I only have 1 day in Nashville. What's not to miss???
Not a country music fan. Surely there must be more than that in Nashville. Give me some ideas for a day trip. Dining, entertainment, etc.
Trying to keep it on a budget, since Dr. Houston is draining the bank account next week for my co-pay!
Trying to keep it on a budget, since Dr. Houston is draining the bank account next week for my co-pay!
**** I AM AN OH SUPPORT GROUP LEADER ****
WHY I CHOSE DS: No dumping. Highest percentage of weight loss, Best long term results, Won't regain weight! Eat normal sized meals, 96% diabeties, 90% high blood pressure, 80% sleep apnea cured. I 
MY DS!
My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four unless there were three other people. ~Orson Wells
Well, you could stop by my charming little town, Franklin. It's about 30 mins. south of Nashville right off I-65.
Franklin has about 15 blocks of shopping and eating, and it's very easy to walk. Lots of history, with the Civil War Battle of Franklin and all.
Here's a couple links:
http://www.downtownfranklintn.com/
http://www.historicfranklin.com/
My absolute fave restaurant in Franklin is Sol, which is upscale Mexican. They make divine guacamole at your table. Plus they have awesome martini's of every stripe. Two can eat dinner there (guac., entrees, no drinks) for $45, easily.
If you decide you want to see Franklin, PM me with your dates, and love to show you around!
Franklin has about 15 blocks of shopping and eating, and it's very easy to walk. Lots of history, with the Civil War Battle of Franklin and all.
Here's a couple links:
http://www.downtownfranklintn.com/
http://www.historicfranklin.com/
My absolute fave restaurant in Franklin is Sol, which is upscale Mexican. They make divine guacamole at your table. Plus they have awesome martini's of every stripe. Two can eat dinner there (guac., entrees, no drinks) for $45, easily.
If you decide you want to see Franklin, PM me with your dates, and love to show you around!
Jenn
Type 1 diabetic, 26 years
With great power (the DS!) comes great responsibility.
It depends on what u like to do. Check out the Opryland Hotel while u are here. It is beautiful. They have several restaurants in the hotel. But you might want to eat before u get there because it is pricey. the hotel is huge with stores, restaurants, and even a river that runs through it that you can take a boat ride on. It is definitely a must see!
Ah Nashville! I am so happy to be a transplant to this town!
Although it is known for country music, it is actually a very small part of what this city actually is.
If you enjoy the historical side, The Hermitage is a MUST SEE. Take the horse and buggy ride and enjoy the history. Most of the items in this house are actually original to the house which is amazing. Also, make time to go there for lunch - especially since you are pre-op. The cafeteria is straight soul food keeping in with the traditions of the slaves that worked for President Jackson.
Along the same historical line, the Belle Meade Plantation (famous for the horse breeding) and the Belmont Mansion are fabulous! Also the Cheekwood Mansion is beautiful. It is a combination of art and beautiful gardens. They also have some wonderful hands-on activities through the week.
More history, the city of Franklin has some real gems if you enjoy any civil war stuff. The Carnton Plantation and the confederate cemetary connected to it are wonderful however the tour is lackluster.
There are tons of malls here. Opry Mills is just north of the Airport area where the hotel is. You take a short trip up Briley Parkway and you are there. It has a huge movie theatre, lots of restaurants and is right next door to the Grand Ol' Opry. The tour is fun just to see the history of it all. You can also walk across the parking lot to see the Opryland Hotel. At 2600+ rooms, it is a sight to behold. I agree, eat at the mall instead of the hotel. It can get pricey there.
Just down from Opryland Hotel on Briley Parkway is the new Shelby Pedestrian bridge which is part of the Shelby Bottoms Greenway. It is an excellent place to go for a walk, run, bike ride, etc. the path is great and used by the locals all the time. You park at Wave Country just across the road. Speaking of Wave Country, that is a fun water park and it's connected to a great park.
I would be very negligent if I left off a downtown tour! I always tell the guests at my hotel, if you have one day in Nashville, you must go downtown. Broadway and Second is just lined with shops and bars and honky tonks and restaurants. It is everything that "NashVegas" means! It is better to go a bit later. At 6pm the parking changes from $22 all day to park to $10 all day and if you are parking for free downtown, you are parking illegally. Tons of great local restaurants. Big River Brewery, Sole Mio, Mulligans Irish Pub, and my personal fav, BB Kings. Always great music and great southern food. Enjoy it while you can. You must get the deep fried pickles! A tour of downtown will also lead you to tour the Ryman Auditorium, The Country Music Hall of Fame, and many others right down there. Any way you go, you can't go wrong with a night out downtown!
