Nashville has some genuine tourist traps and some things that are labeled tourist traps by locals but are actually worth your time once. The useful distinction is between things that are overpriced for what they deliver versus things that are simply popular and therefore crowded.
The Celebrity-Owned Mega-Bars on Broadway
The row of massive, multi-story bars owned by country stars, including Jason Aldean’s Kitchen + Bar, Luke Bryan’s 32 Bridge, and similar venues, consistently draw the heaviest tourist density on Broadway. Drinks here tend toward $12 to $15 for basic cocktails. The music is live but it’s cover bands, and the experience is more stadium than honky-tonk. These are not places where you’re going to discover Nashville’s music culture. They’re Las Vegas-style entertainment venues that happen to be located in Nashville.
This doesn’t mean you should never go. The rooftop views on a clear evening are solid. The issue is the trade-off: you’re paying premium prices for a diluted experience when the authentically old-school honky-tonks like Robert’s Western World and Legends Corner are on the same block and more interesting. Tootsies Orchid Lounge gets flagged by locals as overcrowded at peak hours, but it’s a genuine Nashville landmark and worth visiting during off-peak times.
Pedal Taverns
The pedal tavern (or “pedal pub”) industry in Nashville is enormous, and locals have complicated feelings about it. A private group ride costs approximately $490 minimum, or $49 per person for an open ride, according to pricing from the Nashville Pedal Tavern. Riders generate significant traffic disruption on downtown streets. They are impossible to miss and, from the outside, look like the kind of activity that provides a memorable story more than a memorable experience. The same amount of money applied to one evening of genuine bar-hopping on Broadway, dinner at a real restaurant, and a show at the Station Inn yields a richer Nashville evening.
For bachelorette parties specifically, the pedal tavern has become near-mandatory in the social script of a Nashville visit. If that’s the purpose of your trip, it’s probably not a trap. If you’re just looking for a way to see Nashville, it is.
Hard Rock Cafe and Chain Tourist Restaurants Downtown
The Hard Rock Cafe on Broadway and similar chain restaurants (Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville has appeared in Nashville over the years) represent the clearest tourist trap category: not Nashville-specific, not meaningfully better than chains anywhere else, priced at tourist-destination rates. The food is fine by chain standards. There is no reason to eat here when hot chicken at Hattie B’s and solid Nashville BBQ at Jack’s Bar-B-Que are within walking distance.
Pancake Pantry: Institutional Status Without Current Justification
Pancake Pantry has been a Nashville institution since 1961 and remains on every “must-eat” tourist list. The line regularly wraps around the block on weekends. Current visitors and longtime locals increasingly agree that the pancakes don’t justify the wait. The menu items are priced above what the experience warrants compared to other Nashville brunch options. If you want the historical experience of a Nashville institution, go on a weekday and arrive early. If you’re trying to decide how to spend your brunch time in Nashville, there are better options without the 45-minute wait.
The Wings Mural at The Gulch
The “What Lifts You” wings mural in The Gulch has become one of the most photographed spots in Nashville, which means on a Saturday afternoon there is a genuine queue of people waiting to take the same photo. It’s a mural. The photo you take will look like every other photo from this mural that exists on Instagram. Going specifically to see it is fine if you’re already in The Gulch. It’s not worth building your afternoon around.
What’s Not Actually a Trap
Broadway itself isn’t a trap if you go in with accurate expectations. It’s loud, it’s full of tourists, drinks are priced accordingly, and the music is live every hour of every day. For a first-time Nashville visitor, spending one evening on Broadway is a reasonable choice. The trap is spending every night there across a three-day trip when the rest of the city is more interesting.
The Country Music Hall of Fame, the Ryman Auditorium, and RCA Studio B are not tourist traps. They’re genuine, substantive attractions that deliver on their promises. The Ryman’s acoustic environment alone justifies the self-guided tour price. Anyone telling you these are overrated is likely a person who lives here and forgets what it was like to not know why these places matter.
Sources
- Narcity, “7 Overhyped Things To Do In Downtown Nashville That Are Tourist Traps, According To Locals” (narcity.com)
- Nashville Pedal Tavern website, pricing: $49/person open ride, $490 minimum private group (referenced in Yahoo/Business Insider article)
- Yahoo/Business Insider, “The 5 Worst Tourist Traps in Nashville and Where to Go Instead” (yahoo.com)
- Whiskey Riff, “The Best Places To Go Out In Nashville That Aren’t Broadway” (whiskeyriff.com)
- Heather Kirk, “What Not To Do In Nashville” (heatherkirkk.com)
- Nashville Todo, “What’s One Place You Should Avoid in Nashville?” local Facebook survey of 40,000+ Nashville fans (nashvilletodo.com)