1 Day in Nashville Itinerary: Day Trip Travel Guide

Do you only have 1 day to spend in Nashville? With this Nashville itinerary, you’ll be able to get the most out of your day trip!

This site contains affiliate links, view the disclosure for more information.

As you all know, Nashville is my favorite city! Yes – I’m biased since I was born and raised in Music City, but it truly it such a fun city that I believe offers something for everyone! There’s no better place for a quick getaway!

You could spend quite a bit of time in Nashville and still have so much more to see, but I’ll focus on the highlights that’ll get you wanting to come back for a full week the next time.

When I go to a city for the first time, I do always want to do the big touristy things to check them off the list and say I did it – but I also want to mix in what the locals do or find things a little off the well beaten path. That’s where I always find the hidden gems that keep me wanting to come back to the city for more.

There are tons of “tourist” attractions that everyone wants to see when they come to Nashville. Some of them are great, but if you only have a day waiting in lines is not the way you want to be spending your time.

So in this itinerary, I’ll show you some ways to cross some of the main things people think of when they think of Nashville off the list, but I’ll try to mix in some things that aren’t quite as predictable.

Although Nashville is becoming a bigger and bigger city every day, in the right spots you’ll feel like you’re in a small town.

I play music, and almost every weekend I meet people that I’ve met at shows in years before. Some even come a couple of times a year to visit. There are several I’ve gotten to know very well and even gone to their hometowns to play gigs.

Hopefully, with this itinerary you’ll still be able to get a taste of all that Nashville has to offer – even though you’re there for a short time.

This post is all about how to spend 1 day in Nashville!

This post is all about how to spend 1 day in Nashville!

Kick Start Your Morning:

You’re going to need a good breakfast to make sure you are fueled up for your day in Nashville!

The typical breakfast places that seem to be on everyone’s bucket list when they visit Nashville are places like Pancake Pantry, Biscuit Love, and Loveless Cafe. All of those places really are amazing – but I would save them for when you have a little more time to kill.

All of them typically have a long wait (just drive past The Pancake Pantry in the mornings and you’ll see the massive line) and Loveless Cafe is a bit of a drive outside of the city. I want to make sure you spend your day having fun instead of waiting in a long line!

I would plan to start your morning in the Gulch at Milk & Honey for breakfast. (It’s near Biscuit Love so if you had your heart set on that location you can peak over and see if there isn’t a long line!). Milk & Honey has a huge breakfast selection and it’s delicious!

Once you’re done walk around the Gulch a little bit! It’s such a cute area of town. You’ll find some little shops and can stop and take pictures at all the murals it has to offer (don’t forget the famous wings mural – although once again…there tends to be a line just to get a photo op!)

Mid-Morning / Lunch Activities:

Once you’ve had enough adventures in The Gulch, it’s time to head to Lower Broadway of course! If you’re unfamiliar with Nashville, Broadway is kind of the main strip downtown. And most importantly it’s where there is TONS of live music. Sometimes it’s referred to as Honky Tonk Highway.

The great thing about Broadway is there is music pretty much ALL the time.

At night Broadway can be complete madness – people everywhere, lines to get into certain bars, definitely no sitting room. That’s why I put it early in the day on the itinerary.

I know so many people who say Broadway is way more fun during the day. There’s still live music. There are still some people out and about. And there are still great drinks great bars and amazing rooftops to choose from. But drinks are faster to get and you have way more freedom to go door to door and check out which suits you best.

Since Broadway has so many bars to choose from (seriously new ones open almost every week it seems like these days) – I always recommend bar hopping until you find a venue that fits what you like and has music you enjoy!

When you get into a bar at night often times you want to stay put because you waited so long to get in and get to the spot you wanted – but that won’t be a problem during the day!

Many people talk about Tootsie’s Orchard Lounge or Robert’s Western World when thinking of honky tonks to visit, but I highly encourage you to check out the others. There are so many other great ones out there and everyone almost always finds one they fall in love with that wasn’t even on their list of bars to hit!

Once you’re ready for lunch, you’ve got plenty of options to choose from! If you’re having a blast on Broadway and want to stay put in whatever honky tonk you’ve found yourself in – they almost all do have food! Some have your typical bar food, but there are some that have really upped their game on food!

Since you don’t have much time I would recommend eating where you can listen to live music to make the most of your time!

Afternoon Activities:

There are a couple of options to choose from for the afternoon. If you’re a museum kind of person you may be able to fit in going to see the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

In the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, you will see the most amazing collection of artifacts and country music history complete with interactive exhibits. From Garth Brooks, to Taylor Swift, to Willie Nelson, to Dolly Parton, to Hank Williams, to Waylon Jennings, to Blake Shelton, to Carrie Underwood, to Keith Urban, to Alan Jackson, to… I mean you get the picture. You’ll see them all. If you’ve got country music fans in your group you’ll absolutely enjoy your time – but be warned. The museum is HUGE! It’s a self-guided tour so of course you can spend as much time as you wish inside of it and leave whenever you need to, but it could be tricky fitting the whole thing in if you don’t have much time to dedicate to it.

If you still like the idea of a museum, but would rather go to one that won’t be as time consuming – I personally LOVE the Johny Cash Museum.

The Johnny Cash Museum is much smaller but still has a ton of amazing artifacts from throughout Johnny Cash’s life and career. I’ve been there many times and it truly never gets old.

Also, located right about the Johnny Cash Museum they recently opened a Patsy Cline Museum. I haven’t been able to go yet but I’ve heard incredible things about it! Since they are both small you may be able to fit them both in together!

