Which Tennessee College Towns Can You Add to a Nashville Trip?

Nashville is a strong starting point for a regional college-visit trip, but families often underestimate how much of Tennessee's higher-education landscape sits outside the city. If you've already flown into Nashville and budgeted a week, adding a second or third campus stop can change the shape of a student's college decision more than visiting one school for a longer time. The state's geography rewards a Nashville-anchored loop: most of Tennessee's major college towns sit within a three-hour drive, the interstate network is reasonably direct, and the contrast between urban Nashville campuses and Tennessee's smaller college towns is genuinely useful information for a student trying to choose between very different residential environments.

This article walks through five extension options — Murfreesboro, Sewanee, Chattanooga, Knoxville, and Memphis — with honest notes on drive time, campus character, and whether each works as a day trip or warrants an overnight. It closes with a multi-stop route suggestion. Verify all campus tour times, admissions events, and hotel availability directly with each school and lodging provider before locking in your itinerary.

How to think about a Tennessee extension

Two framing questions matter before you build the route.

First: what's the student actually deciding? A high school junior open to many kinds of schools benefits from contrast — pair urban Nashville campuses like Vanderbilt or Belmont with a small-town campus like Sewanee or a public flagship like UT-Knoxville. A senior comparing specific accepted offers benefits from depth — a longer visit to one extension campus matters more than two short visits.

Second: who's traveling and how much driving are they willing to do? A two-driver family with a rental car can manage 600+ miles across a week without much fatigue. A single-driver family or one with a tight schedule should stay close to Nashville. International families unfamiliar with US highway driving should add buffer time and prefer overnight stops to long single-day drives.

The five options

Each is described in more detail below.

Murfreesboro: Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU)

Murfreesboro sits about 35 minutes south of Nashville on I-24, making MTSU the easiest extension to add to a Nashville trip. MTSU is Tennessee's largest undergraduate university by enrollment and runs strong programs in aerospace, recording industry, audio engineering, and concrete management, plus the usual range of large public-university offerings. The campus is sprawling and modern with a flat, accessible layout.

Murfreesboro itself is a mid-sized city with a walkable historic downtown square and a county-seat character. It's calmer than Nashville and feels distinctly Middle-Tennessee suburban-rural rather than Southern-city. For a student weighing a large public university with affordable in-state-equivalent tuition (international students should verify current rates) and a Nashville-adjacent location, MTSU is worth a half-day. Verify tour times on the MTSU admissions site.

As a day trip: Leave Nashville mid-morning, arrive for an 11 a.m. or 1 p.m. campus tour, eat lunch on or near the historic square, and return to Nashville by late afternoon. No overnight needed unless the student wants extended time with departments.

Sewanee: University of the South

Sewanee is the most visually distinctive campus on this list and the one most likely to surprise visitors. About 90 minutes southeast of Nashville on I-24, the University of the South occupies a mountaintop "domain" of more than 13,000 acres of forest, gothic-revival stone buildings, and small village commerce. The school is small (well under 2,000 undergraduates), Episcopal-affiliated, and academically rigorous with a strong liberal arts and pre-professional track.

The town of Sewanee is essentially the university — a few restaurants, a bookstore, a hotel, and forest in every direction. For students who thrive in tight residential communities and don't mind being a long drive from any city, Sewanee is one of the most distinctive small-college environments in the country. For students who need urban energy, it's a strong negative. The contrast with Vanderbilt or Belmont in central Nashville is exactly what makes the visit useful.

As a day trip: Possible but tight. Leave Nashville by 8:30 a.m., arrive for a morning campus tour, eat lunch at one of the campus or village restaurants, walk a portion of the domain trails, and return to Nashville by evening. The honest recommendation is an overnight at the Sewanee Inn or in nearby Monteagle, which lets you see the campus at golden hour and morning fog — an underrated reason this campus visit is worth doing on the ground rather than virtually. Verify tour times on the Sewanee admissions site.

Chattanooga: University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC)

Chattanooga sits about two hours southeast of Nashville on I-24, on the Tennessee River where the state meets the Georgia border. UTC is a mid-sized public university with a city-integrated campus near downtown Chattanooga. The university's programs span the usual public-university range with notable engineering, business, and health-sciences offerings.

Chattanooga itself has become one of the more interesting mid-sized cities in the South over the past decade, with substantial riverfront redevelopment, an aquarium, outdoor recreation on Lookout Mountain and the Tennessee River, and a smaller-than-Nashville-but-still-active food and music scene. For a student weighing a public university in a manageably sized city with strong outdoor access, UTC and Chattanooga together make a coherent visit.

Day-trip math: Two hours each way means about four hours of driving for a 90-minute campus tour. Possible but exhausting; an overnight in downtown Chattanooga is recommended and lets you eat dinner on the riverfront and see Ruby Falls or Rock City the next morning before returning to Nashville. Verify tour times on the UTC admissions site.

Knoxville: University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT-Knoxville)

Knoxville sits about three hours east of Nashville on I-40. UT-Knoxville is the state's flagship public university — large enrollment, full Division I SEC athletics, engineering and business strength, a sprawling campus that climbs from the Tennessee River into the urban core. For students who want a large public flagship with strong school spirit, fall-football culture, and a broad range of academic options, UT-Knoxville is the comparison point to anchor against private-school visits like Vanderbilt or smaller schools like Belmont.

