Trip to Nashville with the Gals: More Than Brides on Broadway

I like to say that Nashville is really BROADS on Broadway. Yes, there are tons of Millennial and Gen Z brides-to-be traipsing up and down Broadway, the main thoroughfare in what many in the midwest call NashVegas. But women of any age can find their fun in Nashville. Two gal pals and I, all in our late 40s/early 50s, gallivanted there in late Spring and had a blast! 

Here are all the things you need to know — good and bad — about getting your Nashville on.

Getting There

Depending where you live, flying into Nashville is no easy prospect. I live in Northern California and it was no hop, skip, and a jump. If you are coming east from the west, it’ll take the better part of a day so plan accordingly. I recommend you stay three nights in Nashville. Because of its Vegas-lite vibe, that is plenty of time to do all the fun things and get out with our liver and stomach in tact. 

The good news is that once you are there, you can walk or rent bikes to go most places. It’s pretty flat with lots of sidewalks. Or you can pedal tavern! More on that bit of fresh fun later…

Where to Stay

If you do plan to make Broadway your centerpiece, I’d recommend staying in one of the many hotels located off Broadway. I’d stay away from ones right on Broadway because it will be loud and boisterous most of the day and night. 

For our gal’s trip to Nashville, we stayed at a very nice but not overly fancy hotel a block off of Broadway called Hotel Cambria. It has a rooftop pool bar that’s nice to hang out at and rooms that are spacious and clean. Be careful though because there’s a Hotel Cambria near the airport as well, so make sure you put the correct address into the Uber app. 

Visiting Bars for Music and Fun

Yes, partying and live music are a mainstay of Nashville tourism. You should definitely check out the types of country and popular music the city has to offer, as it is its speciality. If you are all country music, all the time, Nashville smaller honky tonks are for you. The best ones we visited were Tin Roof, which had really authentic bands and canned beer in a tiny low roof dive bar, and Doc Holliday’s Saloon, which had a spin wheel for drinks and live music that was more singer-songwriter oriented. Of course, there are dozens and dozens more for you to try. In fact, you can just walk down the street and step into any place that suits you. 

Country music lovers should also book tickets to the Grand Ole Opry, which is really unique if you’ve never been there. They often have stars of old performing but it’s very down home and Tennessee. It’s something you should definitely do at least once. 

If you are just a little bit country, you might be more interested in the larger CMA bars, as I call them. Some top country music award (CMA) winners have their own gigantic, multi-level bar., such as Jason Aldean, Dirks Bentley, and Kid Rock. We personally enjoyed the rooftop bar at Jason Aldean’s, but all of them are multi-level and have different vibes on each floor. Dirks was fun, too, and we never made it to Kid Rock. Let me know how you liked it if you go.

If you are not a big fan of country music, there are some excellent blues and jazz clubs you can find. The main area for this is Printer’s Alley, which I highly recommend. It’s a very different side of Nashville that feels more back alley New Orleans than NashVegas. You won’t find many brides and their entourages down here so it has a more, shall we say, “grown up feel.” 

There are several great places to choose from but we did Skull’s Rainbow Room for dinner and jazz. We were treated to a solo artist belting out jazz tunes while we ate a delicious meal. We felt far away from Broadway, and that was just fine with us. Doing NashVegas every second you are there gets, well, overwhelming. 

Having Immense Fun on the Pedal Tavern

I’ll admit I really had to talk my gal pals into this one. They weren’t so sure about this activity.  I had been wanting to do a pedal tavern (essentially a bar with wheels with everyone pedaling to make it go) since a trip to Victoria, Canada. The weather forced us to cancel it, so I was hell bent on having this experience in Nashville. 

WHAT.A.BLAST! You need to bring your own booze on this cruise but you can’t bring wine or liquor or anything in bottles, for obvious reasons. So we picked up a 12 pack of hard seltzers and checked in. There was a woman in front of us, slightly older than us, asking to be driven up the hill to where the ride started. My pals and I looked at each other and rolled out eyes. “Sure hope she’s not on our tavern.” Lo and behold, she was. She and her 6 friends were visiting Nashville for her 60^th birthday. She ended up being a ball of fun as were her pals. We all bonded over seltzers and singing.

Our young tour guide  was hilarious and a safe driver. He put on full blast great tunes from the 1980s (he knew his crowd) and off we went. We had to “drank” every time we saw a dog, baby, or got someone to wave at us. As you can imagine, we were consuming much of the time, all while pedaling and singing at the top of our lungs. But the seltzers are thankfully low alcohol and somewhat hydrating so it was all good. 

We made a stop at Doc Holliday’s Saloon for shots and rode the rest of the way down Broadway — singing loudly, waving at people, laughing at the other tavern-riders and their crazy costumes, and checking out the day crowds. My friends said is one of the highlights of the trip. It sounds cheesy, I know, but it is soooo fun and full of laughter. 

Eating Great Food

We ate very well in Nashville. The first night after arriving, we went to Etch for dinner. It was not too far off Broadway but just enough to be quieter and less touristy. We started with Hemingway Daiquiris, my friend’s favorite cocktail, and we were off to the races. The food was top rate and the ambiance was lively but sophisticated. I would highly recommend going here for dinner. 

One word of advice for travelers who want to go to the bars on Broadway. Eat dinner early, like at 6 pm, because the bar lines get crazy at around 9:30. You want to be inside your bar of choice by 9 pm if you can help it.

We also went to Hampton Social, which was down by the river. A very cute place where we ordered a bunch of appetizers and rose’ — no Etch, but still quite yummy. 

We also did a great brunch stop at Pinewood Social, which was a bit of a walk, but worth it. It was a casual modern restaurant with a bowling alley in the back. We didn’t bowl, but we would definitely do that next time. The biscuits and breakfasts were huge but so delicious!

Speaking of biscuits, try and make time to eat breakfast at Biscuit Love. OMG, it is delicious. Nothing fancy here, but biscuits that are out of this world and gravy that is super delectable. 

There are many other excellent restaurants, including Skull’s, as already mentioned. We didn’t rent a car so we ate at places within walking distance. 

Things Not To Do

Do not go “wine tasting” in the outskirts of Nashville, unless you like grape juice. We went to Belle Meade, a lovely old mansion built by original Nashville horse breeders. We enjoyed the tour, but when it came to the wine tasting, we had to keep straight faces. Now maybe we are snotty about wine, being from Northern California, but the Nashville wines were sickly sweet. 

Do not shop in earnest on Broadway. If you just want to pick up a souvenir, that’s fine. But if you get hit with the desire to buy white cowboy boots, search for boot barns off the beaten path and read reviews for quality and price. Luckily, we’d get the boot urge late at night when stores were closed, so we never made a purchase. The ones on Broadway will rip your off. 

Do not book travel on a weekend without checking the events calendar. You want to avoid CMA fest at all costs, unless you are going there for that. The weekend we went, there was a marathon that bungled up traffic and brought even more people into downtown. Try to choose a weekend with nothing huge happening in downtown, if possible. 

Book It, Dano

The people of Nashville are super friendly, helpful, and talkative. Take the time to chat with them when you meet them. And do hit at least a few country music bars. Nashville is extremely fun, especially gal-livanting with your gal pals. 

Overview

Hotel: Hotel Cambia Downtown

Restaurants: Etch, Pinewood Social, Hampton Social, Skull’s Rainbow Room