Where to go for 3 days in Huntsville AL (Itinerary)

Alabama: a destination that was not high on our US bucket list. When one says Alabama, we immediately think of Civil Rights or Biloxi, a gambling mecca near the Florida Panhandle. But Huntsville? Not really. Here’s our story on how we spent 3 days in Huntsville AL.

When Breeze Airways announced direct flights from Tampa to Huntsville for $39 one way, my husband and I booked a ticket not knowing what to expect from this destination. Breeze is a new ultra-low-cost carrier that flies direct from Tampa to Huntsville a few times a week. You can read more about the airline in our review post.

TLDR: Huntsville delivered in terms of a great destination and definitely exceeded our expectations.

Here’s how we spent 3 days in Huntsville, Alabama. You can customize this trip depending on your needs, depending if you only have a day, a weekend, or even the full three days, much like how we spent our trip.

Contents

How to spend 3 days (or less) in Huntsville Alabama.
Day One (day trip from Huntsville)
Day Two (a weekend in Huntsville)
Day Three (3 days in Huntsville)
Where to Eat in Huntsville Airport
3 days in Huntsville Notes:
How to go to Huntsville AL on a budget
Airlines with direct flights to Huntsville AL
Saving on Hotels in Huntsville Alabama
How to Use 8000 Ultimate Rewards or 8000 Hyatt Points in Huntsville AL
Huntsville Car Rental and Activities
Free and cheap things to do in Huntsville AL
Planning a trip to Huntsville AL?
If you are looking for more 3 days or weekend trip ideas from Florida, here are a few other suggestions:
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How to spend 3 days (or less) in Huntsville Alabama.

Day One (day trip from Huntsville)

Land in Huntsville International Airport (HSV)
Pick up rental car
Drive to Alabama Caverns State Park (around 45 minutes away)
Drive to Scottsboro, AL
Eat lunch at Payne’s Sandwich Shop and Soda Fountain
Go to Unclaimed Baggage Center
Drive back to Huntsville, AL
Check in to hotel: Hyatt Place Huntsville-Research Park
Grab dinner at Moe’s at the Bridgestreet Mall
Walk around Bridgestreet Mall

Day Two (a weekend in Huntsville)

Include Day one/day trip tips above or day three trips below to customize your first day and add the day two activities below to get a second-day itinerary:

Visit NASA’s Space and Rocket Center
Grab lunch at Blue Plate Cafe
Visit Lowe Mill (open only on Saturdays)
Drive downtown
Harrison Brothers Hardware (historic store now souvenir shop)
Walk around to look at historic houses at the Twickenham District
Dinner at Big Papa Gyro

Day Three (3 days in Huntsville)

Include Day one and two activities above, and add the following activities:

Monte Sano State Park: Stone Cuts Trail
Lunch at Gibson’s BBQ
Burritt on the Mountain
Museum
Dinner at Cracker Barrel
Check in the hotel: 4 Points by Sheraton Huntsville Airport

We will discuss these places in more detail on their own separate post. Note that during Sundays, it may be hard to find independent restaurants that are open until dinner. We lucked out with Gibson’s BBQ and they were open until 2 pm but closed soon after.

Where to Eat in Huntsville Airport

If you are staying at the 4 Points by Sheraton Huntsville Airport like us, it is better if you have your own car. The closest decent option to eat lunch or dinner in is Cracker Barrel. There are also some fast-food joints along the interstate but nothing that really interested us.

You could also opt to eat in the airport but there’s only one option: the bar/restaurant owned and operated by the 4 Points by Sheraton, which is open only at certain times. We have not really tried it when we visited since if it is a monopoly, it is bound to be expensive, and we don’t really know what time or date they opened.

Reviews online all mention the same thing – when staying at the 4 Points by Sheraton at the airport, you really don’t have any decent food options aside from leaving the hotel (taking an Uber or actually driving)

3 days in Huntsville Notes:

You need a car to get around anywhere. Reserve early since some rental car places do not allow you to walk up and try and rent a car without a prior reservation. We reserved our car through Costco Travel.

There are plenty of things to do within a 2-hour drive from Huntsville, and Knoxville, TN is around 2 hours away. You could even do a day trip there or extend your stay even more by driving up north to see more natural wonders and mountains.

