Weekend Trip to Nashville
February 4, 2023
Nashville, Tennessee is known for country music but you definitely don’t have to be a fan of country music to enjoy this town. I’ve been there several times now and it’s such a cool city and has so much to offer for everyone.
My most recent trip was for a girls weekend with some of my friends. We planned our trip to be from Thursday evening until Sunday afternoon so I thought I’d give you our itinerary and some ideas of things to do while you’re in Nashville.
Day 1- We made our way to East Nashville- this is more of the hipster part of town, which I always love finding when visiting cities. We enjoyed dinner at Folk and beforehand grabbed a drink at the ultimate dive bar called Wilburn Street Tavern. After dinner we made sure to stop by Rosemary & Beauty Queen- it’s a fun bar with cool stained glass windows.
Day 2- We grabbed some brunch and then headed to Broadway to do some shopping and listen to music. Because we went on a Friday around lunchtime, it was very easy to get into the bars to listen to the bands. I highly recommend going during this time if you can, as it gets really crowded later in the afternoon and into the evening. Obviously the more well known singers will be on in the evening but we still heard some great bands when we went.
For lunch we stopped by the Assembly Food Hall, which is right downtown off Broadway. This is a great option if you’re looking for a variety of places to eat. I had to try some famous Nashville hot chicken at Prince’s and it didn’t disappoint. Also, the singer performing in the Assembly Food Hall was amazing…that’s the beauty of Nashville- you never know where you’ll hear some great music.
After lunch we did a little more shopping and listened to a bit more music. For dinner we ate at a place near where we were staying, in the area known as the Gulch. There are some good, trendy spots in that part of town and the location was very convenient to the rest of Nashville. The Thompson Hotel is a neat hotel and while we didn’t stay there, if I had the money, it looked like a great option.
Day 3- For breakfast we stopped by Milk & Honey, which is in the Gulch as well. It hit the spot and we did take out, which was much quicker than waiting for a table. The wings mural is right near here, which a lot of folks like to get for the ‘gram. We only took our picture because there wasn’t a line…I’m not the kind of gal to wait 30 mins to get this picture. Nashville does have a lot of really cool murals though and especially so in the Gulch. We shopped for a little bit more and eventually made our way to Peg Leg Porker for some BBQ. It was great and I highly recommend it. Which wings mural do you prefer (I know my answer)?
The next stop of the day was to the 12 South neighborhood. This is a fun area with tons of shopping and restaurants. We stopped by the Frothy Monkey for coffee and I highly recommend Taqueria del Sol (it’s a mostly local chain based in Atlanta and I eat there all of the time, so I didn’t get it when we were in Nashville…but it is awesome). While we’re on the mural theme, the famous Nashville mural is in 12 South…we had to do it.
That night we headed to the Germantown neighborhood and we got drinks at Mother’s Ruin- it seemed like a great local spot and I would love to go back and try their food. But we already had dinner reservations at Henrietta Red, which was a few blocks over. Wow, was this dinner amazing…we loved our food and we had some of the best service ever. I can’t recommend this place enough. I’ve been to some other restaurants before in the Germantown area and I really like it because it isn’t as touristy as some other parts of Nashville.
We finished the evening off at White Limozeen, which is a rooftop bar at the Graduate Hotel. It’s also known as the Dolly Parton bar because there’s a huge sculpture of her on the patio. It was really loud in there between the music and all of the screaming bachelorette parties so we didn’t stay too long but it we can say we went there now. :)
Day 4- This was our last bit of time in Nashville so we grabbed breakfast and then started our day at Music Row and did a self-guided tour of the recording studios. This was cool just to see where so many artists got their start. We did see some golf cart tours but we were able to just look up the studios and read about the history on our phones- either way works great.
Our last stop of the trip was to visit the Nashville Farmer’s Market. This was a great indoor/outdoor market with shops, local artists and even a nursery. It’s also right near a large state park so if you’re looking for an area to let the kids run around, this is a great option.
Overall, I felt like during this trip we were able to explore both some of the touristy areas as well as some of the local spots, we heard some great music and ate some great food- all things I love in a good weekend trip. Nashville also has a lot of history tied to it and when I go back again, I’d love to explore more of the museums…and one day I’ll get tickets for a show at the Bluebird Cafe or the Ryman Auditorium!
