Spring Break Travel Guide: Nashville

Being a student at Elon who isn’t from Massachusetts or New Jersey is quite an anomaly. Growing up in Nashville, I never realized how cool of a place it was until I got to college.

As they try to plan their own trips to Nashville, many people have asked me what my favorite things to do are in the city. So, I decided to create my own Nashville travel guide. With spring break coming up, many of you may be headed there, so if you enjoy listening to country music or just want a fun weekend away with friends, take a look at these lists to plan an amazing trip!

Hotels Downtown:

  • The Hilton (across from Symphony Hall and Bridgestone Arena)

  • Omni Hotel

  • Westin and The Thompson Hotel (in the gulch, awesome rooftop bar and restaurant)

  • 21C: a museum/hotel with a great restaurant called Grey and Dudley 

  • The Bobby: a fun rooftop bar

Lower Broadway/Downtown Overview: 

  • All live music—all the time! 

  • Everything is within walking distance.

  • “Honkytonking,” peddle tavern, but beware of the bachelorette parties!

  • Tootsies, Roberts Boot Bar, The Stage are all famous with amazing music 

  • Cowboy boot stores—buy one get two free!

Restaurants Downtown:

  • Acme Feed and Seed, The Southern Steak and Oyster, Etch, Farmhouse, Merchants, Husk, Pinewood Social, Bastion, Grey and Dudley in the 21C Hotel are all great options.

Gulch—sits between downtown and the Vanderbilt area:

  • Virago (sushi), Moto (Italian), San Anejo (Mexican), Adeles (Jonathan Waxman’s restaurant), 404 Kitchen, Fin and Pearl, Emmy Squared, Milk and Honey, Chauhan Masala House (Indian), Mockingbird, Sunda (new Asian restaurant from Chicago) 

Vanderbilt Area:

  • Hillsboro Village is a cute shopping/food area close to campus.

  • Pancake Pantry has famous pancakes, but the line can go down the street.

  • Fido’s: coffee and food pitstop

  • Revelator for coffee, Jeni’s for ice cream, Grilled Cheeserie, and Hattie B’s Hot Chicken

  • Cute stores for college kids

  • Centennial Park: across from Vanderbilt University bookstore on West End 

  • Live music on the weekends with some of the best food trucks!

  

12 South/Belmont:

  • Bar Taco, Flip Side, Burger Up, Josephines, Martin's BBQ, BLVD and PM (all lunch and dinner spots)

  • Proper Bagel (Finally, decent bagels in the south!)

  • 5 Daughter’s Bakery: must-have donuts 

  • Las Palettes: famous popsicles (Bobby Flay lost the throw down miserably.)

Shopping: 

  • White’s Mercantile 

  • Reese Witherspoon’s Draper James

  • Local purse designer Ceri Hoover

  • Emerson Grace

Murals:

  • Many Insta-worthy murals around this area (I believe in Nashville, make music not war, Nashville, etc.) 

Germantown Restaurants:

  • Rolf and Daughter, Butchertown Hall, 5th and Taylor, Germantown Café, and Henrietta Red

  • Monells (You may gain 5 pounds, but you won’t regret a single bite of it.)

  • Kuchnia and Keller

East Nashville Restaurants:

  • Holland House, Pharmacy Burgers, Butcher & Bee, Margo’s Café, Marche Artisan Foods, Two Ten Jack, and The Treehouse


Websites For Further Research:

  • Styleblueprint Nashville

  • Nashville Scene: lists all music venues and happenings

  • The Nashville Guide (on Instagram) for all local businesses

  • Now Playing Nashville

 

Outside of Town:

  • Loveless Café for biscuits

  • Leipers Fork is what you all thought Nashville was 40 years ago… very quaint little town with cute stores, restaurants, and live music.

  • Downtown Franklin is another historic square with cute stores and restaurants but a drive from downtown.

Things to do in town:

  • Hatch Show Print in the Omni Hotel

  • Country Music Hall of Fame

  • Lower Broadway: lots of drinking if you’re over 21

  • Cheekwood Botanical Gardens always have fabulous outdoor exhibits.

  • Frist Center for Visual Arts is near downtown and has changing exhibits.

  • Tour the Ryman Auditorium is downtown and is the original home of the Grand Ole Opry.

  • Centennial Park: an exact replica of the Parthenon with a 40-foot golden Athena inside

  • Bicentennial Mall: holds huge farmer’s markets

  • Take a Hike! Percy Warner/Edwin Warner or Radnor Lake are amazing trails.

  • Nash Trash Tour with the Jugg Sisters (humorous and slightly off-color)

  • More live music: Bluebird Café, 3rd and Lindsley, Ryman, 12th & Porter, Exit/In, The Basement /Station Inn for Bluegrass (Debbie Doyle show)

  • Sports teams: Nashville Predators for hockey and Tennessee Titans for football 

 

 


Lifestyle, TravelZoe Lewis