A realistic three-night Nashville trip for two people sharing a room will run $1,200 to $2,000 in total, excluding flights, depending on whether you’re eating at honky-tonk bar food levels or actual restaurants and whether you visit paid attractions. A budget version of the same trip is achievable around $900 to $1,100. Nights out on Broadway can collapse a budget fast because Nashville’s tipping culture is active at every honky-tonk, and the cumulative cost of drinks adds up in ways people don’t anticipate.
Hotels: The Biggest Variable
Hotels in downtown Nashville and The Gulch average $200 to $270 per night for a 3-to-4 star room on a weekend. Booking.com data shows 4-star weekend rates currently around $283 per night. Budget hotels in Nashville average closer to $94 to $150 per night, but truly budget options ($70-$100) require either a midweek stay, staying outside downtown, or booking during the January-February slow season.
Peak weekends in spring and fall, combined with Nashville’s popularity for bachelorette and bachelor parties, mean Friday and Saturday nights in downtown hotels sell out and spike in price. The pattern is fairly predictable: weeknight rates (Sunday through Thursday) run meaningfully lower than Friday and Saturday. If your schedule allows a Thursday arrival and Sunday departure, you pay peak rates for only one night.
During CMA Fest (early June), downtown hotel rates reach their annual high. Package deals from operators like Nashville Express Tours for four-night CMA Fest stays start around $1,400 to $1,700 per person for double occupancy. If you’re not attending the festival, these rates are not justified.
Tennessee charges a 7% state sales tax, and Metro Nashville adds additional hotel occupancy taxes on top. The final tax line on your hotel bill will typically run 15 to 20% above the base rate.
Food: Budget to Splurge
Nashville has a broad range, and the numbers depend entirely on how you eat. Hot chicken at Prince’s or Hattie B’s will run $12 to $20 per person with a drink. A sit-down brunch with bottomless mimosas in 12 South or East Nashville easily lands at $40 to $60 per person. The honky-tonks on Broadway charge $8 to $12 per beer, and if you’re tipping musicians (standard practice) on top of your bar tabs across three or four venues in a night, a Broadway evening for two people can run $100 to $150 in drinks alone without dinner.
Budget travelers who hit the meat-and-three joints, eat hot chicken at lunch, and limit Broadway to one evening can eat well for $40 to $60 per person per day. Travelers who are going to honky-tonks every night, eating at Germantown’s better restaurants, and getting brunch at Biscuit Love should budget $80 to $120 per person per day for food and drinks.
Activities: Mostly Optional
Nashville’s major paid attractions include the Country Music Hall of Fame ($31.95 adults), the Ryman Auditorium self-guided tour ($25), RCA Studio B combo with the museum ($54.95), the Johnny Cash Museum ($22), and the Parthenon ($10). A Grand Ole Opry show runs approximately $35 to $60 depending on seat location and performer lineup. If you do all of these in one trip, you’re looking at $150 to $175 per person in attraction costs.
Broadway itself is free. The honky-tonks charge no cover before approximately 7pm and typically $5 to $10 after. The free outdoor stages during events like CMA Fest require no ticket. Many of Nashville’s best experiences cost nothing: walking the neighborhood murals, wandering Centennial Park, sitting on a patio in East Nashville, finding a writer’s round at a bar that hasn’t caught on yet.
Transportation: Don’t Underestimate Rideshares
If you’re staying downtown or in The Gulch and spending most of your time in the core tourist areas, rideshare costs can be minimal. But Nashville is a sprawling city and the per-ride cost between neighborhoods adds up. An Uber from downtown to East Nashville runs $8 to $15. To the Grand Ole Opry is $15 to $25. Multiple neighborhood evenings over three days can add $80 to $120 in rideshare costs.
Budget travelers can use WeGo bus passes ($2 per ride, $20 for a 7-day unlimited pass) for routes that cover most major areas, though frequency and coverage are limited compared to transit in larger cities.
The Realistic Three-Night Budget
For two people sharing a hotel room, here is a workable three-night estimate for a mid-range trip:
Hotel at $230 per night for three nights comes to $690. Three days of meals at $80 per person per day comes to $480 for two. Two evenings of Broadway drinks and tipping at $60 per person per evening comes to $240 for two. Attractions (CMHOF, Ryman, one show, Cash Museum) at $100 per person totals $200. Rideshares across the trip at $80 per person totals $160. This brings a total to approximately $1,770 excluding flights.
This assumes mid-range weekend hotel rates, one or two sit-down restaurant meals, two full Broadway evenings, and the major attractions. Flights vary too widely to include here but from most domestic US cities run $150 to $350 round trip per person.
Sources
- Budget Your Trip, Nashville travel cost data: average $202/day, one-week trip $1,414/person (budgetyourtrip.com)
- Budget Your Trip, Nashville hotel prices: budget average $94, luxury average $235 (budgetyourtrip.com)
- Booking.com, Nashville hotel rates: 3-star weekend $163, 4-star weekend $283 (booking.com)
- Champion Traveler, Downtown Nashville trip cost: 7-day solo average $1,701, couple $3,055 (championtraveler.com)
- Priceline hotel guide, Nashville tax information: Tennessee state sales tax 7%, plus local/occupancy taxes (priceline.com)
- Country Music Hall of Fame official ticket pricing (countrymusichalloffame.org)
- Skyscanner, Nashville average hotel pricing: $234/night average over previous 12 months (skyscanner.com)