Two days in Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville, Tennessee, is known for its country music roots, hot chicken, and its Broadway street, a street made famous its variety of live entertainment in bars and its general nightlife activity. Nashville provides visitors with a unique variety of experiences to choose from during their time exploring this city.

As we were driving through Nashville, I referred to my list of interesting places in the Nashville area in order to see what we could easily visit during our time in the city.

I then grouped together the attractions that were of interest by area so that we could visit them accordingly without driving back and forth too much.

I had heard positive things about walking through the Gaylord Opryland hotel to see its indoor gardens and themed environments. It is a free activity to walk through the hotel normally during anytime of the year, but during the holiday season, there are limited hours that the general public can walk through the hotel due to the increased popularity to see Christmas decorations. During the holiday season in 2025, every Friday and Saturday beginning November 21, plus daily Nov. 24-27, and daily December 19-31, 2025, you needed to be a overnight hotel guest or an indoor/outdoor ticket reservation holder to walk through the Gaylord Opryland hotel after 3pm Central Time. You could visit anytime of day on the dates that were not listed above and also January 1-3, 2026 was not restricted on time of day.

The hotel also has an area setup outside of winter-themed activities including an ice sculpture exhibit, called ICE!, that requires a pre-purchased ticket to access.

There is a paid parking lot, $37 to self-park, on the South side of the hotel, or you can try to park for free in the Opry Mills mall parking lot near the Gaylord Opryland Event Center and walk over. Keep in mind that the free parking is limited especially during the holidays, so be ready to be patient in order to get a free spot.

Because of the limited holiday hours to see inside the Gaylord Opryland hotel during our visit, we chose to stay overnight in the Northeast suburb of Nashville near the Opryland hotel. The nearby Opry Mills mall had a nice variety of restaurants to choose from for dinner in the area and the mall itself was nice to walk through for a little bit after eating.

While we chose not to walk down Broadway street during this visit, we did drive down the famous street to get a feel for the environment. If we would have had the time, there was a round trip paid shuttle available from our hotel in the suburbs to Broadway Street, or, I would have looked up nearby parking options through ParkWhiz, SpotHero, and also through Google Maps to find the best deal for a well-reviewed spot and location.

Aside from walking through the themed areas of the Gaylord Opryland hotel, which were beautifully designed and decorated, we visited the Lane Motor Museum, the largest collection of European cars in the U.S. We also went to see the outside of the Parthenon building in Centennial Park, a full-scale replica of the original in Athens, Greece. For dinner we had Hattie B’s Hot Chicken, a popular Nashville specific food. It was a fun visit!

While I know there are plenty of things to do in Nashville, and this might not be everyone else’s choice list of activities, this slower paced list fit the mood we were in at that moment for exploring. I encourage you to do the same when coming up with ideas for your city visits. Choose in the moment based on what you feel in the mood for. Maybe all you are looking to do in a city is try a certain famous food or restaurant and walk around the area for a bit. Whatever it is you like, go for it! Don’t get stuck trying to recreate what someone else recommends or what may be on someone else’s top 10 list. Pick and choose what interests you and then go experience it for yourself.