One Day in Nashville
 

We are going to Nashville for the first time for a wedding (at Cheekwood) and wondered what we could do during the day on Saturday that might give us the highlights of the city. Is the trip out to Loveless Café fun? My husband is a history buff so would also be interested to know if the Hermitage is an interesting destination. We will have a car. Staying at Union Station. We do arrive Friday night so we were thinking we could a couple of the honky-tonks for music that night.

Many thanks!

Mary

We liked the Hermitage--and the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum, Ryman Auditorium, Tennessee State Museum, the Parthenon, Belle Meade Plantation.

I had a blast at the Country Music Hall of Fame - and later in the bars, clubs, saloons along Broadway.
Compared with other US mid-sized cities I found parking in downtown Nashville where the "action" is to be really expensive - anything over 2 hours easily ran up $15-20. I don't know how much a cab would cost from the station, but as you will probably also wanna have a few drinks at the honky tonks it should be worth considering to leave the car at your hotel.

When I was growing up, I spent the night at Cheekwood when it was a private home. It is lovely and the grounds are now an arboretum. You may want to walk or drive in Warner Park which is close to Cheekwood. Be sure to visit Belle Meade Mansion, also close by. Then go to the Parthenon and the lovely sunken garden there. Belle Meade is a lovely area of town to drive around in.

The Hermitage is very interesting, but farther away and may take too long. The state museum and the wonderful state archives and Fort Nashborough are great if you like history.

Google Printers Alley and go there for the colorful night clubs. I would probably skip Loveless cafe and the Country Music Hall of Fame since you will be there such a short time.

Have a great time! I love Nashville.

Loveless Cafe is fun and tasty, but it will take a lot of your day - the lines will be long on a Saturday morning, and it's a good 25-30 minutes from Union Station (not to mention on the complete opposite side of town from the Hermitage). If your husband is a history buff the Hermitage would probably be great - I think there's more there than Belle Meade.

If you do the Hermitage and want another breakfast option, there are several good places in East Nashville (not exactly on the way to the Hermitage from downtown, but not terribly out of the way). Marche has a great brunch, and Sweet 16th Bakery is a tiny shop with amazing breakfast sandwiches. Both of those are pretty accessible from downtown. I've heard Sky Blue is also good, but I haven't been there yet.

From Union Station hotel you can walk down Broadway to the honky-tonks - should take you five minutes. Parking is definitely expensive downtown (though you can usually find a spot in a lot for $10 a night if you drive around), but I don't think you'll need to worry about it if you're good with walking up to a mile.

(Just to clarify - the honky-tonks are not a mile from your hotel! I was thinking more if you decided to walk to the Country Music Hall of Fame. That's probably not quite a mile either, but you have to go south a bit from Broadway.)

Thanks all for your thoughtful replies--I appreciate it!

Mary