We also have several areas of the city that are great to visit. Green Hills area has a great upscale mall but they also have Whole Foods and a Trader Joes. A must-stop if you are in that area.
You can do haunted ghost tours, tours of the capital, enjoy art at the Frist, go to the planetarium at the Adventure Science Center, or if you want the easy way, go through Grayline tours and let them drive you around and tell you all the fun things in the comfort of THEIR bus and THEIR air conditioning which right now sounds like a great idea to me.
Although it is known for country music, it is actually a very small part of what this city actually is.
If you enjoy the historical side, The Hermitage is a MUST SEE. Take the horse and buggy ride and enjoy the history. Most of the items in this house are actually original to the house which is amazing. Also, make time to go there for lunch - especially since you are pre-op. The cafeteria is straight soul food keeping in with the traditions of the slaves that worked for President Jackson.
Along the same historical line, the Belle Meade Plantation (famous for the horse breeding) and the Belmont Mansion are fabulous! Also the Cheekwood Mansion is beautiful. It is a combination of art and beautiful gardens. They also have some wonderful hands-on activities through the week.
More history, the city of Franklin has some real gems if you enjoy any civil war stuff. The Carnton Plantation and the confederate cemetary connected to it are wonderful however the tour is lackluster.
There are tons of malls here. Opry Mills is just north of the Airport area where the hotel is. You take a short trip up Briley Parkway and you are there. It has a huge movie theatre, lots of restaurants and is right next door to the Grand Ol' Opry. The tour is fun just to see the history of it all. You can also walk across the parking lot to see the Opryland Hotel. At 2600+ rooms, it is a sight to behold. I agree, eat at the mall instead of the hotel. It can get pricey there.
Just down from Opryland Hotel on Briley Parkway is the new Shelby Pedestrian bridge which is part of the Shelby Bottoms Greenway. It is an excellent place to go for a walk, run, bike ride, etc. the path is great and used by the locals all the time. You park at Wave Country just across the road. Speaking of Wave Country, that is a fun water park and it's connected to a great park.
I would be very negligent if I left off a downtown tour! I always tell the guests at my hotel, if you have one day in Nashville, you must go downtown. Broadway and Second is just lined with shops and bars and honky tonks and restaurants. It is everything that "NashVegas" means! It is better to go a bit later. At 6pm the parking changes from $22 all day to park to $10 all day and if you are parking for free downtown, you are parking illegally. Tons of great local restaurants. Big River Brewery, Sole Mio, Mulligans Irish Pub, and my personal fav, BB Kings. Always great music and great southern food. Enjoy it while you can. You must get the deep fried pickles! A tour of downtown will also lead you to tour the Ryman Auditorium, The Country Music Hall of Fame, and many others right down there. Any way you go, you can't go wrong with a night out downtown!
We also have several areas of the city that are great to visit. Green Hills area has a great upscale mall but they also have Whole Foods and a Trader Joes. A must-stop if you are in that area.
You can do haunted ghost tours, tours of the capital, enjoy art at the Frist, go to the planetarium at the Adventure Science Center, or if you want the easy way, go through Grayline tours and let them drive you around and tell you all the fun things in the comfort of THEIR bus and THEIR air conditioning which right now sounds like a great idea to me.
I'm going to make some budget-friendly dining suggestions. I'd go for some entertainment suggestions, but not having any ideas to what you like (there really is a lot more around Nashville than just country music, and even as a non-country music fan, some of the country around is worth checking out), it's hard for me to offer suggestions. Wait, I will offer one suggestion! The Grand Ole Opry Museum is free, and personally I found it to be far more interesting than the Country Music Hall of Fame. I went to both as country music has an interesting social/economic/historic background.
1) Monell's - 1235 6th Ave N, Nashville, TN. Phone 615-248-4747
Family style southern food, no menu. They just bring out platters of delicious food and the guests pass them around. The restaurant is set in an old house and there are murals on the walls inside, so it's got great ambiance
2) Swett's - 2725 Clifton Ave, Nashville, TN. Phone: 615-329-4418
Cafeteria style, more hardcore southern food then the Loveless or Monell's. Get the sweet potato pie! Also, the smothered pork chop and the baked chicken
3) Arnold's Country Kitchen - 605 8th Ave. S., Nashville, TN. Phone: 615-256-4455
Lunch only, weekdays only. Cafeteria style meat-and-three. Get...Hell, get anything, just get there. Everything is made from scratch and made well. Make a point to get the chess pie
4) Beacon Light Tea Room - 6276 Highway 100, Bon Aqua, TN. Phone: 931-670-3880
This place is a hike, but it is a well-worth-the-effort hike. First of all, it's a pretty place with nice ambiance. After that, they have the best biscuits and preserves I have ever tasted. Magnificent fried chicken, the country ham is wonderful. Don't order dessert here (they only have one dessert, an icebox pie that I really don't care for), just get extra biscuits and preserves. It's a bit religiously inclined for my comfort level, but I suffer it gladly because the food is absolutely wonderful.
