Where Should You Stay When You Visit Tennessee National?

You found Tennessee National online and now you want to see it in person. The first practical question is where to sleep.

Tennessee National is a private, gated lake and golf community on Watts Bar Lake in Loudon, Tennessee. For a visit, the easy base is Farragut, about 20 minutes away. This guide covers where to stay, where to eat and how many days to give it.

Where should you stay when you visit Tennessee National?

In the Farragut and Turkey Creek area, for most visitors. It is about 20 minutes from the gate and it puts what a visitor needs in one place: hotels, restaurants, pharmacies and big stores.

Farragut is a suburb on the west side of Knoxville. Turkey Creek is the large shopping area beside it, along the interstate. You will find the familiar national hotel brands there. We do not recommend one over another. Read recent reviews and pick what suits you.

There are other choices.

When you schedule a visit, ask the Tennessee National team what they suggest.

What is Farragut like?

A tidy, busy suburb. Farragut sits along the interstate west of Knoxville, and Turkey Creek next door is one of the main shopping areas on that side of the city. Expect chain and local restaurants, grocery stores, pharmacies and home-improvement stores within a few miles.

That is useful for more than a hotel night. If you end up owning at Tennessee National, this is where the bigger shopping trips happen. Driving it once on your visit tells you whether the day-to-day fits.

Where should you eat?

In two places: near your hotel and near the lake.

Near the hotel, Farragut and Turkey Creek have plenty of choice, from a quick breakfast to a sit-down dinner. Restaurants change, so check current listings instead of trusting an old list.

Near the lake, build in one unhurried meal close to the community. The Tennessee National clubhouse is home to Kendall's restaurant. Ask about dining there when you schedule your visit. Around Loudon you will find local restaurants too, and the area guide maps restaurants and wineries nearby.

The dinner after a visit is when the real conversation happens. Could we live here? What did we miss? Give that meal some room.

How many days do you need?

Two nights is a comfortable minimum. One day is for the community. The second is for the area around it.

1. Arrival day. Check in, eat an easy dinner and rest.
2. Day one. Drive to Tennessee National. See the Greg Norman Signature golf course, the marina and the clubhouse. Walk the lakefront boardwalk in the Marina District. Look at homesites and finished homes.
3. Day two. Drive the ordinary routes. Loudon is about 5 minutes from the gate and Lenoir City is about 15. Find the grocery store and the pharmacy. Then drive to Knoxville, about 30 minutes, and see the city you would use.

A third day gives you a day trip. Chattanooga is about an hour and a quarter south, and the Great Smoky Mountains are about an hour away.

What should you ask about on the visit?

Ask about the ways to own and what each one costs. There are five ways to own at Tennessee National:

• The Timbers, which are wooded homesites.
• Lake homesites.
• Waterfront homesites.
• Land & Home packages.
• Townhomes.

Pricing is in the info pack. Read it before you come, so the visit is about the land and not the paperwork. There is no deadline to build after you buy a homesite, which is worth knowing if your move is a few years out.

What should you know before you come?

A few facts make the visit go smoother.

• The address. 8301 Tennessee National Drive, Loudon, TN 37774. The phone number is (865) 408-9992.
• It is private and gated. Schedule your visit ahead of time.
• Flying in? McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS) is about 35 minutes from the gate. See flying to Tennessee National.
• Hotels fill on big weekends. University of Tennessee home football weekends and holidays fill rooms across the Knoxville area. Reserve early for those dates.
• Bring walking shoes. A homesite makes sense when you stand on it.

The honest trade-off

Your hotel will probably not have a lake view. The lake is at the community, and most of the hotels are by the interstate. That means a 20-minute drive at each end of the day.

Use it. That drive is the same one you would make for a big shopping trip if you lived here. If it feels easy by the second morning, good. If it feels long, that is worth knowing before you buy. The everyday errands guide lays out the rest of the map.

Facts about Tennessee National come from the community. Lake facts come from TVA. Rules, taxes, loans and insurance change, so confirm anything that affects a purchase with the right office or professional before you buy.