Places to stay in or near Knoxville

August 14, 2015 11:02 AM

Me and my three (British) friends are doing an epic journey across from Louisiana up to Tennessee and across to North Carolina in September and need accommodation options for our Knoxville leg.

We are arriving at Knoxville from Nashville on Friday 11th September by car then staying until Sunday 13th September when we depart for Asheville.

We are finding it very hard to find accommodation for the Knoxville leg of the trip. The reason we are in town on the Saturday is because of the football game so we need to be near the stadium on Saturday night (no driving that night - we want to drink).

The dilemma is that all the hotels apart from dodgy motels seem to be booked up, so we only want to stay in town for that one Saturday night. We are a bit of a loss as to where to stay for the Friday night on the route from Nashville to Knoxville.

Can anyone help us out with accommodation options for the Friday night and recommend somewhere in town for the Saturday night that is not too miserable?

posted by Summer to Travel & Transportation around Knoxville, TN (10 answers total)

Have you looked at the Knoxville Marriot? It's in a sort of weird location but it's less than a mile from the stadium. I've stayed there, it's a really nice place. The drive is really just few hours, is there some reason you don't want to stay another night in Nashville?
posted by jessamyn at 11:49 AM on August 14, 2015

The Sevierville - Pigeon Forge - Gatlinburg drag is 30 miles past Knoxville, so you'd be travelling back on yourself, but it might be a better option for hotels (or even a cabin rental) than somewhere on I-40, and you get to see the Dollywood kitsch up close. There are cabin rentals closer to Knoxville itself, which might be an option instead of a hotel.
posted by holgate at 11:53 AM on August 14, 2015

Response by poster: Hi Jesamyn - yes, it's booked up. It would have been my first choice.

I've been looking at Pigeon Forge - what are the possibilities of getting a taxi back to that area from town? Too far? Too expensive?
posted by Summer at 12:09 PM on August 14, 2015

A taxi for that distance would be expensive.

What are some of the hotel brands you've seen that seem sketchy to you? My parents live outside Knoxville so I'm familiar with the area. MeMail me if you like.
posted by cooker girl at 12:40 PM on August 14, 2015

You don't want a taxi or Uber to Pigeon Forge; it's too far. School is back in session so the whackadoodle traffic in Pigeon Forge has died down some but it's a really kitschy tourist trap.

The Crowne Plaza Knoxville Downtown University, Sheraton Four Points Knoxville or Hampton Inn & Suites Downtown would all be walkable. Beware, though, that Knoxville is very hilly so the distances are deceiving. If the downtown hotels are full and you resort to a Plan B, that should be the cluster of hotels around the airport, which is across the river in Alcoa. The airport hotel would be a reasonable taxi or Uber fee (yeah, I know Uber is problematic). One piece of advice: don't for love nor money stay in the Days Inn near the airport. It should be condemned.

I live in Maryville and spend a lot of time in Knoxville so feel free to hit me up for advice.
posted by workerant at 12:47 PM on August 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

And OH YEAH Cumberland Avenue (the main drag through campus) is closed and under construction. Plan on worse-than-usual game day traffic because of it.
posted by workerant at 12:58 PM on August 14, 2015

Response by poster: Thanks everyone. All the decent downtown hotels are booked up - Days Inn was one of the terrible alternatives we were looking at. I will look by the airport though - an uber ride is no problem.
posted by Summer at 1:01 PM on August 14, 2015

Have you checked airbnb or homeaway.com? If there's a game that weekend, prices may be inflated but it's a thought.

Universities also often have conference centers that include hotel-ish rooms that the general public can rent, but as far as I can tell UT's conference center does not have accommodations.
posted by marmago at 6:44 PM on August 14, 2015

The Holiday Inn Express on Papermill was just built 2 years ago. It's not too far away, bonus there is a Waffle House across the street and a massive used bookstore (McKays) just down the block. Cedar Bluff exit hotels wouldn't be too terribly expensive via Uber I wouldn't expect.
posted by meeshell at 7:16 PM on August 14, 2015

We stayed at a hotel downtown when we recently visited Knoxville, and that was nice because we were walking distance to lots of restaurants and such. We stayed at the Crowne Plaza downtown. Pretty nice!
posted by amorey at 11:12 AM on April 11, 2016