Looking for a casual 2 day Nashville travel guide? These are some of the best places to explore in Nashville Tennessee.
Planning a trip to Nashville Tennessee is super exciting! If you’re anything like me, you’re here because you love to research and plan your trip ahead of time. As an avid traveler, I am giving you the best places in a Nashville travel guide.
You are going to learn about things to do like like walking down Broadway Street, shopping on 12 South, visiting the Parthenon, and more. After learning about these places, you are going to be ready for your next Nashville travel adventure!
This post is my ultimate 2 day Nashville travel guide.
Home of country music, hot chicken, and bachelorette parties. We spent 48 hours in Nashville Tennessee! Although it’s known for being the birthplace of country music legends and the Grand Ole Opry, it now offers so much more. I found it to be a fun, energetic, southern city with a lot of cool neighborhoods and something for everyone, not just bachelorettes. You can make your way through the food scene, check out a variety of shopping districts, enjoy the live music on Broadway, and spend hours in museums and cultural centers.
Day 1: Walking Tour, Nashville Hot Chicken, Broadway Street, and Shopping
Guided Sightseeing Walking Tour
We started our day early with a morning Downtown Nashville Guided Sightseeing Walking Tour through Viator. The tour began at the Bridgestone Arena then took us through downtown Nashville including Broadway Street. Then we stopped in the famous Ernest Tubb Record Shop before walking along the Cumberland River to enjoy the scenery. It was a very informative tour and had a good mix of music history, historic sites, and popular landmarks.
I highly recommend doing some type of walking tour at the beginning of any trip so that you can get familiar with the area and as well as getting recommendations of where to eat and what to do.
Nashville Hot Chicken
After our tour, we walked through the Assembly Food Hall. This place is multiple stories high with a variety of food vendors and restaurants. It’s a great place to go if you’re with a group that can’t agree on where to eat. Here each person can pick where they want to go. For lunch, we ordered from the famous Prince’s Hot Chicken. Beware, I got the medium spice hot chicken sandwich and they aren’t kidding, it was SPICY.
The other very famous and well known Nashville hot chicken is Hattie B’s. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a chance to order from there and compare the two.
Next, we topped off our meal with dessert from Hattie Jane’s Creamery. The fun part about The Assembly Food Hall is there is always someone playing live music. We enjoyed our ice cream while listening to a local band perform.
Broadway Street and Printer’s Alley
Later, we made our way out to Broadway Street. We stopped in Blake Shelton’s bar Ole Red, Jason Aldean’s Kitchen and Rooftop Bar, and of course Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge. Tootsie’s is one of the oldest bars on Broadway, recognizable by its purple exterior. Although we walked down Broadway during the day, all of the bars were incredibly busy. Still, it’s a must do when visiting, and we enjoyed the live music and people watching. Once we were ready to escape from the crowds, we continued walking around downtown and enjoyed checking out some other venues within Printer’s Alley.
Shopping in The City
Later, we parked near Belmont University, enjoyed a bagel from Proper Bagel and did some window shopping along 12 South. This street has several boutique stores including Draper James, MODA Boutique, Savant Vintage, Crue, and Buck Mason. Along our walk to 12 South, we soaked in the neighborhood homes and magnolia trees. This is a beautiful area of Nashville, and a good change of pace, away from the crowds.
After 12 South, we drove to The Gulch for more shopping and exploring. Here you’ll find more boutique stores including Kittenish, Parachute Home, Uncommon James, VICI, and Parish. There are also several bars and restaurants to explore. The famous mural What Lifts You Wings by Kelsey Montague can be found here.
We decided on Bar Louie for dinner because of the outdoor patio overlooking 11th Avenue. It is a cute place to sit and admire the beauty of The Gulch neighborhood.
Day 2: The Parthenon, Belle Meade Plantation, and Opryland
On the second day of this Nashville travel guide, we drove to The Parthenon. This is the only exact replica of The Parthenon which is originally located in Athens, Greece. You can explore the exterior at no cost.
I highly recommend touring the interior. To enter, you’ll go through the entrance of the lower portion in the back. If the line is long, you may be able to purchase tickets in the gift shop to speed up the wait. The entrance fee is $10 for adults, and $8 for youth (8y-10y) and seniors (62y+).
Inside you’ll find an exact replica of the statue of Athena. It is a sight to see! She is beautiful, with intricate details on all sides. My favorite part was walking around the interior and reading the history of the Parthenon in Greece as well as Greek mythology. It’s a great, affordable activity for anyone. Note they are closed on Mondays.
Belle Meade Plantation
After visiting the Parthenon, we drove out to the Belle Meade Plantation. This is a beautiful estate with a winery onsite. I enjoyed touring the mansion and especially learning about the history of racehorse breeding. The surrounding grounds are beautiful, and we enjoyed sitting outside on the beautiful patio. It easy to spend an entire afternoon here! I definitely recommend checking it out!
Opryland
Another affordable activity is walking through the Grand Ole Opry Hotel. This hotel is magnificent! There are several botanical gardens, a full size river that you can ride down in a gondola, and a variety of restaurants. We spent a couple hours taking our time walking through the hotel while getting some relief from the summer heat.
Hot Pot Restaurant
For dinner, we found a hot pot restaurant called Shabu Shabu Nashville near Music Row. We picked out our broth flavors, and then gathered ingredients to cook: veggies, fish, meat, noodles, and toppings. We continued picking out ingredients throughout the meal using the conveyor belt in front of us. It became one of our favorite hot pot restaurants! The ingredients are fresh, they offer a variety of broth options, and a great eating and dining experience. I highly recommend adding this restaurant to your Nashville travel guide.
Nashville Travel Guide Accommodations
We decided to be budget friendly for this trip, and opted to stay in the Opryland neighborhood. We stayed in the Courtyard by Marriott, it’s located at the end of the strip of hotels, making it a quieter area. Opryland is not a far drive to other parts of Nashville, making it an ideal location to stay. However, if you do decide to stay here, I highly recommend having a car to take advantage of visiting several of the neighborhoods this fun city has to offer.
Overall, this is a fun, lively, southern city worth visiting. There is something for everyone, and it makes for an easy weekend trip.
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