We met up with some family for my cousin’s 40th Birthday and oh man did we have a blast. Basically, we drank, we ate (more so a liquid diet), we danced, we sang, we pedaled, we Opry’ed. Our advice is, if you’re heading to Nashville, make a plan to hit up your must-see bucket list places because Nashville is quick to scoop you up and take you by musical storm.
Favourite Bars
Each one has a unique bar experience – rooftop patios with stunning views, live music on every level, games for added fun, and some even feature talented DJs. It’s absolutely mind-blowing. When it comes to Nashville bars, you simply can’t go wrong. But let us introduce you to our top picks:
Second Fiddle Smaller, cozy bar with fun atmosphere! The band here had great energy & fun vibe. There’s also a big rooftop patio
More of a loungey vibe with beer pong, a huge stage & lots of whiskey options. The band here rocked out!
the bar of John Rich of Big & Rich – “A Hero’s Bar” – a very patriotic bar celebrating the men & women of service & first responders. This was a stop on our Pedal Crawl and we loved it!
5 floors, 4 stages, 6 bars this place is huge! A center bar on the main floor and a raised stage so you can see the band do their thing! Also has mezzanine levels
this one had the most country artists playing live! There’s a ton of stairs to work off those booze calories (but there is an elevator) and cool to see artists from the mezzanine – plus a tractor hanging from the ceiling!
Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville Join Sirius XM’s The Highways Buzz Brainard for Music Row Happy Hour! Did we line up on Friday for this? No. Did we want to? Yes. But this was our Pedal Crawl day, and there was only so much time! Entry is first come first serve, you can make reservations for any other day besides Fridays & Saturdays. Maybe we’ll hear you on the radio with Buzz!
such an iconic bar! To be honest, we didn’t stay here long – someone had puked on all the stairs, so we popped in just to say we’d been there, listened to one song then jammed out! But worth a visit to this legendary gem!
Luke Bryans bar, 4 band stages, rooftop patio
Jason Aldeans Kitchen & Rooftop Bar 4 levels, live music, TV sports
Sippin’ Spot Wisdom: Luke’s & Jason’s bars connect on the rooftop!
Things to Do
There are so many things to do in Music City! Here’s our adventures and
what we hope to catch next time we’re in town…
Grand Ole Opry Wow what an experience! To be in such an iconic building where so many legendary artists perform is a feeling like no other. We just wanted to go to the Grand Ole Opry, it didn’t really matter to us who we seen. But if you know your dates, you can look ahead on their website to see who’s performing! You can see a show or take a tour and go backstage – see what the artists see! (We plan to take the tour next time we visit Nashy) There are cool giant guitar photo ops outside the entry, bar service & merchandise store inside the main doors, then an usher takes you to your seat. Inside is smaller than you’d think (or it was to us anyway) but that is a good thing! We’ve never been in an opry house before and it’s just like the movies and seeing Opry performances on tv! It has such a small, cozy, family & friends vibe to it, there’s honestly no bad seat in the house. We sat in section 13 & was happy with our view. The seats are like church pews, so you get right snuggled up to the people beside you..
Opryland Call us naïve, but we had no idea Opryland is as big as it is! A mall, restaurants, hotel, the Grand Ole Opry it’s insane! We can only speak to the Opry itself, so if you check it all out, let us know what you think!
Ryman We didn’t make it here (our trip was so quick!) but this is where the original Grande Ole Opry was held until the late 70’s before they moved out to Opryland. Here you can still see shows and take a tour as well!
Music City Crawler There are SO MANY pub crawl options in Nashville, we just decided on this one because my family already drives tractors & we didn’t trust ourselves to operate golf carts. Plus Music City Crawler is the only pedal pub that has chair backs, so it seemed a safe bet we wouldn’t lose anybody. Our guides were newlyweds Danny & Rachel and they were awesome! Great energy, fun drinking games & several stops at bars with drink specials just for our pedal pub. 10/10 recommend, would do it again next time even!
The Bluebird Cafe Sadly we didn’t make it to the Blue Bird, some events are first come first serve, but show tickets are available the week prior or the week of the event. Check the event calendar on their website and tip do the time difference local to you to grab tickets as soon as they go on sale. This is a tiny venue but awesome to see both up & coming and experienced artists. Ah, still on our bucket list…
Johnny Cash Museum Ok I can’t even count the times. somebody in our group suggested we go here and we just never made it! So that’s staying on the bucket list cause who doesn’t love the man in black..
We danced, we sang, we pedalled, we Opry’d
Eats
The Local – Live music daily, great food & patio, and a 3 minute walk from our hotel (1.6mi from Broadway)
White Duck Taco Shop – (SoBro District) We ate here after our Pedal Crawl, (it’s right at the pick up spot). They had yummy tacos & delicious margaritas! A huge place with lots of seating & live music, it’s a really fun atmosphere!
Sun & Fork – a favorite place for breakfast, and a 5 minute walk from our hotel
Mortons Steakhouse – 8mi from Broadway Street, 9 minute drive from our hotel
This is a upscale restaurant with some of the most delicious food we’ve ever tasted! We decided on this steakhouse for the big Birthday dinner and it was a top notch choice! Our grandma was well known for her cooking skills, so to say we can have a bit of high expectations for food is an understatement and Mortons knocked it out of the park!
Make a reservation! I made a reso for 8 people at 5:00 (when they open for dinner) and under special occasions I let them know it was my cousins Birthday. When we arrived to our table, there was personalized menus reading “Happy 40th Birthday, Joe”. What a special touch!
Our server was absolutely amazing, we told her that we have tickets to the Grand Ole Opry and we knew it’d be a tight window getting to the Opry on time… she was quick, efficient but never made us feel rushed. The manager came over for a short visit with us too! Each of our steaks were cooked perfectly & melt in your mouth, and being Canadian of course we had to get the bacon steak as an appy!
If you’re looking to dine at a more elegant restaurant in Nashville, we highly recommend Mortons Steakhouse. It was nice to dress up, and enjoy a tasty meal in an enjoyable atmosphere.
Where We Stayed | Holiday Inn Vanderbilt
We thought this hotel was great for us! Some of our group had stayed here before, so it was nice to have good feedback about it before booking.
*The outdoor pool was the perfect recoup spot after hangover sleep-ins and if you prefer to sweat out your demons then the Fitness center is more than adequate!
*The Commodore Grill is right in the lobby, and has delicious appies and songwriters performing every night! (and a patio too!)
*It’s quite a walk to Broadway Street (1.6mi) so we suggest either the free hotel shuttle or grab a cab or Uber. Trust us, you’ll do more than enough walking on Broadway as it is!
*It is about 10 miles from the Nashville Airport, we grabbed a taxi as the Uber area was a bit more difficult to find.
Click HERE to book your Nashville stay at the Holiday Inn Vanderbilt (an IHG Hotel)
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