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Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Nashville Travel Guide


Hey y'all!

If you've been following me on the blog or any of my social media, then you would know that my husband and I recently took a trip to Nashville, Tennessee for our one year anniversary and to celebrate my recent graduation!   

Today I want to share with you what we did on our trip and my recommendations for those of you that are traveling to Nashville any time soon.


Where We Stayed


Chris and I stayed in a small Air BnB studio/duplex in East Nashville (about 5 minutes to downtown by Uber/taxi/Lyft)

I linked it above in case you want to check it out, but although the neighborhood wasn't super great, there was no point where we felt unsafe. We were just spoiled by our last trip, to Savannah, where everything was super walkable!




It was really bright and airy, very relaxing.
It was nice being close to downtown, but not having to pay the downtown price for a hotel (it was a HUGE price difference)

If you're interested in booking with AirBnB, I have a coupon code for $25 off your first stay!

Where We Ate

Now down to the nitty gritty, what everyone wants to know...where to eat in Nashville!

My first suggestion is Biscuit Love in the Gulch, if you don't mind this...

It was an hour wait outside! But it was worth it because once we got inside, we got this. . .


Bo-nuts! They're biscuit/doughnuts and they're wonderful.
They're filled with lemon ricotta cream and served over a blueberry compote.
They're amazing!


For my actually breakfast, I had the East Nasty-just like it says in my snapchat picture ;)
It was so good, Nashville hot chicken with homemade sausage gravy over a homemade biscuit.
It was so worth the hour wait.


Skip the coffee though-not my best purchase of the trip!


Another favorite was Edley's BBQ in 12 South.
Now I know what you're thinking...tacos?

But they were really good! I had spicy shrimp tacos (with mac & cheese? Weird, I know...but so good).
My hubby had the bbq pork plate and it was also really, really tasty!


My all-time favorite of the trip, sadly was consumed before I even thought to remember to take a picture. :(

But this is at the bar Acme on Broadway in downtown, one night we were out on the town and I was starving. We sat down at the bar and they gave us this menu filled with delicious high quality food-not your nachos and chicken fingers like you expect from bar food.

I had the shrimp and grits with a creole sauce and y'all, it was the best thing I have ever put in my mouth. I would eat it again right now if had it.

If you don't go anywhere else in Nashville to eat, go to Acme and get you some shrimp and grits!


Another favorite was BarTaco in 12 South (where we spent a lot of our time there!)



They had really good salsa verde and the Mexican street corn was to die for.


We also got a couple of different kinds of tacos; chicken, steak, and chorizo (the chorizo was my fave!)


For dessert one day, we headed to Five Daughters Bakery, where we got King Kong Doughnuts.
They're basically huge cream filled doughnuts with maple glaze and bacon on top.

I'm not necessarily recommending Five Daughters...we kind of thought they were overrated...but if you really, really love doughnuts you might want to try this out!



Honorable Mentions: 
I didn't get a shot of our pizza from Desano's but it was SO good. I highly recommend Desano's.
Las Paletas for popsicles in 12 South was delicious too-I recommend the Mexican Caramel!

Our good friend that lives in Nashville also gave us tons of recs for places to eat which I will pass on to y'all, we just couldn't fit them all into our schedule!
-Mas Tacos
-Burger Up
-Baja Burrito
-Adele's
-Fifth and Taylor
-Sinema
-Moto
-Saint Anejo
-Virago
-Firefly Cafe

Where We Went/What We Did

12 South


We loved exploring 12 South! We went here at least 3 times on our trip.

There are the cutest things to see like this flower market above, or the beautiful church below.




This is also where Draper James (Reese Witherspoon's store) is located.



Although, even the things that were on sale in there were out of my price range.


I also met the super sweet Mallory Ervin down in 12 South on Sunday afternoon!
She's such a sweetheart and makes the cutest YouTube videos-go follow her and watch her stuff, she's adorable.



Also, if you've ever seen people post pictures with the "I believe in Nashville" mural-there's one in 12 South!

The Hermatige


If you're a history buff like I am, you're going to want to see the Hermitage, which was President Andrew Jackson's homestead.

The home is beautiful and I learned a whole lot of interesting facts about it.





This is the tomb where he and his wife Rachel are buried.


Grand Ole Opry

Although we didn't take in a show at the Opry, we did stop by for a photo opp after shopping at the Opry Mills Outlet Mall.


We also toured the Country Music Hall of Fame (& when I spotted this pretty view of downtown & the "Batman Building" aka the AT&T building, I knew I had to capture it)


We also spent some time one afternoon at the Ryman Auditorium, which we both really enjoyed.



There are tons of murals around Nashville, and when I saw this one in the Gulch after breakfast at Biscuit Love-I knew I had to have my picture made!


Check out the hashtag #WhatLiftsYou to see more pictures of people with this mural!

Broadway


No trip to Nashville is complete without at least visiting Broadway once or twice.

There are several shops and lots of bars to spend your time in.

We picked up Savannah Candy Company Pralines (because they remind us of our honeymoon and are delicious!) and I picked up a super comfy and cute Nashville sweatshirt to lounge in.


The weekend we were there was the last weekend before CMA-Fest began so they were blocking off streets and building stages all around downtown.

This is the Chevy-Riverfront stage, our view from the George Jones Rooftop bar.


