If you’ve never been to Nashville, you need to understand something before you even land: the music is not a tourist attraction. It’s infrastructure. 

There are over 180 live music venues in Nashville — more per capita than any other city in America — and on any given night, the person on the small stage at a bar you wandered into might be the writer behind a Morgan Wallen #1.

A honky tonk, since you’re going to see the word everywhere: it’s a bar with live country music, usually cheap drinks, a dance floor, and zero pretension. The term dates back to the 1800s and originally referred to rowdy saloons in the South and Southwest. 

Nashville’s version ranges from the neon-lit, tourist-packed multi-story megabars on Broadway to the genuinely gritty, locals-only spots where the bands have been playing the same stage for 30 years. Both versions are worth experiencing.

The Grand Ole Opry is the most famous stage in country music and one of the great American cultural institutions — full stop.

Founded in 1925 as a radio show, it has broadcast live every single week without interruption for 100 years. That’s not a marketing claim, that’s a fact that should stop you for a second. This is where Hank Williams, Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, Garth Brooks, and Patsy Cline all performed, where rising stars still come to prove themselves, and where the format hasn’t changed: multiple artists in one night, a live radio audience, and an MC who waves his hands so the crowd knows when to cheer.

The show format is unlike anything else — you get 8–10 artists in a single evening, from legends to newcomers, all sharing the same stage. Nobody phones it in at the Opry.

There are ways to experience it:

• The Show — Buy a ticket and sit in the pews. From ~$45–120. Book ahead — it sells out, especially on weekends and during CMA week.

• The Backstage Tour — Even without a show ticket, the tour gets you access to the Circle (the piece of original Ryman stage wood set into the Opry floor that every performer stands on), the dressing rooms used by every artist from Elvis to Taylor Swift, and the backstage post office where active Opry members including Dolly Parton and Luke Combs receive fan mail. You can mail them a letter care of the Opry and they actually get it.

• The Circle Room — For $100/person you get unlimited food and drinks plus a backstage Q&A with the performing artist. If you drink at all, this pays for itself in the first hour. This is the move.

⚠️ Pro tip: Request your Uber before the last song ends — not when you’re standing outside with 4,000 other people opening their apps simultaneously. Surge pricing hits fast and your Uber driver will cancel as soon as he gets someone else in the car. This has happened to us multiple times. 

💡 And if you do get stuck waiting for a cab, capitalize on it by hopping over to the Gaylord Opryland Resort – right next door and worth 30 minutes of your time even if you’re not staying there. The indoor atrium is genuinely jaw-dropping — nine acres under a glass ceiling, indoor waterfalls, gardens, and a river you can take a boat ride on. Walk through, have one drink at the waterfall bar, and leave. Don’t eat there. Just go look at it.

If the Opry is the most famous stage in country music, the Ryman is the most sacred.

Built in 1892 as a gospel tabernacle, it became the home of the Grand Ole Opry from 1943 to 1974 — the years that defined the genre. The pews are original. 

The stained glass is original. The acoustics are, by most accounts, the best of any venue in America. Elvis, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, and Bob Dylan have all played here, and the building has a weight to it that you feel the moment you walk in.

Today it hosts 300+ concerts a year across every genre — if there’s a show while you’re in town, go regardless of who’s playing. The room makes everything better.

If there’s no show, the self-guided daytime tour is absolutely worth it — you get to walk the stage, sit in the pews, and see the backstage exhibits. The Soul of Nashville exhibit has artifacts and stories that put the whole city in context.

💡 Pro tip: The guided tour includes a short performance in the room — a local musician plays a few songs on the actual Ryman stage. Worth upgrading for.

Every bar on Broadway has a celebrity’s name on it and a $18 cocktail inside it. Robert’s has neither, and that’s exactly why it’s the best bar on the street.

No celebrity ownership. No rooftop. No gimmick. Just traditional country music played live every single night by the house band Brazilbilly, who have been on this stage for over 30 years and are genuinely excellent. Robert’s opened as a boot and western wear store in 1954 and slowly became a bar — the boots are still for sale on the walls while the band plays.

The $6 Recession Special — a fried bologna sandwich, chips, a Moon Pie, and a PBR — is one of the great deals in Nashville and has become something of a local institution in its own right.

