Nashville, Tn trip
 

So wife and I are heading to Nashville for a late birthday trip (Jan 26-29). Assuming I have time, anything in particular near by I shouldn’t miss?

Need some more information. What are your interests? Plenty of overcrowded loud bars downtown if that is your thing (not mine), but hey it is a draw for many. Country music fan? Visit the county music hall of fame and perhaps some of the museums/bars during the day. Nashville hot chicken is a thing. Try Hatie B's. Centennial Park and the Parthenon is worth a quick visit. Into Hockey? go to a Preds game - great atmosphere for the south. motorhead? Visit Lane Motors. mostly weird overseas stuff.

My wife has been bugging me to take a road trip to Nashville. She wants to visit the “American Pickers” Nashville store.,well as the Grand Old Opry. We hope to get down there this year.
Visited the Pickers Iowa store already. It was interesting, but it’s only about 2 hours from us. I wouldn’t travel too far to go there.

Take a visit to the Franklin Tn downtown historic district. Several nice shops along main st and we had a great dinner at a place called Pucketts, an old grocery store they converted into a restaurant.

we went last october it was a blast. It also was bout 100 degrees a couple days! however, i would skip the opry, skip the pickers its a tourist trap, very few cool things in that store. the building and complex was awesome, just not worth the stop.
we loved kid rocks bar, and brantley gilberts too. but tbh there wasnt a bad bar in the town! there is a mechanical bull ride way down by the river that was awesome and alot of fun for all too. bunch of late 40 early 50s people falling off a bull was hilarious to us atleast.
A must see, in my opinion, is the Jack Daniels distillery abut an hour away. It was amazing tour and learning experience. the general store and town were cool too. most of it shut down at 6 pm so plan accordingly.
we ate at some brazillian steak house in nashville, cant remember the name but it was all you can eat alla carte. amazing flavors. exspensive but no regrets

Thanks for the info fellas. We are foodies who like small town main streets and historic sites. So far we plan to visit the Blue Bird Cafe, the Jack Daniels Distillery, and County Music Hall of Fame. We enjoy ghost tours even though I don't believe in them - they are just entertaining and usually a bit of a history lesson. Is JBP worth a visit at 1.5 hours away? My wife is into American Pickers and has pushed the idea - good to know it's a tourist trap.

Pickers is a tourist trap as far as them selling t-shirts, cups, ect. But it’s cool to see in person the items that you saw them buy on TV.

Hit Roberts western bar downtown. It is loud but the best bar down there.the don kelly band is amazing to watch . We go see them every time we go ( once a year) and it’s great every time

Thanks all. Is it safe to assume crowds in general will be lighter this time of year?

2nd Jack Daniel's tour. Worth the 1 1/2 hr drive. Franklin is a good small town downtown. Crowds downtown are lighter this time of year. Downtown Nashville is #1 bachelorette party destination in country but not as many in Jan/Feb. Mike Wolfe also has a place in downtown Columbia(my hometown) that he has set up as Columbia Motor Alley. More bikes and cars to look at.

As you said, it is a tourist trap but cool to see the items from the show. My GF and I stopped at the Iowa store and the Nashville store two years ago. And yeah, we overpaid for some swag, but hey, it was a vacation! We both follow the show and do not regret stopping in. Parking the 31' motorhome with a Cherokee "toad" was a challenge in Nashville! The Marathon Motor Works building was an unexpected interesting self tour with some of the old machinery and parts on display throughout the three floors and well worth the walking around.

Subscribed. We may find ourselves down there also.

We went to Jack Daniels in February, 1985, on the way home from Florida. Well worth the trip. that time of the year, we were the only ones on the tour. I think the guide was a bit more up close and personal with only 2 people.

Thanks all - we had a great 4 day trip. The Air BnB condo we are stayed at was Nashville’s first five star hotel that hosted Elvis, Dolly Parton,The Beatles, Willie Nelson,Johnny Cash, Frank Sinatra, President Nixon and many more

We visited/toured/ate/drank as applicable below:

Pinewood Social (brunch, trendy but good)
American Pickers TV Store (Free, so worth the trip)
Marathon Auto Museum (very cool place and worth visit)
Historic Woolworth 5 and Dime (cool history, worth visit)
JD Distillery (worth the trip and good tasting!)
Historic Franklin ate at Pucketts (great town, worth trip - decent happy hour)
Musicians Hall of Fame (not bad, had place to ourselves)
Ryman Auditorium (cool history but expensive)
Grand Ole Opry (ok - would have been better to see a show there)
The Parthenon in Centennial Park (Ok to kill time)
Belle Meade Mansion (cool history)

Bluebird Cafe (great musicians, we had seats within arms reach - got reservations ahead of time)


Hattie B’s Hot Chicken (ok)
Gigi’s cupcakes (pretty good)
Biscuit Love (awesome)

Bars:
Tootsies Orchid Lounge
Kid Rock's Bar
Bailey's
Dierks Whiskey Row (favorite)





Lots to do in Nashville - we plan to go back!!

Geez.....you kept busy! I would have been exhausted.

Wife and I still plan on going this summer ourselves.

We always do a lot on these types of trips. I work on average about 12 hours a day and I'm always on call so just getting 8 hours sleep is a huge break!!

Did you happen to notice if the General Jackson boat still offers their three hour dinner cruise? IIRC it was located down the street from the Grand Old Opry.

I didn’t