Nashville may be the bachelorette capital of the world, but I’d argue that the city is ideal for hosting a mother-daughter trip. The city is so vibrant and diverse, making it easy to host and entertain people of all generations.
Below are the top 5 reasons why Nashville is great for mother-daughter trips:
Accessibility for the win!: There are so many flights going into Nashville at all times of the day and the airport is only a short Uber ride to the city. There is lodging for all price points, with lots of great options in all of the neighborhoods. I typically like staying in the Gulch or 12 South neighborhood when I’m in town for business, but since it was my mom’s first time, I wanted to put us close to where all the action is: Honky Tonk Highway. Staying right off Broadway also made it easy to walk to the nearest sights, walk to the Nashville Pedal Tavern headquarters, do the hop on/hop off tour bus, and grab an Uber out of the city.
Active without the heavy lifting!: I have three young children so planning out a trip itinerary was at the bottom of my to-do list before we departed. The beauty of a trip to Nashville is you can come to this city without doing any previous research or pre-book events; there are so many free things to do and it’s easy to stumble into an adventure. One of the favorite things my mom and I did was walk to the Gulch neighborhood (thanks to the hotel concierge’s recommendation) where we saw an enormous crowd in front of the restaurant, Milk & Honey. Figuring that it must be a hotspot, we happily put our names in for a long wait and spent the wait time window shopping, people watching, and asking other tourists what they enjoyed doing on their trips. From there, we got a dinner recommendation and a rave review to go see an exhibit at the Frist. Easy peasy: the rest of our day was booked!
Intergenerational interest: My mom and I share a love for music, so there was obviously a lot of ground for us to cover. We filled our ears and hearts with all the live music we could stand! We did the classics, like the Grand Ole Opry, the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum, and the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum, but we also ducked into bars and restaurants to hear the locals. We saw fantastic indie artists while eating BBQ at Martin’s rooftop, and then we trotted to Tootsies, where we bellied up to the bar for the best people watching this side of the Mississippi. Coffees in hand, we wandered up and down Music Row one sunny morning, exclaiming over famous recording studios and imagining iconic musical moments taking place feet away.
Nashville energy is contagious: Despite Nashville has very robust presence in history, the city truly has a youthful spirit which made for some playful adventures. For instance, my mom and I exchanged smiles watching the younger bachelorette party gals taking photos in front of the Wings mural. Little did she know I was going to insist she get her own photo in front of the famous mural, just so I could send the pic to my siblings and giggle. I may have also regressed to my 16-year-old self, begging my mom to buy me a denim jacket and concert tees during our Beve shopping tour… I was not successful. But we had a good laugh, reminiscing about our trips to Abercrombie and Hollister.
Share in the unexpected: Sure, between the two of us, we have about 10 decades of experiences, but Nashville always manages to shock and surprise even the savviest of adventurers. Nashville is truly one of a kind and it’s always changing: repeat visitors always expect the unexpected. Some of the unusual things we ‘oohed and aahed’ over included a fire truck party bus, glow-in-the-dark bike riders, a bachelor party dressed up as US Presidents, and a dog parade. My mom and I will carry these experiences, along with the more ‘typical’ memories, with us for the rest of our lives.