Where to go on Day Trips from Huntsville AL

While in Huntsville, we would recommend getting out of the city and driving 1 hour east to get to Alabama Caverns State Park and to Scottsboro, AL. These are excellent day trips from Huntsville AL and are a very quick drive away.

If you need more information on what we did on our trip to Huntsville, check out our other posts below:

• 3 Days in Huntsville, AL
• Breeze Airlines review
• Hotel review: Hyatt Place Research Park & 4 Points by Sheraton Huntsville Airport

Is Cathedral Caverns State Park Worth It? 

It is a quick and easy drive from Huntsville to Cathedral Caverns State Park. There are plenty of signs on the road to direct you to this tourist attraction. 

The state park’s highlight is its cave tour. If you don’t take the tour then there pretty much isn’t anything else to do in the park. At the time, we had to book tickets in advance since tickets for certain tour times sell out, even though it was a Friday morning tour. 

Reserving tickets is easy, all you have to do is call 256-728-8193, and pay for the tickets by phone. However, if your plans change and if you miss your tour time, those tickets can’t be sold or changed to a different time, unless they took pity on you. You can always risk it and buy tickets at the booth, you may be lucky to have spots left! 

Cathedral Caverns State Park Day Trip from Huntsville

The tour costs $20 per person (as of this writing) and is around an hour and a half long. Your guide will then walk you through the caverns and show some sights to you, like the mystery river, some stalactite formations, the Goliath (a huge stalagmite formation), and the caverns which gave the cave its name. 

There are plenty of spots to take photos on the tour – the cave is just too pretty not to take photos of. It does get crowded so you may need to be one of the first ones in the group or the last ones to get a crowd-less shot. 

There is only one way in and out of the cavern, so you will retrace the steps you did on the way in, passing by familiar sites along the way. Other tour groups may also be in certain areas of the cave and you can listen in to insights from a different guide if you wish. 

Other than the cave, the small store, and a photo spot upfront, this state park will take no more than a 2-hour visit. 

After Cathedral Caverns State Park, we would suggest driving to the next destination: Scottsboro, Alabama. 

What to do in Scottsboro, Alabama (good Day Trip from Huntsville)

Scottsboro is a really small town much east of the Cathedral Caverns State Park. We mostly want to visit because we have heard so much about the Unclaimed Baggage Center (more on that later). 

The town is a great place to pick up some food after the cave tour. We chose to go to an old-fashioned soda and sandwich shop called Payne’s Sandwich Shop & Soda Fountain. It is located off the main street that comprises the main downtown and commercial area of town. It literally is old-fashioned, but the prices are a bit expensive for the sandwiches. The milkshakes are amazing though!

Scottsboro is tiny: only one major road with a few nice buildings within 3 blocks and that’s it. That’s downtown Scottsboro. The buildings are historic, and the stores on the main street are mom-and-pop shops. You won’t find a chain store in this part of town.  Is it worth staying longer? Not really, unless you want to get a tinge of nostalgia as you are going through the stores or looking at the buildings from outside.

Unclaimed Baggage Center

The Unclaimed Baggage Center is like a thrift store but is unique where they source their items by buying unclaimed luggage from different airlines. If your checked bag gets lost, there is a huge chance you will get it back, but in the case, the airline can’t trace you or give the bag back then it ends up in here. 

Lost items from airlines left behind in seat pockets or on the overhead bins get sold to the store, and they buy the bags not knowing what’s in them. The store then sorts which items to sell, donate, or get rid of. 

Treasures to find at Unclaimed Baggage Center

We went there not knowing what to expect. As soon as we saw the racks of clothing, we knew we didn’t want to waste our time looking through all of them, so we honed in on a few different categories. 

Jewelry at Unclaimed Baggage Center

Some people lose jewelry all the time, and I am always trying to see if I can get a ring in my size. I asked the lady behind the counter if it is sorted by ring size but she said no, so she just said point to what I want and we can try it out. 

After spending about 15 minutes trying out different rings, I managed to grab 3 that were my size! Are they made from real gems? Not sure, these could be lab-made or semi-precious stones. The band is made from silver, so they are still good quality. 

Every ring I bought has an average price point of $15. Not so bad, but there are definitely real ones that cost up to thousands of dollars in the center. 

