Nashville!
My first visit to Music City! Well actually I was there twice over 20 years ago but since it has changed and continues to change so rapidly that doesn’t even count. The locals (well almost no one is really a local anymore - so let’s say if you live there now you are a local) are quick to tell you that 100 people a day are moving to Nashville. And there are 200 more hotels under construction. There are cranes and construction sites everywhere you look. It is truly Vegas without gambling and the country music center of the universe. But is it fun? YES!!!! So much fun!
My running group has a destination race every year and this year was Nashville. So since I wanted to visit Nashville this seemed like the perfect opportunity. Usually we all stay at the same hotel but we discovered quickly that they need those additional hotels in Nashville because hotels are expensive. So then we started looking at Airbnb’s and that worked out great. Big shout out to my fellow planner extraordinaire Cheryl who helped me put an action packed, super fun, and absolutely delicious itinerary together. And another big thank you to Deidre and Harriett for being the most easy going and delightful traveling companions. You can only have so many planners in a group, you need a few that say whatever you two plan is great - just tell us what to bring and when to be ready😊 Energy level is also super important and luckily the four of us have enough energy to power the space shuttle and annoy most other people. Luckily we have found each other.
We arrived Friday, had the race Saturday and departed Tuesday. We had fantastic perfect weather outside of a tiny bit of rain late Monday and an unexpected dusting of snow Tuesday morning. None of which affected any of our plans.
Here in a nutshell are my top tips for visiting Nashville:
Don’t drive. If you drive there find a place to park your vehicle and just leave it. Traffic is pretty brutal and you will pay a lot for parking. Walk or use Uber or Lyft when necessary. It’s cheap and easier.
Stay in Germantown, the Gulch or Downtown area. There are lots of other nice neighborhoods in Nashville but you will be farther away from what you want to do. Most of the hotels are downtown but consider Airbnb’s in the other recommended neighborhoods. We were in Germantown and could walk to so many amazing restaurants and coffee shops and the home was fantastic for much less than a hotel.
Make reservations in advance for as much as you can. This includes restaurants, museums, tours and music venues. Cheryl and I did a ton of research prior to going and we were all so happy we did. The best restaurants aren’t big so it’s easy to get shut out without a reservation. And the Honky Tonk Bars on Broadway which you’ll want to spend a little time at (very little!) only serve bar food. Same with music venues and shows. Book in advance or you’ll find when you get there all the best things are sold out.
Nashville is very reasonable. Outside of hotels which as I said are pricey, we found the food to be excellent and quite inexpensive as compared to other tourist cities. Same with the music venues.
Everyone we met was so nice. This included literally everyone. Uber and Lyft drivers, restaurant servers and managers, bartenders, singers and songwriters. Not sure if it’s southern hospitality or the fact that lots of these people are in Nashville because they are trying to get into the country music business, but we didn’t meet an unfriendly or unhelpful person anywhere.
So let me get to it! First up - all the things we did.
The Race! The reason we are here. Good thing we could get that done first and then relax and have fun. The half marathon for all of us. Superstars!
Kansas City Express runners do Nashville! Winners! We stopped to take a few fun pics during the race. That’s the Titans stadium where the Chiefs will lose to the Titans Sunday….Boo!
Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Spent a couple of hours there. That’s Elvis Presley’s gold-plated Cadillac! Not just gold finish but crushed diamonds as well. And tons of gold and platinum albums.
My favorite part was all the clothing. The top floor is the older memorabilia and the lower floor is the current stars. I remember Kacey Musgraves wearing that red dress for the Grammy’s in 2018!
There is a cool shopping and restaurant area called 12 South that has Reese Witherspoon’s store Draper James. It’s mostly pricey clothing but there are some cool nicknacks like this Call your Mama trinket tray. No worries Keeley I didn’t buy one for you😊 If you have more time it would be fun to spend a half day or more exploring and eating there.
We did spend a few hours on Broadway. That’s the street most tourists spend the bulk of their time on, and where all the numerous bachelorette parties take place. A few hours was plenty for us, and it was actually in the afternoon. The Chiefs game was happening so we went to watch some of it and stop at the more iconic spots. Pretty much every major country star has a place. Jason Aldean, Blake Shelton, Kid Rock etc. We didn’t go to any of them.
