Perfect Girls Weekend in Nashville Tennessee

Nashville has been a city on my list for a long time, and it seemed like the perfect city to visit with some of my favorite girls. Currently the hot spot for bachelorette parties, as long as you like country music this city is designed for you to have a good time with your best girl friends.

We recently took advantage of a long Labor Day weekend to really get the most out of our time here. We arrived late Thursday night and stayed at the Sheraton Grand Nashville Downtown. We loved the location – walking distance from everything but not right on any main streets. I highly recommend staying in Downtown for your adventure!

Day 1

Start your day off slow and head over to Belmont Mansion for a tour of the beautiful, historic home of Adelicia – a boss lady who made the most of some tough situations and hung out with people like Napoleon. Her home feels like a grand villa that could fit right in in Italy or France. The property is now adjacent to Belmont University, and the grounds around are also lovely.

After learning some history, there’s no better way to kick off Nashville than at Hattie B’s Hot Chicken. This place had a line that took about an hour (not going to lie we got cupcakes to hold us over), but it was worth the wait, and my favorite thing I ate in Nashville. I was a wimp and went with the medium, which was plenty hot enough for me to still enjoy the juicy, delicious sandwich. Favorite side was definitely the baked beans!

After a filling meal, we opted to walk towards the Gulch neighborhood, a trendy area of new apartments, street art, cool boutiques, and trendy workout studios. We found a restaurant here called Whiskey Kitchen that offered a huge variety of whiskey flights! We learned a lot about Tennessee whiskey, and they also had an amazing berry whiskey sangria pitcher during happy hour.

For a night out in Nashville, you have to make it to make it to Broadway, the Honky Tonk central of the universe. It is honestly baffling when you’re here to understand the amount of singing talent that exists in Nashville. Every bar on this street has multiple floors all showcasing live music day and night. Definitely start off at Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge- arguably the most famous Honky Tonk on the street, and directly behind the old location for the Grand Ole Opry. Many of the other honky tonks are owned by famous country stars, and some of the places we loved were Luke Bryan’s 32 Bridge, Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row. End your night at Acme Feed and Seed, which has an amazing roof top view of the river. This street is very touristy, but it’s hard not to love.

Day 2

The next morning we started off with the most important meal of the week – BRUNCH! We couldn’t miss the much written about Pinewood Social, where you can brunch as well as bowl. Everything we ordered was delicious, including the caramelized grapefruit, brown butter waffles, omelet, and tater tots. The cocktails were also super yummy too!

We walked off brunch and headed back downtown to the Country Music Hall of Fame. This museum is honestly so well done, and a thorough education and showcase of country music from the very beginning. I learned a lot, and the memorabilia they have here is amazing. Follow up your museum adventures with a sweet treat from Mike’s Ice Cream.

For our Saturday evening activity, we went to the Wildhorse Saloon. Here you can take free line dancing classes throughout the day! They teach everyone a really simple one, and it was cool to be able to use that throughout the night. The singer we saw here was also incredible, so we stayed for dinner and really enjoyed some quality barbecue and Nashville Hot Fried Pickles. Afterwards we made our way back to Broadway and enjoyed a ton more live music before heading to bed.

Day 3

We started Day 3 how we should have started Day 1 – with a walking tour. Ryan was an amazing tour guide and gave us a ton of history as well as infinite energy for an early morning tour. We learned about country legends, the history of music in the city, and locations like the Capital Building, Grand Ole Opry at the historic Ryman, the five and dime, and more. It was a great overview of the city!

Barbecue was a necessity while we were here, and we headed to Martin’s. The combo platter was perfect for the three of us, and the meat was amazing and juicy.

We continued our history lesson by heading out to the current home of the Grand Ole Opry and taking the behind the scenes tour! This tour was so well done, and they take you through all the backstage rooms and even let you stand on stage. Definitely worth the visit, and I wish we could have gotten tickets to a show here!

We ventured nearby to the Opryland Resort and were stunned at this beautiful oasis filled with trees, small rivers and lakes, and so many buildings we got lost! There’s even a water park inside the resort.

Heading back towards downtown, we stopped at the Parthenon, an exact replica of the one in Greece. It honestly made no sense but was a great place to relax for a little in the late afternoon.

We opted for a nicer (and lighter) dinner tonight at 404 Kitchen in the Gulch. We got some great fish, veggies and dessert. The rooftop patio was also so cute and a nice little spot.

Day 4

Our last morning in Nashville, we felt all of our chicken, barbecue, and mac and cheese catching up to us, so we started the morning with a class at Pure Barre in the Gulch (my favorite workout!!). This was perfect to set us up for breakfast at Biscuit Love, another can’t miss Nashville establishment. They’re most famous for the chicken biscuit sandwiches, as well as bonuts- a donut made with biscuit dough and filled with cream and berries. Everything here was SO GOOD and it was so easy to go overboard with amazing, homey breakfast food.

We ended our trip hunting down some Nashville murals. We started at this beautiful multicolored masterpiece in the Gulch, then headed to 12 South to see the Made in Nashville mural! This one is located right behind Draper James, the Reese Witherspoon clothing store, which didn’t hurt for some last minute southern belle shopping!

Overall, Nashville was an incredibly fun city, with the best music (duh) rich history, great food, and good people. On my next visit, tickets to the Bluebird Cafe, Grand Ole Opry, and even more hot chicken are high on my list!

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