Nashville. I had so many pre-conceived notions about how the city was plus I am just really not a fan of country music. I probably would have never ventured out to Nashville had it not been for my friend Angie. She chose Nashville for her bachelorette because it is one of her favorite places in the world!
You may know Angie from all the Italy and Greece blog posts I have been sharing the past 2 months. I only recently started traveling with Angie (I think my own bachelorette party in August 2018 was the first trip). I never knew how easy it was to travel with someone who travels the same way you do. Sure, my husband does, but given the option, he would want to be left on a beach somewhere not running from city to city non-stop!
Anyway, after actually taking this trip, I can’t wait to go back! The people are friendly, the city is small, but packed with so much to see and do and as a whole Nashville really has its own culture, which I loved. I just wish it was about 15 degrees cooler when we were there!
This post is all about how to have the best 3-day bachelorette weekend in Nashville. Angie wrote up the main itinerary and at some times of the day gave the 15 of us options if we wanted to branch off and do something else. We also discovered a few new places that Angie hadn’t been before!
Thursday – Arrival Day
I am telling you now, fly to Nashville Thursday evening. You will want a FULL day Friday to start your adventure. We landed from Seattle at around 11:30 PM. Since the airport is small, we were out and heading to the house shortly after.
Option: If you are still up for it, the night is still young and you can head out on Lower Broadway to enjoy a honky tonk or two. Of all the nights, this would be the night to actually go out and enjoy Lower Broad without fighting the crowds…and other bachelorette and bachelor parties. We ended up at Tin Roof and had an amazing time listening to live music. The performer was very interactive. They got Angie up on the stage to have a dance battle with a pretty intoxicated girl.
Friday – First Full Day
10:00 AM
- Uber to Lower Broad to walk the John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge. There are some great photo ops with downtown Nashville as the backdrop.
- Wander the Broadway boot stores and souvenir shops. My favorite was Boot Barn. We had stopped in a few boot shops where there was some major sticker shock! Boot Barn had boots that were still affordable and even some super cute clothes!
11:00 AM
- Brunch at Acme Feed & Seed (link to menu). This restaurant can fill up fast and have a long line. At Acme you order at the front, take your number and they will deliver your food. I was definitely expecting typical brunch food, but Acme has a bunch of good food including: tacos, grits, and salads. Try the watermelon slush from the bar! I heard it was good! Don’t forget to also check out the views from the roof of Acme Feed & Seed!
12:30 PM – Time for some options
- Tour the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. This is the option that the majority of us ended up doing. A few girls headed back to the Airbnb for some relaxation! This museum was pretty cool! There were a few walls of records, lots of clothing that the singers had worn on tour and some interactive spots. I would recommend! This tour costs about $28
- Tour the Ryman. This was the original home of the Grand Ole Opry back in the Johnny Cash/June Carter days. This tour costs about $30.
- Continue shopping for boots/souvenirs, check out Printer’s Alley, bar hop.
2:30 PM
- Head to Pinewood Social. From Lower Broadway, it is about a 12 minute walk. If it is 80 degrees or cooler, it is definitely walk able. However, in the summer when it is 95 degrees and 70% humidity, it probably isn’t a good idea. We learned that the hard way when we showed up at Pinewood Social drenched in sweat. Everything about Pinewood Social is cool! It is in a cool brick building that has a coffee shop in the front, a bar in the middle and a bowling alley in the back! That’s not all, head outside where you will find lawn games, an Airstream serving drinks and food, two small pools, and an outdoor bar serving froze slushies (if you have never had one, you need to!)
4:00 PM
- Head back to your hotel or Airbnb to relax and refresh. I would recommend a body shower if you are there in the summer, suffering in the 95 degree weather!
5:30 PM
- Head to 12 South. Here, you can find Reece Witherspoon’s store called Draper James. There are even 8 murals to take photos with on this street! Check out the blog post where I tell you where to find them all!
6:30 PM
- Dinner at Bar Taco (link to menu). We were a party of 15 so I am not sure if they always serve “family” style. Meaning, they will batch your order with 3 other peoples orders. Your tacos will all come out together on a platter where the waiter will then help you grab your tacos. These tacos were REALLY good! I decided to pick a few unique ones to try. I got cauliflower, portobello, swordfish and pork belly. They were all delicious. The cauliflower had a surprising kick to it!
