We arrived at Nashville International Airport (BNA) early on day 1 so that we'd have the whole day to explore downtown Nashville. For day 1, we stuck to the north side of Broadway, around the Bicentennial Capitol Mall area.
Complete with special exhibits on Johnny Cash and Jimi Hendrix and more, as well interactive exhibits to create your own music. Easily can spend two or more hours here if you're into music history or music production.
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Make your way over to the State Capitol, which is overall a nice area with great views of the city. You'll also find the resting place of President James Polk and several historical monuments / statues on the property.
walk through and around the grounds - you can walk directly through to the Bicentennial Mall.
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For lunch, head to the farmer's market by walking through the Bicentennial Mall. There will probably be live music, but definitely will be great food and drinks. Make sure to see the food trucks and vendors outside too.
In the evenings while you're here, try to catch a show, perhaps at one of the historical auditoriums, like Ryman Auditorium, or another local venue. While here, we also passed an ongoing ghost tour stopping at Ryman Auditorium, which could also be a fun evening activity. My friend and I hung out in East Nashville at a bar called No Quarter before a concert, and had some outstanding hot chicken in the parking lot.
so the whole point of the name "No Quarter" is that the pinball machines only take tokens you get at the bar, no quarters. My friend and I spent an embarrassing amount of time trying to get them to work with quarters.
When in Nashville, we had to witness the famous Grand Ole Opry and Opryland Resort in person. I wasn't sure what to expect, but the resort was shockingly incredible - it felt like walking through an indoor theme park like Disneyland.
A truly incredible resort to visit, even if you aren't staying here. Make sure to check out the indoor river where you can take a riverboat tour and see the numerous waterfalls in the property. You'll easily spend a couple hours here.
Visit their website to look for open tours. Most days (incl Sundays) are open, minus show days.
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In the afternoon, we had planned to go to the Frist Art Museum and nearby food spots, but ended up seeing the United States women's national team take on Japan in the SheBelieves Cup. Here are the spots we had originally planned to visit during the afternoon.
Just happened to stumble upon this coffeeshop around the corner. I tried their butterscotch and peppercorn latte, which I was doubtful of at first, but definitely grew on me.
Finally, we reserved one evening for some good Southern barbecue and experiencing the nightlife (which seemed to start at 3pm most days, honestly). While there are many many options (maybe better options) farther out from downtown, we opted for Jack's so that we could stay close to the main spots on Broadway.
Might've been the tourist-y place to grab BBQ but it's ok because it was good! Definitely get here on the earlier side, friend and I got here at 7p and they were almost out of all the sides.
Outstanding dessert place if you're looking for a place to hang out near Broadway that isn't a bar. They've got a half pound cookie, which I would highly recommend!
here's a neighborhood south of broadway that we were thinking of visiting. Turns out there's a hat store there that Sue Bird / Megan Rapinoe visited before the soccer match we went to, so we really should've gone
a must-see if you're a fan of country music. warning: we faced a long line to buy tickets and enter the museum when we visited. Try to get there before 10:30a if you're planning to visit in the morning on a weekend!
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Hattie B's Hot Chicken - Nashville - Lower Broadway
this is another hot chicken place we were thinking of, but we got hot chicken in a random parking lot instead. There was always a line out the door here
family style (with other parties) soul food! I wish we got the chance to go, but I wasn't sure on the idea of eating with strangers. Apparently the food here is really really good though
