Nashville Weekend Trip Guide for Couples or Groups

Last December, we decided to take advantage of a killer Southwest sale to take a weekend trip to Nashville, a city neither of us had been to before.

We’ve traveled a lot of the U.S. together, but the American South remains somewhat uncharted territory for us. There are so many spots we’d love to hit, and we hope Nashville and Charleston are the first of many.

We only had a quick weekend in The Athens of the South, and made so many fun memories in that short time that we wanted to share our brief whirlwind itinerary with you. While this weekend guide to Music City can be enjoyed by any traveler, we’re specifically pointing out that it was a Nashville couples weekend because your Nashville experience will likely be pretty different if you go with a group of friends or a bachelor / bachelorette party vs. just your significant other or one friend. Regardless, this guide applies to everyone!

Your weekend in Nashville will no-doubt involve amazing live music, killer food, and tons of drinks no matter what. Use the table of contents below to hop around our Nashville getaway itinerary.

BEST TIME TO VISIT NASHVILLE

The most popular time to visit Nashville is April through October, when average high temps range from the low 70s to high 80s. However, it’s really a lovely city year-round. We went in mid December and while we got chillier temps (40s - 50s) and some rain, flight prices were lower and crowds were smaller which we found really nice!

WHERE TO STAY IN NASHVILLE

We stayed in this lovely Airbnb in East Nashville, pretty close to Nashville Biscuit House! It was located in a cute tree-lined neighborhood where most of the houses were already decked out in Christmas lights, and it was also a guest house totally separate from the main house, offering tons of privacy and comfort.

East Nashville is a hip neighborhood just across the river from the honky-tonks of downtown — known for dive bars, trendy restaurants and offbeat shops. Since we strive to see the more local side of each city we visit, East Nash was right up our alley in terms of places to make our headquarters. Tons of the restaurants and bars we most wanted to visit were right around the corner from us.

That said, if you’re in Nashville for a short time and know you’re going to be spending most of your time downtown anyway, there are tons of hotels and Airbnbs closer to the main action.

WHERE TO EAT & DRINK IN NASHVILLE

Hot chicken is the name of the game in Nashville, and beyond that, the city isn’t lacking in good ‘ol Southern comfort food, along with plenty of other dining options of all varieties. When it comes to drinking, you can spend all day hopping from hipster espresso bars to whiskey distilleries to honky tonks.

Check out where we went below!

Nashville Biscuit House

805 Gallatin Ave, Nashville, TN 37206 | Website

We had flown out of Denver at 6am (which meant a 3am alarm) just to spend a full three days in Nashville, so by the time we arrived at our Airbnb around 9:30am we were already feeling sleepy. We wanted to hit the town right away, and cross-checked our list of Nashville breakfast restaurants to find the closest one to our place. Turns out it was Nashville Biscuit House, and we’ve never seen a more welcoming sight.

Ray is a big fan of the diner breakfast, and NBH does it just right. Waitresses that call you nicknames like “darlin’” and “sugar,” frequent refills of piping-hot coffee, and some of the heartiest Southern breakfasts you can imagine — think country fried steak and biscuits and gravy (of course).

Barista Parlor

519 Gallatin Ave B, Nashville, TN 37206 | Website

A hip joint in East Nashville for artisanal coffee from small-batch roasters. Even though we had just drank our fill of coffee at Nashville Biscuit House, we found that not much else was open in East Nash on a weekday at 11am, and we were feeling full and tired so we stopped for another pick-me-up. This place and everyone in it were incredibly trendy-looking. We enjoyed delicious espresso drinks, good people-watching, and plus they were playing a Johnny Cash Christmas album which put us right in the spirit.

Corsair Distillery & Taproom

1200 Clinton St #110, Nashville, TN 37203 | Website

Corsair is located in the old Marathon Motor Works building just north of downtown, along with other distilleries, wineries, recording studios and shops. After our first whisky tasting flight we were prepared to mosey along, but a band started to set up and more and more people began showing up to see them play. We heard whispers about how good this band was for such a small venue, so we decided to stick around to listen. SO glad we did! Literally every single band we watched perform in Nashville was astoundingly talented, but this one was our favorite of the entire weekend. We stuck around Corsair for hours to keep watching them, but had we ventured along, we probably would have tried Nelson’s Green Briar Distillery too.

3 Crow Bar

1024 Woodland St, Nashville, TN 37206 | Website

A dive bar in East Nasty that was right up our alley and a great spot to grab happy hour beers. You can even still smoke inside Nashville bars...making them feel all the more gloriously divey.

Bolton’s Spicy Chicken and Fish

624 Main St, Nashville, TN 37206 | Website

After watching the Bourdain Nashville episode where he can’t handle the spiciness of Bolton’s (but the rest of the episode is just him hanging out with The Dead Weather and The Kills), we knew this renowned hot chicken and fish outpost was something we had to try. It’s in East Nash, but quite a walk down Main Street which allowed us to see more of the neighborhood. While the restaurant ambiance itself is nothing to write home about, the spicy chicken and sides are a force to be reckoned with. Do NOT order the hot or extra hot! We love spicy food and thought the medium was super spicy already (in a good way), so now we understand what Bourdain was going through after ordering the extra hot. There are plenty of other contenders for best hot chicken in Nashville, including Prince’s and Hattie B’s, and if we had time we woulda tried ‘em all!