Locals respect this bar. That’s not something you can say about most of Broadway.

💡 Pro tip: Go early or late — Robert’s gets packed during peak hours but never loses its vibe. The band plays all night and the energy is consistent whether there are 20 people or 200.

Only 90 seats. In-the-round format, meaning the performers sit in a circle in the middle of the room and play to each other as much as the audience. Taylor Swift was (apparently) discovered here. Garth Brooks too? 

The Bluebird is the most famous songwriter venue in the world and it holds fewer people than most restaurant dining rooms.

Getting in is the challenge — book weeks ahead for a reserved seat, or show up and hope for a cancellation spot at the door. Either way, if you get in, you’ll understand immediately why this tiny strip mall venue in Green Hills has produced more country music careers than anywhere else on earth.

💡 Pro tip: Cancellation spots open at the door about 30 minutes before showtime. Get there early and be patient — it’s worth it.

Skip Broadway for one night and come here instead. The Listening Room is where you sit in an intimate 200-seat room and watch the actual person who wrote your favorite #1 country hit perform it live — and tell you the story behind it.

The writers behind songs for Morgan Wallen, Lainey Wilson, Luke Combs, and more play here regularly, in the round, with no amplification tricks. You hear the song the way it was written — just a voice and a guitar in a quiet room. It’s completely different from anything on Broadway and it’s one of the best things you can do in Nashville.

Two shows nightly. No talking during performances — this is a listening room, not a honky tonk, and the crowd takes that seriously.

💡 Book in advance — it sells out, especially on weekends. Walk-ins are not guaranteed.

💵 ~$15–20 cover + food and drinks

East Nashville’s best-kept secret and the bar locals will tell you about with the reverence of a religious experience.

Cheap drinks, real music, and a Monday Night Motown Dance Party that has been packing this room for years. The crowd actually lives in Nashville. The music skews soul, funk, and indie — zero country, zero tourists, zero pretension.

If you get sick of Broadway and want to feel what Nashville actually feels like when it’s not performing for visitors, come here.

💵 ~$6–10/drink | Free entry most nights

Billy Joel played here. Red Hot Chili Peppers played here. Steve Martin played here. 

Exit/In is the best non-country live music venue in Nashville and one of the great small venues in America — a Midtown institution that has been running since 1971 and has launched more careers than most people know.

The room holds about 500 people, the sound is great, and the booking is eclectic enough that you never know what you’re going to get. Check the calendar before your trip and buy tickets if anything looks interesting — shows here sell out.

Chris Stapleton played here. Kacey Musgraves played here. Before they were playing arenas, they were playing 3rd & Lindsley — a 600-capacity SoBro venue that books rock, soul, Americana, and R&B with a consistency that has made it one of the most respected mid-size rooms in the South.

Full dinner menu, full bar, great sound. The kind of venue where the show is the point, not the social media opportunity.

Most tourists never find Printer’s Alley. It’s tucked between 3rd and 4th Ave, a 5-minute walk from Broadway, and it feels like a completely different city.

During Prohibition it was a speakeasy corridor. Jimi Hendrix played here as an Army private. Waylon Jennings and Hank Williams both came through. Today it’s basement bars, live jazz, burlesque, and craft cocktails — the oldest nightlife district in Nashville and the one with the most actual history.

Worth knowing:

• Skull’s Rainbow Room (pictured) — opened in 1948, fine dining, craft cocktails, live jazz nightly, burlesque Thu–Sun in the basement of the historic Southern Turf Building

• Black Rabbit — 1800s-themed speakeasy, craft cocktails, weekly cabaret

• Ms. Kelli’s Karaoke — exactly what it sounds like, exactly as fun as it sounds

💡 Stay here too: The Hotel Indigo Nashville — The Countrypolitan sits right on Printer’s Alley with live music every night in the bar and Uncle Nearest whiskey Thursdays 4:30–7PM.

There are bigger bluegrass venues in Nashville. There are nicer ones. There are none better than the Station Inn.

This 500-capacity Gulch institution has been going since 1974 and is the kind of place where the greats still show up unannounced on a Tuesday. 

Cash bar, no frills, incredible music. Free Sunday night bluegrass jams are a local institution — show up, order a beer, and prepare to hear people play instruments at a level that is genuinely hard to believe.

If you only do one off-Broadway music venue, make it this one.

