It’s official: Nashville is a popular bachelorette city for a reason. But it would be fun for any group trip, especially if you’re country music fans like we are. We took a long weekend from Thursday to Sunday and actually positioned it on a holiday weekend so we’d get Monday to decompress at home.
We were in search of a destination where we could go out hard but keep things fairly casual – both in dress (hello, cowboy boots) and in planning (we had no desire to make a million reservations). And honestly, we pre-planned very little of what we ended up doing which might not be your group’s vibe but it worked for us!
Below you’ll find an interactive map of all the places we went (you can add it right to Google Maps to have all my recommendations right at your fingertips) along with every step of our three-day itinerary.
It was my first spending any real time in Nashville, so I’d love to hear any other city suggestions you have in the comments! Of course we were tourists on a bachelorette party, so didn’t get to check out anything truly “local.” I’d love to do that next time! And if you want to shop my outfits, you can do that here.
ali's map of nashville
where to stay
We stayed at the omni nashville which was just a few blocks away from Broadway, aka the main drag of downtown nashville (for tourists, that is). we had 10 people and booked a luxury suite with an adjoining room plus one additional room for about $425 a person for 3 nights. There are certainly more cost-effective options, but whatever you do I highly recommend staying walking distance from Broadway!
We considered an AirBnb (usually my go-to on group trips) but couldn’t find any we liked that weren’t too far away. This suite gave us a “home base” that felt very similar to an Airbnb with all the perks of a hotel like housekeeping services, etc.
overall travel notes
- I didn’t realize how cold Nashville can get in the winter! It snowed one day we were there. I suppose some people check weather in depth before going somewhere, but I am not some people. I had a light coat that was certainly not warm enough for walking around at night. On the bright side, the cold weather meant places weren’t as crowded!
- Like I mentioned above, Nashville is quite casual – cowboy boots and sneakers kind of vibe. I would have felt way overdressed in anything else! We also did a lot of walking and a lotttttt of dancing. Comfort was key!
our itinerary
day 1
Arrival day! Most of us got in town mid afternoon on Thursday and luckily the hotel was able to check us in early (another perk of a hotel vs an Airbnb). We dropped our bags, did a little decorating in the room, and headed downstairs to Barlines, one of the restaurants at the Omni. The food was far better than a restaurant in a hotel deserves to be (get the wings!) and there was also live music starting around 4pm. We hung out there for a while as the rest of the group trickled in before we headed upstairs to get ready for dinner.
Evening. Thursday was the only night we made dinner reservations because we knew we could not be trusted to stick to a dinner plan on any other night. I’m so glad we did though! The Hampton Social was the perfect place to kick off our Nashville adventure. The interior is basically built for Instagram (down to the neon signs), so I wasn’t expecting much from the food. Wow, was I wrong. We split nearly every small plate on the menu and I had a scallops special for dinner. All incredible. But the real star was the large-portion cocktail served in a giant seashell. I had way too much fun cheers’ing with it! Plus, it’s walking distance from Broadway.
Late night. From dinner, we walked over to Broadway and got sucked right into Luke’s 32 Bridge – Luke Bryan’s place! There was a fantastic band playing (par for the course in Nashville) and we took over the dance floor using some new line dancing moves we’d soooort of learned earlier.
day 2
Morning. Spoiler alert: we did not have an early morning after a night dancing on Broadway. Luckily, we anticipated this and had leisurely brunch reservations set for 12:30…which we very nearly missed. We grabbed cars over to the RH Courtyard Restaurant at Restoration Hardware. Not your typical Nashville destination, but we were in the mood for something fancy! And it was fairly fancy with a price tag to boot. Delicious, though! I mean check out this burger (that I devoured along with several bellinis).
Afternoon. Time for our one cultural outing of the trip! A tour of the Grand Ole Opry where we learned about country music history (they were highlighting women in country!) and toured all sorts of backstage rooms. It was far cooler than I was expecting and I’m so glad we did it…and not just because it came with a couple glasses of bubbly. Are you sensing a theme?
Evening. We had decided to make Friday our “big night out” on Broadway, so we didn’t want to be tied down for dinner. Instead, we ordered food up to our suite from Barlines for everyone to pick at while we got ready. There’s something so magical about getting ready with a big group of women…makeup and hair tools everywhere, music playing, everyone dancing and laughing.
Late night. We couldn’t go to Nashville and not hit up jason aldean’s. The place is famous for awesome live music and a rowdy crowd dancing along (or so we’d heard). As it turns out…we’re not really into the “rowdy crowd” thing these days, so we beelined for the second floor and danced peacefully up there. After a while, we were looking for some new scenery and hit up Tequila Cowboy, which ended up being our favorite spot of the trip!
day 3
Morning. What do you know, another slow morning after a big night out! I shouldn’t admit this…but we ordered Jack In The Box for breakfast. And then smoothies. They were needed. This is where having the suite really paid off because we were all able to lounge around on the couches together.
Afternoon. Saturday was our day party day – we fueled up with last night’s leftovers in the room, threw on our fringe jackets and cowboy boots, and hit the town. We started at miranda lambert’s casa rosa – again another social media wonder land! I can’t speak to the food but the rooftop had a fun dance party going on. The drinks are pretty expensive here, so I’d stop in for a bit and then move on.
Evening. Our bar hopping took us up and down Broadway, hitting up tootsies, the stage, and honky tonk central. Frankly, I was a bit nervous that we wouldn’t find a decent spot for dinner (my type A was showing). But we ended up waltzing right into acme feed & seed – and finding space for all 10 of us in front of the band! I split wings, hot chicken, and fried chicken with two other women…so good.
PS if you like my outfit, don’t forget I posted everything I wore in my LTK!
PS if you like my outfit, don’t forget I posted everything I wore in my LTK!
day 4
Morning. Time to say goodbye to Nashville :(. We sent things off with a massive delivery order from biscuit love, inspired by many recommendations from you all! I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that we ordered literally everything on the menu and it was all amazing. I was a particular fan of the cheesy grits, sweet & spicy bacon, and biscuits with jam.
in conclusion
Nashville is an incredible place for a bachelorette (I suppose everyone and their mom is onto something there). I especially recommend it for more casual groups who want to roll with the punches a bit more than other destinations allow for – though you could certainly do more planned activities than we did if that’s your vibe!
Have you been to Nashville? Give me your best tips for next time in the comments!
And oh yeah…don’t forget to grab a hot dog from a street vendor on your way home from the bars!
