Things to Do in Nashville That Are Actually Worth It

Nashville sits in Tennessee at the edge of the Appalachian foothills and has been quietly building one of the most interesting travel cases in the American South. Things to do in Nashville cover more ground than most people plan for: history, botanical gardens, presidential homes, a nature reserve inside the city limits, world-class rotating art exhibitions, and Southern food that earns the trip on its own. Here is exactly what to do, where to eat, and where to stay.

10 Best Things to Do in Nashville

1. Cheekwood Estate and Botanical Gardens

Cheekwood is a 55-acre estate on the western edge of Nashville built in the 1920s by the Maxwell House Coffee family. It combines a historic mansion with one of the most carefully maintained botanical gardens in the Southeast. The mansion houses a rotating art museum. Outside, distinct sections cover a Japanese garden, walled garden, water gardens, and a woodland trail connecting them.

Admission: Around $20 adults. Book ahead for seasonal events. Location: 25 minutes west of downtown Nashville.

2. Belle Meade Historic Site

Belle Meade is an early 1800s plantation seven miles west of downtown Nashville that operated as one of the most celebrated thoroughbred horse breeding estates in the country. Today it runs as a living history site where guided tours cover the main house, original outbuildings, a carriage house with period vehicles, and the full history of the people who built and maintained the estate including the enslaved community who lived here.

Admission: Around $33 adults for guided tour. Time needed: Two hours.

3. Tennessee State Museum

The Tennessee State Museum is a free history museum in downtown Nashville covering the full story of the state from prehistoric Native American civilizations through the Civil War, Civil Rights era, and modern statehood. The collection includes original Civil War flags, prehistoric fossils, Native American artifacts spanning thousands of years, and exhibits on Tennessee’s role in the Civil Rights movement.

It sits next to the Nashville Farmers Market, making the surrounding area a natural half-day on foot.

Admission: Free. Location: Downtown Nashville, near the Farmers Market.

4. Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage

The Hermitage is the former home and final resting place of Andrew Jackson, the seventh President of the United States. The 1,000-acre property sits 10 miles east of downtown and includes a 13-room Greek Revival mansion, original outbuildings, and Jackson’s tomb on the grounds. Guided tours cover both his presidency and the lives of the enslaved people who worked the property.

The on-site museum provides context before the house tour begins. Allow two to three hours.

Admission: Around $22 adults. Best paired with: Belle Meade for a full Nashville history day.

5. Radnor Lake State Park

Radnor Lake is a 1,332-acre nature reserve located entirely within Nashville’s city limits. A 2.4-mile trail runs around the lake through dense hardwood woodland. Otters, herons, bald eagles, and waterfowl are regularly spotted. Fall color along the trail is strong and accessible without leaving the metro area. It feels nothing like a city, which is the whole point.

Admission: Free. Parking tip: Fills by mid-morning on weekends. Arrive before 8am. Note: Dogs not permitted on lakeside trails.

6. Frist Art Museum

The Frist Art Museum is a world-class art institution housed in Nashville’s original 1934 Art Deco post office building. The bronze doors, New Deal murals in the Great Hall, and marble interior make the building itself worth the visit. Unlike museums with fixed permanent collections, the Frist shows rotating exhibitions borrowed from major institutions worldwide, so every visit is different. The Martin ArtQuest studio on the second floor lets visitors of all ages make their own work alongside whatever is currently showing.

Admission: Around $15 adults. Under 18 free. Location: Downtown Nashville.

7. Nashville Farmers Market

The Nashville Farmers Market is one of Tennessee’s longest-running public markets, operating near the Bicentennial Capitol Mall. Around 30 local businesses fill the indoor market house alongside a rotating pop-up kitchen and two covered produce sheds. Saturday mornings between 8am and noon are the best time to visit. It connects naturally with the Tennessee State Museum next door.

Admission: Free. Best time: Saturday, 8am to noon.

8. Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park

The Bicentennial Capitol Mall is an 11-acre outdoor state park in downtown Nashville running north from the Tennessee State Capitol. Built to mark Tennessee’s 200th anniversary of statehood, it features a 200-foot granite map of Tennessee set into the ground, nineteen fountains representing the state’s rivers, and a bronze timeline wall covering 200 years of history. Worth walking end to end as the natural route between the Farmers Market and the State Capitol.

Admission: Free. Time needed: 30 to 45 minutes.

9. Germantown

Germantown is a historic neighborhood northwest of downtown Nashville lined with beautifully restored 19th-century brick buildings. It is the neighborhood Nashville residents most often recommend to visitors looking for something beyond the main tourist corridor. Walkable streets, consistently praised restaurants, and a quieter pace make it the best part of the city for a slow lunch or evening dinner.

