Nashville

Hot chicken, honky-tonks, and hushed songwriter rooms — the local picks for eating, exploring, and staying in Music City.

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Nashville is one of the most rewarding US cities to explore, and this local guide brings together the best things to do, where to eat and where to stay in one place. Highlights include the honky-tonks of Lower Broadway, the Country Music Hall of Fame and the historic Ryman Auditorium, with hot chicken and live music around almost every corner. Below you will find a set of hand-picked local recommendations across sights, restaurants, hotels and tours, which you can filter by category and budget to plan the perfect trip, whether you have a weekend or a week.

Nashville at a glance

Ideal stay: 2 to 3 days
Best time to visit: spring and fall
Highlights: Lower Broadway and the Country Music Hall of Fame
Where to stay: Downtown or The Gulch
Local picks: hand-chosen recommendations
Getting around: walkable downtown, plus rideshare

Where to stay in Nashville

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Downtown / East Bank

John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge

This former truss bridge, once the Shelby Street Bridge, is now one of the longest pedestrian bridges in the world and the best free skyline view in town. Walk across for downtown panoramas on one sid

Downtown

Johnny Cash Museum

Compact but deeply satisfying, this downtown museum holds the largest collection of Johnny Cash artifacts anywhere, from stage costumes and letters to a wall salvaged from his lakeside home that burne

Downtown / The Gulch

Joyride Nashville

Joyride runs open-air electric golf-cart tours that zip you between music landmarks and neighborhoods you’d otherwise never reach on foot in the heat. Guides narrate the stops, and it’s an easy, breez

Downtown

Nashville Adventures Walking Tours

A local operator running an ever-changing lineup of walking and small-group experiences, from music history to ghost and history-focused strolls around downtown. It’s a good way to get beyond the honk

Germantown

Nashville Farmers’ Market

Open year-round beside Bicentennial Mall, this market combines open-air farm sheds with a Market House food hall and locally owned shops. It’s where you can pick up Tennessee produce, then grab lunch

Downtown

National Museum of African American Music

The only museum dedicated solely to the African American roots of American music, NMAAM traces gospel, blues, jazz, R&B and hip-hop through more than fifty genres. Interactive stations let you sing in

Downtown / Printers Alley

Noelle

Noelle turns a restored 1930 Art Deco office building near Printers Alley into a boutique hotel full of local touches, including a lobby marketplace, a basement bar and the Rare Bird rooftop lounge. T

Green Hills

Parnassus Books

Why it matters: Parnassus is a beloved independent bookstore co-owned by novelist Ann Patchett, who opened it to give Nashville a locally owned bookshop after the chains left. Staff picks are thoughtf

SoBro

Placemakr Premier SoBro

Placemakr Premier SoBro offers apartment-style suites with full kitchens in a SoBro high-rise, plus a pool and flexible stay lengths. It’s a smart middle ground between a hotel and

South Nashville

Prince’s Hot Chicken

Why it matters: Prince’s is the original Nashville hot chicken, a Black-owned business that has stayed in the Prince family for generations, now led by matriarch Andre Prince Jeffries. The recipe trac

Oak Hill

Radnor Lake State Natural Area

Just fifteen minutes from downtown, Radnor Lake is the city’s beloved wildlife escape, with quiet trails around a still lake where you can spot herons, otters, owls and white-tailed deer. The paved Ot

Broadway / Downtown

Robert’s Western World

If you only do one honky-tonk on Broadway, make it Robert’s, where the bands still play real traditional country and Western swing instead of Top 40 covers. It started as a boot shop, so the wall is l

Downtown

Ryman Auditorium

Known as the ‘Mother Church of Country Music,’ the Ryman was the longtime home of the Grand Ole Opry and remains one of the finest-sounding rooms in America. By day you can take a self-guided or backs

Wedgewood-Houston

Santa’s Pub

Santa’s Pub is a year-round Christmas-decorated karaoke dive inside a double-wide trailer, run for decades by a Santa-bearded owner and beloved for its come-as-you-are crowd. It’s cash only, cheap, an

East Nashville

Shelby Park & Bottoms Greenway

This sprawling East Nashville park pairs a classic city park with the Shelby Bottoms Greenway, miles of paved and natural trails along the Cumberland River. It’s where East-siders run, bike, birdwatch

North Nashville

Slim & Husky’s

Why it matters: Slim & Husky’s is a Black-owned pizza ‘beeria’ started by three Tennessee State University friends who chose to build in North Nashville and invest in their own community. The made-to-

★ 4.6

The Gulch

Station Inn

A low-slung stone building surrounded by the glossy Gulch, Station Inn has been Nashville’s home of bluegrass since 1974 and refuses to change. The room is unpretentious, the picking is world-class, a

Green Hills

The Bluebird Cafe

Tucked in a Green Hills strip mall, the tiny Bluebird is where Nashville’s songwriters play their own hits ‘in the round,’ and where the audience is genuinely expected to hush and listen. It’s an inti

Before you go

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Book your trip to Nashville

Find the best hotels and book tours and experiences, all in one place.

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Nashville travel FAQ

How many days do you need in Nashville?

Two to three days is enough to see Nashville’s highlights at a relaxed pace, with time for live music most evenings.

Where is the best area to stay in Nashville?

Downtown and The Gulch keep you within walking distance of Broadway, the honky-tonks and the main sights.

What are the best things to do in Nashville?

Browse the local picks above, from live-music venues and the Country Music Hall of Fame to where to eat and stay.

What is the best time to visit Nashville?

Spring and fall usually bring the most comfortable weather and thinner crowds, though Nashville is worth visiting year-round.