Jasper is a small town in Marion County, Tennessee, tucked along the Tennessee River near Nickajack Lake and the Cumberland Plateau's southern edge, and it is worth knowing upfront that the local Marion County-Jasper Airport is a small general-aviation field without on-site car rental desks - this is not a commercial airport with counters waiting at arrivals. Anyone wanting a rental car for Jasper needs to arrange one elsewhere, most practically in nearby Chattanooga, rather than expecting a pickup right in town.
Chattanooga, roughly thirty to forty minutes east along Interstate 24, is the practical hub for renting a car in this part of Tennessee, with Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport and numerous in-town rental locations offering a full range of international and local companies. From Chattanooga, the drive out to Jasper is straightforward, following I-24 west along the Tennessee River valley before exiting toward the smaller roads that lead into town.
Once you have a car, Jasper makes a quiet base for exploring Nickajack Lake, the Tennessee River Gorge, and the wooded ridges of the surrounding Cumberland Plateau, a landscape of forested bluffs and river coves that rewards unhurried back-road driving. Signal Mountain and the scenic overlooks above the Tennessee River Gorge lie a short drive northeast, also reachable via I-24 and connecting local roads.
Driving is on the right throughout the United States, and I-24 through this stretch of southeastern Tennessee is a well-maintained interstate, while the smaller roads into Jasper and around the lake narrow and wind through hilly, forested terrain. Fuel stations are frequent in Chattanooga and along the interstate but sparser once you head into the smaller roads around Jasper and Nickajack Lake, so it is sensible to fill up before leaving the interstate corridor for this quieter, forested corner of the Cumberland Plateau region near the Tennessee-Georgia-Alabama line.