Fun doesn’t have to cost a thing.
With so manycool thing to do in Nashville , you may run up quite a check trying to ram them all in during a sojourn . Fortunately for you , however , Nashville is also filled with all sorts of toll - free activities ranging from medicine to artistic production to history tours . Check out the options below any time you ’re search to spend some time without dip into your preservation .
Free Cultural Things to Do in Nashville
Free museums
The massiveTennessee State Museumin Germantown is always free to search . ( Well , if you pay taxes in Tennessee , you did sorta make up for it , but just a tiny minute . ) A combination of lasting and go around exhibits shows off just a fraction of the museum ’s awful assemblage of Tennesseebilia , and it ’s stage thematically so you could always check out something new on multiple visits . TheGovernor ’s Residenceis another monument of state history that offers gratis tours by appointment on Tuesdays and Thursdays .
Hatch Show Print
SobroIf you ’ve ever seen your favorite band publicize a show using those cool honest-to-god - school day letterpress bill , odds are it come fromHatch Show Print , the iconic mark shop that started out making flier for jongleur shows and circus . They used to market themselves by saying , “ advertizing without posters is like fishin ’ without worms , ” and since 1879 , Hatch has designed and make G of artistic print . Now located in the same edifice as the Country Music Hall of Fame , you may watch them working through expectant windows and store for token at their fantabulous talent store . you could also take a tour , but that ’ll cost you $ 22 .
Gallery crawls
TheFirst Saturday Art Crawlis the chance to drop into multiple galleries around downtown and bring down artists at study . No RSVP or admission charge is required ; just show up and bop from place to place while enjoying some of the city ’s finest boxed wines . You might even find something to fall over your lounge to replace that tapestry from college . TheWeHo Art Crawlalso lease place on first Saturdays and have a host of galleries , easily walkable within a few blocks of the hip Wedgewood - Houston neighborhood .
Station Inn
The GulchIf the Ryman Auditorium is “ The Mother Church of Country Music , ” theStation Innin The Gulch is definitely the Tabernacle of Bluegrass , and the greatest pickers on the planet grace the leg nightly . Well , every night except for Sundays , because that ’s when the small club host a destitute hebdomadal bluegrass press . You ’re welcome to just revel the old - timey music played the way it used to with musicians ride in a set of chairs call out songs one at a time . Or bring your own guitar , fiddle , bass , mandolin , or dobro and join in the fun . Even if you only get it on a few chord , the musicians are always happy to receive newbies into the bluegrass fraternity .
Downtown Presbyterian Church
DowntownSince 1814 , Presbyterians have been worshiping at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Church Street , even before the streets had those names . TheDowntown Presbyterian Churchwas designed in the mid-1800s by William Strickland , the same architect behind the Tennessee State Capitol . Egyptian archaeological find were all the rage during that epoch , filling the pages of Western metier , so the architect settled on an Egyptian Revival style for the fresh Christian church . Sanctuary wall and stained drinking glass windows depict scenes of Egyptian biography , complete with palm Tree in the decidedly non - tropical climes of Nashville , and the outside features a wing sun disk and Nelumbo nucifera columns . The overall event is attain and a lilliputian brain - bending , and guests are welcome to take steer sanctuary tour at noon on the fourth Fridays of the month .
Downtown honky tonks
Not enough mass revalue the fact that Nashville ’s downtown honky tonks do n’t excite a masking and feature some of the most gifted musicians on the planet playing in various venues up and down Broadway . They intentionally place the stages near the front door face the back of the building so that you ’ll have to enter to really see the bands , and it ’s appropriate to at least purchase a boozing at the bar if you ’re go to listen to a whole set . That ’s also why you ca n’t carry a swallow from saloon to streak , since you ’re expected to wipe out the eq of a cover charge at each locale . But there ’s no rule that say you ca n’t skip from club to club to feel the variety of music coursing through downtown . Just remember to always tilt the ring .
Free Outdoor Things to Do in Nashville
Mural walks
You ’ve probably construe one of the “ I Believe in Nashville ” murals on social media somewhere , and you might have even await in telephone circuit to get your photo with theangel wingsin the Gulch , but Nashville has a lot more to offer in the way of public artistic production in many dissimilar vicinity . chaffer Music City has curated a leaning of muralsand their locations by neighborhood to make it easy to map your own walking “ art - inerary . ”
Fort Negley
Wedgewood - HoustonFort Negleywas the largest inland rock fortress constructed during the Civil War , looming above business district Nashville . Built by the Union as a symbolization of subjection after the Battle of Nashville , it is now an outdoor park with walking track ringing the ruins of the paries of the old fort . Take an well-off overlap for some of the best panoramas of downtown and then make a stop in the visitor ’ center to tick off out synergistic exhibit that share the account of the site .