There are also watches, bracelets, necklaces, earrings, and the like. We skipped those since I got what I needed – a dummy wedding band and a dummy engagement ring that I can use on a daily basis. 

Electronics at Unclaimed Baggage Center

I honestly don’t think buying electronics at the Unclaimed Baggage Center is worth it. A used newer model Samsung mobile phone is only around $100 or $150 less than a new phone. 

Kindles are around $30 each, which for a used model is exorbitant! You can buy a new one during a promo for around that much by stacking coupons and using discounted gift cards. 

The video game consoles are okay, same for tablets and cameras but the prices are just on the high end. I could not justify myself paying the amounts they are commanding for a used item. 

If you do need an original charger though, you could get one for $5 apiece. That is worth it though since original chargers go up to $20+! 

Bags and Purses at Unclaimed Baggage Center

I collect purses with quirky designs and if they are made from real leather. The bag section is hit or miss but I got lucky. I found a really cute Loungefly x Hello Kitty watermelon backpack that I pretty much use everywhere I travel now. 

I had so many compliments on this thing on how cute and unique it is. I think so too but the downside is the price. For a new bag (it still had tags on it), it was $36. When compared to buying a Loungefly from Hot Topic or BoxLunch, these mini backpacks go between $45 to $50. 

Total savings is between $9 to $14 so not that great a deal but I bought it since I had never seen that design before. Also, why not? It is just too darned cute. 

There are other designer bags available but the prices are just too much. Way more than outlet prices and a bit more than other consignment and thrift stores that I frequent so I only ended up with this one bag. 

Apparel at Unclaimed Baggage Center

Clothes are not a priority but we decided to check out men’s sportswear since my husband is an avid soccer (European football) jersey collector. 

He hit the jackpot: a medium-sized Messi Barcelona commemorative jersey of his 400th goal in the club. 

Best of all, it was only $12. The other jerseys in that area were $25+! 

He had a ball identifying the retro jerseys from several European teams, but none of them were his size and he felt that at $25+ each was a bit much, especially for a used item. 

Pro Tip: we scour TJ Maxx, Marshall’s, Ross, and Burlington to look for brand new team apparel for my husband to use and collect. He is like a walking billboard for European club teams, but more of that on another post. 

We then decided to go to the children’s section after not having much luck finding anything in women’s sportswear. He got lucky again. Our find was a brand new Argentina Jersey for our son for $3 but was not an official product. We also found a Philippines jersey (where I’m from) that fits my husband for another $3!

Sales tax in Alabama is high – nearly 9%

We ended our tour of Unclaimed Baggage Center after we saw a few things that we wanted. One could end up staying there for hours, looking, and I do think people do this as a hobby or to resell. The “treasure hunt” experience is what gives them a dopamine fix. 

What also got us was that sales tax in Alabama is crazy expensive. Almost 10%, which is unheard of! My jewelry cost almost $50, and our haul was around $70! Alabama must have some of the most expensive sales tax in the continental US, and sticker shock definitely hit. 

Is Unclaimed Baggage Center worth visiting? 

Yes, definitely, but you have to keep your expectations low. We did not know what we were going to find when we got there nor did we expect to find what we ended up buying. Again, it is all hit or miss, and the fact that we did not come on a weekend probably helped.

We did ask the cashier when they put our new items and she said they do it every week on Saturdays. So expect crowds but potentially more stuff if you do visit on a weekend. 

The drive is definitely worth it, not to mention fun. There are lots of photo spots you can do and the mini displays showing precious items that they found from Unclaimed baggage. Museum pieces include an old book, props from movies, costumes from actors or musicians, and even WW 2 items. 

Take a day trip out of Huntsville and see what else Alabama has to offer

On the way back to Huntsville if you still have time and they are still open, definitely try and pop by the railroad museum to see some old rail carts and engines. Museum entrance is free with certain train rides available on Saturdays. 

We loved the drive, it was not so hectic nor crazy, and with the mountains on the horizon, we could not ask for anything more. 

Looking for more 3 to 4 day trip ideas? 

Visit our other posts for long weekend ideas below:

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• 4 Days in Los Cabos Mexico
• Costs, A Guide, and Travel Hacking Memphis Tennessee
• 4 Day Niagara Falls and Toronto Canada Itinerary
• 3 Day New York City Itinerary (52 WW)