Nashville, TN

“Music is life. That’s why our hearts have beats” – Unknown

If you love music like I do you probably have a song for every occasion, every feeling, every day, basically a song for anything that goes on in life. Music is a huge part of my life and it will tell you more about me than I ever could. What better place to visit if you’re a music lover than Nashville, TN, also called Music City.

If you like music, a good party and a variety of different foods then Nashville is place you MUST put on your list! There are so many cool bars and restaurants and let’s not forget the musical talent, it’s an incredible city. Nashville is popular destination for bachelorette parties. You can’t walk into a bar without seeing a bridal party, which I think is pretty cool. A few people I met said they were on a girls trip and others were just passing through. My sister-in-law turned 21 so a group of us went down to celebrate.

In Nashville, there is a main strip of bars located on Broadway. It’s only about 4 blocks long starting by the Bridgestone Arena and ends at the Cumberland River. Each side of the street has a multitude of different bars with their own theme. Some of the bars are even owned by famous musicians, Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Blake Shelton, Kid Rock, and (newly opened) Miranda Lambert to name a few (there are so many).

As you walk the strip on Broadway you can hear music coming out of every building. There is always a live band playing some even have a band playing on each floor of the bar if there are multiple levels. Almost every bar has a rooftop patio/bar to hangout on. I love being on the roof tops and taking in all the scenery.

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My favorite bar on Broadway is called The Valentine. I’ve been to Nashville twice now and both times The Valentine has been the place I went to the most. The have really good food and drinks of course! They also always have some really good live bands that everyone loved. My legs were sore from jumping up and down and dancing so much and I also lost my voice for a few hours from scream singing songs with the band. One of the bands playing at the time was Stephen Paul (go check out his music, it’s really good!! Leaving Louisiana is my favorite song by him). I also got some pics, I put them below.

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You don’t have to stick to Broadway to experience Nashville. On my first trip to Music City a worker in a random store we went into said a lot of people also hang out in The Gulch. It’s about a 25 minute walk or a 10-15 minute scooter ride (yes, they have powered scooters to scoot around and it’s so much fun!). The Gulch has so many other bars, breweries, and restaurants to check out. I wish I had more time to go to them all. People say you don’t need more than 4-5 days in Nashville before you see it all. I think I could stay forever and never get tired of it. There is so much to see and do there!

Anyone that knows me knows that I’m a food connoisseur. I love food. All kinds of food, I’m not that picky and always open to trying new things. The Gulch area has so many restaurants that I have on my list to go to one day.

After my last visit to Nashville three years ago, I started following Nashville Eats on Instagram to plan out where I would go during my next trip to Music City. The best breakfast place to visit is The Pancake Pantry. I will warn you, there is a line and they don’t take reservations. The line moves pretty quickly though and it is worth the wait! Trust me! Their pancakes are delicious and so light and fluffy (usually I’m not a pancake person but I loved these). I wanted to take a picture of the pancakes when they came out but I was so hungry that I totally forgot. By the time I remembered I had finished them all haha.

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Just up the street from The Pancake Pantry there is a place called the Grilled Cheeserie. Unfortunately I didn’t get to try one of these mouthwatering grilled cheeses, but it’s been on my list for awhile and I will get there eventually!

Like I mentioned before, there is so much to do in Nashville. While we were there, I planned out some activities for the group to do that everyone would enjoy.

An activity that requires everyone participating to be 21 years or older is a pedal tavern or bike bar ride. I’ve seen videos on TikTok about it and it looked like a lot of fun, so naturally I booked that experience. The internet was not wrong!! It was so fun! We did the Sprocket Rocket pedal tavern tour of downtown Nashville and it was a blast! What it is, is basically a bike that has seats around a bar. There’s a bar tender and a driver (you don’t have to pedal if you don’t want to) and you can “bike” around Nashville while drinking, singing, and playing games. The driver we had told about various drinking games we could play while we pedaled around town. We were having such a good time people on the streets were actually taking pictures and videos of us as we went by which at that time we would all scream “paparazzi” and take a drink. Believe it or not it happened quite a bit and it was hilarious!

Side note: The driver we had for the pedal tavern did his first music video in my hometown! How crazy is that? We live in such a small world!

Another fun thing to do in Nashville that is family friendly and open to all ages was TopGolf. Let me tell you, this was so much fun! When I was growing up my grandfather always wanted to me to get into golf so I could go with him. I even took golf lessons for a summer. At TopGolf, I booked a private party that got us two bays and game play for two hours along with some food. You can choose what kind of options you want and a representative will work with you to make sure you’re getting what you want. I chose a standard package that came with game play and the food was: chips, salsa, queso, sliders, chicken tenders and tater tots, and doughnut holes. All of the food was fantastic! I could have spent the whole day chipping and driving balls out into the arena.

For anyone that has never been to TopGolf before, the goal is to hit the ball into one of those large circles pictured out in the field/arena area. The farther away, the more points you get. Each ball has a chip in it. On the screens in the bay area, it will tell you how far, how high, and the speed you hit the ball, as well as the points you earned.

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About a 20 minute car ride from downtown is the Gaylord Opryland Resort, Grand Ole Opry, and Opry Mall. The resort is absolutely beautiful! There are three different greenhouse rooms you can walk through, dine, and take photos in. Each greenhouse has something different, there’s even a boat you can ride through one. As you can imagine, since it is a resort, you can stay there and have a room with a balcony that overlooks inside one of these gorgeous greenhouses.

I’ve heard Christmas time is a great time to visit since they decorate and light it all up with Christmas lights.

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I didn’t tour the Grand Ole Opry but I did snap a picture of the outside. One day I hope to make it inside.

Whoah! This was a long post. I have so many pictures and I could go on and on about it, but I hope after reading all this you’ll put Nashville, TN on your list of places to visit. It’s in my top 3 favorite places of all time (ranking number 2 if you’re curious). I have always loved the south but Nashville has made me love it more. At heart, I feel like a southern girl. Nashville felt like “home” to me and I know a piece of me will always be there.

Anyone that has been to Nashville and has any recommendations on places to eat or things to do for my next trip please let me know!