9:30 PM
- It’s karaoke night! Head to Wild Beaver Saloon for some karaoke and mechanical bull rides. This is the only place left in downtown Nashville with a mechanical bull. I didn’t make it there, but here is Angie to fill us in on what happened: “Well I almost chickened out and didn’t ride the bull. We watched a series of girls ride the bull in questionable attire… Boobs popping out. Dresses flipping up revealing thongs. Definitely not my style. I saw a few necks snap in an uncomfortable direction which scared me too. But a friend paid ($5) for me to ride it, so I signed my life away and hopped on. My friend that owns horses taught me the best way to hold on in order to stay on longest (even though it’s technically cheating). I braved the bull for nearly 30 seconds and as terrifying as it was, I had a blast! “
- Done with karaoke and bull rides? Lower Broadway is just a few blocks away! Here’s Angie to tell us about where she went: “We went to Jason Aldean’s bar. In the last 2 years, the big country stars have all opened bars along Broadway. Jason Aldean’s place is unique in that it has a big John Deere parked in the middle of the dance floor. We danced and made googly eyes at the band’s lead singer until he pulled us up on the stage to dance some more. The night is a little foggy. We might have also wandered over to Second Fiddle to close down that bar. I vaguely remember hanging out and taking shots with the band after close. Second Fiddle is one of the more traditional honky tonks (back before the big country stars started moving in on Broadway). It’s located right next to Tootsies, which is the first ever and most famous (also very small and always crowded) honky tonk on Broadway. I recommend you at least walk through Tootsie’s to see all the cool memorabilia on the walls (and the unique bathroom).”
Saturday – It is Line Dancing & Wine Day
10:00 AM
- Head to brunch at Biscuit Love (link to menu) in the Gulch. Word of advice: You are probably going to have to wait in line on the weekend. We arrived at 10:15 and didn’t get in until 11:15. We were sweating by the time we ordered. This restaurant is just like Acme. You order at the counter, wait for a table, and they will bring you your food. I got the Egg Plate which has: 2 eggs any style, cheesy grits, biscuit with jam, and either bacon or sausage. I would also recommend ordering bonuts, which are a mix between donuts and biscuit!
11:45 AM
- Walk to Kristin Cavallari’s shop, Uncommon James to shop. This shop is all the rage because of her show, Very Cavallari on E! Network. The jewelry pieces are super pretty, but a bit expensive if you aren’t a huge jewelry person. Be sure to take a photo in front of the wings.
12:30 PM
- Line Dancing lessons at New Boots line dancing. We got a 1 hour private class where they showed us a basic dance to start and a slightly more difficult one last. We got to choose which dance we wanted to perform and have filmed. We of course chose the last one. We should be getting our professional video of our final routine pretty soon! We all loved the dance so much that we are going to perform it at Angie’s wedding in December! The class costs $30 per person!
2:30 PM
- Time to get out of the city! Head to Arrington Vineyards, which is about 30 minutes outside of town. The grounds are beautiful and there are several places to enjoy some wine, both inside and outside. There is a place to get some food. I ordered a salmon and cream cheese plate and there were a lot of girls who ordered the peach flat bread! It was so refreshing. The wait for wine tasting can be long, so I recommend either walking to the building near the cars to get a tasting flight, or buying a few bottles and enjoying it on the property. There was also live music in the pavilion! Be sure to buy a few extra bottles to enjoy with dinner.
6:30 PM
- Have a quiet dinner at your hotel or Airbnb. We chose to Uber Eats some pizzas, and salad and enjoy the wine we bought at Arrington.
9:00 PM
- A lot of the girls love breweries, so we found a brewery pretty close to our Airbnb that we decided to check out. This was a new spot for Angie and we all ended up loving it! It is called Yee-Haw Brewing Company. They also have moonshine, lots of merch, and a great outdoor space with an Airstream and large screen playing a baseball game! We were just a little too late to try the hot chicken food truck that was there.
Moonshine looks good, huh
- Head to The Treehouse in East Nashville. Angie had been wanting to go here for awhile. It is pretty cool on the back porch, but unfortunately, the servers had a bad attitude. The delicious $5 tamales ALMOST made up for the poor service.
