Travel in Nashville The Country Music Capital

♦ Routes (free): Detailed travel itineraries in USA

 

Nashville, the capital of Tennessee, is nicknamed "Music City" and is considered the "Country Music Capital" of the USA. Country music is undoubtedly the highlight of a visit there, but the city offers many other musical styles, from blues and jazz to pop, hip-hop, and gospel. On a single street known as "Music Row," there are more than 120 recording studios, the most historic and famous of which is Studio B, where America's greatest singers recorded most of their songs. The most famous of all is Elvis Presley, who recorded more than 200 songs in Studio B! Although Elvis is identified with Memphis, where he grew up and where his estate "Graceland" is located Graceland, where he is also buried, he recorded most of his songs in Nashville (located about a 3-hour drive east of Memphis).

 

 

Admission Tickets and Guided Tours in Nashville:

 From GetYourGuide.com:

From Viator:

For music lovers, Nashville is a must-see destination. It has more than 120 clubs and restaurants offering live music at least 4 times a week. In many of them, you can hear live music throughout the day and not just in the evening.

Any club, bar, or dance hall in the city offering live country music is called "Honky Tonks." Many of them offer live country music shows 365 days a year.

The most recommended clubs of all, in the city center, are:

Robert’s Western World, Tootsies Orchid Lounge, Paradise Park, The Stage, and Legends Corner

The most popular of all is Bluebird Cafe (in Green Hills) – a small club with a restaurant where many famous singers started their artistic career.

You should start the visit to Nashville in "The DISTRICT" district, a complex whose buildings house designer shops and restaurants, as well as pubs and clubs in the basements, including Wildhorse Saloon, from which many shows were broadcast on the Nashville Network TV.

 

 

 

Two blocks south of Commerce St, one of the main streets in the district, is Printers Alley

Printers Alley, a narrow paved alley that has served as a nightlife center since the 1940s.

Many of the city's popular tourist sites are of course related to music:

 

Country Music Hall of Fame

♦ Buy a combined admission ticket to the Hall of Fame and a guided tour of Studio B from the Viator website:

Nashville's RCA Studio B & Country Music Hall of Fame Admission Ticket Combo

 

The number one tourist site in the city is the Country Music Hall of Fame, a massive interactive museum dedicated entirely to country music, its creators, and its singers from its beginnings to the present day. The museum features performance costumes, musical instruments, records, awards, and a wealth of accessories from great singers, including their cars. While taking a self-guided tour of the museum, you can listen to historical recordings and watch numerous videos. The museum is housed in an impressive, designer building whose windows resemble piano keys.

 

 

Recording Studio - Studio B

It is recommended to purchase (in advance!) a combined ticket for the Hall of Fame, an audio guide there, and a guided tour of about an hour that departs from it to Studio B (located on Music Row), the historic RCA recording studio. During the fascinating guided tour, you will learn a lot about the great singers who recorded there (led of course by Elvis Presley, but also Dolly Parton, Don Gibson, and many others).

More than 35,000 songs were recorded in these studios, including more than 1,000 American hits, and during the tour, you will hear snippets of the most famous hits.

 

 

Historic Printing House

In the Hall of Fame building behind the massive gift shop is another important tourist site (admission to which is free): Hatch Show Print, a historic printing house, considered one of the first in the USA, where show posters and album covers for the great singers who visited the city were printed. The printing house is still active today. You can see how they printed before the digital era and smell the ink.

 

 

Performance Halls

It is recommended to also take a guided tour of two halls in the city. Both gained fame and success thanks to a music show called "Grand Ole Opry" - this is the radio program that has been broadcast continuously for the longest time of all radio programs in the USA. The first broadcast was in November 1925. The program is a live broadcast of a country show and is considered an American icon. Great singers have participated and continue to participate in the show. Today, the show is broadcast simultaneously on more than two hundred radio stations across the USA.

Ryman Auditorium

The first hall, where you can take a self-guided or guided tour (at the beginning of the tour is a lovely movie!) located in the city center is Ryman Auditorium – the hall was originally built as a church but became the home of the "Grand Ole Opry" for 31 years. The historic hall has been renovated and is still active today, and it is also an experience (in addition to the daytime tour) to watch one of the many music shows held there in the evening.

 

 

The New Hall - Grand Ole Opry House

 Order a backstage tour of the Grand Ole Opry from the Viator website:

Grand Ole Opry House Guided Backstage Tour in Nashville

 

The newer hall where it is highly recommended to take a "backstage tour" (available only as a recommended guided tour including videos and surprises) is Grand Ole Opry House. it was built specifically to host the "Grand Ole Opry" show after it was decided in the late 1960s that the popular show needed a more modern and larger hall than the veteran Ryman Auditorium.

