NASHVILLE LOVES + RECS

TRAVEL

Jan 17

Yesterday, I recapped our trip to Nashville over Winter Break, if you missed that post you can read all about it here. There are lots of family pictures and memories that were made in our 10 days in Nashville.

Spoiler alert if you haven’t read it yet, we fell in love with Nashville just like everyone else and we already can’t wait to go back. I think I have talked about our trip everyday since we have been home and legit cannot stop thinking about it since we left. The only other place I felt like that with was San Diego, CA. I love both places so much and only wished I was blogging back in 2018 when we went to San Diego so that I could look back on those pictures right now.

Anyways, I thought I would share with you our favorites places and must do recommendations. When I was planning our trip the first place I went to was social media to plan what we would do, blogs and Instagram. And, I went to my friends who love Nashville as well so I feel like this will be a great complied list to reference if you too are planning to head to Music City!

So, without further rambling from me, here we go…

Where To Stay //

Personally, we stayed in Franklin just south of Nashville for part of the trip and then we stayed in Old Hickory on the lake for part of the trip. So, VRBO/AirBNB’s are great options and really easy to come by. Both towns were 20ish minutes from all the action so if you stay outside of the hustle and bustle, it is still very easy to get to everyday.
- I would 1000% stay in Franklin again but Old Hickory outside of the immediate lake area wasn’t the best in my opinion.
- Next time we go, we will definitely stay close to downtown, that was my only regret of the trip….I wish we were in the action but since we went with extended family, it worked better not to.
There are tons of hotels all over Nashville. I have heard The Graduate, JW Marriott, The Noelle, The Dream, The Bobby and The Thompson are the best ones to stay at. Those are all boutique hotels so super cute and unique. But truthfully, I think any major hotel within walking/quick Uber distance is fine and a great way to go too.

What To Eat //

You must try the Nashville Hot Chicken sandwich (most places had different spice levels) and you must try Hot Chicken and Waffles. I had both of these options multiple times and didn’t regret it anytime, it was the number one thing to eat in Nashville and I feel like you can’t leave without trying.
Here were our fav places we ate:
- Hattie B’s (Downtown)
- Milk and Honey (12 South)
- The Assembly Food Hall (lots of great options Downtown)
- Five Daughters Bakery (a few different locations)
- Mojo Tacos (in Franklin)
- Tupelo Honey (in Franklin)
- Any honky tonk had great southern apps!
Other recs we were given but didn’t try (we ate only 1 meal out and the rest at the house we rented)
- Twelve Thirty Club (this is JT’s place downtown and high on my list but not kid friendly)
- Biscuit Love (a few locations)
- Edley’s BBQ (12 South)
- Bartaco

What To Do //

If you aren’t staying in Franklin, I definitely recommend a day trip there. Downtown is cute with lots of shops and places to eat. The Factory is awesome and Urban Sips has great gourmet soda. It’s just a happy little place that is worth the visit.
While you are in Franklin, head to Lieper’s Fork. It is super tiny, just a short drive from Franklin and the cutest little town with beautiful properties as you drive through. I think you could do a morning in Franklin and afternoon in Lieper’s Fork and have the best day.
Explore each of the neighborhoods. Downtown, The Gulch, 12 South are all so different and all offer something different because of it. I think a day in each neighborhood exploring would be so fun and it is exactly what we did.
Downtown was our favorite hands down. Broadway is amazing. The live music and energy, there is simply nothing like it. Even when we explored other neighborhoods, we always ended up back at a Honky Tonk on Broadway at the end of the afternoon.
Honky Tonks - this is a MUST if you go to Nashville even if you don’t love country music. It is just a vibe.
- Luke Bryan’s - the kids love him but its more of a restaurant than a honky tonk in my opinion.
- Honky Tonk Central - in the middle of it all and so much fun! We loved this one.
- Wildhorse Saloon - our fav! They do line dancing lessons and the stage/sound is amazing. Super kid friendly during the day and lots of space to spread out and the food was great too.
- You can literally just walk into so many on Broadway and we hopped around but Honky Tonk Central and Wildhorse were our favs with kids.
Country Music Hall of Fame and RCA Tour. All 7 of us loved this and we spent hours exploring the museum. Surprisingly, the RCA tour was our fav, its a guided tour and so much to be in such an iconic place. Highly recommend doing this and adding the RCA ticket.
Antique malls. We fell in love with antique shopping in Nashville, so many great options!

Shopping //

There is so much shopping and if you just simply walk around you will find it but here were my favs. Honestly, as much as I love shopping, being Downtown and dropping into small businesses and funky country stores that I wouldn’t find at home.

White’s Mercantile (Franklin and 12 South)
Uncommon James (The Gulch)
Boot Barn (Downtown) — we went in all of the boot places and loved Boot Barn the best
Draper James (12 South)
Stoney Clover (12 South)

Photo Ops //

These are take it or leave it depending on if you like a good photo op but if you are in the area, they are worth grabbing a quick pic at!