- After the Treehouse, I headed home for the night. Angie continued on. Here is where they went: “We went to Second Fiddle for the 3rd night in a row. Then an impromptu visit to the strip club which is open until 5am in Nashville. After 3am, the strip club is BYOB (bring your own beer). Followed by a 3:30am stroll through the White Castle drive-thru window (on foot) where we purchased 30 cheese sliders to-go! We don’t have White Castles in Seattle so we were pretty excited about that. Saturday night was a typical wild bachelorette party shenanigans night.”
Sunday – Drag Show and Top Golf
8:30 AM – Time for some options
- Want a morning workout? Take a run through Centennial Park. This includes a full scale replica of the Parthenon that is in Athens.
- Didn’t see all the murals on 12 South? Head back and check them out. You can check out where those are in my blog post.
10:00 AM
- Drag and Brunch at Suzy Wongs (link). This drag show is set up different from what I expected. Maybe because I have seen photos from drag shows here in Seattle where it is a full stage performance. They would come out one at a time and perform for about a minute in each room. That happened about every 10 minutes. It was just alright. If you can find another drag show in Nashville, I would check that out instead.
1:00 PM – Time for some options
- Kayak or paddle board. Check out Nashville Paddle for kayak and paddleboard rates! This is about 20 minutes outside the heart of Nashville.
- Visit Belle Meade plantation. Angie and a group of girls went and did this. Here is what they said: All the mansion tours were sold out so we purchased a walking tour of the grounds. “We visited the on-site winery first for a tasting, then we walked through the stables, smoke house, slave quarters, and visited the horses out in the field. One of the horses on the plantation property is a descendant of Seattle Slew, one of the all-time greatest thoroughbreds who won the Triple Crown. Something we thought was fascinating is that some of the buildings on the plantation property still have bullet holes from the Civil War. We ended our tour by visiting the ice cream and fudge shop for a quick free sample, and bought a few precious things in their adorable gift shop before heading home.”
- Relax at the Rhapsody Spa at the Westin Hotel.
- Take a bus tour of Nashville. About 6 of us decided to do this after seeing them driving all around the city. We chose one that had an open air upper deck. The tour took us to the main sites of Nashville, while giving us the history of the city. I really enjoyed it, but at the end of the hour we were all dying of head on the top deck. I also recommend checking out The George Jones pub for a beer and also Nashville Underground for some fried green tomatoes and hot chicken!
4:00 PM
- Time for some TopGolf. If you haven’t played before, you have to! It is so fun. I have been to 4 different TopGolf’s but never hit a ball until February of this year! Now, I am hooked. I make my husband take me to the driving range all the time now. You can order drinks and food to your bay as well.
6:00 PM
- Head back to the gulch and take some photos with the murals. The famous Kelsey Montague wings are here. Again, I mapped out some murals in my blog post here.
6:30 PM – Rooftop Time! Time for some options
- Close to Biscuit Love and the Gulch murals is LA Jackson at the Thompson Hotel. There is a deck with a cool view of Nashville. Though it isn’t as picturesque as the Nest at the Thompson Hotel in Seattle, it is a great atmosphere with delicious truffle fries and frozes!
- Check out L27 at the Westin, which is a spa and rooftop lounge.
9:00 PM
- Head to the John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge for some not shots with the city behind you!
9:30 PM
I left Angie again so here is where they went: “We went to Printer’s Alley (also known as jazz alley). We visited a jazz lounge called Skull’s Rainbow Room. It had such a cool vibe… Dark lighting, red velvet couches and chairs, fancy cocktails and an amazing jazz band. Then we went to Jason Aldean’s bar yet again! “
Our Airbnb
Since there were 15 girls on this trip, one of the girls organizing the trip found a great spot that ended up being in a great location. We were split in 2 townhouses with killer rooftop decks. The townhouses were about 10 steps across the courtyard. You can check out the listing here!
Transportation
Because of the nature of the trip, I don’t recommend renting cars. Though it may be cheaper, it is safer to just Uber or Lyft everywhere. Everywhere we wanted to go (besides the winery) was about 2 miles from each other. Again, this is a nice benefit of having a gathering in Nashville, everything is so close to each other still!
I know this is a lot, but this is how Angie and I travel. We loving having things we want to do picked out so that we make the most of our time wherever we go. Is there anything you would add to this list for us to check out next time we are there?
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