The Essentials
Chattanooga is one of the few cities in American lower-division soccer with two professional clubs — the Red Wolves and fan-owned Chattanooga FC, whose Chattahooligan supporters are among the most devoted in the country — and a genuine soccer culture to match. The Red Wolves play out of CHI Memorial Stadium in East Ridge, but the heartbeat of your weekend is the Southside, a walkable district stacked with breweries, Michelin-recognized restaurants, and the kind of energy that makes an eight-hour drive feel worth it before you’ve even found your seat.
Club: Chattanooga Red Wolves SC
Stadium: CHI Memorial Stadium — 1 Stadium Way, East Ridge, TN 37412. 5,500 capacity. Tennessee’s first soccer-specific stadium — intimate, loud, and purpose-built. Good sightlines everywhere, with a growing matchday atmosphere anchored by the Wolf Pack supporters.
Tickets: Available at chattanoogaredwolves-sc.com/tickets. No formal away section — arrive early and pick your spot.
Nearest Airport: Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport (CHA), about 5 miles east of downtown.
Driving from Fort Wayne FC Park: Approximately 540 miles via I-75 South, roughly 8 hours nonstop. Louisville or Lexington make natural pit stops if you want to break it up.
Parking & Transit: On-site parking runs around $13 — pre-purchase recommended. Rideshare works from downtown but budget extra time on match nights. The stadium is about 15 minutes from the Southside.
Weather: Humid and warm spring through fall. Highs in the 80s and 90s through summer with afternoon thunderstorms that roll off the mountains. Layers for early-season evening matches; sunscreen and water for everything else.
Where to Stay
The Dwell Hotel is the move if you want personality — 16 rooms in a 1909 building with mid-century design and Matilda Midnight, a craft cocktail bar on the ground floor worth a visit on its own. The Kinley Chattanooga Southside puts you in the middle of the action — a boutique hotel across from the Choo Choo with a local art gallery, an on-site restaurant called Company, and a front door that’s a short walk from the best food and drink in town. For something more storied, The Hotel Chalet at the Chattanooga Choo Choo lets you sleep in a converted historic train terminal. All three are boutique, well-located, and worth the stay.
Eat & Drink
Main Street Meats is the essential Chattanooga eat. Butcher shop and restaurant on the Southside with a MICHELIN Guide nod, over 300 whiskeys, and a burger made from hand-patted local beef that will ruin other burgers for you. Go for lunch, go for dinner — just go.
For the best dinner in town, Alleia serves handmade pasta in a warmly lit space that feels like it belongs in a bigger city — the pappardelle with braised veal is the move. The Rosecomb, in a 1920s cottage above downtown, earned its own Michelin recommendation with creative, Appalachian-inspired small plates and a strong cocktail program. Little Coyote, down in St. Elmo at the base of Lookout Mountain, holds Chattanooga’s only Michelin Bib Gourmand for its Texas-style smoked meats and house-pressed corn tortillas. The patio alone is worth the trip. This is a city punching way above its weight class on food.
The Southside is where the drinking happens, and it’s where you should be before the match. Chattanooga Brewing Company is the city’s oldest brewery — dating back to 1890 — with a beer garden on Chestnut Street that fills up on weekends. Oddstory Brewing on Central Avenue has fire pits, live music, and a rotating tap list that rewards repeat visits. Hutton & Smith is the IPA specialist — quieter, more low-key, the right spot for a postgame debrief.
Morning after, Aretha Frankensteins in North Chattanooga is non-negotiable. Punk-rock breakfast joint in a converted house with horror movie decor and pancakes so thick they need their own zip code. There will be a wait. It’s worth it.
Things to Do
Ride the Incline Railway up Lookout Mountain — the steepest passenger railway in the world, with a panoramic view of Chattanooga and the Tennessee River that earns every bit of the hype. (Note: the Incline closes for maintenance from late December through early March, so check ahead for early-season visits.) Back downtown, the Hunter Museum of American Art sits on a limestone bluff overlooking the river — the collection is strong, but the building itself and the views from the sculpture terrace are the real draw. Walk the Walnut Street Bridge afterward, one of the longest pedestrian bridges in the world, connecting the North Shore to the riverfront. Rent a bike and ride the Riverwalk if you’ve got time — Chattanooga’s trail system along the Tennessee River is one of the best urban greenways in the South.
The One Thing
Spend your pregame afternoon on the Southside. Walk from Main Street Meats to Chattanooga Brewing Company to Oddstory, eating and drinking your way through the neighborhood. It’s the most concentrated stretch of good food and local beer in the city, and it’s the kind of afternoon that turns a road trip into a story. The match is the reason you came. The Southside is the reason you’ll come back.