5) Rotier's - 2413 Elliston Place, Nashville, TN. Phone: (615) 327-9892
Get the grilled cheeseburger or the fried chicken! I've never had a bad meal here. It's by Vanderbilt, and it has a very 1940's-1950's feel to it. Not a theme-y feel either, it's been around since the 40's I think and they have never redecorated. Think old school coffee shop. Don't expect efficient service, or free refills on soda as they don't have a soda fountain ****d tea has free refills, though). Do order dessert here.
6) Catfish House - 598 Sam Ridley Pkwy W, Smyrna, TN. Phone: (615) 459-3473
Get the catfish, fried or grilled (but I like it grilled better). Get any of their seafood. The place is in the middle of the suburban nightmare of chain restaurants that is Smyrna, but their food is real, from scratch, and the all-you-can-eat hush puppies are delicious. If you save room for dessert (and if you have room, it will be because you saved it), I love their caramel pie.
7) The Hermitage Cafe - 71 Hermitage Ave, Nashville, TN. Phone: (615) 254-8871
It ain't fancy, everything isn't necessarily from scratch, and they have funny hours (10 pm to 1:30 pm). However, for a burger, a BLT, a bowl of chili, an omelet, or an order of pancakes at 3 am, you can't beat the place with a stick. Their lunches are meat-and-three (meat-and-three is either a Southern thing or a Nashville thing, it basically means you pick your meat and then you pick three sides...most of the best food in Nashville is meat-and-three), and the lunches do have everything cooked from scratch. Don't expect cheerful, efficient service. Also, you'll pay for refills on sodas (but not on iced tea). If you happen to go when they have desserts get one, but they don't always have desserts
8) The Lazy Pig - 5234 Murfreesboro Rd, LaVergne, TN. Phone: (615) 287-1211
The best BBQ I have tasted since...I was born. Remember, I was born in Philly and we ain't big on BBQ back home. Get the ribs, and share some smoked chicken wings as an appetizer. But trust me, GET THE RIBS!!! They are so luscious and tender that you could cry. The place is easy to miss, it's tiny and set back a bit from the road. It's a little shack with no soda fountain, so again soda refills cost, but iced tea refills are free.
8) Jack's Bar-B-Que - 334 W Trinity Ln, Nashville, TN. Phone: (615) 228-9888
More expensive than The Lazy Pig, and I like The Lazy Pig more, but it's a Nashville institution, and the ribs are delicious. Their sides are also great and their chess and pecan pies both rock. I also like their smoked turkey.
9) The Pie Wagon - 1302 Division St, Nashville, TN. Phone: (615) 256-5893
Very similar to Arnolds Country Kitchen in that they are a weekday only, lunch only place serving yummy Southern food. Another cafeteria-style meat and three. I think Arnolds is overall a bit better, but the Pie Wagon beats them hands down on fried chicken and catfish. The Pie Wagon is another place I STRONGLY urge getting dessert.
10: The Pancake Pantry - 1796 21st Ave S, Nashville, TN. Phone: (615) 383-9333
This place is notorious for lines forming around the block to get inside. The thing is that once inside, the sweet potato pancakes are better than delicious. I offer similar praise for their buckwheat pancakes. They are open daily from 6 am to 3 pm, so figure breakfast and lunch. Their soups are wonderful, and so is their french dip sandwich. I will actually leave my apartment at 6am to beat the lines here when I'm craving breakfast.
_______________________
Now, these are not necessarily the very best places in Nashville. However, these are my favorite places in Nashville that are somehow unique to the area and I can't help but think that they could and would not be quite as they are anywhere else.
Sarah M.
1) Monell's - 1235 6th Ave N, Nashville, TN. Phone 615-248-4747
Family style southern food, no menu. They just bring out platters of delicious food and the guests pass them around. The restaurant is set in an old house and there are murals on the walls inside, so it's got great ambiance
2) Swett's - 2725 Clifton Ave, Nashville, TN. Phone: 615-329-4418
Cafeteria style, more hardcore southern food then the Loveless or Monell's. Get the sweet potato pie! Also, the smothered pork chop and the baked chicken
3) Arnold's Country Kitchen - 605 8th Ave. S., Nashville, TN. Phone: 615-256-4455
Lunch only, weekdays only. Cafeteria style meat-and-three. Get...Hell, get anything, just get there. Everything is made from scratch and made well. Make a point to get the chess pie
4) Beacon Light Tea Room - 6276 Highway 100, Bon Aqua, TN. Phone: 931-670-3880
This place is a hike, but it is a well-worth-the-effort hike. First of all, it's a pretty place with nice ambiance. After that, they have the best biscuits and preserves I have ever tasted. Magnificent fried chicken, the country ham is wonderful. Don't order dessert here (they only have one dessert, an icebox pie that I really don't care for), just get extra biscuits and preserves. It's a bit religiously inclined for my comfort level, but I suffer it gladly because the food is absolutely wonderful.
