Dayton (Tennessee Strawberry Festival) is a food day trips in Chattanooga.
Editorially verified August 18, 2026 by Lewis Vaughan, TableJourney editor. Source.
Tip: Go hungry for flats of berries and shortcake; festival week schedules post at tnstrawberryfestival.com each spring.
Ringgold sits just over the Georgia line from Chattanooga, where the Georgia Winery pours complimentary tastings daily on Battlefield Parkway.
Tip: Saturday tours run at 13:30, 14:30 and 15:30; pair the tasting room with the Chickamauga battlefield loop ten minutes further south.
Ooltewah's Cambridge Square gathers a suburban evening of eating near Chattanooga, Il Primo's second room plus a Thursday-afternoon market nearby.
Tip: Time it for a Thursday: market stalls from 15:00, then dinner at Il Primo's Cambridge Square room without the drive back downtown.
South Pittsburg is Lodge Cast Iron's company town near Chattanooga, and each April the National Cornbread Festival fills its main street with skillets.
Tip: The Lodge foundry opens to the public during festival weekend only; the factory store sells seconds year-round.
Lynchburg pairs Jack Daniel's cave-spring distillery tours with Miss Mary Bobo's boarding-house lunch, a Chattanooga day trip built around one square.
Tip: Miss Mary Bobo's seats at 11:00 and 13:00 only and books out; reserve the lunch first, then fit the distillery tour around it.
Bell Buckle throws the RC Cola-MoonPie Festival each June, a small-town salute to Chattanooga's snack pairing with races, a parade and giant MoonPie.
Tip: The 2026 festival ran Saturday 20 June from 07:00; the antique-shop main street and Bell Buckle Cafe fill fast on festival day.