The Good 3-4 Day Nashville Itinerary for 2023

Posted: 7/9/23 | July ninth, 2023

Dwelling to the Grand Ole Opry, the Nation Music Corridor of Fame, and the famed “the Honky Tonk Freeway” of downtown bars, Nashville is the middle of nation music (and, nowadays, weekend bachelor and bachelorette events that take over town).

I’ve visited Nashville a handful of instances. I feel Nashville is the proper metropolis for a weekend getaway or a cease on a US road trip. There’s a lot to do right here, a lot nice meals, a lot historical past, musical historical past, and only a actually good power to town.

Right here’s my splendid Nashville itinerary primarily based on all my years of visiting:

 

Nashville Itinerary: Day 1

Take a Strolling Tour
The very first thing I do in a brand new vacation spot is take a strolling tour. I feel it’s the easiest way to get the lay of the land, see the primary sights, and be taught in regards to the historical past of a spot.

Whereas there aren’t any free strolling excursions in Nashville, there’s a self-guided audio tour you should buy from Free Tours By Foot ($2.99 USD) after which you may discover at your individual tempo. It contains 18 stops and often takes round two hours.

An alternative choice is to leap aboard the Hop-On, Hop-Off tour. It covers the primary highlights with out all of the strolling.

Go to the Ryman Auditorium
This music venue is hallowed floor for nation music lovers. It was the house of the Grand Ole Opry (a reside nation music radio present that’s the longest-running radio broadcast in US historical past) till 1974 and has been the stage for legendary performers like Garth Brooks, Johnny Money, Loretta Lynn, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, and extra. The self-guided tour is the easiest way to go to. You’ll get a historical past of the auditorium and the musicians which have performed there.

116 fifth Ave N, +1 615-889-3060, ryman.com. Open day by day 9am-4pm. Tickets are $35.50 USD.

Discover Nation Music Corridor of Fame and Museum
With over 2.5 million gadgets (together with information, devices, pictures, and so forth.), that is the largest museum on the earth devoted to nation music. There are over 500,000 pictures, 900 devices, and even some well-known automobiles (reminiscent of Elvis’ stable gold Cadillac limousine from 1960). Along with the exhibitions, additionally they host reside music and workshops. Even in the event you’re not an enormous nation music fan (I’m not), the Corridor of Fame is price visiting because the style has had a big impact on American tradition. The museum takes a pair hours to go to.

222 Rep. John Lewis Means S, +1 615-416-2001, countrymusichalloffame.org. Open day by day 9am-5pm. Admission is $27.95 USD.

Social gathering on Broadway
After spending the day wandering round, sightseeing, and consuming, you may spend your night time partying on Broadway. The large road is flanked by multistory, neon-lit honky-tonks (bars and golf equipment the place reside nation music is performed), every with a distinct reside act, generally concurrently on totally different flooring. On the weekend, this place is wall to wall individuals and will get actually, actually wild!

Nashville Itinerary: Day 2

Go to Nationwide Museum of African American Music
This informative establishment takes guests by your complete spectrum of Black music in the USA. Beginning in Africa and the centuries when Africans had been enslaved and delivered to the Americas, the displays then take a deep dive into the origins of soul, R&B, funk, and hip-hop. It’s the most effective museums within the metropolis. I discovered a ton.

510 Broadway, +1 615-301-8724, nmaam.org. Open Tuesday-Saturday 10am-5pm and Sunday-Monday 12pm-5pm. Admission is $24.95 USD.

Tour the Johnny Money Museum
Johnny Money is without doubt one of the biggest musicians of all time. He’s had a big impact on music. This 18,000-square-foot museum homes the most important assortment of Johnny Money memorabilia and artifacts on the planet, reminiscent of handwritten lyrics, letters, costumes, and extra. It’s a really interactive museum with numerous multimedia, together with displays the place you may create your individual mixes of his songs, a inexperienced display the place you may get a photograph taken subsequent to Money, and mini-theaters to look at clips of his performances. That is certainly one of my favourite museums within the metropolis and offers a extremely detailed look into the lifetime of some of the well-known musicians who has ever lived.

119 third Ave S, +1 615-256-1777, johnnycashmuseum.com. Open day by day 9am-7pm. Admission is $24.95 USD.

See the Grand Ole Opry
This legendary music venue, initially situated on the Ryman Auditorium, was based in 1925. In 1974, the Grand Ole Opry Home, a 4,000-seat enchanting and intimate area east of downtown, opened. The theater pays tribute to its origins with a six-foot circle of wooden from the Ryman stage inlaid within the new stage, a spot that musicians performing right here revere because it connects them to all of the greats who’ve stood there earlier than. Make sure to take a behind-the-scenes tour so you may see the themed dressing rooms, hear tales about what it’s like for musicians to carry out right here, and actually stroll the trail that performers tackle their technique to the stage.

Performances occur repeatedly on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.

