I recently visited Nashville 🎸🏙️, had a great time, and made a list of recommended spots and mapped them out.
If you use Apple Maps, check out this overview map of all the recommendations 🗺️.
I made sections for:
- Sites to See
- Shows
- Restuarants & Bars
- Other Things To Do
Sites to See
The Parthenon
https://www.nashvilleparthenon.com
See website for hours and current gallery exhibits
A full-size concrete re-creation of the Parthenon in Athens. Located in downtown Nashville adjacent to Vanderbilt’s campus in Centennial Park, a large open park that surrounds the building. Parking is free.
There is a museum and art exhibition space underneath the building, ~$10/person entrance fee. Paying the museum fee also allows you to go inside the Parthenon and see the 42ft-guilded statue of Athena holding Nike in her outstretched hand.
The Ryman Auditorium
See website for tickets
The “Mother Church” of country music, this legendary music venue is on Broadway in downtown Nashville and is the original home of the Grand Ole Opry. The Ryman is a National Historic Landmark and still hosts lots of performances.
Tours are available or you might want to consider tickets to a show. Depending on the time of year, there are holiday themed, country, and ballet performances.
The Ryman has lots of restaurants and honky-tonks nearby. See “Broadway Historic District” below.
Parking (for both the Ryman and Broadway Historic District)
Nashville Public Library Parking
We recommend a Nashville Public Library Parking garage that’s next to the Nashville’s public library. It’s about 1 block away from the Ryman and Broadway, and is $10 to park.
Broadway Historic District
https://nashvilledowntown.com/go/broadway
You can walk Broadway or try a trolley tour.
Next to the Ryman is Broadway Historic District. Home to dozen’s of honky-tonk bars. Many feature live music all day, for example, Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge and The Stage. In addition to the honky-tonks, there are several popular destinations, including heritage architecture listed in the National Register of Historic Places: including Union Station, now a hotel; the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, housed inside a historic Post Office building, with an Art Deco interior ; and Bridgestone Arena, an indoor music and sports venue, as well as the one of the Nashville Visitor Center and the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame .
John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge
At the end of Broadway is Riverfront Station and Riverfront Park, which boasts a playground, expanse of lawn, ornamental garden, dog park, and the Ascend Amphitheater.
At the edge of the park is the John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge, one of the longest predestining bridges in the world, spanning the Cumberland River.
Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
https://www.countrymusichalloffame.org
See site for tickets
One block away from Broadway Historic District, or two blocks away from the Nashville Public Library Parking garage listed above. The Museum encompasses 350,000 square feet of exhibition galleries, archival storage, retail stores, and event space.
Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art
Check site for tickets
Cheekwood is a historic estate with extensive walking trails, botanical gardens, and a large manor. The residence formerly belonged to the Cheek family and is a 30,000 square foot Georgian-style mansion. The estate also has a cafe and two gift shops.
RCA Studio B
https://www.countrymusichalloffame.org/experiences/studio-b
See site for tour tickets
Located on Nashville’s Music Row, RCA Studio B is a museum and gallery, which became known as the birthplace for the “Nashville Sound,” a style characterized by background vocals and strings that helped establish Nashville as an international recording center. Elvis Presley, Dolly Parton, Waylon Jennings, and other greats recorded hits here.
Shows
The Ryman Auditorium
Downtown Nashville, depend on on when you’re visiting there are holiday themed, country, and ballet performances.
Nashville Symphony
https://www.nashvillesymphony.org/tickets/
See site for concert and ticket information
Located in downtown Nashville in the Schermerhorn Symphony Center.
The Grand Ole Opry
https://www.opry.com/full-calendar
See link for show calendar and tickets
Another legendary home of Country music, The Opry is located near the Opry Mills mall and the Gaylord Opryland Resort, which features one of the worlds largest atriums, the Delta Atrium, with a quarter-mile-long indoor river. The atrium features a wide variety of tropical plants and is a nice place to walk, shop, and eat.
The Opry Mills area has many options, so pick a show or tour, plan to go shopping here, or explore the resort.
Restuarants & Bars
Food Near Broadway
Many of the honky-tonks have food, but near the riverfront are a few restaurants:
- Famous, the top floor has a view of the river
- Pinewood Social
- Acme Feed & Seed
Fifth + Broadway
Across from the street from the Ryman Auditorium is Fifth + Broadway a multi-level shopping and restaurant complex, about half the size of a city block. There are 30+ restaurants and food hall inside with options from tapas, to sushi, lobster rolls, Mexican, fried chicken, ice cream, cocktails, a wine bar, pizza, the list goes on. This venue has every type of food imaginable (lobster rolls 🦞🍞 anyone?). There is also an Apple store in this complex.
Nashville
Pastaria
https://eatpastaria.com/nashville/
They freshly make all their pastas and pizzas in house. Great Italian food and cocktails.
Bourbon Sky Bar at the JW Marriott
https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/bnajw-jw-marriott-nashville/dining/
Vallet is free for 4 hours. The bar is located near the top of the hotel’s main tower on the 34th floor. It has terrace seating extending past the building’s edge which gives it an expansive view of the city from high above.
Other Things To Do
Historic Downton Murfreesboro
Downtown Murfreesboro has a main square with an ornate courthouse in its center. There is a variety of restaurants and shopping in the squares and the blocks around it, including:
Middle Tennessee State Univeristy (MTSU) is nearby as well. Following Main Street from the Courthouse to MTSU is a scenic drive or a nice walk with beautiful historic homes in Victorian and Georgian styles.
Parnassus Books
https://www.parnassusbooks.net/
A cool locally-owned independent book shop, founded by writer Ann Patchett. If you’re looking for somewhere different to relax, read, and pick up a few books. David Sedaris does readings here on his book tours. They also have a book bus named Pegasus — Peggy for short — which is like a food truck except it’s a bookstore on wheels.
