Nashville is excellent for a girls trip, but there’s a version of that trip that’s solid and a version that’s a marketing-designed conveyor belt. The city has built an entire industry around the girls weekend format, and knowing which parts of it are worth your time versus which parts exist primarily to separate groups from their money is the most useful thing you can read before going.
The short answer: yes, go. The longer answer is about how to do it well.
What Nashville Actually Delivers
The foundational appeal is real. Broadway’s honky-tonks let a group walk in and out of bars all night with no cover, no coordination, and no planning. Free live music runs from 10 AM to 3 AM seven days a week. There’s no city in the country where a group of women can have a completely unscripted evening of live music, dancing, and bar-hopping with zero logistical friction. That’s not marketing, it’s just how Broadway works.
Beyond Broadway, Nashville has a legitimate food scene that functions extremely well for groups. East Nashville, Germantown, and 12 South all have restaurants that take group reservations, run brunch on weekends, and deliver meals that are actually worth eating. Henrietta Red in Germantown books groups and produces some of the best seafood in the South. Edley’s Bar-B-Que on 12th Avenue in 12 South handles groups without fuss. The Pharmacy Burger Parlor in East Nashville has a beer garden designed for groups.
The neighborhoods themselves have the visual infrastructure that makes for a good group trip: murals, boutiques, walkable streets, and enough variety that the itinerary doesn’t feel like a checklist. The “I Believe in Nashville” mural on 12th Avenue South and the What Lifts You wings mural in the Gulch are photographed constantly for a reason. They’re well-placed and designed to read well in a group photo.
The Bachelorette Overlap Problem
The girls trip and the bachelorette trip exist in the same space in Nashville, and knowing the difference matters. Bachelorette culture has built its own commercial infrastructure in the city: pedal taverns ($49-60 per person), party buses, package deals, matching outfits, and a Broadway bar experience optimized for volume rather than quality.
A girls trip that isn’t a bachelorette party will have a noticeably better time if it avoids the weekend Broadway scene from about 9 PM onward in peak months. Not because Broadway is dangerous, but because the experience at that hour becomes hard to distinguish from a bachelorette industry event whether your group is one or not. Weekday evenings, or earlier on weekend nights, Broadway is more manageable.
The better move for a non-bachelorette girls trip is to put energy into the neighborhoods. A Saturday in East Nashville, a Sunday brunch in Germantown, evenings at the Listening Room Cafe (book in advance, $15-20 covers depending on the show), or a night at 3rd and Lindsley for R&B and soul, all deliver more of what makes Nashville actually good.
Specific Things Worth Doing
Boot shopping. Boot Barn on Broadway is the most convenient option. For something with more character, try Katy K Ranch Dressing in East Nashville or the shops along 12 South. Custom hat shaping at a western wear shop takes about 20 minutes and most groups enjoy it as an experience even if no one wears cowboy hats at home.
Brunch planning. Biscuit Love in the Gulch is the most consistently mentioned group brunch spot, but arrives before 9:30 AM to manage the wait. Milk and Honey in the Gulch has a one-hour weekend wait typical. Hearts on 12th Avenue South is a less obvious choice that handles groups well and has better odds of a same-day table. One group’s experience: they got right in at Hearts after a 3.5-hour wait at Butter Milk Ranch, and called it one of the best meals of the trip.
Live music with intent. The Listening Room Cafe runs songwriter shows at 7:30 PM and 9:30 PM. Book advance tickets and arrive five minutes early. The format, where songwriters tell the story behind each song and then perform it, creates a shared experience that works better for groups than background bar music. The Bluebird Cafe is harder to get into and holds fewer people, but it delivers the same format more intimately.
The Music City Brew Hop. A hop-on, hop-off trolley that connects Nashville’s best breweries. The East Loop covers East Nashville’s indie breweries and taprooms. Groups who do this report it as one of the better structured activities available because it provides transportation, a built-in agenda, and multiple stops without requiring anyone to plan.
Practical Group Notes
Accommodation matters more for a girls trip than for most travel formats. An Airbnb with kitchen space, multiple bedrooms, and a walkable location saves significant money on rideshares and gives the group a place to reconvene. A group that booked an accommodation 20 minutes outside downtown and didn’t rent a car found they spent heavily on Ubers for every movement. Stay within walking distance of the Gulch or downtown proper if rideshare costs concern you.
Restaurant reservations are non-negotiable for groups of six or more. OpenTable is functional in Nashville. For East Nashville specifically, call directly, since some of the best spots there maintain limited online booking capacity.
Sources
- A Little Local Flavor Nashville girls trip guide (Nashville local Christine): https://www.alittlelocalflavor.com/blog-posts/ultimate-nashville-girls-trip-guide
- Merrick’s Art Nashville girls trip itinerary: https://www.merricksart.com/nashville-girls-trip/
- Grownup Travels 3-night Nashville girls weekend: https://www.grownuptravels.com/3-night-itinerary-girls-weekend-in-nashville/
- Visit Nashville TN girlfriend getaways guide: https://www.visitmusiccity.com/nashville-trip-ideas/girlfriend-getaways-to-nashville
- Gina on a Plane Nashville girls weekend: https://ginaonaplane.com/the-best-girls-weekend-in-nashville/
- Fi-tinerary Nashville girls weekend 2025: https://www.fi-tinerary.uk/destinations/nashville-tennessee
- Syd Abroad Nashville girls trip guide: https://sydabroad.com/nashville-girls-trip/