Knoxville as a city is mid-sized, with a revitalized downtown (Market Square area) and access to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park about an hour to the south. The downtown is walkable and has a strong restaurant scene. Fall Saturday home football games (verify schedule on the Tennessee Athletics site) transform the city.

Day-trip math: Three hours each way means six hours of driving for a 90-minute tour. Not realistic as a day trip from Nashville. An overnight in downtown Knoxville lets you tour campus in the morning, walk Market Square at lunch, and either head back to Nashville or continue toward the Smokies. Verify tour times on the UT-Knoxville admissions site.

Memphis: U of Memphis and Rhodes College

Memphis sits about three and a half hours west of Nashville on I-40. Two notable campuses anchor the city's higher education:

University of Memphis is a large urban public research university with strong programs in business, music (the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music), and engineering. Campus is integrated with the city neighborhood; the surrounding area is mixed.

Rhodes College is a small private liberal arts college (just under 2,000 undergraduates) with a striking gothic stone campus in midtown Memphis. Strong in pre-medical, sciences, business, and humanities. Visually one of the most beautiful small-college campuses in the South.

Both schools are worth visiting if the student is interested in either profile, but the city itself is the bigger draw for a campus-visit trip. Memphis is the spiritual home of blues, soul, and rock-and-roll music — Beale Street, Sun Studio, Stax Museum, the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel. For families considering Tennessee specifically because of music or African American history, a Memphis extension adds critical context that Nashville alone doesn't provide.

Day-trip math: Three and a half hours each way is too far for one day. An overnight (or two) in Memphis lets you split between campus visits and the city's music and civil-rights heritage. Verify tour times on the U of Memphis admissions site and the Rhodes admissions site.

Routing options from Nashville

The five extensions divide into three natural directional loops from Nashville.

South loop: Murfreesboro (MTSU) plus Sewanee (University of the South). Both south of Nashville on I-24. A two-day loop covers MTSU in the morning of Day 1, overnight in Sewanee or Monteagle, Sewanee tour and domain walk on Day 2 morning, return to Nashville by mid-afternoon. This is the easiest extension for families with limited driving experience or a tight schedule.

Southeast and east loop: Chattanooga (UTC) and then Knoxville (UT-Knoxville). Connected by I-75. A three-day loop covers Chattanooga on Day 1, overnight downtown, drive to Knoxville on Day 2 with afternoon campus tour, overnight in Knoxville, Smokies or Market Square morning on Day 3 before returning to Nashville via I-40. Best for families with at least four extra days beyond Nashville.

West loop: Memphis (U of Memphis and Rhodes). Out-and-back on I-40. A two-or-three-day extension that emphasizes both campuses and the city's music and civil-rights heritage. Best for families with a music or history interest and stamina for highway driving.

A combined route that hits MTSU, Sewanee, Chattanooga, Knoxville, and Memphis in one trip is theoretically possible but adds roughly 700 miles of driving and crowds the visit; we'd recommend choosing one or two loops, not all three.

Tennessee college extension route

The route above is a Nashville-anchored loop visiting MTSU, Sewanee, UTC, and UT-Knoxville before returning to Nashville. Drive time is substantial; budget at least three nights on the road plus return.

Practical tips for multi-city Tennessee driving

Rental cars in Nashville: International students and visiting families can rent at Nashville International Airport (BNA) or at downtown locations. Verify your driving-license requirements with the rental company; some require an International Driving Permit alongside a foreign license.

Highway driving: Tennessee's interstates are well-maintained, with full rest-area infrastructure. Speed limits run 65 to 70 mph on most rural interstate stretches. Cell service is generally good but has gaps in mountainous areas around Sewanee and toward the Smokies.

Weather: Summer thunderstorms in Tennessee can be sudden and severe. If you see warnings, pull off at a rest area and wait. Winter ice storms, though rare, can make driving genuinely dangerous; verify current conditions with the Tennessee Department of Transportation before setting out.

Lodging: Most college-town hotels accept international family travelers without unusual requirements. Verify current rates and availability through the hotel's own booking system or a reputable aggregator.

Meals: Each town has a different mix; verify current restaurant recommendations through your campus tour guide or your hotel.

Building the trip around your priorities

Different families will choose different extensions based on what they're actually trying to learn.

• Comparing urban Nashville campuses to a small-town liberal arts environment: Add Sewanee. The contrast is sharper than any other option.
• Considering large public universities seriously: Add MTSU as a half-day and UT-Knoxville as an overnight. Together they cover the public-university range Tennessee offers.
• Music or recording-industry focus: Add MTSU's recording programs and consider an overnight in Memphis for U of Memphis and the music heritage layer.
• Outdoor recreation matters: Add Chattanooga for riverfront and Lookout Mountain access, or UT-Knoxville for proximity to the Smokies.
• Civil rights, African American history, and HBCU context: Pair your Nashville visits to Fisk and TSU with a Memphis overnight for the National Civil Rights Museum and the Stax Museum.

The honest answer for most families is: pick one extension, not three. A well-paced Nashville core plus one carefully chosen extension teaches more than a hectic five-city sprint that leaves the student exhausted and the parents irritable. If the trip works, return next year for a different extension. Tennessee's higher-education landscape is large enough to reward multiple visits.

The companion articles in this series cover Nashville-specific food and neighborhoods, music and sports, daily life, English-skills practice, and three- or five-day Nashville itineraries that can each be extended with one of the loops above.