Nashville is a one-industry town, and the industry is country music — but that undersells a city that has become one of the most popular in America almost despite itself. Yes, the honky-tonks of Broadway blast live music from late morning to the small hours, and yes, the bachelorette parties have arrived in force. But behind the neon there is a real city with deep musical roots, a serious recording history, Southern cooking worth the trip alone, and a warmth that explains why so many people who visit end up moving there. Take the music seriously, eat well, and Nashville rewards you handsomely.
When we visited Nashville during a circular road trip that started in Atlanta. We staying on the edge of the city and used the Old Town Tram. For some reason we missed the Country Music Hall of Fame – you shouldn’t. We did spend time in the Crazy Horse saloon but this is now closed. However, with over 250 live music venues in the city you shouldn’t have much trouble finding good music to listen to.
A Little Background
The land along the Cumberland River was used for thousands of years by Indigenous peoples — among them the Cherokee, Shawnee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee, and Yuchi — as hunting grounds and a place of passage. The salt licks and river made it a gathering point long before any settlement.
The town began as Fort Nashborough, a stockade built by a group of pioneers led by James Robertson at the end of 1779, named for an American Revolutionary War general. Renamed Nashville, it grew as a river port and became the capital of Tennessee. Its transformation into “Music City” came in the twentieth century: a local radio station launched a barn-dance programme in 1925 that was renamed the Grand Ole Opry in 1927 and grew into the longest-running radio show in American history. The Opry’s home from 1943 was the Ryman Auditorium, a former gospel tabernacle whose acoustics made it legendary, and the recording studios of Music Row turned the city into the capital of the country-music business. That heritage is now the heart of its identity and its economy.
What to See and Do
Broadway — the “Honky Tonk Highway” — is the city’s beating heart, a strip of bars stacked with live bands playing from morning to the early hours, none of them charging a cover. It is loud, crowded, and unapologetically touristy, and a couple of hours there is essential at least once. For the history behind it, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is genuinely excellent — one of the largest music museums in the world, telling the story of the genre through its artefacts, recordings, and inductees from Johnny Cash to Dolly Parton.
The Ryman Auditorium, a short walk off Broadway, is the soul of the city — the “Mother Church of Country Music.” Tour it by day or, far better, catch a show; the acoustics and the sense of history are extraordinary. The Grand Ole Opry itself now broadcasts from a larger purpose-built house out near Opryland, and seeing a live Opry show — a rotating bill of country acts in the format that has run for a century — is a quintessential Nashville night out.
Beyond the music, Nashville is a fine eating city: hot chicken is the local invention (order it with caution), and the barbecue and Southern cooking are first-rate. The full-scale replica of the Parthenon in Centennial Park is a genuinely odd and rather wonderful relic of the city’s “Athens of the South” pretensions. And a short drive out, the plantations and the rolling Tennessee countryside offer a quieter counterpoint to the noise of Broadway.
Getting There
Nashville International Airport (BNA) is well connected across the US and growing fast; it sits about 20 minutes from downtown, with a frequent bus link. The city is fairly spread out and not strong on public transport, so getting around beyond the walkable downtown and Broadway core usually means rideshares or a hire car. Downtown itself — Broadway, the Ryman, the Hall of Fame — is easily done on foot.
Weather
Nashville has a humid subtropical climate: hot, sticky summers and mild winters. Spring (April–May) and autumn (September–October) are the most pleasant times to visit, with warm days and lower humidity. Summers are hot and humid but the city stays lively; winters are mild with occasional cold snaps. Aim for spring or autumn if you can choose.
The Bottom Line
Mid-range hotels run roughly US$180–320 a night, considerably more on weekends and during big events and football games. Two to three days covers the music sites, a couple of great meals, and a proper night on Broadway. Nashville is easy to enjoy and hard to dislike — come for the music, stay for the food and the welcome.