Not much for presentation, but Bolton’s is “100”

The Treehouse

1011 Clearview Ave, Nashville, TN 37206 | Website

If you’re going for a somewhat classier experience in East Nashville, The Treehouse’s farm-to-table entrees and happy hour options look delicious. We went post Bolton’s on our way home and only stopped in for drinks, which we enjoyed in the lovely heated outdoor patio.

Biscuit Love

316 11th Ave S, Nashville, TN 37203 | Website

After experiencing the homestyle diner vibes of Nashville Biscuit House, we opted for the more touristy and trendy Biscuit Love on our second morning. Delicious? Yes. Overrated? Probably. Despite arriving pretty early Saturday AM, we still waited in a long line out the door for almost an hour. The chicken and biscuits were bomb, and Sam was especially a fan of the dirty chai she got, but all in all we probably enjoyed the Nashville Biscuit House experience and food more.

Five Points Pizza

1012 Woodland St, Nashville, TN 37206 | Website

Crispy, thin-crust, NY-style pies served up late night and by the slice. The perfect stop after our night on Broadway.

The Pharmacy

731 Mcferrin Ave, Nashville, TN 37206 | Website

One of our favorite meals in Nashville, despite it being our last day and us having the Sunday Scaries. A biergarten-style burger and sausage parlor, complete with DELICIOUS homemade sodas and shakes, along with outdoor seating on a gorgeous patio.

Kung Fu Saloon

1921 Division St, Nashville, TN 37203 | Website

We’d gotten a recommendation to go to this bar from a Lyft driver early in the weekend, and decided to take him up on it when we ended up nearby at the Vanderbilt campus. Fun bar with both outdoor games like cornhole and indoor vintage arcade games.

WHAT TO DO IN NASHVILLE

Music, music, and more music! The country and Southern rock scenes are just so damn good, you should spend most of your time in Nashville consuming either 1) live music or 2) music history. While there’s tons more we could have done in Nashville and the surrounding areas, here’s what we stuck to with the short time we had.

Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum

222 5th Ave S, Nashville, TN 37203 | Website

Our first tourist stop in Nashville. It was drizzling rain outside, and we decided a museum made for a good midday activity until we could reasonably justify eating again and starting to get our drank on. Sam isn’t usually much of a museum person, but a music one she can get behind, and we spent an amazing couple hours here learning all about country music history. We especially enjoyed the special exhibit on Emmylou Harris, the section on Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings and more, and the exhibit showcasing some of country music history’s glitziest costumes. A must-visit to set the scene for your Nashville music adventures!

Christmas at the Country Music Hall of Fame

John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge

The pedestrian bridge connecting downtown Nashville to East Nashville, with tons of great views of downtown over the Cumberland River. Worth a nice stroll and stop for photos!

Broadway Street

Music City’s main event. You can bar hop all day and night drinking your fill and watching some of the most talented country performers in the U.S. Each band seemed better than the last, and we could barely pull ourselves away from one bar to try the next. We hit up Acme Feed & Seed (right on the river), Layla’s, Legends Corner, and Second Fiddle. We stayed away from a lot of the bigger celebrity-owned bars (Luke Bryan’s, Florida Georgia Line’s, Jason Aldean’s), but we’re sure those are a blast too. You really can’t go wrong on Broadway.

The Listening Room

618 4th Ave S, Nashville, TN 37210 | Website

Unable to lock down reservations for Nashville’s iconic Bluebird Cafe, we opted for another venue that puts up and coming singer / songwriters on display. The Listening Room is located just South of Broadway, and creates a setting where the art of songwriting is truly showcased. Three singer / songwriters sat on stage and alternated singing their self-written tunes, always taking the time to give the backstory behind each one, while listeners enjoyed drinks and dinner during the show. To be honest, the venue is new and lacked the history and charm that others like the Bluebird Cafe likely have (though we’ve never been and can’t compare). We found this to be a really unique and special way to experience the heart of Nashville, but ended up vibing with the live music on Broadway more, and headed right back there afterwards.

The Parthenon at Centennial Park

We decided to explore a different side of Nashville on our last day in the city, and took a ride over to Centennial Park — home of the legendary Parthenon. The Parthenon is a full-scale replica of the original in Athens, designed by Confederate veteran William Crawford Smith and built in 1897. We enjoyed a nice walk through the park and explored the vast and stunning structure.

Vanderbilt Campus

After strolling Centennial Park, we decided to just keep walking on over to explore Vanderbilt. Such a beautiful campus! By the weekend we arrived, finals had wrapped up and most students were already home for winter break, leaving the campus eerily quiet and peaceful. We wandered for awhile through the mostly abandoned quads lined with orange and yellow-leaved trees, reminiscing about our own time at The University of Colorado where we met.

What to pack for Nashville: Whether you’re the cowboy boot and hat-wearing type, or you just want to have some on hand for a special occasion (like trips to Nashville), Nashville is definitely the place to shop for these country closet staples. But if you want to step off the plane and fit right in, you can definitely grab a hat and boots beforehand. I think these women’s cowboy boots are gorgeous, and I like more of a cap toe boot style for men (Ray has these ones!)

Our Nashville weekend trip was brief, and we’ve been craving another Nashville getaway ever since the day we left! Writing this post has us hankerin’ for the delicious Southern food and nonstop incredible live music that Music City has to offer.

We know we’ll be back one day! More Nashville tips for our return? Leave us a comment below or on our latest IG post!

Happy travels!