Downtown Nashville Tours

There are several options from guided to self-guided tours for all types of travelers.  Depending on the weather and your preference for exercise on the sidewalks, there are options.  With bus tours, you start with ‘drive by’ views of attractions, then there is the ‘hop on and off’ version allowing you to visit some sites and use the bus to move between sites.  Finally, there is the self-guided walking tour where you can browse shops (and honky tonks) and visit all the main attractions in downtown Nashville.

1. Best of Nashville on a Double Decker Bus operated by Grey Line Tours - 

• About one hour
• $28.67 per person
• You will need to make your own reservation.

Get oriented with Nashville on this quick "New Nashville" tour, which was designed to show off the best of the city for those short on time or who only want an introduction before exploring more on their own. Traveling by open-top double-decker bus, you'll pass by more than 100 landmarks and attractions, such as Ryman Auditorium and Vanderbilt University.

• See the best of Nashville in just one hour.
• Enjoy views from an open-air double-decker bus.
• Learn about the sights via live commentary from a driver-guide.
• Great way to be introduced to Music City at the beginning of your trip.

Itinerary

• Start At:   Gray Line Tours
• Pass By:   Centennial Park
  • This downtown park has jogging paths, grassy spots for picnics and a small lake for paddle boating. Home to Nashville's The Parthenon.
• Pass By:   Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
  • The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is the home of this popular American art form, safeguarding over 2.5 million artifacts, with two expansive floors of gallery space featuring permanent- and limited-engagement exhibits.
• Pass By:   Ryman Auditorium Best known as the home of the Grand Ole Opry. This is the exact spot where bluegrass was born—where Johnny Cash met June Carter, where souls were saved, and a slice of history was nearly lost.
• Pass By:   Nashville Parthenon
  • The Parthenon is a full-scale replica of the Parthenon in Athens, Greece.
• Pass By:   Tennessee State Capitol
  • The grounds around this majestic neo-classical building offer statues of many historic figures, plus the graves of President Polk and his wife.
• Pass By:   Nissan Stadium
  • Nashville football stadium and home of the NFL team, Tennessee Titans.
• Pass By:   Vanderbilt University
  • Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of New York shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt.
• Pass By:   Frist Art Museum
  • Since opening in 2001, the Frist Center for Visual Arts has hosted a spectacular array of art from around the world. Not only an important cultural focal point for the city of Nashville, but it is also a significant architectural structure, occupying one of Nashville’s great historic landmarks, the former main post office.
• Pass By:   Music City Convention Center
  • The Music City Center is a convention complex located in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, United States.
• Pass By:  Riverfront Park
  • This Park features concerts, a popular carousel, and an ice-skating rink.
• Pass By:   Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum
  • Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum honors musicians from stars to studio players, from all genres of music.
• Pass By:   Printer's Alley
  • Small, gritty street lined with some of Nashville's best bars and restaurants.
    
     

2. Nashville Hop On Hop Off Trolley Tour

• About 90 minutes if you do not hop off. 
• $43.65 per person
• As with any ‘hop on hop off’ tour bus, when you hop off you may have to wait for an available seat on a bus if the next bus is full.  It depends on what day and time you decide to take the tour.
• With this tour you can spend more time in places you like and ‘drive by’ other places that interest you less (or if you are tired).
• You will need to make your own reservation.

Stops on the Tour:

• 201 Broadway Downtown Nashville
• Ryman Auditorium
• Music Walk of Fame Park
• Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
• The Johnny Cash Museum & Cafe
• Tennessee State Capitol
• Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum
• Nashville Farmers' Market
• Capitol View Avenue
• Capitol View Marathon
• Marathon Village
• Centennial Park/Parthenon
• Midtown Nashville
• Belmont Mansion/ Belmont University
• The Union Station Nashville Yards, Autograph Collection

 

Points of interest passed by:

• Ryman Auditorium  
• Music City Walk of Fame  
• Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum  
• The Johnny Cash Museum  
• Patsy Cline Museum  
• Nashville Farmers' Market  
• Marathon Village  
• Centennial Park  
• Nashville Parthenon  
• Music Row  
• Belmont Mansion  
• Frist Art Museum

 

3. Guided Walking Tour

• About 2 hours 
• $25.00 per person
• As with any walking tour, you will see several sights you may want to come back to later.  But because the tour is a group tour, you cannot delay the group with a long visit to one of the sights in the middle of the tour.
• You will need to make your own reservation.