The fastest way to get oriented in a new city is to let someone else drive while you figure out where everything is. 

Nashville has a few worth doing — and one of them doubles as the best street art experience in the city.

13 stops covering the whole city — Ryman, Country Music Hall of Fame, Music Row, the Gulch, Broadway, Centennial Park, and more. 

Hop on, hop off all day from $44.

This is the best first-day move in Nashville. Do it before you start wandering so you know where everything is and what you actually want to go back to. The guides are narrated and genuinely entertaining — not the dry, reading-off-a-script kind.

💵 From ~$44/person

A walking food tour through downtown Nashville with 5+ tastings of local specialties — hot chicken, Tennessee whiskey, BBQ, biscuits, and more — while a local guide walks you through the history and culture of the city. 

About 3.5 hours, small groups, and genuinely well-reviewed.

If it’s your first time in Nashville and you want to eat your way into the city rather than just see it, this is the move.

💵 From ~$98/person

Two completely different neighborhoods, two completely different vibes, both free, both walkable, both worth your time. 

Do the Gulch in the afternoon, 12 South in the morning — or combine them into one full day with lunch in between.

12 South Mural Walk

A completely different vibe — residential, slower, and feels like the Nashville that existed before the tourists arrived. The murals here are spread along a half-mile stretch of 12th Avenue South, all walkable from each other.

Start at Sevier Park at the south end — free parking, easy to find. Walk north up 12th Ave S and your first major stop is the “I Believe in Nashville” mural at 2702 12th Ave S — the most iconic mural in the neighborhood, 4.6 stars from over 600 reviews. 

Keep walking north and you’ll hit murals, boutiques, coffee shops, and Five Daughters Bakery — grab a 100-layer croissant donut and keep going. About a mile end to end, everything worth seeing is along the way.

💡 Pro tip: Park once at Sevier Park and walk the whole stretch — you won’t need to move your car.

➡️ Open the full 12 South walking route in Google Maps

Nashville’s museum scene is genuinely underrated — most people blow through the city without setting foot in any of them, which is a mistake. 

This city has more music history per square foot than anywhere in America, and several of these museums are world-class by any standard, not just “good for Nashville.”

Quick note on tickets: The Country Music Hall of Fame and Johnny Cash Museum both get crowded fast, especially on weekends. Book ahead on Viator to skip the line.

Ranked the #1 music museum in the world, and it earns it.

32 exhibits spanning Cash’s entire life — from his childhood in Arkansas to his Air Force years, his marriage to June Carter, his famous prison concerts, and the final recordings that defined his legacy. 

The museum is officially endorsed by the Cash family, which means it has access to personal items that exist nowhere else publicly — handwritten love letters, childhood report cards, military uniforms, and a stone wall excavated from Johnny and June’s Hendersonville home.

Plan for 90 minutes minimum. Don’t skip the “Hurt” exhibit at the end — it’s the best room in the building.

💵 From ~$20/person

350,000 square feet. The Smithsonian of country music — and that’s not hyperbole, it’s the actual nickname the institution uses, and it’s accurate. Over 2.5 million artifacts across two floors of permanent and rotating exhibitions, covering everything from the genre’s pre-commercial roots in the 1800s through its current stadium era.

The RCA Studio B combo ticket is the move — you get the Hall of Fame plus a guided tour of the actual recording studio where Elvis, Dolly Parton, and Waylon Jennings recorded. The studio is still intact, and you can sit at the piano Elvis used. That’s worth the upgrade alone.

💡 Pro tip: Go when they open at 9AM — by midday the lines are long and the galleries are packed.

💵 From ~$32/person | Combo with RCA Studio B from ~$55

The most important and most undervisited museum in Nashville — and it’s right on Broadway, so there’s no excuse.

NMAAM tells the story of how African American artists created, shaped, and defined virtually every genre of American music — blues, jazz, gospel, R&B, hip-hop, rock and roll, and country. 

The technology inside is genuinely impressive: interactive listening stations, immersive video installations, and a recording booth where you can lay down your own track.

Plan for 2–3 hours — most people who “just pop in for a few minutes” end up staying the whole afternoon. The opening film alone is worth the price of admission.

