Battle @ Bristol ...surrounding area

[DocVOLiday]

they still aren't selling tickets to the public?

 

[windrider]

There is plenty to do outdoor wise within an hour or two of the Tri-Cities (Johnson city, Bristol, and Kingsport). Remember this is a mountainous area with plenty of sight seeing and hiking possibilities within a reasonable distance.

 

[volboy81]

Thanks all...next question...if we decided to stay north instead of Chattanooga, are JC or Kingsport enough to keep us busy for 3-4 days? Wanna mix outdoor stuff(hiking, etc) with some attractions.

Bike the Virginia creeper in Damascus. The mountains of upper East Tennessee are beautiful with lots of curvy roads. And you could always run down to the Smokies, Gatlinburg & Pigeon Forge for the day

 

[vol81]

Watauga lake. Camping. Cabin rentals. Appalachian trail crosses the dam.

 

[TheFbright]

Bike the Virginia creeper in Damascus. The mountains of upper East Tennessee are beautiful with lots of curvy roads. And you could always run down to the Smokies, Gatlinburg & Pigeon Forge for the day

If your a naturalist, There's enough in the Smokies to keep you busy for weeks! It's (about) a 90 minute drive to Bristol.

Chattanooga can be a fun town,no doubt. But if you've never done East TN, don't go past Knoxville then enjoy Bristol. Too much to see if you only have 4-7 days. LOTS of beauty to offer in the area!

 

[utvolmaniac]

If hotels are hard to come by within reasonable driving distance, think outside the box and check vrbo and/or frbo in nearby locales.

 

[white65]

Idk what your gonna be in Chattanooga for, but I would look into staying in town till gameday (Its gonna be a 7 or 7:30 night game on espn for sure) and driving up to Bristol that morning. It's only a 3 hr 15 min drive from chatt.

 

[UT_Dutchman]

There's a lot more than 3 to 4 days of stuff to do around the area. If you like to raft you have the nolichucky river in Erwin, class 3 to 5 rapids. Lookout on buffalo mtn right above Erwin. The mtn running parallel has two large water falls rock creek falls and red fork falls the latter I believe still has a campground. But they are in the Cherokee national forest so you can usually camp most places off the roads as long as it doesn't have a no camping sign. Tracking back towards the race track there is a lot of fishing lake and stream/river, the section of Cherokee national forest above the Smokies is close to 400,000 acres and butts up against the Pisgah national forest which is close to 200,000 acres above the smokies. But day trips to Boone north Carolina and or blowing rock are well worth the drive. Grandfather mtn and beech mtn are drives from the tri cities that can be done in a couple hours. Then if you really like the mtn's and driving get on the blue ridge parkway in Boone and drive it to Asheville and take I 26 back to the tri cities. You will get to drive by Mt Mitchell the highest peak east of the Mississippi, I believe it's 6684 ft above sea level. As far as the creeper trail if you're just going to get a shuttle to the top of the mtn I would do it from Damascus, great AT trail town and you can visit backbone rock which also has camping. I know much more if you are interested in other areas.

 

[Preachervol30]

Greeneville's just under an hour south of Bristol. You can get there via I-81 or state route 11E. Great little town, lots of history. You might like it

 

[HomeGrownUTVOL]

I live in Kingsport and a lot of people stay here during the race it's

part of the Tri Cities ( Kingsport, JC, and Bristol). Any of these you

stay in are roughly 20 mins away from the other two, these are not

GameDay times. You can find something of your taste between the

three Cities from outdoor activities, night life, antiques, or

theaters(Barter Theater if that's still the name of it). For the real

tailgaters they have two massive fields across the highway where

everyone camps and parties before, during, and after the races so I

would bet it will be even better for this game!







GO VOLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Capt Straight]

I am coming down from PA for the VTech game in September. Gonna go to Chattanooga for a few days and then head up north for the game. Problem is hotels are booked in Bristol already.

Are their any cool towns, or towns with decent attractions within an hour of Bristol?

We are considering Pigeon Forge or Seiverville's indoor water park, but really don't want to drive that far south after the game only to head back up north to PA the next day.

Sorry...didn't mean to put on recruiting page. Mod, please move. Thanks

You are only talking about 1 hour 15 minute drive to Sevierville

 

[Capt Straight]

I am coming down from PA for the VTech game in September. Gonna go to Chattanooga for a few days and then head up north for the game. Problem is hotels are booked in Bristol already.

Are their any cool towns, or towns with decent attractions within an hour of Bristol?

We are considering Pigeon Forge or Seiverville's indoor water park, but really don't want to drive that far south after the game only to head back up north to PA the next day.

Sorry...didn't mean to put on recruiting page. Mod, please move. Thanks

There is much more to do in Chattanooga than the Tri-Cities area!!

 

[utchs81]

No matter where you are staying....plan on 3 hours to get out of Bristol! Or just plan on a long tailgate after the game! Not even Bristol will be ready for an extra 60k fans.

Actually they have those type of numbers for the race weekends and they are much more adept at traffic management than previously. Though I do like the idea of a prolonged tailgate session postgame.

