5 Fun Things to Do in Nashville

Nashville has gone from guitars, cadillacs and country music to a city of foodies, symphony orchestras and rooftop bars. Country has become oh, so cool. If you're interested in jumping on the Nashville bandwagon and going for a visit, here are 5 things you can do in a weekend visit.

1. Go Honky Tonkin on Broadway
Broadway is the main thoroughfare in Nashville and what started as hole in the wall dives for talent to be discovered in, has now become big business. You can still visit Tootsie's Orchid Lounge or Legends but  you can also honky tonk - that is, go hear live music while enjoying adult refreshments - at Honky Tonk Central, Acme Feed & Seed or Rippy's, all 3 story entertainment venues. And the Bluebird Cafe, not located on Broadway, is the hot ticket of the moment if you really want to hear some unknown talent. But make your reservations online early - or be prepared to wait in line for hours.

Read more about Honky Tonkin on Broadway here

2. Visit Belle Meade Plantation
Belle Meade Plantation started out as a log cabin with 250 acres and grew to be a thoroughbred horse farm with it's famous Greek Revival Mansion. You can visit and tour the mansion and grounds - topped off with a wine tasting - and learn the history of this farm that has served as the bloodlines for many of racing's most illustrious horses. And if you want to make a full day of it, you can eat at the on-grounds restaurant.

Read more about Belle Meade Plantation here

3. Take a Nashville Food Tour
Nashville's food scene is hot, hot, hot right now and you can take a walking food tour to taste some of it's farm-to-table and locally sourced dishes. I chose WalkEatNashville  which was a fantastic 3 hour walking tour of the downtown Nashville area - they also tour East Nashville and Midtown - that visited such restaurants as Husk, Bakersfield, the Goo Goo Shop & Dessert Bar and my personal favorite, The Farm House. I enjoyed this tour so much that I now seek out food tours in any cities I visit. 

Willie Nelson watches over the kitchen at Husk

Short rib tacos at Bakersfield

4. View The Parthenon
Due to it's many universities and being the first Southern city to establish a public school system, Nashville was known as the Athens of the South by the 1850's. This nickname was already well known when the Tennessee Centennial Exposition was held in 1897 and the world's only full-scale replica of the Parthenon was built. Still there today, you can visit the urban Centennial Park and the Parthenon including it's famous Athena statue. You can walk around the building and it's grounds or pay to visit the interior museum which also serves as Nashville's art museum (entrance fee for the museum is $6 per adult or $4 per child or senior)

5. Tour one of Nashville's unique neighborhoods
Like most cities, Nashville is host to many unique neighborhoods. 12 South houses bungalows, vintage guitar stores and the "I Love Nashville" mural made famous on instagram. If you want hip, head to Hillsboro Village - close to Vanderbilt and Belmont Universities - for street art, cocktail bars and hip eateries. Germantown includes the Nashville Farmers Market, former warehouses that are now boutiques and restaurants in Victorian period buildings. The Gulch - a former area of parking lots and railroad lines- has been transformed into a LEED certified neighborhood housing such famous restaurants as Burger Republic, Biscuit Love, The Station Inn and that famous WhatLiftsYou Wings mural. (From personal experience, I highly suggest Jeni's Ice Cream if you're in the Hillsboro neighborhood. Get a flight of ice cream including some of their unique flavors such as Bangkok Peanut or Brambleberry Crisp)

Jeni's Ice Cream in Hillsboro Village

The Gulch

How about you? Have you been to Nashville? What would you recommend doing there?


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