10 Things to Do in Nashville at Night

Summer and winter, hot and cold, daytime and nighttime, Nashville has many attractions to discover, especially when the sun goes down and the city of festivals and concerts turns on one of its best profiles, that of bars open around the clock with country music shows.

Some of the best things to do in Nashville at night include taking a comedy and singing tour by tour bus, visiting the iconic Bluebird Café, taking a ride on the city trolley, going on a haunted bar tour and joining a pub crawl to experience the best of Nashville's party scene.

The best alternative to get to know Nashville's bars and its nightlife is to join a pub crawl experience through the most iconic places of Music City's nightlife. Depending on the tour route , you can visit the picturesque Printers Alley, where you will experience a trip back in time to the first half of the 20th century, or the best bars in downtown.

On a pub crawl, you can also get to know the nooks and crannies of a city that at night becomes a universe of country music and other genres of the American South, and immerse yourself in the main shows and concerts of the capital of Tennessee, even those known only to locals, as these tours are usually conducted by Nashville guides.

If you want to discover the city by night, a pub crawl experience can become one of the best Nashville tours, especially if the excursion includes a tour of Broadway's Honky Tonks and 2nd Ave restaurants.

Details of interest

• Price... A pub crawl tour with admission and drinks included has a starting cost of approximately €76.
• Duration... Pub crawl tours last between 2 and 3 hours.
• Please note... These tours are generally for people over 21 years old.

If you want an alternative plan to enjoy music and shows in Nashville you can opt for a nighttime singing and comedy bus tour. These tours are very popular in the capital of Tennessee and consist of a guided tour of the city while participating in a musical and comedy show.

These experiences are interactive, as in addition to attending the show as a guest you also get to sing, dance and be part of the show. This musical bus tour usually also includes stops at the Music Row district, the Antique Archeology antique store and some of the city's top honky tonks.

During these tours, in addition to the musical performances and stand-up shows, you can also visit bars and experience the festive spirit of the city, especially if you plan to visit Nashville during the Christmas or holiday season.

Interesting details

• Price... These experiences have an initial cost of approximately 47 euros per person.
• Duration... The interactive bus tours with comedy show and singing last approximately 2 hours.
• Please note... These tours are generally for people over 21 years of age.

The Bluebird Café's small lounge is one of Nashville's most traditional venues, offering nightly shows on a varied schedule and is also the city's up-and-coming stage, which has seen the likes of Taylor Swift, Garth Brooks and Keith Urban go on to become global music stars.

Bluebird Café is also the ideal place for aspiring professional musicians because it is the space that agents and producers visit in search of new talent, so if you want to get to know Nashville's nightlife in depth, you can't miss this bar, which sells out every day, so I recommend that you book your visit in advance online. The lounge has space for 90 people during each show.

If you plan to visit Nashville in April you can attend the talent fair that takes place at Bluebird Café and that puts aspiring artists face to face with music producers, so you can not only visit the stage where great stars have performed but you may also be lucky enough to meet live the future Johnny Cash.

At Bluebird Café there is a different show every day, such as open mic Mondays, where you can participate in the singing show, writers on Sundays, independent artists on Wednesdays and stand up comedy on Saturdays.

Details of interest

• Price... Admission to the bar is free, you only pay for what you consume.
• Where... 4104 Hillboro Pike, Nashville.
• Please note... Lounge space is limited, so I advise you to book your visit in advance.

One of the best city tours you can take in Nashville is by helicopter at night, as the capital of Tennessee has a wealth of attractions to see, such as the Ryman Auditorium, the Capitol and Nissan Stadium, which is one of the most modern in the United States, and which you can see lit up during your nighttime visit.

The helicopter tour routes depend on each service provider, but generally you will also be able to fly over Vanderbilt Stadium, Belmont University, Broadway Street and the Southern Parthenon, giving you a wide panoramic view of the entire city.

Helicopter tours are available year-round, but you can enjoy the city's unobstructed skyline if you visit Nashville in July or during the summer months. Also, during the warmer seasons there is no wind and the flights are more pleasant, so you can relax and enjoy the lights of one of the most iconic cities in the southern United States from above.

Details of interest

• Price... Helicopter flights have an initial cost of approximately 93 euros per person.
• Duration... Helicopter tours last approximately 15 to 20 minutes.

Nashville's bars, restaurants and music theaters are open all day long, but it's at night when the colors and lights of the city make the capital of Tennessee a magical place. One of the best ways to experience Nashville's festivities as well as its monuments and historic sites is on a local trolley tour.

