Route 47 begins at Route 116 in South Hadley near the northwest corner of the Mount Holyoke College campus.

It heads northwestward towards the southwest corner of Hadley, crossing into that town near the Hockanum Flat, a bend in the Connecticut River.

It then follows within half a mile of the river before turning onto Middle Street, crossing through the town center and intersecting Route 9 just over a mile east of the Calvin Coolidge Bridge into Northampton.

Route 47 turns right when Middle Street meets the river again, following the river's path into the North Hadley section of town, passing the Porter-Phelps-Huntington House and the North Hadley Sugar Shack along the way.

In Sunderland it continues along the east banks of the river, intersecting Route 116 once more in that town's center, just east of the Sunderland Bridge.