odieslove

We will be going to Nashville for our 30th wedding anniversary on April 30th, which is where we spent our honeymoon. Wondering about guided tours such as Grayline offers? Are there any highly recommended or disappointing? What time do we need to get to the honky tonks to get a place at the bar or at a table for an evening for music?

Mama

I would like to read the answers to these questions too. Thanks

Gekko

Be sure to visit the replica of the Parthenon on West End Avenue near Vanderbilt.

Also a drive along the beautiful Belle Meade Boulevard is nice.

RandyK

Can't help you on anything like the Grayline tour, but consider going to the Nashville Farmer's Market and taking the "Trash Tour". It's a hoot, you ride on an outrageous pink bus and the tour guides have great stories for you. We lived in the Nashville area for 6 years. I suggest that you plan to go the Opry, even if you are not a country fan. We came to Tennessee as such but found the Opry was always a great time and we eventually grew to enjoy a wide range of country music. Even if one of the old time country singers comes on, most only stay for 2 songs maximum.

Also, consider a visit to the Pancake Pantry---one of the best breakfast stops in Nashville near the Vanderbilt campus. Also think about taking a drive out to the Loveless Cafe--it's a bit more touristy today (after its expansion and renovation) than it was when it was a true hole in the wall. Breakfast is great there as well and the fried chicken is a real treat. Also plan to stop at the Country Music Hall of Fame, take a tour of Belle Mead plantation, see the Frist Art Museum and think about seeing the Hermitage, home to Andrew Jackson. Have fun---April is a great time in Tennessee!


Tootsie's and other haunts have crowds coming and going, but I'd be at a table by 7 or so to be safe.

odieslove

Just want to thank Gekko and RandyK for the info. Looked up Nash Trash Tour online and know that this is a must tour for us. The hubby will love the cooler allowed clause. Thanks ever so much for the guidance.

stumpworks73

If you are in town for the weekend and can book tickets to the Grand Ole Opry, it's a great show, affordable, and lots of variety.

If you haven't been to the Opryland Hotel, worth the visit. Have a meal and walk through their beautiful atriums.

I would visit the Bluebird Cafe one night. They have a web site that lists shows. You can book seats in advance. Very affordable and always enjoyable.

We visited the museum on Music Row. It was fun for an hour. If you are nearby, I would stop.

Have fun.

Bigal9

We just bought some land in the Knoxville area and flew out of Nashville yesterday. We stayed 1 night at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel. It is a Must see. Beautiful. At first they asked for $179 plus a $20 parking fee and $10 resort fee plus taxes. We told them we thought it was too much for one night. We were about to walk out and a clerk came running out and said we can give it to you for $109 plus the parking and resort fee. It was worth it for them because we took the boat ride that is inside the property and ate there. There is also a light show with colored water fountains moving to good music.
Beautiful waterfalls and landscaping. Plenty of restaurants to choose from and there is a mall nearby that they will bus you to with regular movies and an Imax. There was a neat aquarium restaurant there. Great to even walk through even if you don't eat there. And right across from that there was a place you can pet the stingrays. Neat place.

Billee

If you have not already reserved a room, I recommend the Hermitage Hotel. It would be a nice place for an anniversary. The Opryland Hotel is too far from downtown. I have been on the NashTrash tour and it is a lot of fun; but not a true tour of celebrity homes, etc. I still recommend the Trash tour if you can get reservations (make them well in advance). Just walking around the Lower Broad area is lots of fun. You can walk into any "joint" for good music. Do check the schedule for the Bluebird, and if you go, get there early (you will have to ask them for a time). The Frist Center is wonderful for art.
Have fun!

alarmist22

If you go to the loveless rest. please call first. We drove all the way out there and there was a 2 1/2 wait. We were so hungry we did not stay. But it did look like a great place. Next time we go to tenn. we will go there but call first.

oldbuckhorn

I took the Greyline around the whole city and loved it, then it drops you off at Tootsie's downtown for some great music and hard drinking. I also took the tour to the stars' homes and enjoyed it, though it's quite uneventful until I saw someone very famous in his shorts getting the newspaper in. Ate at the Loveless and was not blown away, but Jack's BBQ downtown blew my mind. So cheap and I could eat it everyday. And in Brentwood (a close-in town now considered part of Nashville) I ate at the sushi place in the Target and Panera Bread shopping center and it was so awesomely good I was shocked.

jent103

oldbuckhorn - you're probably talking about Fulin's. I've heard great reviews about it. Jack White's even been spotted there on occasion, I believe! It's about 7 miles south of downtown, just east of I-65.

I heartily second the Pancake Pantry recommendation - just be prepared to wait in line, especially on the weekends. Totally worth it, though. Ditto on the Bluebird - I've lived here two years and keep meaning to get over there. I've never heard from anyone who didn't love it. Just be aware - it's all about the music, so no chit-chatting during songs.

landrover

Nashville native here and I give a hearty amen to the Trash Tour option. You need to have a good sense of humor and the tour is a little risque but naughty not nasty - more suggestive. I have been 3 times and honestly laughted until tears. Take the cooler, they furnish ritz crakers and cheeze whip in a can. Downtown is great fun although definitely very touristy entertainment. Tootsies is a must as well as the Bourbon Street Bar in Printers alley - catch Stacy Mitchhart there if you love rock and cajun. Other music venues are 3rd and Lindsey for blues and usually the Cannery Ballroom has some names you will know in a very intimate atmosphere. For aspiring sngwritere try Douglas Corner instead of Bluebird. Great Restaurants - Park Cafe on Murphy road or Boundry/South Street for a livlier night. Hermitage Hotel is great if you want romantic for two, Opryland if you want lots of things to do on a resort like property. For a night of cocktails - try the Cabanna. Art - Frist Center, concerts - the new Schmerhorn Symphony Hall, walking historic areas - Parthenon, Hermitage, Belle Meade Mansion. There are lots of greenways for walking or biking - hermitage percy priest (along two riverbanks, east nashville shelby, and two rivers in the opryland area,