💵 From ~$32/person

This one gets overlooked because of its more famous neighbors, which is a shame — the Musicians Hall of Fame honors the session players, studio musicians, and instrumentalists behind the records, not just the front-of-stage names.

The exhibits include instruments actually played on legendary recordings — Elvis’s guitar, George Harrison’s sitar, Frank Sinatra’s microphone. Your ticket also includes access to the interactive Grammy Museum Gallery, where you can learn the full history of the awards and interact with every aspect of the recording process.

💵 From ~$28/person

Andrew Jackson‘s plantation home, 30 minutes east of downtown, and one of the best-preserved presidential sites in the country. 

The mansion, slave quarters, gardens, and grounds are all intact — it’s a genuinely comprehensive historical experience that covers both the glory and the brutal reality of antebellum Tennessee.

If you’re a history buff, budget a full half-day. If you’re not, the grounds alone are worth the drive.

💵 From ~$20/person

55 acres of botanical gardens and art museum on a stunning 1930s estate about 8 miles southwest of downtown. The house was built by the Maxwell House Coffee fortune — yes, that Maxwell House — and the grounds include a Japanese garden, a sculpture trail, a children’s garden, and rotating art installations throughout the year.

Spring is the best time to visit — the flowering trees and tulip displays are genuinely spectacular. But the Holiday LIGHTS event in winter draws massive crowds for good reason too.

💡 Pro tip: Not valid during special events — check the calendar before you book.

💵 From ~$20/person

One of the most elaborate antebellum homes in the American South, built by Adelicia Acklen — one of the wealthiest women in the country at the time, who managed to protect her fortune through the Civil War through a combination of nerve and political maneuvering that deserves its own Netflix series.

The guided tour covers the house’s extraordinary architecture, art collection, and the story of Adelicia herself. It’s on the Belmont University campus and often overlooked by visitors who don’t know it exists.

💵 From ~$18/person

If you don’t have cowboy boots, buy them the moment you arrive. Not tomorrow, not after you’ve walked Broadway once — the moment you arrive. You will feel like a complete tourist in your sneakers while everyone around you looks incredible in theirs, and you will not recover from that.

Nashville is one of the great boot-shopping cities in the world. Before you walk into any store, know this:

• The rubber sole rule: If a boot has a rubber sole, it is not handmade. A real quality boot has a leather sole — that’s your quality test everywhere you shop. This came straight from a veteran boot salesman at French’s and it’s the most useful thing we learned all trip.

• Buy snug: Boots should feel tight when you first try them on. They will loosen with wear. Loose boots = blisters. Buy for width, not length.

• Tariff warning: Boot prices have gone up across the board in 2026 due to tariffs on imported leather goods. Budget more than you think you need.

The Broadway deal store — and the deal is genuinely good. 

Over 20,000 pairs in stock and the math works out to roughly $100/pair if you’re buying three boots in the $200–300 range. Come with friends, split the deal, and walk out with three quality pairs for the price of one.

• Buy 1 pair — 30% off
• Buy 1, get 2 FREE — the real deal
• 4th pair — ⅓ of your highest pair price

💡 Pro tip: Bring a group. The 3-pair deal is where the real value is.

The expert stop — and the one you should visit before you spend money anywhere else. 

Three generations, locally owned, and the only locally owned boot store downtown. The staff will teach you everything — leather sole vs. rubber, handmade vs. factory, how different brands fit differently. Lane boots are excellent and fully handmade. Ariat is hit or miss in the handmade department but generally great boots. 

Don’t miss the bargain basement — literally downstairs, organized by size, steep discounts, and occasionally exotic skins like ostrich way below retail.

💡 Pro tip: Tell them your budget and what you want the boots for — they will find you the right pair without any pressure.

💵 ~$100–500/pair

The only all-women’s western store in the country. If you’re on a bachelorette trip, a girls’ weekend, or just want a boot store built entirely for women — this is your stop. 

The staff actually knows how women’s feet fit into western boots, which sounds basic but makes a massive difference.

💵 ~$150–350/pair

America’s largest western retailer — the Broadway location is two levels inside a historic building with live performances throughout. 

Great for browsing, massive selection, reliable quality – and not just boots. I’ve bought so many cute non-boot items here – hats, shirts, dresses…. Boot Barn is definitely more a lifestyle than a brand. 