In 1974, Richard Nixon, then President of the USA, inaugurated the impressive new hall where "Grand Ole Opry" shows are still held every week during most months of the year, in addition to other musical productions. The tour includes a visit backstage, inside the hall, and to the diverse and impressive dressing rooms of the singers.

It is recommended to watch one of the shows held there in addition to the tour.

 

 

 

Adjacent to the hall is a large shopping and entertainment center called Opry Mills.

Special Opryland Hotel

Adjacent to the hall is also the largest and most impressive hotel in the city, belonging to the Marriott chain, which also has a massive convention center: Opryland Hotel. It features vast, well-maintained, and magnificent indoor tropical gardens including a flowing river and waterfalls over 13 meters high. The gardens span an area of over 36 dunams!

The hotel has an impressive selection of designed, high-quality restaurants and also a shopping center integrated into the gardens.

 

 

Even for those who cannot afford to stay in the luxury hotel, it is a tourist site that should not be missed! It is recommended to visit it during the day and after dark, when the gardens, waterfalls, and rivers are illuminated with numerous lights and a musical fountain show is held.

 

 

Gardens and Parks

Lovers of gardens and parks will enjoy Nashville immensely. In addition to the gardens of the Opryland Hotel, the city has recommended botanical gardens that house the city's art museum: Cheekwood Botanical Gardens & Museum of Art

Another large park in the heart of the city is Centennial Park – in this park spanning over 530 dunams, there is a lake, a walking trail, and numerous statues, but its highlight is a perfect, one-to-one replica (the only one in the world) of the ancient Greek Parthenon The Parthenon built in the park as early as 1897, housing an art museum.

 

 

Did you know?  The tallest building in Nashville (also considered the tallest in the entire state of Tennessee) AT&T building is nicknamed "the Batman building" because of its two highest points which resemble bat ears.

 

 

Nashville also has a very nice Zoo most famous for its recommended "meerkat" habitat and its "Gibbon Island."

Bicycle Tour

Order from the Viator website:

♦ Guided bicycle tour in central Nashville:

Downtown Nashville's Hidden Gems E-bike Tour

A recommended way to tour the "green lung" of the city and combine sport, nature, and culture is with a bicycle tour. You can take a guided tour or rent bicycles at Two Rivers Park near Opryland Resort and from there go for a leisurely ride in the gardens along the river, across bridges until you reach the city center.

 

 

Houses and Estates

Nashville offers a selection of historic houses and estates that can be visited. It is especially recommended to take a guided tour of the Belle Meade Plantation estate and gardens which was famous for breeding racehorses. During the tour of the estate founded in 1845, you will go back in time to the days of slavery and learn how several generations of the same family and their slaves lived and conducted themselves. At the end of the tour, you visit the winery and taste several wines produced on-site.

 

 

Another interesting building to visit is The Hermitage which was the home of US President Andrew Jackson, a native and resident of Nashville. The road leading to the estate house was shaped like a guitar. The estate has beautiful gardens where you can tour.

 

Food and Markets

The most popular food in Nashville is "Hot Chicken" – which is actually fried chicken that can be ordered in various levels of spiciness, served with ranch sauce, pickles, and white bread. this dish is served in many restaurants in the city. Especially recommended are: Prince’s Hot Chicken and Hattie B’s.

 

For those with a sweet tooth, a visit to the STANDARD CANDY Co. candy factory (located in the city center), established as early as 1901 and producing the city's most popular candy called GOO GOO is a must. It is a snack made from milk chocolate, caramel, peanuts, and marshmallows. At the factory store, you can see the snack's production, taste it, and of course, buy and devour...

 

 

Nashville also has a recommended Nashville Farmers Market abounding with fruits, vegetables, flowers, and food stalls. The market is located north of Downtown and is open every day of the week from 8:00-18:00. The northern part of the market, which includes a flea market and handicrafts, is open only Friday through Sunday.  

It is recommended to visit the Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau tourism center located in the heart of Downtown in a modern building at: 501 Broadway, Nashville, TN 37203.

 

 

Trip to the nearby city of Franklin

About 30 km south of Nashville lies the historic town of Franklin, where blood-soaked battles were fought during the Civil War.

It is recommended to take a Franklin Segway Tours Segway tour through the historic sites in the town, as well as in the park and among the impressive and decorated houses.

 

 

The town's residents especially enjoy decorating their houses for Halloween (celebrated at the end of October, but houses are decorated many weeks in advance).

 

 

 

 

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