If you have an early flight and can’t be bothered to wake up early, the 4 points by Sheraton Huntsville Airport is the best place to stay in – you just walk up to the terminal! Our room actually has a view of the runway so perfect for those who love watching airplanes take off and land. You don’t even hear them from the room!

This is part 1 of our Huntsville series. Here are some of our other Huntsville posts:

Where to go on Day Trips from Huntsville AL
3 Days in Huntsville AL
Breeze Airlines review
Best Huntsville hotels (review)

How to go to Huntsville AL on a budget

Airlines with direct flights to Huntsville AL

Not many airlines fly direct to Huntsville from Florida except for Frontier flying non-stop from Orlando. To be honest, Huntsville was never up the top of our list of places to visit, but when a new up-and-coming airline called Breeze Airlines started flying direct from Tampa to Huntsville for an introductory fare of $39, we jumped at the chance to visit.

$39 per person per way = $156 round trip for 2 people, paid in cash with our Chase Sapphire card.

We used the Sapphire Card so we can get travel insurance in case something happens like delays or cancellations. Since Breeze is a low-cost carrier, they don’t fly daily and we may not be able to change our flight to a different airline in case something goes wrong.

The fare we booked does not include any checked luggage or carry-ons, just personal items. We both carried a backpack each with clothes for the 3 days as a personal item to save on the airfare fees.

Saving on Hotels in Huntsville Alabama

There are a few chain hotels available in Huntsville where we can redeem our points.

As a background, my husband and I travel hack, where we collect hotel, airline, and various credit card points and redeem them for travel and other life expenses, like eating out and shopping.

We have points for most of the major hotel chains and ultimately decided to stay at the Hyatt Place Research Park in Huntsville. The hotel provides free parking, has free breakfast, and is close enough to the interstate and the sights we wanted to visit like the NASA Space and Rocket Center. It is also beside a mall, so if we have extra time in the evening, we could use the time to walk around.

How to Use 8000 Ultimate Rewards or 8000 Hyatt Points in Huntsville AL

Ultimate Rewards points can be transferred to Hyatt, so this $200+ a night hotel (Hyatt Place Research Park) gave us a value of 2.5 cents for 1 point. Excellent redemption option, if I may say so myself.

You could opt to transfer some of your points to pay for an IHG hotel, but frankly, I wouldn’t bother since the 8,000 UR points is worth more than the cash value you’ll get. You can also opt to use the points to book directly on the Chase portal, but only if you are awash with points and don’t want to pay in cash.

Huntsville Car Rental and Activities

We opted to pay in cash for the car rental. Sure, you could use some of your UR to pay for the car rental but we got a great deal on Costco travel. For $170 for 3 days, it gave us an average of $55/day. Not too bad considering some companies are charging more than that in certain cities.

A car is an absolute must in Huntsville. There is no way to survive and get around without one unless you plan to spend a ton of money hailing rideshares like Uber or Lyft. Doing day trips an hour or so from Huntsville also gives you the freedom to just go on the car and drive.

Driving around Huntsville is easy – it is one of the more chill places we got to drive in and the interstate was not really stressful, even if it was close to rush hour! The traffic around 4:30pm is from people leaving Huntsville and going home to the suburbs. Driving back to Huntsville from Scottsboro around 4:30/5:00pm was a breeze.

Free and cheap things to do in Huntsville AL

There are plenty of free and cheap things to do in Huntsville. Things like walking around the historic district of Twickenham to see huge, historic houses are free. Going to Lowe’s Mill is also free, and will only cost you money if you end up buying stuff from the local artisans in the complex.

The state parks are cheap and cost less than $10 per person. If going to Burritt on the Mountain, best to use a 20% off coupon that you can get from the visitor centers downtown or at the airport to put your total to less than $10 per person. Walking around the downtown park and looking at the buildings in the downtown area is also free.

The most expensive ticket we paid for was to the Space and Rocket Center. It was $25 per person but well worth the entrance fee. It is cheaper than the NASA center’s in Houston and Cape Canaveral, mainly because it is smaller. The upsell ticket, where you ride a trolley that takes you to their operations area, was not operating at the time due to the pandemic, so the trip might have lasted longer. Expect to stay 2 to 4 hours in the area, depending if you are the type who wants to take it all in at once.

Planning a trip to Huntsville AL?

Hopefully our tips above helped you to plan to ultimate 3 day trip to Huntsville AL. Now on to our next destination! If you need more help planning your trip, feel free to leave a comment or to contact us.