Nashville, TN
Nashville! Need I say more. I'm sure everyone who hears "Nashville," has something instantly pop into their head, whether it's country music, Tennessee TItans football, Taylor Swift, hot chicken, etc. Nashville is famous and a very popular destination...for adults! When it comes to bringing kids, it's a different ball game.
We found ourselves headed to Nashville for a wedding. Before we left, I spent a ton of time trying to find things for kids to do, so that it could be more like a vacation. The more I researched, the more I discovered, Nashville isn't really a vacation spot for kids. Whenever I would Google, "Nashville with kids," I would come across the same message...don't bring them! This wasn't an option for us, so I was determined to find something fun for them to do! I was able to find a few things, and it made the trip more memorable.
After a VERY early, and long flight, we made it to Nashville. The wedding was in Franklin, TN, which is a very popular suburb of Nashville. We ended up staying at The Drury Plaza in Franklin to be closer to all of the wedding festivities. If you are looking for a great, economical hotel that is very child friendly, this is a good choice. There is a free breakfast in the morning and a pool that is half indoors and half outdoors. It's about 30 minutes from downtown Nashville, so if you want to stay away from the chaos of downtown and have easy parking, this would make a great choice.
We found ourselves headed to Nashville for a wedding. Before we left, I spent a ton of time trying to find things for kids to do, so that it could be more like a vacation. The more I researched, the more I discovered, Nashville isn't really a vacation spot for kids. Whenever I would Google, "Nashville with kids," I would come across the same message...don't bring them! This wasn't an option for us, so I was determined to find something fun for them to do! I was able to find a few things, and it made the trip more memorable.
After a VERY early, and long flight, we made it to Nashville. The wedding was in Franklin, TN, which is a very popular suburb of Nashville. We ended up staying at The Drury Plaza in Franklin to be closer to all of the wedding festivities. If you are looking for a great, economical hotel that is very child friendly, this is a good choice. There is a free breakfast in the morning and a pool that is half indoors and half outdoors. It's about 30 minutes from downtown Nashville, so if you want to stay away from the chaos of downtown and have easy parking, this would make a great choice.
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If you are looking for accommodations that provide more of a resort-like feel and closer to the action and main attractions in Nashville, I would highly suggest the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center. This has everything from a water park to boat rides and shopping. It's a destination in and of itself. This is definitely more expensive than The Drury Plaza that we stayed at, but I wouldn't say outrageous. Looking back, this wouldn't have been the most convenient in terms of location because of where the wedding was, but would have been the more exciting choice for the kids (and us).
Majority of our time in Nashville was devoted to the wedding. After the wedding, we had a full day to ourselves to explore. The one place I had found that said it was great for kids was the Nashville Zoo. So, we made this our main activity for the day. |
Pool at the Drury Plaza
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The s'mores crepes at The Perch
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FIrst, we wanted to make sure to have breakfast before heading to the zoo. There are dining options in the zoo and you can also bring in your own food, but when in Nashville, it just seemed wrong to eat at a zoo. So, we found a highly rated breakfast spot that served crepes, waffles, and coffee, which are all of our favorites. It is called The Perch and located in an area called Brentwood. It was about halfway between our hotel and the zoo. My husband and daughter got their blueberry Belgian waffles, and Carson and I got crepes. I got the savory crepes with egg, cheese, and ham, while Carson got the s'mores crepes. Everything was delicious, but the s'mores crepes were memorable. In fact, once we got home, Carson begged for me to recreate them, which I did and continue to do every once in a while.
On a side note, coming from Portland, we like good coffee. Good coffee is everywhere around Portland. In Nashville, not so much. We tried the coffee here The Perch and it was fine. We also had tried coffee at some other highly rated places in Franklin, The Frothy Monkey and High Brow Coffee and Tea. High Brow Coffee is located in the Factory at Franklin, which also houses the famous Five Daughter's Bakery, which is home to the cronut. These are donuts made out of croissant dough. Their version supposedly has 100 layers of croissant. We had some while we were there and they were very delicious and worth a stop when in Nashville/Franklin. |
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After our breakfast, it was finally time for the zoo! You do have to pay for parking, but there was plenty of parking and an easy walk to the gates. At the gate we purchased our tickets and headed in. Right from the start, you could tell this zoo would be a good one. We instantly saw these brilliantly blue macaws that seemed to be welcoming you into their zoo and the walkways were boardwalks, giving us a feel that reminded us of the San Diego Zoo.