 

[TN_Transplant]

Camp overnight in Bristol. The take the back way in to Gatlinburg through Newport and Cosby. Stay in Cosby, play golf at Bent Creek, go to Crazy Horse water slide, drive in to Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, go horse back riding in the Mountains. Got swim the sink hole just outside of Gatlinburg on the way to Cherokee. Drive through Cades Cove and see the wildlife (take the camera).

Go to Gatlinburg area, you won't regret it.

 

[VOODOO DIABLO]

The ultimate would be to camp at the speedway. I have been hearing they are trying to set up a rental deal where they will bring in camper trailers and make them available for rent for the weekend. This will also be the worlds largest football tailgate party. Should be one hell of a party. They have a great set up at the speedway for campers. As far as staying in the area all the hotels are probably already booked. Johnson City has the best nightlife, downtown Bristol is pretty cool at night, Kingsport is deadsville. If it were me I would probably look at Asheville. A hour and a half drive over the mountain but seems much shorter because of the awesome views. Its four lanes of really good highway all the way. Lots to do in Asheville, day and night.

 

[ragnarokstar]

Thanks all...next question...if we decided to stay north instead of Chattanooga, are JC or Kingsport enough to keep us busy for 3-4 days? Wanna mix outdoor stuff(hiking, etc) with some attractions.

I would stay in Roanoke. Mid size city with lots to do both inside and outside. Right off I-81 and about an hour and a half north of Bristol.

 

[Joefoxx]

No matter where you are staying....plan on 3 hours to get out of Bristol! Or just plan on a long tailgate after the game! Not even Bristol will be ready for an extra 60k fans.

I am not sure where all these people are parking but it normally takes us about 30-45 minutes to get away from the races. Park on south side of race track. Best way out is Hwy 394 East to Weaver Pike which runs straight to 11e. Turn right and you are 8 minutes to I-81.

 

[vols555]

Would definitely recommend going into Abingdon and renting bikes to ride down the Virginia Creeper Trail. Easy and ride, great scenery, and a fun thing to do one day. They have a shuttle that can take you to the top.

Creeper Trail is very nice with beautiful scenery .

 

[Pump Guy]

I don't understand the hate on Gatlinburg. It's crowded because it is popular and there is a lot to do. If you want hiking, then there is a higher concentration of good trails than anywhere at least this side of the the Rockies.

I love to take my boys to Gatlinburg. Lots of places to walk to and eat in the evening, and during the day we are hiking.

 

[edyeary]

If you go into Va. and have a Tennessee carry permit you better not be packing. Virginia is California East now unless something changes.

 

[JCHateSteve]

Johnson City, Kingsport, Elizabethton, and Abington are all good choices and close to the track. All 4 cities and Bristol are so close together that you can travel between them very easily so there is plenty to do for a week. Every hotel in the area will probably be booked before long though. They always are for the race.

Gatlinburg/Piegon Forge/Seveirville offers a crazy amount of entrainment options. The only problem there is distance (an hour on the interstate) and traffic (another hour that time off year).

Boone/Banner Elk are scenic and offer tons of outdoor activities. Not a bad choice if you don't mind an hour drive. No worries about traffic there until ski season starts so you should be good.

It just depends on what you are looking for.

 

[LordBolton]

I am coming down from PA for the VTech game in September. Gonna go to Chattanooga for a few days and then head up north for the game. Problem is hotels are booked in Bristol already.

Are their any cool towns, or towns with decent attractions within an hour of Bristol?

We are considering Pigeon Forge or Seiverville's indoor water park, but really don't want to drive that far south after the game only to head back up north to PA the next day.


You might try Johnson City or Kingsport, which are the closest cities to the game site. Elizabethton is also about 20 minutes to the speedway. If you can't find hotels in these places, then maybe Greenville would be a good choice, which is about 30 minutes away. Pigeon Forge and Sevierville are usually a mess traffic wise on the weekends, so I would suggest staying away from there, unless there is no other options. One other option might be Boone, North Carolina, a little over an hour away from Bristol. Oh, and Asheville, North Carolina would be an alternate choice, a little over an hour away with several hotels and cool places nearby.

Erwin is only a few miles past JC, also Bee Cliff Cabins in Elizabethton are pretty sweet, people stay there for races and fishing.

 

[Plano Vol]

Maybe try Wytheville. It's a little over an hour north of here on 81.

The traffic in the Tri-Cities will be worse than a Nascar event and all the hotel prices will be jacked up for a fifty mile radius.

Wytheville has some decent hotels. The Galax exit off of I77 also has some decent places. Not much in the way of attractions but you can go over to Fries and play in the New River

 

[SpeedyVOL]

We are driving our 45' RV over there on Friday. Hopefully we will find a place to park it. :rock:

 

[JCHateSteve]

Erwin also puts you very close to Asheville btw. Only about a 30 - 45 minute drive. It really is hard to go wrong anywhere in North East TN/West NC/South West VA for a week. You're an hour and a half or less from pretty much whatever you are looking for.