The Opry sells out. The honky-tonks never close.
Which trolley loop actually stops at the Parthenon. What a seat at the Opry costs on a weeknight. Whether the Jack Daniel’s run is worth losing a whole day to. Reviews of every tour you can book in Nashville.
The Opry, a loop of the city, a whiskey run and a long lunch.
The four bookings a first Nashville weekend gets built around, with what each one costs and how much of the day it takes.
01The showGrand Ole Opry Show Admission TicketA live radio broadcast that has run since 1925, four or five acts a night, two hours flat. Book the night first and plan the rest around it.
02The first morningBest of Nashville City Sightseeing Tour on Double Decker BusOne circuit of the city on the top deck, an hour, and you know which neighbourhoods deserve a second look on foot.
03The day tripNashville to Jack Daniel’s Distillery Bus Tour + Whiskey TastingsSeventy-five miles south to Lynchburg for the rickhouses and the tastings at the end. It eats a whole day and nobody asks for it back.
04The long lunchFood Tour with 5+ Tastings of Local DelicaciesFive stops on foot with hot chicken and barbecue among them, and enough walking in between to keep going.
Lower Broadway is four blocks long and every door is open.
The strip runs from the river up to the Ryman with a band in every room and no cover at most of them. Three ways to work it, what each costs to join, and how late they run.
Tennessee whiskey, hot chicken and a smoker that never goes out.
Nashville eats late and drinks earlier than it admits. Distillery runs south of town, barbecue walks downtown and a brewery crawl through the Gulch, priced and timed.
Almost every record you know was cut within a mile of here.
Wooden pews at the Ryman, the circle of oak cut out of its floor and set into the Opry House stage, RCA Studio B where Elvis worked through the night. Nashville keeps its music history in working buildings, not glass cases.
Nashville is flat, walkable, and much bigger than the four blocks you came for.
Everything on wheels →
Downtown is a twenty-minute walk end to end. The Parthenon in Centennial Park, the Belle Meade mansion and the Opry House out on Briley are not, which is what the trolleys, the double-deckers and the golf carts are for.
Hop off at the Parthenon, or ride the whole circuit
The trolleys and double-deckers cover the same ring: downtown, Music Row, Centennial Park, the Gulch. One circuit takes about an hour if you never get off, which is the fastest way to work out what you actually want to see.
Downtown, printers and murals, in two hours
Downtown is compact and mostly flat, so a guided walk gets you Printers Alley, the courthouse steps, the honky-tonk row and the river in a single morning without a single fare.
Six seats, no windows, straight down Broadway
A street-legal cart holds six and gets down lanes a coach cannot. It is the version people book when they want the photographs and the commentary without an hour on a bus.
What a day out in Nashville actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by what it costs. Plenty of the best hours in this city come in under the price of a round on Broadway.
Museum and attraction entry, downtown walks, ghost walks and the line-dancing classes.
The full-day standards: food walks, the distillery runs, the showboat and the sightseeing loops.
Private guides, helicopters over the skyline and the once-a-trip nights that earn it.
Nashville has three rooms nowhere else can copy.
Country museums and bar strips exist in a dozen American cities. A barn that goes out live every Saturday, the studio that cut Elvis after midnight, and a dance floor where strangers teach you the steps do not.
The Opry and the Ryman
The Grand Ole Opry started as a radio show in a downtown studio, moved into the Ryman when the crowds outgrew it, and moved again in 1974 to a purpose-built house out by the river. When it went, a circle of oak was cut from the Ryman stage and set into the new one, so every act still stands on the same boards. Both buildings run daytime tours, and the Ryman lets you stand in the circle.
- 1Grand Ole Opry Show Admission Ticket★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 2,518 reviews
- 2Discover Nashville City Tour with Entry to Ryman & Country Music Hall of Fame★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 2,412 reviews
- 3Grand Ole Opry House Guided Backstage Tour in Nashville★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 2,405 reviews
RCA Studio B
Studio B on Music Row is a low brick box with bad parking and a thousand hit records. Elvis cut more than two hundred sides here, usually overnight, and the lights were dimmed to a single blue bulb when he wanted a ballad to sound a certain way. You reach it only on a timed shuttle from the Country Music Hall of Fame, in small groups, and the piano still works.
- 1Discover Nashville City Tour with Entry to Ryman & Country Music Hall of Fame★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 2,412 reviews
- 2Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum Admission★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 1,918 reviews
- 3Nashville RCA Studio B & Country Music Hall of Fame Ticket Combo★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,532 reviews
Learning the steps
Half the floor at any Broadway bar knows the same handful of line dances and nobody will explain them to you mid-song. An hour with an instructor covers the boot-scoot, the tush push and enough of the counting to keep up, and most classes hand you a video of the whole thing so you can practise before you go back down.
- 1Instructor-Led Line Dancing Class with Souvenir Video★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,394 reviews
- 2Line Dancing Class with Keepsake Video★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 773 reviews
- 3Beginner’s Line Dancing Class with Instructor in Nashville★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 151 reviews
Four Nashville bookings that sell out before you land.
Most of this city can be sorted from a bar stool the night before. These four run on broadcast calendars, distillery slots and river timetables that take no interest in when your flight gets in.
- 01Grand Ole Opry Show Admission TicketThe Opry goes out live to a broadcast schedule, only a few nights a week, and the seats near the circle go first.
- 02Nashville to Jack Daniel’s Distillery Bus Tour + Whiskey TastingsLynchburg is seventy-five miles south and the coach leaves once a morning. Miss it and there is no second run that day.
- 03Nashville RCA Studio B & Country Music Hall of Fame Ticket ComboStudio B is reached only on a timed shuttle from the Hall of Fame, in small groups, and the slots are capped.
- 04General Jackson Showboat Lunch or Dinner Cruise in NashvilleThe General Jackson sails to a fixed lunch and dinner timetable and it does not wait at the dock.
When Broadway hits ninety-five degrees and the sidewalk stops moving.
Nashville summers are humid and the afternoon storms arrive with about ten minutes of warning. Both have the same answer. Do the outdoor half early, then get under a roof: a studio, a museum, a rickhouse, or a dance floor with the air conditioning turned up.
What everyone books on a first trip to Nashville.
Every Nashville review →These carry more travellers than anything else in the city. Prices, running times and where each one actually goes.
1
Nashville Hop On Hop Off Trolley Tour
See Nashville’s top sights by trolley with live narration, 13 stops, flexible hop-on access, and practical tips for timing downtown visits.
From · $53
Read our review →
2
Food Tour with 5+ Tastings of Local Delicacies
from $98
3
Best of Nashville City Sightseeing Tour on Double Decker Bus
from $34
4
Explore the City of Nashville Sightseeing Tour by Golf Cart
from $55
5
Grand Ole Opry Show Admission Ticket
from $61
6
Downtown Nashville Public Party Tractor 21+ Only
from $44
7
Discover Nashville City Tour with Entry to Ryman & Country Music Hall of Fame
from $103
8
Grand Ole Opry House Guided Backstage Tour in Nashville
from $39
By the room you want to be in
Friday on Broadway, Saturday at the Opry: how a first Nashville weekend runs.
Saturday earlyJust reviewed in Nashville.
Keep going →
Nashville Pole Dance and Meditation Experience – All Levels
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Battle at Belle Meade Civil War Tour & Complimentary Wine Tasting
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