Nashville Visitors Told Us The Truth About These Popular Spots
I asked Nashville visitors and locals one question: out of everything you hear you have to do here, what would you actually skip? The answers were honest, a little blunt, and packed with insider info you won't find on a typical tourist list. Here's the real scoop before you plan your trip.
Skip The Mall And The Chain Restaurants
Opry Mills Mall keeps coming up, and not in a good way. It's a standard mall with a few souvenir shops, nothing you can't find at home. Save your time for something that actually feels like Nashville.
Top Golf and Pedal Tavern get the same treatment. Both are fun in theory, but you can find them in almost any city in the country. If your Nashville time is limited, spend it somewhere you can only find here.
La La Land Bakery draws long lines, but it's a chain, not something unique to Nashville. Wanna Spoon Cereal Bar is just cereal with toppings, and you can recreate that at home for a lot less money.
The Hot Chicken Debate
Hattie B's is the name every visitor knows, but it's also the spot locals tend to steer you away from. The lines are long and the product doesn't always live up to the hype. If you want the real hot chicken experience, try Bolton's, Prince's, Red's Hot Chicken, or the food truck Brave Idiot instead. For a fun pairing, grab your hot chicken and head next door to Springwater, the oldest bar in Tennessee.
Skip These Sweet Treats
5 Daughters Bakery is beautiful to look at, but it comes with a steep price tag that doesn't always match the flavor. Goo Goo Chocolate gets mixed reviews too. It's a fun stop if you love a sweet treat, but some visitors find it's a lot of build up for a small, pricey treat you can buy in a bag almost anywhere.
Bull Riding And Cowboy Hat Making Are What You Make Of Them
Nashville doesn't have real bull riding, just a mechanical version you can find at bars across the country. If riding a mechanical bull sounds fun to you, go for it. If not, don't feel like you're missing a true Nashville experience.
Cowboy hat making falls into the same category. If you want to walk away with a custom hat, it's worth your time. If not, skip it and put that time toward something else on your list.
The Real Music Venues To Add To Your List
Blue Bird Cafe is iconic, but tickets are famously hard to get. If you want a similar experience without the fight for a seat, The Listening Room Cafe comes up again and again as a favorite, often described as even better than Blue Bird. Backstage Nashville is another one visitors say belongs at the top of the list, right alongside it.
Don't skip a tour of the Grand Ole Opry and the Ryman Auditorium either. Both are steeped in music history and worth the time no matter how packed your schedule is.
Museums Worth Your Time
The Country Music Hall of Fame is a given, but pair it with the Historic RCA Studio B tour for the full experience. The Musicians Hall of Fame and the National Museum of African American Music, both downtown near 5th and Broadway, are easy to add without going out of your way. If you have extra time, The Parthenon in Centennial Park is a unique stop that surprises a lot of first time visitors.
Food Spots Locals Actually Recommend
Monell's comes up again and again for a full, family style Southern meal. Assembly Food Hall is a great one stop shop when you want variety without committing to one restaurant. For BBQ, Martin's has a loyal following, though a few visitors who grew up on great BBQ elsewhere say it doesn't quite live up to the hype. Try it and decide for yourself.
A Few Quick Wins
Arrington Vineyards is beautiful, but it's close to an hour outside downtown, so plan for a full afternoon if you go. Frothy Monkey is simply a coffee shop, worth a stop if you're already nearby, but not something to build your day around. And if you're picking a Broadway honky tonk, Robert's Western World is a consistent favorite for good music and a classic Nashville feel.
Print St Pizza is actually located in Gallatin, a 40 to 45 minute drive from downtown, so weigh that before adding it to your list.
Nashville has a long list of things to do, and almost none of them are a bad choice. The trick is knowing which ones are worth your limited time and which ones you can skip without missing a thing.
