Five Things You’ll Love & Hate About Nashville
Greetings from Nashville, Tennessee, the home of Country Music! Music City USA is a great place to visit, and it’s easy to have a good time in Nashville. Today, we’re sharing the five things you are going to love, and five things you are going to hate, about visiting Nashville.
Nashville Travel Hate #1: Drunks on Broadway
If you are heading out for a night on Broadway, where most of Nashville’s bars are, you will see a lot of drunk people. It can get annoying when you’re out trying to have a good time with your friends. Nashville is a popular destination for bachelor and bachelorette parties, which can easily get out of control.
Nashville Travel Hate #2: Driving Around Nashville
For a fairly large city, it’s surprising to drive in and find only a 4-lane highway. Most bigger cities in the U.S. have 6-8 lanes for traffic flow, but not in Nashville. Traffic isn’t as bad as Atlanta or other big cities, but you can hit a lot of stop-and-go driving into Nashville. Fortunately, traffic in downtown Nashville is very manageable.
Nashville Travel Hate #3: Lack of Public Transportation
Nashville doesn’t really have public transportation to speak of. For this reason, many hotels offer a shuttle service to the Broadway area so that you don’t have to deal with driving and parking. If you want to see sites outside of downtown, like the Grand Ol’ Opry, you’ll have to drive or take a taxi.
Nashville Travel Hate #4: Feeling Unsafe Downtown
During the day, it’s very safe to wander around downtown Nashville. There isn’t a huge homeless presence in the downtown area, so that’s not generally an issue to worry about. However, as in any tourist destination, petty crimes do happen, and Nashville is no exception. Make sure you lock your car, and take the normal travel precautions of paying attention to your surroundings.
Nashville Travel Hate #5: It’s Not All Country Music
Nashville isn’t just the country music capital of the nation, it’s the Music capital. You can find country music, Southern hospitality and down-home comfort food, but it’s not all about country music. However, Nashville is a hot hangout for hipsters, who are fast overtaking the country music singers in town. This does tend to take away from that “Southern” feel that you’d get in Charleston or Savannah.
Nashville Travel Love #1: Live Music on Broadway
Listening to live music on Broadway is a quintessential Nashville experience. There is live music at all hours of the day, at nearly every bar on the strip.
Nashville Travel Love #2: Live Shows
As the capital of country music, Nashville is home to some amazing concerts and live shows. The Ryman Auditorium is home to the famous Grand Ole Opry, and they get some really big acts that play here.
Nashville Travel Love #3: Museums
Nashville also happens to be the state capital of Tennessee, so there are some great museums to check out. The State Capitol, the State Museum of Tennessee and the War Memorial are some of the great things to do in Nashville, besides listen to music. The Country Music Hall of Fame is also a fun spot, even if you’re not a huge country music fan.
Nashville Travel Love #4: Nearby Nature
Although Nashville is a big city, it’s fairly compact, and surrounded by rolling, wooded hills. if you love the outdoors, there is plenty of outdoor adventure in Nashville. There are hiking and biking trails, horseback riding, and so much more. In some large cities, access to nature can be difficult, but in Nashville, it’s right at your doorstep.
Nashville Travel Love #5: The Food
Being in the South, one of the best things about Nashville is the food. Nashville has a lot of influences on the culinary scene because it’s such a melting pot of people from all over the U.S. So, while the Southern fare is excellent, there are plenty of options to please any palate. (But don’t skip out on the Southern comfort food and hot chicken, the local specialty!)
These are the five things I love and hate about Nashville! For more Southern U.S. travel tips, check out some of our other videos and blog posts: