Follow:
Topics:
North America Travel

Nashville For First Timers

What a Fabulous City

Location: Nashville Tennessee USA

Nashville for first timers

Breakfast at Bisquit Love

Nashville for first timers. Not what I was expecting. What a wild place – crazy, historic, loud, interesting and delicious. Nashville for first timers can be a bit of a surprise though. At least it was for me!

Nashville for first timers

Famous Jacks BBQ on Broadway

My high school girl friends and I went a bit rogue this time in choosing our destination for our (almost) annual girls get away.  Nashville made the cut and eight of us put on our mud kickers and headed out for a country music weekend.

We stayed at the Sheraton Grand Hotel. Unfortunately we didn’t realize how spread out this city is. So my first bit of advice is be prepared to need to Uber and cab it all over town. We spent a ton of money on that – big surprise there. So if you are a Nashville for first timers virgin be prepared!

Nashville for first timers

Visiting Antique Archeology

The Old Town Hop On Hop Off  Trolley was a good investment though when you are doing Nashville for first timers. We bought the first day ticket for $35 and added the second day for an additional $10.  I really loved the drivers of these trolleys who gave us great history, interesting stories all served up with southern charm and humor.

One of my favorite things we did from the Hop On Hop Off was visit the famous and historic Ryman Theatre where The Grand Ole Opry performed from for many decades. The theatre is really amazing and the tour was was interesting.

Nashville for first timers

Historic Ryman Theatre

Nashville for first timers

Nelson Greenbrier Distillery

Also I loved our visit to the historic Marathon Motor Company building. Today it’s filled with funky shops including the Antique Archeology of American Pickers fame. Also on this same block is the Nelson Greenbrier Whiskey Distillery.  The $11 tour was really fascinating and included a tasting of four different spirits they distill.

From the Hop on Hop Off we also found Music Row fascinating and surprising how these famous recording studios are mostly in tiny houses and not in huge skyscrapers.

Blake Shelton’s brand new Ole Red bar on Broadway

The Honky Tonk scene on Broadway in downtown Nashville is way crazier than I imagined. It was Las Vegas with the volumn turned up to eleven. Wild. Thousands and thousands of people, hundreds and hundreds of bars and restaurants and every single one has live music blasting all day long.

Apparently Nashville is the number one destination in the USA for bachelorette parties. Young scantily clad brides and bridesmaid groups are whooping it up on the sidewalks, in the back of rented flatbeds and open top busses and on the cycle beer trucks. Loud and ready to party. Wow.

Nashville for first timers

With my friends at The Grand Ole Opry Hotel

We took an Uber 20 minutes out to the Gaylord
Grand Ole Opry Hotel. This is also the place where the Grand Ole  Opry now has its home. But the 3000 room hotel is a destination in itself. Again I was reminded of Vegas – ornate and over the top with waterfalls, jungles, orchids and a riverboat cruise.

Nashville for first timers

Country Music Hall Of Fame

Nashville knows it’s audience and country music fans are very loyal to this town. Fans can spend hours or days at the Country Music Hall Of Fame as well as many other museums including Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, George Jones and others. Tennessee was also home to three US Presidents (Jackson, Johnson, Polk)and the area around Nashville is full of history relevant to our country.

Nashville for first timers

Corn Cakes at the historic Woolworth’s

I ate a ton – everything from corn cakes to steak, hot chicken, biscuits and macaroni and cheese. Southern comfort food as well as delicious alternatives are in abundance in this town of abundance.

You can spend a weekend or stay a week and still never see and do everything here.  It’s a great town – alive! Nashville for first timers or do it again? So much fun!

Y’all should come now ya hear?

Previous Post Next Post

You may also like

11 Comments

  • Reply Rhiannon

    This is a great guide! Nashville is top of my USA bucket list – HUGE country music fan and would love to visit Grand Ole Opry and Country Music Hall of Fame.

    June 1, 2018 at 11:46 pm
  • Reply Amy Fujimoto

    Oh my, we don’t have nearly enough souther food in Hawaii. Looks so good! Would love to visit Nashville at least once.

    June 2, 2018 at 12:36 am
  • Reply Sarah - Borders & Bucket Lists

    Ooh I’ve always wanted to go to Nashville! This post just gave me a few more reasons to visit :).

    June 2, 2018 at 2:55 am
  • Reply Susan

    Ha ha now you know why it’s lovingly referred to as Nash-Vegas 😉 Such a fun city, even if you don’t like country music. There’s so many different things to do! Thanks for sharing these tips for my next visit!

    June 2, 2018 at 4:44 pm
  • Reply Kimmie Conner

    Ahh it looks like you girls had a fab weekend!! This is totally where I can see my girlfriends and I in a few years 🙂 thanks for the recs!

    June 4, 2018 at 5:18 pm
  • Reply Lynnette

    I have always wanted to visit Nashville. I think it’s the perfect place for a girls’ trip, maybe I’ll gather up some girls and head there. I had so much fun reading your post, it inspired me to want to visit and gave me some great ideas of places to see. Thanks for sharing.

    May 29, 2020 at 7:17 pm
  • Reply Nadia

    Nashville is full of so much life! what a great tour list for the city!

    May 30, 2020 at 6:43 pm
  • Reply Deb Navarre

    What wall is this angel painted

    May 9, 2023 at 9:50 am
  • Reply Deb Navarre

    where are these angels wings

    May 9, 2023 at 9:52 am
    • Reply Laureen

      230 11th Ave S
      Nashville, TN 37203

      May 9, 2023 at 11:36 am
      • Reply Laureen

        I found the address for you on the Downtown Nashville website. I hope you find the wings. 230 11th Ave S
        Nashville, TN 37203

        May 9, 2023 at 11:37 am

    Leave a Reply

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.