We were able to grab a map when we walked in. I highly suggest grabbing one for each child if they have them available so they can use it to help guide you and explore. Currently, the zoo suggests either printing it off yourself before you come or pulling the map up on your phone in order to save resources. You can do that here. RIght now, due to Covid, they have the path around the zoo going one direction, so it kind of guides you around the zoo, and a map might not be as necessary. |
Blue macaws at the entrance of the zoo.
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From the entrance, we passed the gibbons monkeys and came across a carousel. At this point, we realized there would be several other attractions (train ride, carousel, zip line, and lorikeet feeding) that would cost extra. You can buy attraction tickets that cost $2 per ticket. The extra attractions will then cost you 1-4 tickets each. We went ahead and purchased enough tickets so that Reagan could do the carousel, Carson and Joe could do the zip line, and we could all do the train. This was worth it, in my opinion, and I recommend going ahead and buying the tickets for the extra attractions if you are wanting to do a little extra while you are there.
The carousel is your typical carousel, filled with all sorts of animals that kids can choose to ride. The zip line was the main attraction, however, and Carson and Joe really enjoyed that. There were short lines at both attractions despite the zoo being quite busy the day we went.
The carousel is your typical carousel, filled with all sorts of animals that kids can choose to ride. The zip line was the main attraction, however, and Carson and Joe really enjoyed that. There were short lines at both attractions despite the zoo being quite busy the day we went.
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After spending some time at these two rides, we explored looking at all the animals. One thing this zoo has that was unique to us was an area where you could pet kangaroos and turtles. The kids loved this! We had never seen a kangaroo in person before this, so it was special. Once you get into the kangaroo enclosure, you stay on the path and let the kangaroos come to you. Several were right on the path and easy to pet. It was around this area that we were also able to jump on the train and take a quick ride.
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We were able to finish the rest of the park in a pretty short amount of time. We saw several more interesting animals and checked out some pretty cool reptiles. This zoo is not that big, and was easy enough to get through within several hours.
After the zoo, I wanted to take in Nashville. I figured if we were here, I wanted to see what Nashville was really about, which meant we needed to head downtown and to Broadway. If you know anything about Nashville, you know Broadway is where the action and music can be found.
After the zoo, I wanted to take in Nashville. I figured if we were here, I wanted to see what Nashville was really about, which meant we needed to head downtown and to Broadway. If you know anything about Nashville, you know Broadway is where the action and music can be found.
The Batman Building
Once we made it downtown, which was about a twenty minute drive from the zoo, we were easily able to find a paid parking lot just a little ways off of Broadway. We had a great view of the AT&T building, more commonly referred to as, "The Batman Building," because the top of it resembles Batman's mask, as you can see in the picture above.
Before starting our exploring, we needed to grab a late lunch/early dinner. Joe had picked out the restaurant we were going to eat at long before we were in Nashville. You would think that when in Nashville, he would pick something like hot chicken or barbecue, but nope! He picked Mexican food. We ate at a restaurant called Bakersfield. He chose Bakersfield because of the great reviews, but more importantly, the Mexican food and tequila. Our favorite food is Mexican, so we seem to find it everywhere we go. We were sat at a table right by the open windows. This actually provided a lot of entertainment for the kids because they were able to watch all the different types of people walking downtown. There were tasty tacos, good margaritas, and the kids enjoyed their quesadillas.
After lunch/dinner, we started to walk around downtown Nashville exploring. I wanted to check out The Country Music Hall of Fame. This was more for me, because I do love country music, and had watched the show, "Nashville" religiously when it was on air. Once we got there and saw the price of the tickets, I couldn't justify spending that kind of money when I knew the kids would be bored and would probably complain most of the time. So, we headed off towards Broadway.
