Experience the best of Knoxville

Knoxville lies in the Tennessee Valley between the Cumberland Plateau and the Great Smoky Mountains, and was the first capital of the state. The University of Tennessee, with a football stadium that seats over 100,000, shapes the city, and its downtown has the Sunsphere, a golden glass globe on a tower left from the 1982 World's Fair, as well as the Tennessee Theatre, a 1928 movie palace, and the pedestrian Market Square.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the most visited national park in the United States, lies a short drive to the south-east, with waterfalls, wildflowers and black bears in old Appalachian forest. Oak Ridge, to the west, was a secret Manhattan Project city, and a museum covers its history. The writer James Agee was born in Knoxville.

Barbecue, biscuits and gravy, fried green tomatoes and Appalachian cooking are served in the downtown restaurants, with Tennessee whiskey and beer from the city's breweries. Autumn colours the surrounding hills in October, and dogwoods bloom along the ridges in spring.