Getting there: Walkable from the Farmers Market and Tennessee State Museum.

10. Centennial Park

Centennial Park is a 132-acre public park established in 1897 in northwest Nashville. It has a lake with a paved walking trail, a sunken garden, a Japanese garden, open lawns, and volleyball courts. Unlike many landmark city parks, Centennial Park is used daily by Nashville residents for exercise and picnics rather than functioning purely as a tourist attraction. That gives it a genuinely lived-in quality.

Admission: Free.

Best Restaurants in Nashville

Loveless Cafe

The Loveless Cafe is a Nashville institution that has been serving Southern cooking from the same converted 1950s motel on the western edge of the city since 1951. People make the 20-minute drive from downtown specifically for the biscuits, served warm with house-made fruit preserves and widely considered the best in the Nashville area. The Southern Sampler Platter covers fried chicken, catfish, meatloaf, and rotating sides. Arrive before the lunch rush.

Best for: Breakfast and lunch. Address: 8400 Highway 100.

Pancake Pantry

Pancake Pantry is a breakfast-only restaurant in the Hillsboro Village neighborhood that has been operating since 1961. The line outside most mornings moves faster than it looks. The pancakes are thick and consistent and represent the best version available in Nashville. The avocado toast is also genuinely good.

Best for: Breakfast. Address: 1796 21st Ave S.

Pucketts

Pucketts is a Southern cooking restaurant two blocks from Broadway in downtown Nashville. The menu covers catfish, biscuits, chicken and dumplings, and fried chicken at prices that do not reflect the tourist-heavy location. Portions are generous. It is the right choice for a lunch or early dinner when you want something genuinely good without overpaying.

Best for: Lunch, families, value. Address: 116 3rd Ave S.

Where to Stay in Nashville

Drury Plaza Hotel Nashville Downtown

The Drury Plaza is a centrally located downtown hotel positioned behind the Frist Art Museum, within five minutes on foot of most major attractions. It has an outdoor swimming pool, includes breakfast with every room, and holds consistently strong reviews across booking platforms. The best overall value for a central Nashville stay.

Best for: First-time visitors, families.

JW Marriott Nashville

The JW Marriott is a 34-story hotel in central downtown Nashville. Upper floor rooms have views over the city and the Cumberland River. The hotel has a rooftop pool, large rooms, and easy walking access to the Frist Art Museum and the Fifth and Broadway shopping complex. The premium option for a central city stay.

Best for: Couples, travelers who want full hotel amenities.

1 Hotel Nashville

1 Hotel Nashville is a design-forward hotel that opened in 2022 in the SoBro neighborhood south of downtown. Built around an environmental focus with natural materials throughout, a rooftop pool and terrace with city views, and a ground-floor restaurant. The most distinctive option of the three in terms of design and atmosphere.

Best for: Design-focused travelers, longer stays.

Nashville Itinerary by Day

Day 1: Tennessee State Museum in the morning, free and worth 90 minutes. Nashville Farmers Market for lunch. Walk the Bicentennial Capitol Mall. Dinner in Germantown.

Day 2: Cheekwood Estate for a full morning. Belle Meade Historic Site in the afternoon. Loveless Cafe for lunch on the drive between them.

Day 3: Radnor Lake early morning before parking fills. Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage mid-morning. Frist Art Museum in the afternoon. Pucketts for dinner.

Practical Tips

Getting around: Downtown is walkable for most central attractions. Radnor Lake, the Hermitage, Belle Meade, and the Loveless Cafe require a vehicle or ride share.

Best time to visit: Late March through May for Cheekwood’s tulip festival. September and October for fall color at Radnor Lake. December for the Cheekwood holiday lights.

Book ahead: Cheekwood during seasonal events sells out weeks in advance. Hermitage and Belle Meade guided tours fill in summer.

FAQ: Things to Do in Nashville

The Version Worth Coming Back For

Nashville rewards the traveler who looks past the first layer. Cheekwood on a spring morning before the crowds arrive. Radnor Lake at 7am when the fog sits on the water. A plate of biscuits at the Loveless Cafe on the drive back. The Hermitage taking longer than expected because the history kept pulling you in.

None of that requires much planning. It just requires showing up with a few days and no fixed expectations. Give Nashville three days. Spend at least one of them outside the downtown core. Eat something that required a drive to get to.

That version of Nashville is the one people come back for.

Related reads: Things to Do in Nashville That Are Actually Worth It