These tours usually have a guide who will accompany you on the tour and tell you about each of the sites so you can get the most out of your nighttime visit. During the tour you can also enjoy stops at Nashville's bars and honky tonks.

The length of these tours depends on each tour provider, but they usually last between 1.5 and 2 hours. In addition, it is one of the most effective ways to get to know the nightlife of the city, especially if you have a short stay planned, since you will be able to visit several places in a short time. If that is your case, here is a list of the best activities to discover Nashville in 3 days.

Details of interest

• Price... Helicopter flights have an initial cost of approximately 93 euros per person.
• Duration... Helicopter tours last approximately 15 to 20 minutes.

Nashville is a very large city and walking around it can be uncomfortable and can cause delays in your visit, but if you want to take a short walk around the city you can start at the Capitol and walk to Centennial Park, which is one of the most characteristic green lungs of the city, and there you can see the Parthenon.

The Nashville Parthenon is an imitation of the original, from Greece, and was built temporarily for an exhibition, but its success was so resounding that the organizers decided to reinforce the structure and keep it standing. At night, this full-scale replica is artificially illuminated in the center of the park, providing one of the most beautiful images of the city.

If you don't want to walk from the Capitol and just prefer to see the illuminated Parthenon when the sun goes down, you can get to Centennial Park on Nashville' s tour buses, which in some cases run until the early evening hours.

If you want an alternative tour you can opt for the tours that propose a tour of Nashville's haunted bars and sites and that try to recover the dark profile of the city, which has nothing to do with concerts and musical shows but with the role of the capital of Tennessee in the Civil War and its relationship with the old red light district.

On these tours you can visit old mortuaries, hotels, abandoned sites, haunted bars and other areas of the city that are included in the best Nashville ghost tours. You can also learn about the scariest stories during the guided bus tour assistance.

The haunted bar tours are generally for ages 21 and older, but if you plan to visit Nashville with children you can opt for other similar nighttime excursions, such as ghost story walking tours, which do not include age prohibitions.

Details of interest

• Price... These tours have a starting cost of approximately 29 euros per person.
• Duration... The tours last approximately 2 hours.
• Please note... These tours are generally for people over 21 years old.

One of the best alternatives to get to know a different profile of the city is from the Cumberland River, since Nashville is built on its banks and the tributary is a central point in its success as an industrial center. You can take an evening cruise, dinner included, and enjoy one of the city's premier water activities.

These night cruise tours are available year-round but you'll find the best weather and views if you visit Nashville in August or during the summer or spring months. In either case, during these tours you can take a stroll along the river and also enjoy dinner on the cruise deck.

The cruise tours generally start before sunset, so you can watch the sunset from the water, and then enjoy dinner while taking in the nighttime views of the city.

Details of interest

• Price... Dinner cruise tours have an initial cost of approximately 100 euros.
• Duration... The tours last between 3 and 4 hours.

If you really want to enjoy and experience Nashville's nightlife, you can't miss the honky tonk bars, which are typical Southern venues where live country and bluegrass music concerts start at sunset. You can take a tour of these bars on a guided tour, visit them on your own or include them in Nashville food tours, as most of them offer food as well.

You can find honky tonks in different parts of the city although the main ones are located on Broadway Avenue, which is one of the central arteries of the capital of Tennessee and the epicenter of the night party. There you can visit Honky Tonk Central or Nudie's Honky Tonk, which are two of the biggest and most famous, although any of the city's bars will offer you good music and a southern experience.

Keep in mind that while these bars are free to enter during the day, at night many of them tend to charge admission and some of them are only for people over 21 years old, an aspect to consider if you plan to visit Nashville with your family or children.

Nashville is a city of traditions and one of the most famous is the Grand Ole Opry country music radio show, which is the oldest country music radio show in the United States, having been in existence for nearly 100 years. This show is broadcast live every week from the Opryland Theater and draws crowds, so if you want to be part of the event you must book in advance.

Since its beginnings, the Grand Ole Opry has featured the most outstanding artists of country music and has become a reference of the genre. In addition, the history of the program is closely linked to that of the city, since for more than 50 years the event was broadcast from the Ryman Auditorium, which is one of the best known stages in the American South.

If you are a country music fan and want to take part in one of the best shows in town, you certainly can't miss the Grand Ole Opry and its nightly show offerings.

Details of interest

• Price... The ticket to attend the live radio show has an initial cost of approximately 30 euros.
• Duration... The show lasts approximately 3 hours.
• Where... 2804 Opryland Dr, Nashville.