Is There Free Parking Near Broadway Nashville?

February 19, 2026

Yes, but it takes a small amount of planning or luck depending on the time of day. Here are the actual free options, ranked by convenience.

The Honest State of “Free” Near Broadway

Since February 2023, downtown Nashville has had 24/7 meter enforcement in the Central Business District, including evenings and Sundays. Free street parking within the CBD no longer exists at any hour. Posts around the internet still claim “meters stop at 6 PM” or “Sunday is free” downtown, but those rules were eliminated two years ago. Acting on that advice will get you a ticket.

What does exist: non-CBD neighborhood meters (Midtown, West End, Germantown) enforce from 6 AM to midnight only. If you park in those areas after midnight or before 6 AM, the meter is inactive and parking is free. But those neighborhoods are a 10-to-20-minute walk or rideshare from Broadway.

Nissan Stadium Lot R (Free, with Caveats)

Nissan Stadium’s Lot R, on the east bank of the Cumberland River at the foot of the pedestrian bridge, is a well-known free parking option for downtown visitors. You park there, walk across the pedestrian bridge, and you are two blocks from Broadway. The walk takes about ten minutes.

The caveats are real. Lot R closes to general public parking during Titans games and major Nissan Stadium events. It also charges $5 after around 6:00 PM when Ascend Amphitheater has a concert. On a night with none of those events, it is free and available.

Bicentennial Capitol Mall

The Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park, about a ten-minute walk north of Broadway near the Tennessee State Capitol, offers street-level parking that is free. The free Music City Circuit bus runs through this area and connects to downtown, the Gulch, Riverfront Park, and other destinations. This is most useful during the day; the walk is longer and the shuttle less frequent at night.

The Honest Assessment of “Free” Parking Near Broadway

Broadway is one of the most visited entertainment corridors in the United States. On a Friday or Saturday night, genuinely free parking within three blocks does not exist unless you arrive early or get lucky with a street spot opening up. The Lot R option involves a ten-minute walk across a bridge. The street meter option requires arriving before the evening rush.

For most weekend visitors, the best realistic alternative to paid parking is not free parking. It is cheap parking. The Metro Courthouse Garage charges $5 on evenings and weekends. The Library Garage charges $5 to $10 for evenings. These are not free, but they are not the $25 to $40 that private lots charge on event nights, and they are close enough to Broadway that the walk is under ten minutes.

Sunday Trips

Sunday is no longer a free parking day in the CBD. Meters run 24/7 including Sundays. However, Sunday does bring lighter traffic, fewer tourists overall, and the same parking options at the same prices. Non-CBD neighborhood meters (Germantown, Midtown, West End) enforce from 6 AM to midnight seven days a week, not on a weekday-only basis.

The closest thing to a genuine Sunday advantage: daytime crowds on Broadway and the surrounding streets are lighter than Saturday, which means street spots near Broadway turn over more frequently and are somewhat easier to find.

Sources

  • NDOT / Metro Nashville parking: cbd 24/7 enforcement since February 2023, nashville.gov
  • WSMV, “Free Sunday, overnight parking eliminated in Downtown Nashville,” February 2023
  • Fox17, Nashville new parking rate changes, April 2025 (rates: CBD $2/hr 0-2 hrs, $5/hr 3-4 hrs, $6/hr 5+)
  • TripAdvisor Nashville Forum, local knowledge on Lot R and free parking options
  • Wyatt Johnson GMC Nashville Parking Guide
  • NashvilleDowntown.com, On-Street Parking page: “paid parking within downtown Nashville is enforced 24/7”

Related posts:

  1. How Much Does Parking Cost in Nashville? Nashville's parking costs vary enough that two people can park on the same block, pay dramatically different amounts, and both be making rational decisions. The difference comes down to whether......
  2. Why Is Broadway So Crowded? Three forces converge on Broadway at once: a geography that funnels everyone into five blocks, a business model designed to draw and hold foot traffic for as long as possible,......
  3. What Is the Cheapest Way to Visit Nashville? Nashville has an unusually strong value floor for budget travelers. The city's most distinctive feature, Broadway's honky-tonks, costs nothing to enter and offers world-class live music every day of the......
  4. What Parking Apps Work in Nashville? Three apps cover Nashville well enough to be genuinely useful: SpotHero, ParkMobile, and ParkWhiz. Each solves a slightly different problem. Here is what each one actually does and when to......
  5. How Do You Get Into the Bluebird Cafe? The Bluebird Cafe holds 90 people. It has 18 tables, 8 bar seats, and 8 church pew seats. That is the entire capacity of one of the most famous songwriter......
  6. Is There Good Vegan and Vegetarian Food in Nashville? The honest answer changed around 2015 and has continued improving every year since. Nashville was not an easy city for plant-based eating in 2010. It is a reasonably good one......
  7. What Do You Do If You Have an Early Morning Flight From Nashville? Early morning flights out of BNA require some advance planning because the airport infrastructure starts working before the city itself does. Here's what you need to know to get through......
  8. Is There Parking at Nashville Airport? Yes, BNA has six distinct on-site parking options plus a free cell phone waiting lot. The range runs from short-term covered garage parking to budget economy lots to valet. Understanding......
  9. Where Do You Park Downtown Nashville? Downtown Nashville has more parking than most cities its size, spread across dozens of garages, surface lots, and street meters. The challenge is not finding parking so much as knowing......
  10. What Are the Best Parking Garages Near Broadway? The best garage near Broadway depends on three things: what you want to pay, how far you are willing to walk, and whether there is an event nearby that will......
  11. Is Street Parking Available in Nashville? Yes, street parking is available throughout Nashville, including downtown. What it costs, how long you can stay, and when enforcement applies varies significantly by zone, and Nashville's parking rules went......
  12. Is Germantown safe? Germantown is one of the safer places in Nashville to walk around, eat dinner, and spend time including at night. The neighborhood is predominantly residential with a food-and-drink scene that......
  13. Is It Safe to Park Overnight in Nashville? The answer depends on where you park and what you leave visible in your car. Nashville has a genuine vehicle crime problem. By the end of 2023, there were nearly......
  14. Where Do You Park Near the Ryman Auditorium? The Ryman Auditorium does not have its own public parking lot. The venue sits at 116 Rep. John Lewis Way North, half a block north of Broadway between 4th and......

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *