Tennessee · Guided Tours
Nashville Tours & Things to Do — 2026
Music City — where every street has a story
Photo: Ricky Beron / Unsplash
Expert-Curated Selection · Only the Highest-Rated Experiences · By the Award-Winning USA Guided Tours Team
Nashville Party Bus & Pub Crawl Tours
Nashville turned the tour itself into the party, and the ways to do it are the city's signature. Pedal taverns — the pedal-powered bar-bikes — and open-air tractors roll down Broadway past the honky-tonks, and the scene runs from party buses and drag-show buses to pub crawls on foot and party cruises out on the Cumberland. The whole category is built for bachelorette parties, birthdays, and groups who want the sights and the drinks in one go. Most are BYOB or bar-stop based and 21-plus, and they're multi-operator, so compare the route, the group size, and the reviews before you book. Weekends book out well ahead.
Nashville Whiskey, Distillery & Brewery Tours
Tennessee whiskey is central to Nashville, and a guided tour is the way to drink through it without driving. In the city, small distilleries like Nelson's Green Brier, Corsair, and Uncle Nearest run tastings walkable from downtown, with the history of Tennessee whiskey and the charcoal-mellowing that defines it narrated along the way. The marquee day trip is Jack Daniel's, about ninety minutes south in Lynchburg — guided round-trips handle the driving so the group can actually taste. Craft breweries round out the drink side. These are among the easy-to-book experiences in the city; book weekends ahead, and note the distillery tastings are 21-plus.
Nashville: Jack Daniel Distillery Day Trip with Tastings
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Curated July 2026
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Nashville Ghost & Haunted Tours
Downtown Nashville comes with a genuine haunted reputation, and the after-dark walks work the oldest, storied blocks. The tours trace Printer's Alley and its speakeasy past, the historic honky-tonks and theaters, and the stretch of town that grew up around the river, with the ghost stories tied to the real history. These are small-group, on-foot, and guide-driven, so the guide makes the tour — read recent reviews before you book. Many pair the history with a stop or two, and they run year-round with a spike around Halloween.
Nashville Bus, Trolley & City Sightseeing Tours
To make sense of a city that sprawls well past Broadway, a hop-on-hop-off trolley, double-decker, or city bus tour is the efficient first move — one loop links downtown, Music Row, the Gulch, and Germantown, with the history narrated between stops. The downtown core and its murals are within easy reach on foot or by bike, too. This is also the practical way to reach the music landmarks — the Ryman, the Grand Ole Opry, the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Gibson garage, and RCA Studio B all sell their own tickets directly, so a city tour gets you to them rather than reselling them. Celebrity-homes bus tours round out the sightseeing for country-music fans. For first-timers it's the fastest way to fit the city into a day.
Nashville Food Tours
Nashville's food is Southern at heart, and a guided food tour is the fastest way across it — the hot chicken the city is famous for, the meat-and-three plates, the biscuits, and the newer kitchens that have made this a serious eating town. Tours pace the tastings on foot through a neighborhood, so you sample widely — East Nashville for the modern kitchens and the dessert and doughnut stops, and the Gulch for a walkable mix of the city's newer spots. The guides tie the food to the city's history and music culture along the way. Book weekends ahead, and come hungry.
Nashville Helicopter Tours
For a different angle on Music City, a helicopter tour banks over downtown, the stadium, and the bend of the Cumberland River, and it's especially good after dark when Broadway lights up. Flights are short and premium, best compared on air time and route before you book, since a quick downtown loop and a longer city flight are different experiences. It's the one perspective the ground and party tours can't offer, and the aerial market here is small, clean, and easy to book.
Nashville Plantation & History Tours
The estates that ring Nashville — Belle Meade and Andrew Jackson's Hermitage among them — were plantations, places where the wealth they represent was built on the labor of enslaved people. A guided visit is how most people engage that history, and the sites take different approaches to it. At Belle Meade, the Journey to Jubilee tour is built around the lives of the enslaved people who ran the estate and its thoroughbred operation, telling that history directly; the estate also runs a separate house-and-grounds tour. The Hermitage, Andrew Jackson's plantation east of the city, is a site of slavery as well. These are history and education visits for people who want to engage seriously with this past — approach them as places to learn.
These are sites of slavery. The people enslaved at Belle Meade and the Hermitage — their labor, their skill, their lives — are the history these places have to tell, and the sites' own historians tell it best. At Belle Meade, the Journey to Jubilee tour is the one built around their story; we point you to it because booking a guided visit is the only role we play. Approach these places as somewhere to learn, not as attractions.
Nashville's Black Music & Civil Rights Heritage
Nashville's Black heritage is also a story of achievement and cultural force. The National Museum of African American Music, downtown near Broadway, traces the sweep of American music — blues, jazz, gospel, R&B, and hip-hop — created and shaped by African American artists; the museum sells its own admission, so we point you to it rather than resell it. Nashville was also a center of the civil rights movement: the 1960 sit-ins helped desegregate the city's downtown and trained a generation of leaders, and guided civil-rights tours trace that history through the places where it happened. These are stories of achievement and courage, and they belong on any serious Nashville itinerary.