Before starting our exploring, we needed to grab a late lunch/early dinner. Joe had picked out the restaurant we were going to eat at long before we were in Nashville. You would think that when in Nashville, he would pick something like hot chicken or barbecue, but nope! He picked Mexican food. We ate at a restaurant called Bakersfield. He chose Bakersfield because of the great reviews, but more importantly, the Mexican food and tequila. Our favorite food is Mexican, so we seem to find it everywhere we go. We were sat at a table right by the open windows. This actually provided a lot of entertainment for the kids because they were able to watch all the different types of people walking downtown. There were tasty tacos, good margaritas, and the kids enjoyed their quesadillas.
After lunch/dinner, we started to walk around downtown Nashville exploring. I wanted to check out The Country Music Hall of Fame. This was more for me, because I do love country music, and had watched the show, "Nashville" religiously when it was on air. Once we got there and saw the price of the tickets, I couldn't justify spending that kind of money when I knew the kids would be bored and would probably complain most of the time. So, we headed off towards Broadway.
Nissan Stadium
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Eventually, we came across this walking bridge that took us over the Cumberland River that runs through downtown Nashville. We were able to see a unique view of Nashville from here and could take in Nissan Stadium, home of the Tennessee Titans. You can see the view in the picture at the top of this page.
By this point, the kids were getting a little restless and tired from all the walking we had done so far that day. I couldn't leave without actually walking on Broadway, so we headed down to Broadway and took it all in. You could hear the country music coming from almost every storefront, people were everywhere, hanging out on balconies day-drinking, and cowboy boots clicking along the sidewalks. It was everything I had heard it was supposed to be and much more than I could ever imagine. It really was so much commotion to take in all at once. |
When I had researched places to go in Nashville, one place that popped up was Mike's Ice Cream. As we were walking back to our car, we came across it and had to stop. It was delicious and lived up to its hype. We all enjoyed our ice cream as we meandered through the packed streets of downtown Nashville, taking it all in. I will say, there is a sense of importance on these streets. You feel the history!
Enjoying Mike's Ice Cream
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Broadway
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On our drive back to our hotel, there was one more stop I had to make. Like I mentioned above, I was a huge fan of the television show, "Nashville." if you have never seen that show, one location that is mentioned nonstop is The Bluebird Cafe. If you are also a Taylor Swift fan like me, you know that The Bluebird Cafe is a real place in Nashville and it is ICONIC to the country music world. This is actually where Taylor Swift was discovered. Other huge artists like Garth Brooks, Maren Morris, and LaAnn RImes have all performed at this cafe which is located in a non-assuming strip mall.
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I'm not sure what I expected to see when we got to the Bluebird Cafe, but this wasn't it. As legendary as this place is, I assumed I would see something bigger or fancier. But as you can see in the picture, it is neither. I almost thought we were at the wrong place. But when I saw all the people outside trying to peer in the windows, despite the fact that it was closed, I knew it was THE Bluebird Cafe.
As we continued back to our hotel, we took in the beautiful southern style mansions and came across several historical landmarks. We had also come across several historical landmarks the day before. We didn't have enough time to stop, but Franklin is steeped in CIvil War history. In fact, the Battle of Franklin, one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War took place there. If my kids were older, I would have definitely prioritized seeing these places and taking in the rich American history. |
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Our time in Nashville had come to an end. I wouldn't say it was our best or favorite vacation, but we did make the most of our time in Nashville.
Overall, I wouldn't necessarily recommend Nashville as a place to vacation with kids. I would definitely recommend it for a girls' weekend or couple's getaway, especially if you like country music. But, if you find yourself in Nashville with kids like I did, I hope this can help you find some things to do to make your time there memorable.
Overall, I wouldn't necessarily recommend Nashville as a place to vacation with kids. I would definitely recommend it for a girls' weekend or couple's getaway, especially if you like country music. But, if you find yourself in Nashville with kids like I did, I hope this can help you find some things to do to make your time there memorable.