Bars:

We hopped in and out of a lot of the bars on Broadway, but our favorites were Robert's Western, George Jones' Bar (for great classic country music and an awesome riverfront view!), and Acme for amazing drinks and food.


I hope y'all enjoyed this little round-up and that it helps if y'all are planning on visiting the Music City any time soon!

We had an awesome time and I hope we get to go back in the future!

Until next time. . .

xoxo, 

33 comments:

  1. Wow those tacos look amazing!! And so do those donut/biscuit things!! Looks like I need to do an eating tour of Nashville haha!

    Tori
    mooretori.blogspot.com

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  2. I love Nashville! Ive been there only once , I hope to go again. Wish I had seen that biscuit gulch place..YUMMY! The only thing I was disappointed in was the shopping downtown was lame..other than that a great place to visit if you love music, which I do!! Great post!

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  3. Food houses and places you ate at and saw look amazing and fun

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  4. Super cute place you stayed in. All the food looked wonderful.

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  5. Those Bo-Nuts look amazing! And I want to visit Draper James.

    Alix | www.apintsizedlife.com

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  6. Dying at the picture of the Bo-nuts- YUM!!! Looks like such a fun getaway :-)

    xoxo A
    www.southernbelleintraining.com

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  7. I just love Nashville! We live about 2 hours away and visit a few times a year. Recently we tried the Loveless Cafe and it was amazing. I can't wait to try a few of the places you have suggested!

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  8. I am dying to go to Nashville. I have yet to stay at an air bb but I hear amazing things about it. looks like you had a great trip and thanks for the coupon :)

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  9. It looks like you had an amazing trip! I love Nashville.

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  10. How cute! Looks like you had a great time! Thanks for sharing :)

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  11. I took a trip to Nashville to meet up with two blog friends, and it was the most incredible trip ever! We didn't do many of the things that you named, but we did take pictures outside of Draper James and at the 'I Believe in Nashville' mural. On your next trip, I have two recommendations 1) Try white BBQ sauce! It's incredible. 2) Eat at Monell's. It's literally the best meal I had there.

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  12. that massive guitar looks awesome! lol Nashville has always been on my to visit list one day! . looks like you guys had lots of fun!

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  13. Great round-up of your trip! Sounds like you did a lot and had fun!!

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  14. Looks like you had a blast! I went to Nashville with my family in middle school. We stayed at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and resort! It was amazing! Lots of tropical gardens! Also saw the Grand Opry and went and toured some plantations! Quite a fun trip I would love to go back and the food was delicious!

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  15. I never tried airbnb I have be afraid, but that place looks nice

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  16. You really hit the nail on the head with this blog post. These are some of my favorite spots in town! Next time you're in Middle Tennessee, make sure you head to Franklin and take a stroll down Main Street...you also should check out The Loveless Cafe off Hwy 100 in Nashville. It's really hard to see everything here, but you made it through some of the best!

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  17. That airbnb is so cute! It looks like you had lots of delicious food!

    XO, Sarah | The Bella Insider | @sarah_thebella

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  18. I recognize Mallory Ervin (She was Miss Kentucky!). It seems that you like tacos. You should go to The Local Taco. There tacos are amazing (They have one where I live in Kentucky. There is only six locations and I think two more opening up soon!). There I got a chicken bacon waffle taco with agave nectar for brunch.

    Btw, I LOVE Nashville!

    http://fabulousinfayette.com

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  19. I would love to go back to Nashville! So many fun places!
    www.kayleighskloset.com

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  20. Nashville is a good driving trip from where I am, Oklahoma, so we've talked about going to Nashville. I've been to Memphis but not Nashville. Thanks for sharing!

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  21. That looks like such a fun trip and such a way to celebrate your anniversary! I don't think I can pick one dish, all of the food you had sounds and looks INCREDIBLE. Especially the tacos and the biscuits with the lemon.

    La Belle Sirene 

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  22. I loved seeing all your pictures! I really want to go to Nashville ASAP!

    Kayla | kaylablogs.com

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  23. Nashville is such a fun city with so much culture! Love these shots, lady!

    -Ashley
    Le Stylo Rouge

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  24. Looks like you had a fab time in Nashville. I've never heard of a bo-nut before - how cool!

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  25. That Biscuit Love meal is calling my name! And the AirBNB y'all stayed in looks SO cute!

    -Morgan
    How 2 Wear It [] http://how2wearit.com

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  26. It seemed you had a great time there. Your pics are amazing, those tacos look fabulous.

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  27. It sounds like you had such a fun trip! I've heard so much about Biscuit Love and the bonuts - they look SO good!

    Kristin
    The Blush Blonde

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  28. Nashville is on my list to visit soon!

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  29. LOVE this recap! looks like you guys had an amazing time. I'm drooling over all the food... bo-nuts?! YES girl.

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  30. Place looks great! I'd love to visit it soon. Glad to read that you had an amazing trip.

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  31. What a fun way to celebrate your anniversary! I need to make my way to Nashville ASAP! Xoxo Mindy

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  32. Nashville is one of my favorite cities, and I absolutely LOVE the 12 South area :) Nicole of Chronicling Home took me to Bar Taco on my last trip, and I was in absolute heaven.

    XO, SS || Seersucker Sass

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