5) Rotier's - 2413 Elliston Place, Nashville, TN. Phone: (615) 327-9892
Get the grilled cheeseburger or the fried chicken! I've never had a bad meal here. It's by Vanderbilt, and it has a very 1940's-1950's feel to it. Not a theme-y feel either, it's been around since the 40's I think and they have never redecorated. Think old school coffee shop. Don't expect efficient service, or free refills on soda as they don't have a soda fountain ****d tea has free refills, though). Do order dessert here.
6) Catfish House - 598 Sam Ridley Pkwy W, Smyrna, TN. Phone: (615) 459-3473
Get the catfish, fried or grilled (but I like it grilled better). Get any of their seafood. The place is in the middle of the suburban nightmare of chain restaurants that is Smyrna, but their food is real, from scratch, and the all-you-can-eat hush puppies are delicious. If you save room for dessert (and if you have room, it will be because you saved it), I love their caramel pie.
7) The Hermitage Cafe - 71 Hermitage Ave, Nashville, TN. Phone: (615) 254-8871
It ain't fancy, everything isn't necessarily from scratch, and they have funny hours (10 pm to 1:30 pm). However, for a burger, a BLT, a bowl of chili, an omelet, or an order of pancakes at 3 am, you can't beat the place with a stick. Their lunches are meat-and-three (meat-and-three is either a Southern thing or a Nashville thing, it basically means you pick your meat and then you pick three sides...most of the best food in Nashville is meat-and-three), and the lunches do have everything cooked from scratch. Don't expect cheerful, efficient service. Also, you'll pay for refills on sodas (but not on iced tea). If you happen to go when they have desserts get one, but they don't always have desserts
8) The Lazy Pig - 5234 Murfreesboro Rd, LaVergne, TN. Phone: (615) 287-1211
The best BBQ I have tasted since...I was born. Remember, I was born in Philly and we ain't big on BBQ back home. Get the ribs, and share some smoked chicken wings as an appetizer. But trust me, GET THE RIBS!!! They are so luscious and tender that you could cry. The place is easy to miss, it's tiny and set back a bit from the road. It's a little shack with no soda fountain, so again soda refills cost, but iced tea refills are free.
8) Jack's Bar-B-Que - 334 W Trinity Ln, Nashville, TN. Phone: (615) 228-9888
More expensive than The Lazy Pig, and I like The Lazy Pig more, but it's a Nashville institution, and the ribs are delicious. Their sides are also great and their chess and pecan pies both rock. I also like their smoked turkey.
9) The Pie Wagon - 1302 Division St, Nashville, TN. Phone: (615) 256-5893
Very similar to Arnolds Country Kitchen in that they are a weekday only, lunch only place serving yummy Southern food. Another cafeteria-style meat and three. I think Arnolds is overall a bit better, but the Pie Wagon beats them hands down on fried chicken and catfish. The Pie Wagon is another place I STRONGLY urge getting dessert.
10: The Pancake Pantry - 1796 21st Ave S, Nashville, TN. Phone: (615) 383-9333
This place is notorious for lines forming around the block to get inside. The thing is that once inside, the sweet potato pancakes are better than delicious. I offer similar praise for their buckwheat pancakes. They are open daily from 6 am to 3 pm, so figure breakfast and lunch. Their soups are wonderful, and so is their french dip sandwich. I will actually leave my apartment at 6am to beat the lines here when I'm craving breakfast.
_______________________
Now, these are not necessarily the very best places in Nashville. However, these are my favorite places in Nashville that are somehow unique to the area and I can't help but think that they could and would not be quite as they are anywhere else.
Sarah M.
God writes a lot of comedy... the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny.
- Garrison Keillor
- Garrison Keillor
Dang girl that post made me hungry. That was like porn to a foodie 
. I think I need a cold shower!
. I think I need a cold shower! **** I AM AN OH SUPPORT GROUP LEADER ****
WHY I CHOSE DS: No dumping. Highest percentage of weight loss, Best long term results, Won't regain weight! Eat normal sized meals, 96% diabeties, 90% high blood pressure, 80% sleep apnea cured. I MY DS!
My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four unless there were three other people. ~Orson Wells
Most Active
Recent Topics
