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Nashville, TNBy Last checked

Plan a trip to Nashville

Broadway carries the nights and the neighborhoods carry the days. It always does. Groups do best booking one good dinner and letting everything else stay loose, since the plan will have changed by Saturday afternoon regardless.

  • Bachelorette parties
  • Group trips
  • Music
  • Weekend getaways
Trip length

Free to run, and you keep editing after. Add who's coming or a pace like “slow mornings” to shape the result.

Nashville at a glance

How long do you need? 3 to 4 days is what most people give Nashville, and what follows is the four stops worth building a plan around, Broadway honky-tonks first among them, plus the three neighborhoods worth comparing before you book a room. All of it turns into a map you can edit.

How long
3–4 days
When to go
April to early June, then September to October. July is humid. Downtown fills for CMA Fest in June and every home football weekend, which is when the rooms go first and the pedal taverns multiply.
Getting around
Broadway, the Gulch, and SoBro connect on foot, so the only rideshares you need are for East Nashville and 12 South. Pedal taverns are a Broadway fixture and move slowly by design.

What to build the plan around

  1. 1

    Broadway honky-tonks

    Live music on three floors from mid-afternoon, free to walk into, though it is busiest on Friday and Saturday nights.

  2. 2

    Ryman Auditorium

    Tour it during the day or catch a show, because that room is the reason Nashville sounds like Nashville.

  3. 3

    Country Music Hall of Fame

    Two hours well spent, and the indoor plan when you get rained on.

  4. 4

    12 South

    A walkable strip of coffee and shops, which is also where the murals every group photographs are.

Where to stay in Nashville

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The Gulch
A walk to Broadway without sleeping over it, and good dinner options downstairs when you get back.
Browse stays in The Gulch
East Nashville
Where the food is, five minutes by car, and a different crowd once you are over there.
Browse stays in East Nashville
SoBro
Closest to the honky-tonks and the arena, loud and convenient, though it is priced accordingly.
Browse stays in SoBro
Browse stays in Nashville

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More itineraries to copy

Each one opens as a map with every stop already placed.

Nashville planning questions

How many days do you need in Nashville?
Plan on 3 to 4 days, though how you split them matters more than the total. Three days is the standard bachelorette shape: arrive Friday, one big Saturday, brunch Sunday. Four adds a Franklin afternoon or a distillery day, and the distillery version travels better when you are nursing a hangover.
What is the best time to visit Nashville?
April to early June, then September to October. July is humid. Downtown fills for CMA Fest in June and every home football weekend, which is when the rooms go first and the pedal taverns multiply.
Where should I stay in Nashville?
Three areas cover most trips in Nashville, since where you sleep decides how much of the day you spend in transit. The Gulch: A walk to Broadway without sleeping over it, and good dinner options downstairs when you get back. East Nashville: Where the food is, five minutes by car, and a different crowd once you are over there. SoBro: Closest to the honky-tonks and the arena, loud and convenient, though it is priced accordingly. If you want one answer without weighing it up, book The Gulch and stop reading.
How do you get around Nashville?
Broadway, the Gulch, and SoBro connect on foot, so the only rideshares you need are for East Nashville and 12 South. Pedal taverns are a Broadway fixture and move slowly by design.
What should I see first in Nashville?
Go to Broadway honky-tonks early in the trip, before the days start filling up with things you booked later. Live music on three floors from mid-afternoon, free to walk into, though it is busiest on Friday and Saturday nights. The other three stops can go in whatever order the map makes easy, since none of them depends on the others.
Is there a free Nashville itinerary I can copy?
There is one on Arriv for Nashville, mapped stop by stop, with a suggested order for each day. Reading it costs nothing, though you will want your own copy once the dates are real. Copy it into a trip of your own to move things around, drop what you would skip, and send the result to whoever is coming.

Tools for a Nashville trip

Bachelorette PlannerPick your city and get a bachelorette weekend already mapped: the brunch, the pool afternoon, the night out. Change any of it, then send one link, because the whole group should be looking at the same weekend.Group Trip PlannerOne link, one map, everybody editing. Suggestions from six people land in the same place, votes settle the arguments, and the plan is current whenever somebody opens it, since everyone is working on the same copy.Weekend Trip PlannerTwo and a half days is the real budget, whatever the calendar says. Arriv builds to it: one anchor a day, food near where you already are, and Sunday left loose enough to catch a flight.AI Trip PlannerSay where you're going and how long you have. Arriv comes back with a day-by-day itinerary on a map, ordered around the walking, since crossing town twice before lunch eats the morning. Swap places, add your own, send it to whoever is coming.

Questions worth answering first

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