Editorial
Nashville has two parallel bar scenes that barely interact. The first is Lower Broadway — the most concentrated stretch of live music and neon in America, where honky-tonks stack on top of each other six floors high and the pedal steel never stops. The second is everything else: East Nashville's craft bars, the Gulch's cocktail programs, and the 12 South wine bars where locals actually spend their Friday nights.
A great Nashville bar crawl samples both worlds. The mistake most visitors make is spending the entire night on Broadway, which is like visiting New Orleans and only going to Bourbon Street. It's an experience, but it isn't the city. The routes below are designed to show you what Nashville actually drinks.
Lower Broadway does not have a last call in the traditional sense — bars routinely serve until 3am. The strip is also completely walkable and well-lit. But Uber and Lyft surge aggressively from midnight onward, so arrange your transport in advance if you're heading to East Nashville for the second half of the night.
This is the one you came for. Lower Broadway is six blocks of unbroken live country music, and the correct approach is not to pick one bar but to move through them with intention. Each venue has a different floor and a different band — you can hear six acts in two hours. Start at the river end and work your way up.
East Nashville is where Nashville's bar scene grew up. The Five Points intersection and the stretch along Gallatin Avenue have everything from craft cocktail bars to tattooed dive bars to natural wine shops that stayed open late. This is the side of the city that locals will tell you about when you ask where they actually go.
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The Gulch is Nashville's most design-conscious neighbourhood — converted warehouses, boutique hotels, and cocktail bars that take the craft seriously. If you've done the honky-tonk thing and want something that feels more like a New York bar night, this is where to go. Start at 9pm when the hotel bars are fully animated.
Nashville's bar scene is strongest Thursday through Saturday. The Broadway strip runs every night but the bands are better and the energy higher on weekends. East Nashville is worth visiting any night of the week. Avoid major bachelorette-weekend dates — the strip can feel overwhelming in late spring and early summer when the tourism peaks.
Nashville has limited public transit options. Within downtown and Lower Broadway, walking is easy. Getting to East Nashville requires a rideshare ($8–$12 from Broadway). Parking downtown is difficult and expensive. The WeGo Public Transit system has limited late-night service. Plan your route around rideshare availability and expect surge pricing after midnight on weekends.
Tennessee has county-by-county liquor laws that vary significantly. Nashville is in Davidson County, which has relatively liberal bar hours. But if you venture outside the city limits, be aware that several surrounding counties are dry or have limited hours. Stay in the city and you'll have no issues.
Nashville features prominently in our ranking of the world's best sports bar cities — the Titans and Predators fan culture has produced some of the most genuinely passionate bar environments in the US. For our full city overview, see the Nashville bar guide. If you're planning a wider Southern drinking tour, our New Orleans bar crawl guide pairs well with this one.
James covers American bar culture with a particular affection for cities that have two bar scenes — the tourist-facing one and the one where locals actually go. Nashville is the best example of this bifurcation in the country.