Dos and Dont's for a Weekend in Nashville

You'll find yourself on Broadway no matter how hard you try to avoid it, but make time to explore other parts of town, too.

I had never properly been to Nashville until this month. Last March (2022), I drove through with my brother on a road trip from Atlanta to Minnesota and we stopped at Joyland—it was packed so we left—and then Five Points Pizza which was perfect for a fast lunch outside (we had his dog with us so not as many options). We devoured said pizza outside the car with cheese grease dripping down our frostbitten fingers and I loved every second of it, but that and taking a few pictures of graffiti and street art was as far as I got in my exploration of the city. Until now.

The Music City has many nicknames—Smashville (not what I thought it meant), Nashvegas and more—and offers a diverse array of things to do, no matter your age, preferred hobbies or how much you do or don’t like to drink. I definitely had preconceived notions about what I’d find there and I wasn’t totally wrong.

5 Things I Love About Atlanta's Clermont

Side note: You may have recently read this Garden & Gun piece I wrote a couple months ago about the famed Clermont Hotel in Atlanta.

What does this have to do with Nashville, you ask? Well the Clermont we know and love today was taken over in 2012 and renovated (eventually reopened in 2018) by Oliver Hospitality, a Nashville-based hotel and restaurant management company, which also has a hotel—by a different name and with a completely different vibe—in the heart of downtown Nashville.

Sharing some photos and what I did and didn’t love about the hotel below as well as all my “dos” and “don’ts” for a quickie Nashville weekend you won’t soon forget.