Sits right between Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row and Blake Shelton’s Ole Red so you cannot miss it.

💵 ~$100–400/pair

A boot store and a bar and a coffee bar and a live music stage. 

You can have a drink, listen to a band, and try on boots simultaneously. 

The selection skews toward unique and fashion-forward styles you won’t find at the bigger stores. 

Only in Nashville does this combination exist and feel completely normal.

💵 ~$150–400/pair

Once you’ve handled boots and hats, Nashville has plenty more worth browsing — and a lot of it is concentrated in two spots.

Fifth + Broadway is the most convenient. The whole complex is worth a lap even if you’re not planning to spend:

• Ariat — the flagship western boot and apparel brand, right there if you didn’t find what you needed on Broadway
• Levi’s — consistently great selection, surprisingly good staff, and one of the better denim experiences you’ll find anywhere
• The Normal Brand — great basics and elevated casualwear, and they keep YETI coolers stocked with free White Claws and beers while you shop. No purchase required. 
• Assembly Food Hall — take a shopping break inside this complex; 30+ food vendors plus Dolly Parton’s Dolly Wines bar inside

For vintage, Nashville’s scene is seriously underrated:

• Every Direction Vintage — Midtown, 4.9 stars, carefully curated western shirts and denim
• Hip Zipper — East Nashville, right next to The 5 Spot, great for a combo afternoon

Starland Vintage — 8th Ave South, more eclectic and unusual, 4.7 stars

Nashville has quietly become one of the best cities in the country for hands-on experiences — the kind where you leave with something you actually made.

These aren’t tourist traps. They’re genuinely good afternoons for large groups and many are catered toward the bachelorette party tsunami that the city has seen in the last decade or so.

Think of it as a cooking class, but the dish is a cocktail and the teacher is a world-class bartender walking you through the history, technique, and story behind every drink you make. 

You’re not just following instructions — you’re learning why certain spirits work together, how classic cocktails were invented, and what separates a well-made drink from a forgettable one.

Works for any group size and any skill level. 4.9 stars from 234 reviews. One of those experiences that sounds cheesy until you’re doing it and having the best two hours of your trip.

💵 From ~$45/person | Tue–Sun, closed Mondays

Okay, I know we have a lot of labs going on, but stay with me here. 

This one is a custom perfume studio with a perfect 5.0 rating from nearly 400 reviews — which almost never happens. You work through a series of scent families with a guide, build your own fragrance, and leave with something that exists nowhere else.

Free to blend — you only pay for the vessel, ranging from $25–$89. Holds up to 36 guests, making it one of the few craft experiences that actually works for a full bachelorette group without feeling rushed.

💵 $25–89/person | Open daily

You’ve got your boots so you’re all set, right? Absolutely not. 

Don’t you dare set foot on Broadway with your piece from Nashville’s premier custom hat shop — Stetson, Resistol, beaver fur, straw, and fully custom handmade hats built to your specs. 

The staff knows hats the way French’s knows boots. They’ll fit you properly and talk you out of anything that doesn’t work.

If your hat got crushed in your bag, they also steam and reshape for ~$20–50. Call ahead to confirm availability.

After all this crafting a girls gotta eat!

Nashville’s original candy since 1912 — the Goo Goo Cluster was the first combination candy bar ever made, predating Snickers and every other candy bar you’ve ever eaten. 

The downtown shop on 5th Avenue lets you build your own from scratch — choose your chocolate, your mix-ins, your toppings. Takes about an hour and is genuinely fun regardless of age.

💵 From ~$20/person | Book ahead on weekends

Nashville doesn’t market itself as an outdoor city, and that’s exactly why the outdoor options here are so good.

No crowds, no hype, and locals who actually use these places — which means the trails are maintained, the parks are clean, and you’re not fighting tourists for a spot on the water.

If you need a break from Broadway, this is where you go.

Nashville’s best-kept outdoor secret — and one of the rare urban nature preserves in America that actually feels wild. 

4.7 stars from nearly 4,000 reviews. 

Hiking trails ranging from an easy paved loop around the lake to more strenuous ridge trails, plus consistent wildlife sightings — deer, herons, wild turkey, bald eagles, and apparently armadillos.

Named Tennessee State Parks’ Park of the Year. About 8 miles south of downtown, free to enter, opens at 6AM.

⚠️ Parking fills up fast — get there early, especially on weekends.

💵 Free | Open daily 6AM–6PM

Rent a kayak or paddleboard right downtown and see the Nashville skyline from the water. 

Big Willie’s Nashville runs guided tours from Shelby Park — 4.6 stars from 44 reviews — and the guides are genuinely excellent. You get great views of the city, they provide water, and they send you photos of yourself on the river afterward.

Fri–Sun only, 10AM–4PM.

💵 Tours from ~$45/person

These are technically two different things in the same place — and worth knowing the distinction before you go.

Centennial Park is the park itself — free, beautiful, and genuinely worth a visit on its own. There’s a lake with geese, open green space, a farmers market on Saturdays, and enough shade to make it a legitimate escape from the city on a warm afternoon.

The Parthenon is a building inside the park — a full-scale replica of the original Greek Parthenon in Athens, built in 1897 for Tennessee’s Centennial Exposition and never torn down. It costs ~$15 to go inside and houses a 42-foot statue of Athena — the largest indoor sculpture in the Western Hemisphere — plus a permanent collection of American art. 4.6 stars from over 15,000 reviews.

You can absolutely visit the park without going into the Parthenon. But if you’re already there, the $15 is worth it just to stand next to a 42-foot goddess and contemplate how Nashville ended up with a full Greek temple in a Midtown park.

💵 Park free | Parthenon ~$15

At some point during your Nashville trip you’re going to want to get out of the city.

Not because Nashville runs out of things to do — it doesn’t — but because Tennessee outside of Nashville is genuinely beautiful, and some of the best drinking in the state happens about an hour down the road.

Here’s where to go.

1.5 hours south in Lynchburg, TN — the most visited distillery in America, and it earns the title.

This is a real working distillery, not a theme park version of one — you see the actual rickhouses, the charcoal mellowing process, the spring water source, and the original cabin where Jack ran the operation.

The guided tour includes tastings of whiskeys you can’t buy anywhere outside Tennessee, and you can see the building where Jack apparently kicked a safe that wouldn’t open and got an infection that he eventually died from (unverified – just what the tour guide told my husband). 

The town of Lynchburg itself is worth a walk around after — tiny, historic, and genuinely charming.

💡 If you don’t have a sober driver, book a tour from Nashville — the drive is 90 minutes each way and you’re going to want to drink.

💵 Bus tour from Nashville from ~$75/person

45 minutes south in Shelbyville — and the most culturally significant experience on this entire list.

Nathan “Nearest” Green was the first known African American master distiller on record in the United States. He developed the Lincoln County Process — the charcoal filtering technique that defines Tennessee whiskey — and taught it to a young Jack Daniel. His name was erased from the history books for over 150 years.

His great-great-granddaughter Victoria Eady Butler is now master blender — the first known African American female whiskey master blender in history. I met the family – they’re super nice and humble. 

Uncle Nearest holds the Guinness World Record for longest bar — 518 feet, at Humble Baron on the distillery grounds, certified March 23, 2023.

The distillery, the tour, and the whiskey itself are all exceptional but check and make sure they’re opened before you go. Unfortunately, a judge placed the company in receivership after defaulting on loans. In March 2026 — last week at the time of writing — Fawn Weaver filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and the court ruled against her. The distillery may still be operating but the future is genuinely uncertain right now.

💵 Tours from ~$20/person

45 minutes south in Arrington, TN — founded by Kix Brooks of Brooks & Dunn and one of the genuinely great afternoon escapes from the city. 

Bring a picnic, buy a bottle, and sit on the lawn overlooking the vineyard. 

Live Music in the Vines runs on weekends April through October — jazz bands, bluegrass, acoustic sets, and a hillside full of people in lawn chairs watching the sun go down over the vines. If you can stay for sunset, do it.

💵 Tastings from ~$20 | Shuttle from Nashville available

25 minutes south — and worth every minute of the drive. 

Franklin is a beautifully preserved Civil War-era town with enough going on to fill a full day easily.

Here’s what to do when you get there:

• The Factory at Franklin — a converted 1929 factory with shops, restaurants, and breweries inside. Great for a pre-dinner browse.

• Downtown Franklin Square — a genuinely beautiful historic square, walkable, great for lunch and independent shopping.

