Natalie0306

A girlfriend and I are planning a long weekend in Nashville for the end of February. Looking to stay downtown and visit the typical tourist spots, then do the nightlife (looks like Misic Row is the best for that?)

Wondering if it’s easy to get around downtown via public transit, or if we should rent a car? Not really planning on going out of the city, maaaaybe one day rent a car to drive down to Lynchburg. If we do that, should we rent the car just for that day and count on transit the rest of the trip, or just bite the bullet and rent a car for the whole trip?

Thank you!

bachslunch

I did fine without a car in Nashville, though I don’t drive these days and am fine riding the bus.

If you stay downtown, you can access a lot of attractions on foot (Capitol Building, Tennessee State Museum, Ryman Auditorium, Country Music Hall of Fame which also has shuttle to and from RCA Studio B, Fort Nashborough, Frist Museum). You can take a bus to the Opry area, to the Parthenon and Belmont Mansion, and the Lane Motor Museum.

If if you want to go to places like The Hermitage, Belle Meade Plantation, and other outlying attractions, you will definitely need a car or have to take something like a Gray Line Tour.

sf7307

How far are these? Would Uber/Lyft work, or too far/costly?

bachslunch

The Hermitage is about a 17 mile drive from the downtown strip area. Public transportation doesn’t get that close to it.

Belle Meade apparently can be reached via public transportation (something I didn’t know at the time). Google maps says to take the #5 bus from downtown, says it takes ca. 40 minutes.

When I was in Nashville, I took a Gray Line tour to both in one session. Spent about a half day total. Hopefully they still do this.

My guess is is that you could get a taxi/Uber/Lyft or the like for this as well.

TDudette

Here is my TR FWIW--I took a HOHO Trolley that stopped at all of the major stops in the city: Chasing Sargent in Nashville

If you google 'nashville bus tours' you will find lots of options.

Have a super time and please report back.

5alive

I was just in Nashville recently. We didn't rent a car. We mostly used Uber/Lyft. Parking near The District would have been a nightmare. I took one bus, fairly easy using Google maps. The bus company''s own website was poor.

One fun thing to note is that the Frist museum is open until 9 pm Fridays. Worth a visit.

bachslunch

The Frist Museum is often excellent, but since it has no permanent collection, how good it is depends entirely on what happens to be there at the moment. Worth seeing usually, but check first to see what they offer.

sf7307

The last two posts are exactly why I love Fodor's. I've never even heard of the Frist Museum, but they have an exhibit entitled "Paris 1900: City of Entertainment" and another entitled "How Photography Transforms Architecture", both of which will still be showing in late November when we're there (and we'd take a Lyft to get there, but it's only a 15 min. walk from our hotel!!). Thanks!

Macross

We rented an airbnb in East Nashville and used Lyft all four days.

5alive

Yes, the Paris 1900 exhibit was excellent, as was the civil rights in Nashville exhibit, since ended.