600 Opry Mills Dr, +1 615-871-6779, opry.com. Open day by day 10am-4:40pm (with prolonged hours on Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday). Excursions are $47 USD; live performance tickets begin at $50 USD.

Discover East Nashville
That is town’s “hippest” neighborhood and recognized for its eclectic dive bars, bohemian golf equipment, and unimaginable eating places. Beginning within the early aughts, artists and musicians started to maneuver right here as a result of it was one of many extra reasonably priced locations within the metropolis. As extra locations opened up, extra individuals got here. Now, that is the place you’ll discover all of the locals hanging out (they attempt to keep away from Broadway).

Head to the 5 Factors a part of the district, marvel on the road artwork, duck into classic retailers, cease for some third-wave espresso, and eat on the various vary of eating places (Hunter’s Level is a cool meals court docket with a bunch of various stalls). It’s an ideal a part of city.

Nashville Itinerary: Day 3

Chill out in Centennial Park
This 132-acre park is a soothing oasis within the coronary heart of town, with tree-covered strolling paths, a tranquil pond, and loads of garden area that’s excellent for picnicking on. In good climate, there are at all times occasions occurring right here, from town’s Shakespeare within the Park play sequence to music festivals and movie-in-the-park nights.

The park was created as a part of the Tennessee Centennial and Worldwide Exposition in 1897, which celebrated the one hundredth anniversary of Tennessee’s entry into the union. An ideal full-scale duplicate of the Parthenon was constructed for the exposition, paying homage to town’s nickname as “the Athens of the South” (it boasted an immense variety of schools and universities and had a repute for increased studying). The Parthenon duplicate nonetheless stands within the park right this moment and is now an artwork museum and guests middle, exhibiting 63 work from Nineteenth- and Twentieth-century American artists.

2500 West Finish Ave, +1 615-862-8431, nashvilleparthenon.com. Open Monday-Thursday 9am-7pm, Friday-Saturday 9am-4:30pm, and Sundays 12:30pm-4:30pm. Admission is $10 USD.

Wander the Tennessee State Museum
This museum goes into nice element in regards to the state’s historical past. It has exhibitions on First Peoples, pure historical past, the American Revolution, and the Civil Warfare. In addition they have a rotating listing of momentary displays (which you’ll be able to learn extra about on their web site) in addition to a gallery for youths that additionally hosts occasions for youngsters. For those who’re not from the state and don’t know a lot about its historical past, it is a good place to spend a pair hours. They renovated the displays just a few years again to make them not so, let’s consider, one-sided.

1000 Rosa L. Parks Blvd, +1 615-741-2692, tnmuseum.org. Open Tuesday-Saturday 10am-5pm and Sundays from 1pm-5pm. Admission is free.

See Belmont Mansion
This historic antebellum house was accomplished in 1853. Its homeowners lived on plantations in Louisiana and visited Belmont (initially often known as Belle Monte) in the summertime. The property spanned virtually 200 acres and was some of the elaborate and lavish properties within the area (it was the most important home within the state earlier than the Civil Warfare). After the warfare, it turned a girls’s faculty. At this time, it’s a really underrated museum that you need to take a look at. The realm round it has numerous eating places and bars to discover after.

1900 Belmont Blvd, +1 615-460-5459, belmontmansion.com. Open Monday-Saturday 10am-3:30pm, Sundays 11am-3:30pm. Self-guided admission is $18 USD; guided excursions are $22 USD.

Nashville Itinerary: Day 4

Take a day journey to Franklin
Situated simply 25 minutes south of Nashville, Franklin is one of my favorite cities in the country. It makes for an exquisite day journey or, you probably have time, an excellent higher in a single day journey. Town has a stellar food and drinks scene (it’s the place I found my favourite Bourbon, H Clark, now Firm Distilling), is stuffed with historical past (there was a major Civil War battle here), and has one of many best-preserved historic fundamental streets within the nation that’s full of eating places, bars, and retailers, in addition to a movie show straight out of the Fifties.

There’s a lot to fill a day or weekend right here: take just a few strolling excursions (or a haunted ghost tour), go to the Civil Warfare museum, and luxuriate in some mountain climbing and biking trails on the Natchez Hint, a historic forest path initially utilized by Native Individuals. There’s additionally lots of breweries, wineries, and distilleries within the space.

For those who don’t have a automobile, there’s a bus to Franklin you may get that may drop you off downtown. Or, in the event you’re trying to discover all of the distilleries within the space, there’s a ton of firms in Nashville that provide day excursions. They e-book up upfront so don’t attempt to do them final minute, particularly in the event you’re occurring a weekend.

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I feel Nashville is a perfect vacation spot for 3-4-days. Whereas most individuals come right here to get together, Nashville is a metropolis that’s greater than only a weekend get together vacation spot. Spend a while right here doing the non-party stuff. I promise you’ll stroll away loving this metropolis much more.