Nashville Travel Guide: Honky-Tonks, the Parthenon and Why It's My Favourite US City

Nashville is my favourite city in the US right now. Not one of my favourites - the favourite, ahead of New York, ahead of Chicago, ahead of everywhere else I've been in America. It crept up on me on our Texas-to-the-Smokies road trip: the skyline at sunset from the bridge heading into town, the honky-tonks on Broadway, the friendliest people we met anywhere on the drive. I'm already booked to go back in December, which should tell you everything.

A few of my own shots from the city. First, the skyline at sunset from the bridge heading into town:

Why Nashville Won Me Over

Three things, and they all compound. The people: Nashville felt genuinely safe to walk around, day or night, and every conversation started itself - the city has a warmth that some bigger US cities just don't. The music: this is a working music city, not a museum piece, and the talent in the bars is world class. The fun: Nashville doesn't take itself seriously, and neither should you.

Then a night out on Broadway, neon signs and a cowboy hat in the crowd:

Broadway and the Honky-Tonks

Broadway is the strip you've seen in every Nashville photo, and yes, it's touristy - and completely brilliant anyway. The honky-tonks are free to walk into, the bands play all day for tips, and the standard of musicianship is absurd for a free show. Duck into two or three in a night, order something cold, and let the crowds pull you along. Buy the silly cowboy hat. You're in Nashville.

If you want the polish alongside the bars, the Country Music Hall of Fame is one of the best music museums anywhere - gold records, Elvis's gold Cadillac, and wall-to-wall history of the genre. Music Row and the historic Ryman Auditorium (the "Mother Church of Country Music") round out the pilgrimage.

The Bar Scene, Beyond Broadway

Broadway's famous strip is only the start of the drinking scene, and the side streets are where locals actually go:

• Tootsie's Orchid Lounge - the purple-painted legend behind the Ryman, and the birthplace of countless careers. Touristy, but the history in the walls is real
• Robert's Western World - my pick of the strip. Honky-tonk upstairs, fried bologna sandwiches downstairs, and no cover charge
• Layla's - smaller, friendlier, and consistently great live bluegrass
• Nudie's - three floors and a rhinestone-studded everything, named for the tailor who dressed Elvis
• The Wildhorse Saloon - the big line-dancing barn a block off Broadway, great if you want to learn a step or five
• Printers Alley and Midtown - the after-dark neighbourhoods beyond the strip: dive bars, karaoke and fewer bachelorette parties

Two things worth knowing: honky-tonks are free to enter everywhere - musicians work for tips, so tip the band - and you can carry open drinks between bars on Broadway, which explains a lot of the atmosphere.

Nashville Tours Worth Booking

If you want the stories behind the music, Nashville does tours properly, and most are worth the money:

• Ryman Auditorium tour - a self-guided visit is about $25, and the guided backstage tour is roughly $42; you stand on the stage where country music was basically invented
• Grand Ole Opry backstage tour - from about $45 (the post-show tour needs a show ticket), and the VIP option is around $88; seeing the circular stage and the artist entrance is a genuine pinch-me moment
• RCA Studio B tour - the Elvis-era studio where 1,000+ hits were recorded; book it as the Country Music Hall of Fame combo (from about $55) and you get a couple of hours in the actual room where "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" was cut
• Hop-on hop-off trolley - about $54 for a one-day pass, and a decent way to get the lay of the land if it's your first visit
• Honky-tonk and music walking tours - if you'd rather have a local guide you through the bar scene's history, several operators run two-hour walking tours through Broadway and Printers Alley

If I had to pick one, it's the RCA Studio B combo: the Hall of Fame plus the studio is the best single-day music fix in the city.

The Nashville Parthenon

Here's the thing almost nobody warns you about: Nashville has a full-scale replica of the Parthenon, built in Centennial Park for Tennessee's 1897 centennial exhibition, in concrete, and it's jaw-dropping. The exterior alone justifies the trip to a park 20 minutes from Broadway.

And inside stands the towering gold Athena Parthenos statue:

The Parthenon in Centennial Park, the full-scale replica on a clear autumn day:

The Athena Parthenos inside is 42 feet tall, gilded in gold leaf, and the largest indoor sculpture in the Western world. It's genuinely staggering - more museum than tourist trap - and the art gallery on the lower level is included in admission.

With the lake and fountain outside ringed by autumn trees:

When to Go

• Spring and autumn are the sweet spots - warm days, evening nights out, and the park's trees doing their thing in October
• December is when I'm going back: Christmas on Broadway, and the city dresses up properly
• Summer works but it's hot and humid, and Broadway gets packed
• Weeknights on Broadway are noticeably calmer than weekends if big crowds aren't your thing

Plan Your Visit

• Official tourism site: visitmusiccity.com - events, itineraries and what's on during your dates
• Country Music Hall of Fame: general admission about $31.95 for adults and $21.95 for youth 6 to 12; the museum plus RCA Studio B package runs about $54.95 - countrymusichalloffame.org
• The Parthenon: about $15 for adults and $10 for seniors and youth 4 to 17, under-4s free, tickets on site only - nashville.gov
• Honky-tonks: free entry everywhere on Broadway - budget for drinks and tips instead
• Getting around: downtown Nashville is compact and walkable; you barely need the car once you're there

Final Thoughts

Nashville is the complete package: a downtown that's fun without being unsafe, world-class music for the price of a tip, a genuinely world-class museum, and a full-scale Greek temple hiding in a park. I've recommended it to everyone who'll listen since, and I'll be back in December before the year's out. If you're building an American itinerary around one city that isn't New York, make it this one.

Planning the same drive? Start with the United States Travel Guide: Tips From an Expat, and keep going with the Ark Encounter in Kentucky or Space Center Houston.

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