Robert’s Western World is a fan favorite. Been there a long time and has live music all day and night. No cover. Cheryl and I having a beer under an intense red light.
Acme Feed and Seed. Four story bar and restaurant overlooking the river with a great rooftop! Lots of Chiefs fans drowning their sorrows😢
Printers Alley. An alley just off Broadway with a 100 year tradition of entertainment dating all the way back to vaudeville.
One of the most famous and iconic places in Nashville is the Ryman Auditorium. We couldn’t get tickets to hear a concert during our visit because the venue is pretty small by today’s standards and sells out fast. Built originally as a church in the late 1800’s, it’s considered hallowed ground in the music industry. It’s where bluegrass was born and was home to the Grand Ole Opry starting in 1945. When they moved to their new current facility out in the suburbs the Ryman was vacant for almost 20 years and almost leveled, but the country music stars pulled together and helped save and renovate it to the showplace it is today. Now it is considered to be a sign that you’ve made it to play a concert there, so it’s a must see on your visit. You can do a self guided tour all day any day for the most part, but if you pay a little more you get to do the backstage tour with a guide and I recommend it highly. You know you want to see the Johnny Cash and June Carter dressing room! There are no pictures allowed backstage so you need to go see it for yourself.
Top left is the Ryman surrounded by huge new buildings and lots of construction. Still has the original church pews for the audience.
Everyone that does either of the tours gets their BiG moment on the Ryman stage. Harriett and Cheryl really want me to stop singing and Minnie Pearl has nothing on Deidre!
I think my favorite part of Nashville was experiencing live music in the small intimate settings for not a lot of money. We went to two small singer/songwriter experiences that I highly recommend, but you should book your tickets ahead online. Not super far in advance - even a week or two it’s possible to get them. What I was told in advance is that these venues have typically 4 to 5 singer/songwriters that perform in every show and that you get to see, hear and meet people that are currently active and successful in the country music arena. The tickets are literally $10 each with a small fee for booking online. The caliber of talent we saw at both venues we went to literally blew us away. Almost all of the songwriters we saw have worked with every big name you can think of - Taylor Swift, Blake Shelton etc. They also have a couple of up and coming singers there to perform and they were all incredible.
The Listening Room. 4 Songwriters top right are Cameron Bedell, Phil Barton, Liz Rose (writes for Taylor Swift) and Jeff Middleton. All except Cameron have number 1 hits recorded. Bottom left is our group with Cassidy Daniels. Up and coming singer/songwriter that is only 20 years old and fantastic. Another singer they brought on stage was Nick Boyd. What a great night!
Second spot we went to was 3rd and Lindsley. Again for $10 saw a fantastic show with 4 singer/songwriters. And one want-to-be…..Me!
Left to right - Ray Stephenson, Jeremy Campbell, Conor Cassidy and Rachel Thibodeau. All except Conor have number 1 hits - Ray with Blake Shelton, Rachel with Martina McBride, Jeremy with someone I didn’t know and Conor is a rising star. He was incredible and only 23 years old. Remember that name! We talked to Rachel quite a bit after the show and she was so nice! Thanked us for giving her so much energy during the show😊
Next up The Station Inn. Located in The Gulch and considered to be the best place for bluegrass. And on Sunday night it’s free! It’s billed as a jam session so no set show, but it’s invite only to participate so great music. Get there by 7 PM to have any hope of getting a seat. And to say it’s not fancy is a vast understatement. If you see a seat make a new friend and take it!
Bottom right is a picture with our random new friend! No idea who but he just jumped in😊 Making friends where-ever we go!
The Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park. A beautiful park that has an amazing area of bells and a World War II Memorial. At the far end is the state capitol, adjacent is the Tennessee State Museum and a permanent farmer’s market enclosed and open year round.
The John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge over the river connecting Broadway to the Titans Stadium and providing great views of Nashville.
Now would be a great time to grab a snack, because if you’re not hungry now you will be after seeing everything we ate. Apparently in Tennessee bacon has its own place in the food pyramid - because it was abundantly available everywhere and pretty much in everything. Enjoy!
