I have decided to start a new feature called Fave 5, where I share my fave 5 whatever. The category may be broad or specific, it may be related to books, movies, food, products, or anything else.

Recently my husband and I took a quick, one night trip to Chattanooga, a city here in Tennessee about an hour and a half from where we live. When my husband and I went there two years ago, I was researching things to do for that trip in addition to the aquarium, and came across this yummy-sounding place that I will be talking about here shortly. This particular place that we fell in love with was in an interesting part of the city, so this time, we made it a point to stay in and explore that area. Even in two years more has come out of this neat part of Chattanooga, so I wanted to share my fave five things in Southside Chattanooga.

1. The Hot Chocolatier

This is the aforementioned place, and it is AMAZING. Like, I’d spent the last two years dying to back to this place.

So what makes this place so amazing you ask? The quality of chocolate is beyond incredible. Both times I drank the S’mores hot chocolate, and it is pretty much my favorite thing that has ever graced my taste buds. Last time my husband and I split an eclair as well, which was good, but eclairs aren’t my general go-to sweet. But this time we shared this piece of chocolate cake with salted caramel, and I am crazy super picky about caramel so I generally just avoid it, but this was THE BOMB. And paired with the hot chocolate? I can’t even.

Next time I think I want to try their frozen hot chocolate. Needless to say, so worth depriving myself of sugar for a week to save up for this pilgrimage!

2. Chattnooga Choo Choo

This was the hotel where we stayed this time, literally across the street from The Hot Chocolatier. We actually walked around the grounds during our last trip, as there are actual railroad tracks and train cars there. There is even an option to sleep in one of their furnished train cars, but we chose to stay in one of their normal hotel buildings. It’s not the newest, most hip place, but it’s worth staying here to be so close to all the great things in Southside, plus there’s plenty to see and do just at the hotel grounds. We spent a lot of time the night of our stay in rocking chairs on the grounds just people watching and chatting. It was a pretty perfect evening.

3. Songbirds Guitar Museum 

This is a new attraction on the grounds of the Chattanooga Choo Choo, and a must for any fan of guitars. We just did the general tour, but fully intend to return and do the VIP tour where you can see even more guitars!

4. The Frothy Monkey

This Tennessee franchise coffee shop + restaurant has just opened a new location attached to the Chattanooga Choo Choo, and despite the fact there are locations closer to where I live, this was my first time going to one. It won’t be the last. In full disclosure, we waited over an hour to get our breakfast on a Saturday morning and I got a little on the hangry side, but it was pretty new and apparently high school graduations were going on that morning, so it was the just the wrong time to be there. The breakfast food we had was so great though, and neither one of us could finish all the food we had despite really wanting to. We ate outside and again, it was such a neat atmosphere, soaking in the whole Southside vibe. (At least until I got hangry, ha!)

5. Starline Books

After my last trip to Chattanooga I did a post about this cute little independent bookstore. It’s just a short walk away from everything else I’ve mentioned here, and if you love books (which you must if you’re here) then it’s definitely a place to check out.

Bonus! Warehouse Row and The Terminal

The Terminal is right next door to the Choo Choo and is where we ate dinner, and it was quite good! Warehouse Row is a flew blocks away and we didn’t make it down there this time, but we went last time and it is such a neat looking shopping place.

What’s a favorite weekend getaway spot for you?