Things to Do in Nashville
Nashville built its tourism on turning the tour into the party — pedal taverns and party buses down Broadway, Tennessee whiskey tastings, a serious hot-chicken food scene, and the music landmarks that made it Music City. A note on those landmarks — the Ryman, the Grand Ole Opry, and the Country Music Hall of Fame sell their own tickets, so we point you to them rather than resell them. Here is how to make the most of the rest.
Broadway & the Party
Lower Broadway is the heart of Music City — the neon honky-tonks, the live bands from morning on, and the pedal taverns, party buses, tractors, and golf carts that turn a tour into the party. It's the city's signature, built for groups and bachelorette parties, and it's multi-operator, so compare routes and reviews. Most are 21-plus and BYOB or bar-stop based.
Whiskey & the Music Landmarks
Tennessee whiskey is a Nashville institution: in-city distilleries like Nelson's Green Brier and Uncle Nearest run walkable tastings, and Jack Daniel's is a guided day trip to Lynchburg. The music landmarks — the Ryman, the Grand Ole Opry, the Country Music Hall of Fame, and RCA Studio B — sell their own admission directly; a city or trolley tour is the way to reach them and put them in context.
Southern Food & Hot Chicken
Nashville hot chicken is the city's signature dish, and a guided food tour is the way into the wider table — the meat-and-three plates, the biscuits, and the dessert stops. Downtown covers the classics; East Nashville has the modern kitchens and doughnut shops. Tours pace the tastings on foot so you sample widely.
Best Time to Visit
Spring (April–May) and fall (September–October) are the sweet spots — mild weather for the open-air pedal taverns, walking, and food tours, and the calendar full of music. Summers are hot and humid but the party and whiskey tours run year-round; winters are mild and quieter. Weekends downtown are peak, especially for bachelorette groups, so book the party transport well ahead.
Nashville Travel Guides
- Planning your days in Nashville? 2 Days in Nashville: A Route Through Music City and Its History
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the best tour to do in Nashville?
For most groups it's a party bus or pub crawl down Broadway — the party experience that's become the city's signature and one you can't recreate elsewhere. Close behind is a whiskey or distillery tour (in-city tastings plus the Jack Daniel's day trip to Lynchburg), a downtown ghost tour after dark, and a Southern food tour built around Nashville hot chicken. A hop-on trolley or bus loop is the practical pick if you want to link the music landmarks and neighborhoods in a day.
What are pedal taverns and party buses in Nashville like?
They're the city's signature: pedal taverns are pedal-powered bar-bikes that roll down Broadway past the honky-tonks, and the wider scene runs from party buses and drag-show buses to pub crawls on foot and party cruises on the Cumberland, most with a guide up front. They're built for bachelorette parties, birthdays, and groups. Pedal taverns and tractors are run by a range of local operators you book with directly; the party buses, pub crawls, and cruises are the guided options to compare here. Most are 21-plus and either BYOB or bar-stop based, and weekends book out well ahead.
Can I do a Jack Daniel's distillery tour from Nashville?
Yes — Jack Daniel's is in Lynchburg, about ninety minutes south of Nashville, and guided day trips are the easy way to do it: the round-trip handles the driving so the group can actually taste. In the city itself, small distilleries like Nelson's Green Brier, Corsair, and Uncle Nearest run tastings walkable from downtown, so you can do Tennessee whiskey without leaving town. All of it is 21-plus, and weekends book up first.
Can you book Grand Ole Opry or Ryman tickets?
No — the music landmarks (the Grand Ole Opry, the Ryman Auditorium, the Country Music Hall of Fame, RCA Studio B, and the Gibson garage) each sell their own admission and show tickets directly, so we point you to them rather than resell them. What we can do is get you there: a city sightseeing or trolley tour links the landmarks with downtown and Music Row, so you can build them into a day. Buy the venue tickets from the venues, and check their sites for show schedules and tour times.
What are Nashville ghost tours like?
They're small-group, on-foot, and story-driven, working the oldest downtown blocks after dark — Printer's Alley and its speakeasy past, the historic honky-tonks and theaters, and the riverfront history. Nashville's ghost tours tie the stories to the real history of the city, and because the guide makes the tour, it's worth reading recent reviews before booking. They run year-round and are busiest around Halloween.
Can I visit Nashville's plantations and Black heritage sites?
Yes. Belle Meade and Andrew Jackson's Hermitage were plantations — sites of slavery — and both offer guided visits; at Belle Meade, the Journey to Jubilee tour is built around the lives of the enslaved people who ran the estate. For Black cultural heritage, the National Museum of African American Music downtown traces the music African American artists created and shaped, and it sells its own admission, so you buy that directly. Guided civil-rights tours cover the 1960 Nashville sit-ins and the movement's local history. Approach the plantation sites as places to learn about this part of American history.
Curated by Darko Marsalek · Updated
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