Walk of Fame Park
SobroDirectly across the street from the Country Music Hall of Fame isWalk of Fame Park , a plaza fill with inlaid stars immortalize the contributor who put the euphony in Music City . From trailblazer of country medicine like DeFord Bailey and Ernest Tubb to local modern - day rocking chair who keep the euphony pumping such as baron of Leon and Jack White , a walk through the stars is like strike a trip through history . Other star recognize unexpected Nashville connexion like Jimi Hendrix who work nothingness in local clubs with his first isthmus , the King Kasuals while he was a soldier at nearby Ft . Campbell , and Little Richard who played R&B shows at many of those same nine and spent the recent portion of his life history living in the Hilton on the other side of the park so he could overlook his star .
Hikes
If the Great Outdoors is calling , opportunities for free trips into nature abound in Music City . Asystem of greenwaysoffer protected paths for boost and biking around the city in both urban and natural environments . The city is working to link up many of these paths , so you ’ll have even long routes to journey in the future tense . Percy Warner and Edwin Warnerwere two brothers who amaze back at the roughneck who probably tantalise their names in the late 1800s by donating the res publica for two monumental parks in West Nashville , contributing more than 2500 acres of green blank space fill with miles of trails for hikers and deal rockers along with equestrian paths for the horsey set .
Radnor Lake State Parkfeatures almost eight miles of different trail ringing the passive suburban lake , but mark off the trail map before you set off on a boost , because some of them are much more strenuous than others .
Scarritt Bennett Center labyrinth
Music RowSince mediaeval times , mortal seeking a small inside peace have take walks in or on labyrinths where the winding trails are meant to track the progress of life and where you might contact someone on a different path along the way . AtScarritt Bennett Center , a seven - circuit path winds its way around a tranquil court that is the gross shoes to illuminate your littered mind .
The Parthenon
Centennial ParkOriginally reconstruct out of cataplasm to commemorate Tennessee ’s Centennial in 1897 and to recognise Nashville ’s seat as “ The Athens of the South , ” this full - scale model of the historicParthenonwas reconstructed out of sturdier material in the 1920s . The centrepiece of Centennial Park , Nashville ’s Parthenon is an awe-inspiring replica of the Grecian synagogue , and some might even say ours is good because it still has a roof . It ’s free to visit the exterior of the building , but you ’ll have to pay a nominative billing to inscribe the hall to see the 42 - foot - marvellous statue of Athena , the patron goddess of ancient Athens .
Gaylord Opryland Resort
DonelsonTheGaylord Opryland Resortis a sprawling hotel and rule center off of Briley Parkway in Donelson . separate into several marquee , the refuge offers more than nine Akka of assailable space under glass roofs . Lush landscaping line walking paths , and an indoor river runs through the complex . Edgar Albert Guest are welcome to wander the earth even if they ’re not staying at the property . They really do it up for the holidays with jillion of blink lights installed all over the grounds , indoors and out . Park at the adjacent Opry Mills center and take the air over to make unnecessary on the usurious parking fee .
John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge
Cumberland ParkIf you were a fan of the ABC nighttime soap “ Nashville , ” you probably recognise theJohn Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridgeas the spot where the fabricated case on the show always seemed to conform to to rip off on their better half or discuss conspiracies . In trueness , we local utilize the bridge mainly as the easiest way of life to Nissan Stadium on the East Bank of the Cumberland River for Titans game or concerts . However , the wholesale view of the downtown skyline from the top of the nosepiece is strike , peculiarly at night when the Ne rainbow of Lower Broad reflects off the river . There ’s not much of a need to go all the way of life across the bridge at night , though , unless you ’re a fan of braggy empty parking lots .
Downtown walks
Nashvillesites.orgoffers a broad kind of itinerary for free ego - guided walking tours around Nashville , organized by neighborhood or by theme and narrated by local history experts . Lace up your walking rush and discover the urban center ’s key character in the battle for civil rights or the history of how Tennessee put the nineteenth amendment over the top to ratification , make woman ’s suffrage the law of the farming . Other available tours apportion the sordid side of Printers ’ Alley and various supposedly haunted sites around downtown . Of course , medicine is the centerpiece of several tour options while others spotlight the metropolis ’s architectural wonder .
The Parthenon|Courtesy of Nashville Convention & Visitors Crop
Hatch Show Print
Walk of Fame|Courtesy of Nashville Convention & Visitors Crop