks, a giant sea turtle, and over 3,000 tropical fish surround families on their way through an undersea cavern. And hundreds of bright butterflies flit through the Aquarium’s walk through butterfly garden.
Families encounter a six foot alligator and 150 pound snapping turtle in the Delta swamp exhibit. Besides the astounding variety of fresh and saltwater fish, families get an up close look at frogs, octopi, penguins, jellyfish, seahorses, 80 pound catfish, and more turtles on exhibit than in any other public facility in the world.
To see all of the 12,000 species displayed in the Tennessee Aquarium’s two four-story buildings, families should allot at least four to five hours. Since tickets are good for the day, parents are free to break for lunch after one building. Any number of kid-friendly restaurants serving pizza, hamburgers, gourmet hotdogs, and ice-cream are within a short walk from the Aquarium plaza.
Families can purchase a combination ticket for the Aquarium and Imax. This 3-D theater with a ten story screen is just across the street.
Chattanooga Travel and the Children’s Discovery Museum
Also within a block of the Tennessee Aquarium is the Children’s Discovery Museum. Kids dress up like archeologists and dig for buried dinosaur bones, experiment with rooms full of musical instruments, and soak up knowledge like sponges in the wet and wild River Play exhibit.
Guests can purchase triple value tickets for savings at the Aquarium, Imax, and Discovery Museum. Visitors coming from the Aquarium will receive a discount on showing their Aquarium ticket stub while purchasing Discovery passes.
Downtown Chattanooga, Walnut Street Bridge and Coolidge Park
For a picnic lunch, families may want to take a scenic stroll over the Tennessee River. At 2,376 feet long, the Walnut Street Bridge is one of the world’s longest pedestrian bridges. This wrought-iron truss bridge built in 1890 is in easy walking distance of the Aquarium, Imax, and Children’s Discovery Museum.
Families who cross the Walnut Street Bridge find themselves in the North Shore’s seven acre Coolidge Park where manicured lawns and pleasant walking paths are full of fun activities for kids of all ages.
Kids go round and round to the sound of laughter and organ music on a hand-crafted carousel. During summer months, stone animals on the perimeter of an interactive fountain squirt children who shriek with delight. Hand’s-on sculptures invite children and parents to pick up a stick and play a song on old brake drums and welding gas cylinders,
Additionally, Chattanooga’s free electric shuttle service stops by the Tennessee Aquarium every ten minutes to offer lifts to other popular attractions, the waterfront, restaurants, shopping, and the Chattanooga Choo Choo’s Holiday Inn where families can spend the night in a refurbished railway car. Also, only six miles from downtown are the famous Lookout Mountain attractions including Rock City, Ruby Falls, and the Incline Railway.
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