• Puckett’s Grocery — started as a community grocery store, became a legendary live music venue when impromptu jam sessions kept breaking out. Southern BBQ, live music nightly at 7:30PM, and the very real possibility that someone famous shows up unannounced. 4.6 stars from nearly 5,000 reviews. Book ahead on weekends.

• Carter House — one of the best Civil War sites in the country. Bullet holes and cannonball marks still visible in the original walls from the Battle of Franklin in 1864, one of the bloodiest five hours of the entire war.

• Carnton Plantation — the house used as a field hospital during the Battle of Franklin. Extraordinarily preserved, with the graves of nearly 1,500 Confederate soldiers on the grounds.

• Leiper’s Fork — 15 minutes further down the road and worth it. One main street, a craft distillery, a nationally recognized folk art gallery, and the kind of slow Tennessee afternoon that’s genuinely hard to find this close to a major city. Artists like Vince Gill and Dierks Bentley have homes out here and occasionally show up at local venues unannounced.

💡 Combine Franklin with Arrington Vineyards — they’re 15 minutes apart. Do the vineyard in the afternoon, dinner at Puckett’s at night.

Nashville is a serious sports city that doesn’t always get credit for it. 

Four professional teams, four completely different experiences — and at least one of them is genuinely one of the best live sports atmospheres in the country regardless of whether you follow the sport.

The most underrated sports experience in Nashville and the current sexiest worldwide.

Bridgestone Arena sits right on Broadway — you walk straight from a honky tonk to an NHL game and back again in the same night.

The Predators fanbase is famously intense. Catfish get thrown on the ice during playoffs, the crowd never sits down, and on a good night, the rival teams may even kiss. 

You don’t need to know anything about hockey to have a great time here. Just show up.

💵 Tickets from ~$30

Minor league baseball at its best. First Horizon Park is consistently ranked one of the best Triple-A stadiums in the country — cheap tickets, great food, and a crowd that’s genuinely there to have fun. 

Affiliated with the Milwaukee Brewers, which means you occasionally see prospects on their way to the majors.

Right downtown, walkable from Broadway, and a great afternoon that costs less than two Broadway cocktails.

💵 Tickets from ~$12

The Titans play at Nissan Stadium just across the Cumberland River from downtown. 

A new domed stadium is currently under construction next door, set to open in 2027, which will make this one of the best NFL venues in the country.

If you’re visiting during football season and can get tickets, go. The riverfront setting is beautiful and the Southern hospitality extends fully into the stadium.

💵 Tickets from ~$80+

GEODIS Park opened in 2022 and is one of the largest soccer-specific stadiums in the US. 

The supporter sections are loud, the stadium is beautifully designed, and MLS tickets are still reasonably priced compared to other pro sports. 

Worth it if you’re a soccer fan or just want a different kind of Nashville night out.

💵 Tickets from ~$25

Nashville has turned group transportation into an art form. 

Bachelorettes, birthday squads, and groups that just want to see the city without anyone designated to drive, these are the three worth knowing about.

A bar on wheels that you pedal through downtown Nashville with up to 16 people. 

BYOB, your own music, a professional driver steering while your group does the actual pedaling — or pretends to. 

One of Nashville’s most booked group experiences and the perfect way to start a bachelorette or birthday night before hitting Broadway.

💵 From ~$35/person | Book well in advance on weekends

A massive party wagon pulled through downtown by a bright red Case IH tractor — bull bronc saddle seating, a full light-up dance floor, disco lights, and an onboard entertainer keeping the energy going the entire ride. Beer and seltzers sold onboard. Featured on MTV’s Siesta Key and several music videos.

Bigger, louder, and more chaotic than the pedal tavern. For groups who want maximum spectacle.

💵 From ~$30/person

Nashville’s most legendary tour and one of the most genuinely funny things you can do in any city in America. 

A musical comedy sightseeing tour on a Big Pink Bus, hosted by local comedians who have been doing this for 25+ years. Featured on The Today Show, CNN, BBC, Travel Channel, and ESPN.

The guides perform, sing, tell stories, and roast Nashville while showing you the city — it’s two hours of stand-up comedy on wheels. Completely different from anything else on this list and the one that locals actually recommend to out-of-towners.

💵 From ~$40/person | Departs from Nashville Farmers’ Market