Huntsville

"Rocket City," where the U.S. Space & Rocket Center displays a real Saturn V and hosts Space Camp, with a botanical garden and Monte Sano Mountain nearby.

Huntsville lies in the Tennessee Valley in northern Alabama, backed by Monte Sano Mountain at the southern end of the Appalachians. After World War II, Wernher von Braun's team settled at Redstone Arsenal and developed the Saturn V rocket here that carried humans to the Moon; NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center is still based here, hence the nickname "Rocket City." The city breaks down into three areas: the space district in the southwest, with the U.S. Space & Rocket Center and the neighboring Huntsville Botanical Garden; downtown, with Big Spring International Park, the Huntsville Museum of Art, Alabama Constitution Village, the Historic Huntsville Depot, the Twickenham Historic District, and Lowe Mill ARTS & Entertainment in a converted textile mill; and Monte Sano Mountain to the east, with state park trails and Burritt on the Mountain. Within about an hour's drive are Cathedral Caverns, Lake Guntersville State Park, Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge (known for its wintering cranes), and the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsboro.

The climate is humid and mild: March–May and September–November are the most pleasant, summers are hot and humid with frequent thunderstorms, and winter brings occasional snow. Getting there: Huntsville International Airport has flights to hubs such as Atlanta, Dallas, and Chicago, or you can drive from Nashville (about 1.5 hours) or Birmingham (about 1.5 hours). Public transit is limited, so renting a car is recommended. Plan to stay 2 days: one for the space center and botanical garden, one for downtown and Monte Sano, plus an optional extra day for nearby natural sights.

Top sights

• U.S. Space & Rocket Center – One of the largest space museums in the world. It displays a real Saturn V rocket, a National Historic Landmark, and runs a well-known spac…
• Huntsville Botanical Garden – A garden of about 45 hectares with one of North America's large seasonal butterfly houses, a water garden and a winter light festival.
• Monte Sano State Park – A state park on the mountaintop east of the city, with over 30 km of forest trails, lookouts and a Japanese garden. Views over Huntsville.
• Burritt on the Mountain – A cross-shaped mansion and open-air museum of 19th-century farm buildings on the slopes of Monte Sano, with views over all of Huntsville.
• Lowe Mill ARTS & Entertainment – A century-old textile mill converted into an arts village with more than 150 studios, said to be one of the largest privately run arts faci…
• Twickenham Historic District – The largest pre-Civil War residential preservation district in Alabama, with Federal and Greek Revival homes lining its streets.
• Big Spring International Park – A spring-fed park in the city centre, where Huntsville began. Features include a red Japanese bridge, koi ponds and cherry blossoms in spri…
• Huntsville Museum of Art – A regional art museum at the south end of Big Spring Park, with American paintings, prints and crafts and frequent touring exhibitions.
• Alabama Constitution Village & EarlyWorks Museums – A reconstructed village on the site of the 1819 Alabama constitutional convention, where costumed guides recreate pioneer life.
• Historic Huntsville Depot – A railway station built in 1860, one of the oldest surviving station buildings in the United States, with graffiti left by Civil War soldie…
• Cathedral Caverns State Park – Home to one of the widest cave entrances in the world and a giant stalagmite about 14 metres tall named Goliath. Guided tours take about 1…
• Lake Guntersville State Park – A state park on the shore of Alabama's largest lake, with a clifftop resort hotel, forest trails and winter viewing of bald eagles.
• Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge – A wetland refuge along the Tennessee River that gathers tens of thousands of sandhill cranes in winter, with the occasional endangered whoo…
• Unclaimed Baggage – The only store in the United States that sells unclaimed airline baggage. Full of treasure-hunting appeal, with a small exhibit of odd find…

Where to eat

• Cotton Row – Upscale Southern restaurant opened in 2009 by chef James Boyce in an 1821 brick building on Courthouse Square, ideal fo…
• Salt Smokehouse – Family-run barbecue joint in a former textile mill, featured in the Michelin Guide; overnight-smoked prime brisket is t…
• Blue Plate Cafe – Southern home-cooking spot opened in 2003, serving the 'Blue Plate Special' of one meat and three sides; cocoa gravy bi…