‘Planes, trains, tow trucks, caves, pizza’ … that’s what a AAA travel guide written by a 10-year-old boy might look like. So it’s no surprise my son enjoyed Chattanooga.

Though I normally travel with his older sister as well, this time it was just him and me for an impromptu getaway.  Chattanooga, Tennessee is an easy drive for many in the South, Midwest and Mid-Atlantic states, but we got a crazy-cheap fare with a discount airline and flew in from Central Florida. The small but modern airport was easy to navigate and we quickly found the shuttle to our hotel, the Chattanooga Choo Choo, known locally as ‘The Choo.’

This property celebrated 100 years of history last year, as it was formerly Terminal Station which opened in 1909 as an impressive stop for train passengers in the days when rail travel ruled and Chattanooga was a major hub. The depot grew to serve up to 50 passenger trains a day in the first half of the 20th century, but train traffic slowed in the 1960s with the dominance of auto and air travel. The last train stopped there in 1970 and the station was boarded up.

Local business people were inspired to save the place from demolition and reopened it as the Chattanooga Choo-Choo in 1973 and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. The ornate main station waiting area is now the hotel’s lobby with its well-known original dome overhead, other areas have been converted to dining and shopping and restored trains are parked in the train yard. And you can sleep in a train car--and we did!

After a very friendly check–in (service was consistently nice here) we climbed the authentically rusted steps of the train car space converted to a hotel room. Long and narrow, obviously, with the original big shaded windows and overhead racks. One queen bed with a trundle daybed that’s fine for kids. And yes, there’s a bathroom, small but complete (for some reason I wondered about that).


We explored the grounds – the property is known for its landscaping and flowers, but we were a little early in the season for that. The Choo has interesting train memorabilia, an engine for kids to climb on, a trolley and an elaborate model train display room (talk about toys for big boys). The rest of the accommodations are standard hotel rooms, and there's also a diner in a train car, an ice cream shop and indoor and outdoor pools. Indoor pools at hotels are always such a hit with my kids, I don’t get it, the enclosed chlorine smell bothers me and we have a pool in our backyard at home. But to each their own.

We had dinner at the hotel in The Station House where the servers alternate between food duties and putting on the musical entertainment, sometimes combining the two. I found the personal serenade by the Elvis impersonator a little startling, but my son thought it was pretty funny. The hotel's take-out Café Espresso had wonderful coffee and desserts and the gas torches burning in the trainyard at night conjured up that ‘back in time’ feel. Then it was time to go ‘sleep in the car.’