Here's everything we did:
- Broadway (main strip of bars), 5th & Broadway shops and food hall and Painters Alley
- Tour of Ryman Auditorium
- Country Music Hall of Fame
- The Bagelshop
- D'Andrews Bakery
- Sinatra Bar & Grill
- Honey Tree Meadery - East Nashville
Exploring Broadway & Painters Alley
The main strip of Nashville is Broadway! There are rooftops and bars with live music on every square inch. I was happy we got to explore this on Thursday before the crowds came in on Friday and Saturday, it was too busy for me on the weekend.
It was nice to walk the side streets to see other restaurants and museums close by. We stumbled upon Painters Alley! this nook has great history and a lot of murals. It also had a few great looking restaurants, that didn't open until 9pm unfortunately but I wish we had more time to explore here!
We also stopped by Arcade Alley - which is going through renovations and changes in businesses. We added this to our list to check out on our next visit. The alley has a great history of businesses and was a beautiful space, verey excited to see what ends up here!
5th & Broadway and Food Hall
On the main strip of Broadway they have a new shopping area with a huge food hall on the second floor! There are over 20 restaurants, so we tried a few of them. It was a great place to window shop!
Since we were in Nashville, I had to get some hot chicken! and I hated it...... it was just a lot of cayenne pepper and all pain and no flavor for me. I have had hot chicken in many other cities and the flavor has so much more dimension! this was a pass for me. I asked a few of our rideshare drivers and they felt the same about the local hot chicken style.
We also stopped for some pork soup dumplings, they were delicious.
Dumplings are one of my favorite foods!
Ryman Auditorium & Country Music Hall of Fame
I wanted to see some history on our trip so we did the Ryman history tour. One of the most important buildings in music history in Nashville as it's been home to so many performers through history. This venue has hosted hundreds of music artists and performers since was built in 1892.
We also visited the Country Music Hall of Fame - 2 floors or country music memorabilia and costumes!
D'Andrews Cafe
Amazing coffee shop and bakery - everything we had was so good, my favorite was the D'onut - a sugar dusted donut filled with vanilla creme. There croissant items and cherry oatmeal cookie were so good too!
The Bagelshop
I found this spot as a sandwich recommendation, and it didn't disappoint! This was a popular spot, we got the last bagel of the day at 12:30! I also got the locks (salmon, dill cream cheese and capers) on sourdough bread.
Sinatra Bar
We saw this in an advertisement, so we stopped by and loved the place. The next day we came back for lunch. The space is beautiful and the service and live music were amazing too. This was such a perfect date spot, I want to get glammed up and come back. The food was good, but the drinks were amazing, trust us we had a few!
Honey Tree Meadery
We wanted to explore more of the local side of Nashville so we went to East Nashville.
We stopped at Honey Tree, the mead was delicious and they have local honey available too.
This neighborhood was such a nice break from the craziness of downtown.
We also walk down to the pinball bar that had an amazing food truck that gave you a 10% to cat owners!
Learnings from the Trip
I always love to reflect on the trip, the good and the bad.
Here's our total cost for the trip.
- Loved the coffee and bagel shops we tried along the way, these were a great treat as we walked and explored the city.
- Should have road tripped, even the 8-hour drive from Florida would have been worth it to see more around the city and especially around the state, way more our vibe. And we saw so many things that we wanted to take home with us! that we didn't because we flew.
- Next time we will stay outside the city more for better hotel rates.
- I think we over-spent on flights and hotels. The drinks were also very expensive, the 15% alcohol tax didn't help. Each drink was like $20 after this tax and tip. We'll be more mindful on this next time.
Here's our total cost for the trip.
For "3" days - 2 People our Total Trip cost - $1902.38 = $317/day/person
This was a little high in our book, for the reasons I mentioned above (higher consumer taxes and high flight/hotel costs). When we come back, I'm sure we can have more fun, spending less on these items.