Solo travel · Nashville · United States
Solo travel in Nashville
How to enjoy Nashville at your own pace.
Updated By the AMZBooking editorial team
Photo: Daniel Schwen, CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answer
Nashville is sociable and easy for solo travellers: you can walk into any honky-tonk alone, sit at the bar, and talk with musicians and locals. Many solo travellers base themselves in Downtown and Lower Broadway.
Key facts
- Base
- Downtown and Lower Broadway
- Getting around
- Walking
- Emergency number
- 911 (police, fire, ambulance)
- Language
- English
Solo travel tips
- Weekday afternoons on Broadway are a relaxed time to enjoy the music alone.
- Songwriter nights seat solo visitors easily at bars and communal tables.
- Stay downtown or in the Gulch to walk to music venues.
- Downtown is very crowded and drunk on weekend nights; keep an eye on drinks and belongings.
- Use rideshare rather than walking long distances at night between neighbourhoods.
Where to stay
$$$$ · Best for first-timers, nightlife and solo travellers
Downtown and Lower Broadway
Lower Broadway between Fifth Avenue and the Cumberland River is the honky-tonk strip, with live music in multi-storey bars all day. The Ryman, the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Johnny Cash Museum, Bridgestone Arena and the National Museum of African American Music are all within a few blocks, as is the pedestrian bridge to the Titans' stadium.
- Good
- Walk to music venues and museums; Live music at all hours; Many hotels
- Watch out
- Very loud and crowded on weekends; Expensive hotels and parking; Party buses and pedal taverns everywhere
- Nearby
- Ryman Auditorium, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Johnny Cash Museum, John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge
Great on your own
Museum · Downtown and Lower Broadway
Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
Book the Studio B tour with your museum ticket; it is only reached by the museum's shuttle.
- Time needed
- 2–3 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Iconic
- History
- Rainy day
Historic site · Downtown and Lower Broadway
Ryman Auditorium
If you can, see a concert rather than only a tour; the acoustics are famous.
- Time needed
- 1–1.5 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Iconic
- History
- After dark
- Architecture
Experience · Music Valley
Grand Ole Opry
Check whether the show is at the Opry House or, during some winter weeks, at the Ryman.
- Time needed
- 2–2.5 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Iconic
- After dark
- History
Museum · Downtown and Lower Broadway
Johnny Cash Museum
Allow about an hour; combine it with the Patsy Cline Museum on a combined ticket.
- Time needed
- 1–1.5 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- History
- Rainy day
Museum · Downtown and Lower Broadway
National Museum of African American Music
Plan at least two hours; the interactive galleries take time.
- Time needed
- 2–3 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- History
- Rainy day
- Kids
- Art
Museum · Midtown and Music Row
The Parthenon
The park around it is free and a pleasant place for a picnic.
- Time needed
- 1–1.5 hours
- Cost
- Low cost
- Architecture
- Art
- Kids
- Rainy day
Meeting people
- Hot-chicken comparison — Try hot chicken at two or three places, starting mild or medium; keep bread and pickles to cool the burn.
- Meat-and-three lunch — Queue cafeteria-style at a weekday meat-and-three and choose your meat and sides from the steam table.
- Lower Broadway — Multi-storey honky-tonks with live country and cover bands, rooftop bars and no cover charge at most.
- Printers Alley — A narrow downtown alley with blues and rock bars, once the city's printing district.
Sensible precautions
Downtown is heavily policed but crowded and alcohol-fuelled on weekend nights, so watch your drinks and belongings. Car break-ins happen in downtown parking lots. Spring storms can bring tornado warnings; follow local alerts.
- Emergency number
- 911 (police, fire, ambulance)
- Staying connected
- US SIM cards and eSIMs are easy to buy; free Wi-Fi is common in cafés, libraries and at the airport.
Questions travellers ask
+Is Nashville good for solo travellers?
Nashville is sociable and easy for solo travellers: you can walk into any honky-tonk alone, sit at the bar, and talk with musicians and locals.
+Where should solo travellers stay in Nashville?
Downtown and Lower Broadway: Neon honky-tonks, the Ryman and the big music museums.