Before the world had to stay at home, the last trip we went on was with our best friends heading to the Honky Tonk capitol of Tennessee. We were excited to get our eat on and our dance on! Luckily we did both and now we can tell you where all the best food, bars, and instagram spots are. (when we’re allowed to travel again)
We stayed at an airbnb with our best friends Alisha & Salman in 12 South nearby the I believe in Nashville mural and five daughters bakery. We really liked how Nashville has many neighborhoods that all had different vibes, Nashville Guru does a great job breaking down each neighborhood with where to eat, where to stay and cute places to shop.
DAY ONE.
We started off the day by going to a yoga class at Inner Light Yoga which was downstairs from our airbnb. Luckily we got a workout in because our next stop was Five Daughters Bakery. Look at the size of these doughnuts and they are croissant style filled with cream and custard. We got 5 for the 4 of us and I wasn’t able to get a photo because we ate them so fast!
We had the below flavors, in order of my favorites:
- Chocolate Sea Salt
- The Purist
- King Kong (this one had bacon on top!)
- Vanilla Cream
- Seasonal Doughnut
(Yelp)
The area around 12 South is very quaint, nice houses and good restaurants. Reese Witherspoon’s Draper James flagship has lots of adorable y’all merchandise if you’re looking for a southern souvenir or some free sweet tea!
Next up mural time, since we only had a weekend in Nashville we did not stand in line for murals. Just because every influence and her mother has taken a photo with these murals doesn’t mean you need to waste 20-30 minutes of your precious life standing in line to get a photo. We took some really cute photos with the striped wall against Draper James and I think it’s way cuter!
Not saying you shouldn’t try to take photos of the murals but because we were in Nashville over President’s Day weekend I think it was a lot busier than usual.
For brunch we went to Urban Grub, I had the shrimp and grits which were AMAZING but they also have an amazing brunch buffet spread with snow crab legs!
(Image source: yelp)
(Image source: yelp)
After we stuffed ourselves (forgot how big portions were in the south), we headed downtown. We rented a car and drove downtown because we didn’t realize how expensive parking would be! Every lot we pulled into was around $30-40 until we miraculously found street parking which was about $1.25/hour until 4 PM. Sweeet!
We strolled down to Broadway in search of a good Honky Tonk, the street was extremely crowded and had country music blasting out of every Honky Tonk! With so many options, it was hard to pick one.
We ended up going to Honky Tonk Central because they had nice large balconies and 3 floors, we grooved to the bands and drank a couple Bud Lights and White Claws and went on our way.
Here are some other Honky Tonk options:
- Robert’s Western World
(Image source: Tripadviser) - Rippy’s Honky Tonk
(Nashvile Guru) - If you want a honky tonk but make it fashion? Check out Acme Feed & Seed with an awesome rooftop
(Acme Feed & Seed)
(The Tenneseean)
We walked over to the bridge to take some photos and see the river, found a guy who took at least 30 photos of us from all different angles. Must have been a well trained instagram husband/boyfriend!
Next we were on a mission to find a speakeasy on Painters Alley.
We stumbled into Skull’s Rainbow Room a jazz bar that does burlesque shows starting at 11 pm. We had some pre dinner cocktails since we were all still stuffed from brunch.
(Earth Trekkers)
We tried to get into Puckett’s Grocery & Restaurant but the wait was over an hour and a half long so we took our chances and went to Party Fowl where we got sat at the bar and got some hot chicken and beer.
(Photo credit: Party Fowl)
Here are some other amazing restaurants to get dinner:
- Hattie’s B’s Hot Chicken
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(Image credit: Joseph Woodley) - Puckett’s Grocery
We ended our day at The Patterson House to get some curated cocktails which had another wait of around 45 minutes but we decided to stick it out since we hadn’t waited for anything else during our day. The atmosphere and ambiance was great but the cocktails were extremely sweet but what do you expect in the land of sweet tea?
*PRO tip, get a whiskey or bourbon sampler instead of a cocktail
(The Opinionator)
DAY TWO.
We started our day with the most amazing brunch from Henrietta Red. Everything we ordered was beyond delicious and we got to explore Germantown which is a neighborhood with chic restaurants in restored Victorian buildings and eclectic boutiques.
We stopped by a couple small boutiques, Alexis + Bolt was converted from a house and had mimosas in their kitchen which is a pretty cute concept for a store.
(Alexis + Bolt)
Even though we were stuffed from brunch, we love checking our farmers markets wherever we go. Nashville Farmers Market would great if you’re looking for a casual meal in between site seeing. The farmers market had everything from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream to fresh produce to a garden center at the end.
(Nashville Farmers Market)
Afterward we drove downtown to find some posters and records, we stopped by the Hatch Show Print museum and Record store.
We bought a record at Third Man Records which had people recording live inside the store but it is definitely not in the best area. We also went to some thrift shops that had lots of vintage records for way cheaper.
The wings mural is located downtown but the line wrapped around the corner so we found these chicken wings instead outside of Porky.
If we had more time we would have loved to go to a hockey game or drive out to Cheekwood Estates.
(Cheeckwood Estates)
On our way to the airport, we stopped by the beautiful Vanderbuilt campus and the Parthenon. We didn’t get to go inside but it houses many 19th and 20th century artists along with rotating exhibits.
Until next time!
Xoxo,
Nina & Ross
Never Travel Without My Butler 