One last option for an afternoon activity! You could also head to Centennial Park and check out Nashville’s full-scale replica of the Parthenon, built because Nashville was nicknamed “Athens of the South” due to all of the colleges in the surrounding area. (Shoutout to Belmont University! That’s where I graduated!). Nashville’s Parthenon is always a great place for pictures!

Out of these options, you’ll have MORE than enough to fill your afternoon in Music City.

Dinner Festivities:

Of course, I have a couple of recommendations for dinner depending on the mood you are in!

Let’s start off with options that include live music! And not just live music, but ORIGINAL live music. Broadway is full of live bands covering songs, so spend your evening listening to some people play songs they wrote themselves in a more intimate setting:

My first suggestion is to see if you can get reservations at The Bluebird Cafe. Of course, I’m not suggesting dinner at The Bluebird for their food – but for the live show of music.

The Bluebird is one of the most iconic places in Nashville. When you go, you’ll look at it and say “Really? This is the bluebird everyone talks about?” But the amount of history that has taken place within those walls is unmatched.

Sometimes you’ll recognize the artists playing, but oftentimes times you may not know the name on the bill. But when they start playing you’ll realize they’ve written some of the biggest songs in country music. It’s such an amazing experience hearing the live performance of your favorite songs directly from the songwriter in such an intimate setting.

If you’re unable to get into The Bluebird, see if the Listening Room has any good writers’ rounds going on. They also have a small dinner menu and they often have some incredible songwriters as well.

Maybe your focus isn’t as much on music as it is on trying some of the foods Nashville has become known for: Hot Chicken.

If you’re unfamiliar with hot chicken, it’s really just exactly what it sounds like… spicy chicken. But be warned, a lot of “hot chicken” restaurants REALLY bring the heat. It’s a different kind of hot when it’s Nashville Hot Chicken.

Mild at a lot of these places can taste like your hottest option at your typical wing restaurant. It will vary depending on where you go so just be warned and proceed with caution!

The two names you’ll always hear when talking about Nashville Hot Chicken are Hattie B’s and Prince’s Hot Chicken.

Prince’s is supposedly where Nashville Hot Chicken began. There story goes that a man named Thornton Prince came home one night with something that gave his woman some suspicion he had been sneaking around with someone he shouldn’t be on his night on the town.

Instead of confronting him about the issue, his lady decided to prepare his favorite food for him – fried chicken. But little did he know she covered it in spices and peppers in an attempt to put him in severe pain from how spicey it was.

But shockingly – he loved it! And asked for more!

He reworked the recipe to perfect it and ended up opening his own restaurant, Prince’s Hot Chicken. Now over a 100 years later, it’s still open and still serving up hot chicken.

There are several locations, so you actually usually can get into one pretty quickly without a line. There is one located in Assembly Food Hall right on Broadway if you don’t want to have to venture far.

Hattie B’s, another hot chicken place you’ll hear about, is in the midtown area. I’m going to be totally honest with you – I don’t love it. It’s been a while since I’ve had it but I wasn’t that impressed. And there’s usually a huge line.

One of my personal favorite hot chicken locations is Party Fowl. They have great drinks, great hot chicken, and it’s a fun atmosphere! It’s usually not too hard to get a seat either.

Assembly Food Hall, which I mentioned earlier, has a million options to choose from. And it’s great because the seating is open no matter which restaurant you order from. It’s perfect if you are in a group where everyone has a different tast. They also have live music most of the time as well!

If you want a nicer restaurant, head to the top of the food hall and dine in at Sixty Vines. It’s absolutely delicious. They are known for their selection of wines, but I highly recommend the Centerpiece Old Fashioned for Two. It’s so tasty and it’s literally made to be the centerpiece of your table.

I could literally go on and on about in Nashville but I’m forcing myself to stop there before I ramble on for TOO long lol.

If you want more restaurant ideas check out my blog post on: 11 of Best Places to Eat in Nashville: Restaurant Guide.

After-Dinner / Night Life Fun:

If you’re not ready for the night to end – then is when most tourists plan to head to Broadway, but I’ve got some other suggestions for you!

If you want to grab some drinks but want a low key vibe I recommend Pushing Daisies, a super trendy underground bar.

I usually recommend people to go out to the midtown area at night. If my friends and I were going out, midtown was always where we went. Winner’s and Loser’s are two places my friends and I used to always go out to. Red Door is also always the place we would end the night. Red Door doesn’t have live music but it’s a popular hang out spot amongst locals.

If you’re up for a little karoake, yes there are some places right on Broadway – but if you want a more locals vibe – head to Santa’s Pub. It’s a great little dive bar that is all Christmas themed.

As you can see there are so many options of things to choose from when you visit Nashville. You can really make it any kind of vacation you want.

As I always say there’s a little something for everyone when you come to Nashville, you just have to know the right places to go and the right times to go to them.

I hope this post helped you hit all the highlights of Nashville in a short amount of time!

There are so many places you can name a must-see attraction, but hopefully, this give you a good taste so you’re ready to take on even more for your next visit.

Hope you have a good time in the country music capital of the world!

QUICK OVERVIEW OF YOUR ITINERARY:

Breakfast at Milk & Honey
Walk and shop around the Gulch, Take pictures with the murals
Bar hop, listen to music, and day drink on Lower Broadway
Grab lunch at a honky tonk
Check out one of the following: Country Music Hall of Fame, Johnny Cash Museum, Patsy Cline Museum, or Centennial Park & Parthenon
Dinner at The Bluebird, Listening Room Cafe, or Assembly Food Hall
Have late-night drinks at Pushing Daisies or do karaoke at Santa’s Pub