Stops on the Tour:

• Start At:   Ryman Auditorium
  • The very reason we are called Music City. Welcome to the Mother Church of Country Music.  Duration: 5 minutes
• Stop At:   Tootsies Orchid Lounge
  • The World's Most Famous Honky-tonk! Duration: 5 minutes
• Stop At:   Ernest Tubb Record Shop
  • The indubitable steppingstone to getting on the Opry. Ever see "Coal Miner's Daughter?" Now you will see where it was filmed. Duration: 5 minutes
• Pass By:   The Johnny Cash Museum
  • The one and only Man in Black.
• Pass By:   Goo Goo Shop
  • Peanuts, Carmel, Chocolate, and the first combination candy bar ever sold in the United States.
• Stop At:   The George Jones
  • Possum, No Show, whatever you call him...he was a legend. Duration: 5 minutes
• Stop At:   Fort Nashborough.
  • For 8,000 years the Cherokee lived undisturbed until... See one of the first Anglo settlements west of the Appalachians. Duration: 5 minutes
• Stop At:   Printer's Alley
  • World Famous Printer's Alley. Haunt, hangout, and den of depravity, Printers Alley hosted from Hendrix to Cash, from McGraw to McCartney - the world famous made this alley world famous. Duration: 5 minutes
• Stop At:   Skull's Rainbow Room
  • Andy Griffith, Buck Owens, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Buck Owens, Tim McGraw. If we told you every story we knew about this place, we'd never leave! Duration: 5 minutes
• Stop At:   Downtown Nashville
  • Welcome to Woolworth on Fifth! The Art District of Nashville was once ground zero for the Civil Rights Sit-ins of the 1960s, and we do our best to help you (re)live the pain, struggle, and ultimate triumph of the Nashville Freedom Riders, who refused to kowtow to the unjust laws of the Jim Crow South. Duration: 10 minutes
• Pass By:   Tennessee State Capitol
  • The Tennessee State Capitol. Stop At:   Downtown Presbyterian Church One of the only examples of Egyptian Revival architecture you will see in the United States, in a church! A gem in the heart of the city. Duration: 5 minutes
• Stop At:   Ryman Auditorium
  • Back to where it all began. The Soul of Nashville. The Mother Church! And it's seedy underbelly...Tootsie's...all rolled into one. A tour for both sinners and saints, a tour for all of us. Duration: 5 minutes
     

4. Self-Guided Walking Tour

• 2 separate routes – each about 1.5 miles and 45 minutes to an hour to walk.
• FREE!
• You can walk at your own pace.  Stop where you want, detour, or just stop altogether and have a drink.
• No reservations needed!

 

Compliments of the Music City Airstream Club (to whom I am forever grateful), we have a few suggestions of music and food venues to consider.

 

5. A Few Music Venues Worth Checking Out

 

• 3rd and Lindsley for a variety of music styles  
  • Groups that regularly play there include the Time Jumpers (Vince Gill often sits in when he’s in town)
• Station Inn  
  • This small venue has history as an old Mo-Town revue club where Ike and Tina Turner would play.  Now it is known for its focus on Bluegrass.

 

6. Nashville Food

Nashville is a foodie town with lots of great food of every variety from traditional southern comfort food to international and ethnic cuisine.  There are a couple of unique places to visit and unique cuisines.

Hot Chicken - Try Prince’s or Hattie B’s 

• “Stay away from the highest heat levels if you want to have tastebuds left to enjoy future meals”

 

• Prince's Hot Chicken weblink
  • 5055 Broadway Place – Stall #2268
  • Sun-Thur 10:30am - 11:00pm
  • Fri-Sat 10:30am - midnight

 

• Hattie B's Hot Chicken weblink
  • 112 19th Street Nashville (at Broadway)
  • phone (615) 678-4794
  • Mon-Thur 11:00am – 10:00pm,
  • Fri-Sat 11:00am – midnight
  • Sun 11:00am – 4:00pm

Breakfast – The Pancake Pantry or Noshville

• Pancake Pantry
  • Get there early – lines form
  • 1796 21st Avenue South
  • Phone (615) 383-9333 (no reservations)
  • Mon-Fri 6:00am – 3:00pm
  • Sat-Sun 6:00am – 4:00pm
  • Parking behind the Pancake Pantry is free, but you MUST obtain and place a receipt on your dashboard.  You may obtain a receipt from the machine at the entrance to the lot.  Press 1 for 1.5 hours of free parking if you're dining with us.
• Noshville
  • ‘Authentic’ New York style delicatessen
  • 7:00am – 3:00pm every day
  • 4014 Hillsboro Circle
  • (615) 269-3535

 

Click to download Visitors Guide