NashvilleHawk's guide to Nashville

[Sooby]

I'm from Muscatine and have lived in the Nashville area, since 2000.
Any other year, this would be a great year to visit Nashville, but the Mayor of Nashville, John Cooper, is an awful human being the way he has deliberately sabatoged small businesses, travel and restaurant industry.

Here some are some highlights:
1. Visit Opryland Hotel
Free parking at the edge of Opry Mills Mall. Otherwise around $30 at the hotel
Outside, they have a temporary ice skating set-up.
The inside of the hotel is amazing.
Most years, the Rockettes or ICE is at the hotel, but this year is "I Love Christmas movies." It's kind of neat, but I thought it was overpriced.
It fees like high school drama sets and not like you are a movie set.

2. Jack Daniels Distillery in Lynchburg (45 minutes from Nashville)
Free tour. Free parking and they make the whiskey the same way they did a century ago.

3. Hotels, AirBNB is quite expensive in the Nashville area.
East of Nashville towards the airport is the perfect balance of hotel prices and Lyft/Uber rides to downtown and Nissan Stadium.
There are many nice new hotels in Smyrna, which is about 20 miles SouthEast of Nashville.
Murfreesboro is another 15 minutes SE of Nashville and you can find some really good value on hotels, if you have transportation.

4. 12th Avenue South has a lot of nice shops for the ladies.

5. Nashville Hot Chicken feels more like a touristy thing, but there are many places that serve it.

6. The Dancing Lights of Christmas (30 minutes east of Nashville) is $25/vehicle and is amazing if you've never done this sort of drive-through.

7. Downtown Nashville is amazing.
So many great places to visit at night. Pedestrian-friendly.

Fire away with any questions.

 

[Motigerhawk]

How is Tennessee handling large gatherings?

 

[Sooby]

Tennessee Governor, Bill Lee, announced he is limiting holiday gatherings to no one outside of families’ immediate households and all public indoor gatherings will be limited to 10 people.

The Iowa football team is showing up the night before the game.
Probably no Hawkeye Huddle.

 

[vork22]

I stayed in downtown Nashville in February for work and I can tell you the food and music were insanely good. Those were some late nights!

 

[GVGiant44]

This must be one city that is REALLY hurting. The music industry has been devastated as much as any by COVID, and more than any other, this seems to be where "wishing to be stars" musicians all move to - the area is DRIPPING with musical talent. I met one such person in the last several days who opened my eyes just how bad it is right now for that industry. For their sake, I hope this pandemic ends soon. And sadly, this is one year that Hawkeye nation descending on a city for a bowl will do little to no good.