As we began our final year of college, my roommates and I all agreed that we needed to make a senior year bucket list. On our list, we included mostly local activities, such as going to a winery and trying the new restaurants in town. However, we all agreed that we needed to go on at least one girls’ trip, and what better place to go than Nashville, Tennessee?
Nashville is known for its exciting downtown area that includes endless honky-tonk bars with live music on every floor. Now that my friends and I are all 21, we eagerly booked our flights and Airbnb to spend a long weekend in October in the place called Music City.
Since Nashville is such a popular destination for college-aged students, I thought I would share a few things I learned from spending a weekend there, along with some general tips to have a fun (and financially smart) girls’ trip.
My first full day in Nashville was spent on one of my favorite parts of the trip: the Honky Tonk Party Express. To give you a mental image, this is a roofless party bus with a long bench lining each side that takes you on a two-hour tour around the city. The bus is able to accommodate large groups, so my friends and I were able to book it together and experience the ride with a few other groups of people. The Honky Tonk Party Express is BYOB, and each ride has a bartender who pours your drinks and takes song requests. Our total ended up being around $60 each, and it was well worth it for two hours of riding around the city on a party bus with my friends.
The next activity we booked in advance was brunch at a popular dining spot, the Hampton Social. We received many recommendations for the Hampton Social based on its aesthetic decor and rooftop bar. However, in my experience, we should’ve just stuck to what it was known for: its atmosphere and its cocktails.
We showed up to brunch hungry and tired, so we couldn’t wait to sit down and order our food. I, along with two of my friends, decided to order the crab cake Eggs Benedict. This was one of the more expensive items on the brunch menu, but I’m a foodie so I don’t mind spending money on a good meal. When our food finally arrived, the crab cake Eggs Benedict was cold. As someone who likes her food extremely hot, I was disappointed but far too hungry to complain. The entree came with a fried green tomato and corn, which I did not care for or really understand the combination of. Overall, my advice is to go here for the vibes, not for the food. We would have been better off eating breakfast at a diner then going to the Hampton Social for an Aperol spritz on the rooftop.
Last but not least, I must mention my favorite bars and restaurants that line Broadway, the main street of Nashville that holds all of the nightlife. The first restaurant bar we went to was Jason Aldean’s, and we ended up eating dinner there. I was shocked by how good the shrimp tacos were, and all of my friends enjoyed their food as well. Our next stop was Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row, which was probably my favorite. Although this bar has many stairs, they are all worth it to get to the rooftop, which has an amazing view of the city. Another restaurant bar we had dinner at was Miranda Lambert’s Casa Rosa. Aptly named, Casa Rosa was the Tex-Mex restaurant of my dreams, as it was covered in pink decorations. The margaritas were good and I thoroughly enjoyed the rice and beans I ordered. The final bar we went to on this trip was the new Barstool Nashville. I had never been to a Barstool location before, so I was very excited to go there. Unlike the other bars in Nashville, Barstool was more of a club. It had a DJ rather than live music, which was a fun switch-up as we went to different places around the city.
Traveling with a larger group of friends definitely helped us save money by splitting Ubers and an Airbnb (and made finding outfits much easier). My friends and I had the time of our lives in Nashville, and I highly recommend going there for a girls’ trip after turning 21. I love going to school in Massachusetts, but it was nice to experience some of that Southern hospitality.
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