Interstate 24 — Pulley's Mill, IL to Chattanooga, TN

Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel

1400 Market St, Chattanooga, TN 37402 · $$

You can sleep in a converted train car. A real one. The Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel is a historic train terminal turned hotel complex, and the Victorian train car rooms are the kind of thing kids never forget. The complex has restaurants, an outdoor pool, and model trains. Is it the most practical overnight on I-24? No. Is it the coolest? By a mile. If your kids are train kids — and you know who you are — this is their Super Bowl.

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Hampton Inn Chattanooga I-24

7013 Shallowford Rd, Chattanooga, TN 37421 · $$

Chattanooga is one of the most underrated cities on the road to Florida. If you've done the Lookout Mountain stops, you've earned a good night's sleep. The Hampton Inn on Shallowford is right at the I-24/I-75 interchange. Tomorrow you head south on I-75 through Georgia — Atlanta is about 90 minutes away and from there it's a straight shot to Florida. Chattanooga might be the best overnight city on any Florida route.

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Best Western Plus Atrium Inn & Suites

100 Cracker Barrel Dr, Clarksville, TN 37040 · $$

Easy on-off I-24 at Exit 11, around $77 a night for two queens, free hot breakfast, indoor pool. Solid clean midpoint for the Atlanta-to-points-north drive, or a first-night option heading west out of Tennessee. Pet-friendly too. The kind of hotel that doesn't try to be the trip — and that's the win.

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Ruby Falls

1720 Scenic Hwy, Chattanooga, TN 37409 · $$

An underground waterfall inside Lookout Mountain. You take an elevator 260 feet into the earth, walk through a cave, and suddenly there's a 145-foot waterfall lit up with colored lights in a cavern the size of a cathedral. Your kids will think it's magic. Honestly, you will too. Ruby Falls is right at the I-24/I-75 junction in Chattanooga and it pairs perfectly with Rock City if you're doing the Lookout Mountain trifecta.

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Lookout Mountain Incline Railway

3917 St Elmo Ave, Chattanooga, TN 37409 · $$

One of the steepest passenger railways in the world — 72.7% grade at the top. You sit in a glass-front railcar and it climbs straight up the side of Lookout Mountain while your kids press their faces against the window and your spouse grips the armrest. The view from the top is spectacular. If you're doing Ruby Falls and Rock City anyway, the Incline is right there and adds maybe an hour. The Chattanooga Lookout Mountain trifecta is one of the best half-days on any road trip to Florida.

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Rock City Gardens (Lookout Mountain)

1400 Patten Rd, Lookout Mountain, GA 30750 · $$

You've been told to See Rock City your whole life — there are hundreds of barn-roof billboards from Indiana to Florida. The payoff is real: a paved 4,100-foot trail through massive sandstone formations atop Lookout Mountain, with a Lover's Leap overlook where you can supposedly see seven states (on a clear day, you can really see five — it's a stretch). Fairyland Caverns with the black-light gnome dioramas is corny in the best way. The whole loop is about 90 minutes. Six miles off I-24 in Chattanooga; combine with Ruby Falls (separate ticket, in the same general area) for a half-day stop.

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Rock City - Lookout Mountain

1400 Patten Rd, Lookout Mountain, GA 30750 · $$

You've seen the barn roof signs for 500 miles — 'See Rock City.' Well, you're here. And you know what? It's actually cool. Rock formations, a swing-out point where you can supposedly see seven states, a Fairyland Cavern with blacklight gnomes that's either charming or terrifying depending on your age, and a suspension bridge over a gorge. The billboards have been advertising this place since 1932 and somehow it still delivers. See Rock City. Everyone else did.

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