City House. The first and maybe only? James Beard award winning restaurant in Nashville. Reservations a must! Amazing! We found quickly that with our group of four ladies 2 or 3 appetizers and 2 entrees or pastas and one bottle of red wine was just perfect to make us feel happy and not stuffed. And one shared dessert - of which I usually ate more than my share…..sorry! Pizza with bacon, trout with field peas, gnocchi, some kind of cheese and squash and a sweet potato pancake over arugula salad with lots of other delicious tidbits. lemon ricotta cake for dessert. Yumm! And in a very cool old building in Germantown.
Post race brunch at Silo in Germantown. Those buttermilk biscuit beignets with homemade berry jam alone are worth a trip to Nashville. Two orders of frittatas and two of huevos rancheros. Very cool place. I hear dinner is fantastic too.
Kansas City Express group celebration dinner at the historic Woolworth’s! Who doesn’t remember sitting at the counter eating burgers, fries and a shake?! Well now it’s entirely a nostalgia restaurant in Nashville and you can get the famous Nashville hot chicken and a brownie sundae alamode. I picked neither but it was still fun to see it and celebrate everyone finishing the marathon or half marathon strong. Thanks to Tracey for her hard work in finding a decent restaurant that would serve 16 of us on a Saturday night! Congrats to all!
Germantown Cafe for Sunday brunch with the Angold ladies joining us. Another fabulous meal starting off with some complimentary donuts. I never turn down a donut especially ones still served hot. Shrimp and grits, strata with grits and a breakfast bowl were just a few of the choices we made, another cool spot in you guessed it…..Germantown!
Dinner at Moto Cucina + Enotica in the Gulch. Beautiful spot and a little larger then the other places we ate at. Cauliflower and brussel sprout appetizers, Branzino and 2 pastas for entrees to share. The perfect amount of food. All delicious!
Earlier in the day we stopped to pick up cupcakes for dessert. Number one cupcakes in Nashville! How could we pass them up! We shared wedding cake, lemonade, sweet potato and hot chocolate. Wedding cake is and always will be my favorite😊
Barista Parlor to start our day. An AMAZING coffee shop. In fact we loved it so much I should post this picture twice because that’s how many times we went there. Super cool interior and absolutely incredible breakfast biscuits with eggs, cheese and bacon or sausage. Nashville knows how to biscuit that’s for sure. And great coffee drinks. Just a block from our house in Germantown.
Vui’s Kitchen came up in the top 10 on every restaurant list Cheryl and I looked at so we had to try it for lunch. Fantastic Vietnamese food. I tried the chicken pho and it was so good! And healthy! And guess where? Germantown!
Rolf and Daughters - the number one pick of people who live in Nashville. 3 appetizers - sweet potatoe with some kind of cheese and spices, a spaghetti squash with farro and broccoli and cauliflower with prosciutto. Roasted chicken and pasta for entrees. The dessert was my favorite of the entire trip. It was listed as sourdough ice cream with sunchoke and amaro - but was over this amazing sort of spice cake. I’m still dreaming about it. And a dessert cocktail called See You Next Year. Sharing is the best!
Red Bicycle was another fun coffee shop right across the street from our Airbnb. Super nice people!
Another place right in our neighborhood. Tempered. When something says Best Hot Chocolate in Nashville how can you not try it! Is hot chocolate ever NOT good?
Did I exaggerate when I said we had great food? I think not! And like I said in my tips - compared to what you might think costs in a nice restaurant in a destination place, we all felt like it was reasonable for the great quality, taste and portion size. We shared all the dishes but it was encouraged in every restaurant. We would ask our server if they thought it went together and we had enough food and they were all super helpful and didn’t push us to order more food. We did make reservations in almost all of the places especially for brunch and dinner and it really paid off.
Our Airbnb pre-Chiefs game with our Angold friends and fellow runners.
Celebrities everywhere on Broadway!
Nashville you made us love you💕
Traveling helps you learn about yourself. I learned I like country music! Life is a journey and let’s all keep enjoying the ride. Thanks for coming along!