Nashville

The Grand Ole Opry began on 28 November 1925 as a WSM radio programme, and on 30 October 2026 its calendar listed shows in Nashville into December. Its old home downtown, the Ryman Auditorium, runs daytime tours, and the city's airport flies to London Heathrow all year.

The sections below follow a first visit, from the airport bus to the day trips. We read the figures on 30 October 2026 on the pages of the airport, WeGo Public Transit, the Metro Nashville government and the Tennessee Department of Revenue. We also read the sights' own sites, the National Park Service and NOAA. No official page we read suggests how many days to spend, or which part of the city to stay in.

How do you get from Nashville International to downtown on WeGo Route 18?

WeGo Route 18 runs from Nashville International Airport (BNA) to downtown for $2 each way for an adult, by WeGo's airport page. Express trips take about 20 minutes, and local trips 35 to 45 minutes depending on traffic. The bus ends at the Elizabeth Duff Transit Center at WeGo Central.

The bus boards at the Ground Transportation Center, on Level 1 of the Terminal 2 Garage, under a purple WeGo sign. Luggage is allowed. A QuickTicket, a contactless credit or debit card, a phone wallet or exact cash pays the fare.

WeGo does not accept American Express, and a card or QuickTicket fare works as a two-hour pass with no transfer needed. Paying that way never costs more than $4 a day, by WeGo's fare page, and children aged 4 and under ride free.

Taxis charge a flat $30 to downtown and to Gaylord Opryland Resort, plus $2 for each extra passenger to the same address. Other trips start at $9 and add $2.50 a mile. Since 3 June 2025 every commercial operator has picked up at the same Ground Transportation Center. Our guide to tipping in the USA covers what a driver expects on top.

The airport went cashless for parking on 1 July 2026 and closed Terminal Lot A. Cash-to-Card kiosks stand on site for drivers paying in cash.

Which cities in Europe, Canada and Mexico fly nonstop to BNA?

Nashville International's route list for October 2026 shows British Airways flying to London Heathrow all year. Aer Lingus to Dublin and Icelandair to Reykjavík fly seasonally, and Air France is due to start flying to Paris on 14 May 2027.

Southwest also flies to Los Cabos in season and to several Caribbean and Central American airports, some only from 2027. Other visitors connect through a US airport. The domestic list includes Atlanta, New York's JFK and LaGuardia, Chicago's O'Hare and Midway, and Dallas. Our pages on New York City and Chicago cover those cities.

Which of downtown Nashville's music museums stay open after 5 p.m.?

The Johnny Cash Museum is the only one of the downtown music museums open after 5 p.m., until 7 p.m. every day. The Country Music Hall of Fame closes at 5 p.m., and the National Museum of African American Music admits its last visitors at 4 p.m. Ryman tours end at 4 p.m.

So a full day downtown fits the Hall of Fame in the morning, a Ryman tour after lunch and the Cash museum before dinner. The Hall of Fame takes about two hours by its own estimate, and a self-guided Ryman tour about one. All four close on Thanksgiving, and the Hall of Fame on Christmas Eve too.

Lower Broadway runs between them. Its three historic blocks, from Second Avenue to Fifth Avenue, link the Second Avenue district and the Ryman, by the National Register nomination the Park Service hosts. That form describes two- and three-storey commercial buildings of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. We read no official page on the street's present bars, so this page gives no bar names, cover charges or hours.

What does the Country Music Hall of Fame charge for its museum and Studio B packages?

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum charges an adult aged 13 or over $31.95 and a child aged 6 to 12 $21.95, by its ticket page. Its programmes are included in that price. The page does not say whether tax or fees are added.

An audio tour costs $5, and a Studio B or Hatch Show Print tour can be added for $23 each. Tickets are valid for one day. Students, over-60s and the military get a discount on adult admission, but only at the box office. The museum's free entry for young people applies to residents of Nashville-Davidson and the bordering counties, not to visitors.

Gallery guides come in Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. The museum is busiest at midday, from about 10 or 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.; its two pages give different start times. It also closes for its annual Medallion ceremony, typically on the third Sunday in October.

The museum validates parking at the Walk of Fame Parking Garage, 161 4th Ave. S., and the SoBro Tower Garage, 210 3rd Ave. S. Validated parking costs a flat $15 for up to three hours or $25 for up to six. WeGo routes 6, 52, 55, 63 and 93 stop within walking distance, the museum says.

What does a Ryman Auditorium tour cost now the $25 autumn price has ended?

The Ryman Auditorium's self-guided tour cost $25 plus tax this autumn, a price that ended on 31 October 2026. When we read the page on 30 October it printed no regular price, and the next price on it was the Guided Backstage Tour, at $42.52 plus tax. The Ryman's prices include fees but not sales tax.

Self-guided tours are free for children 12 and under with a paying adult. Backstage access depends on availability. Tours run every day from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Ryman closes early on 7 November, at 3:15 p.m., and on 9 November, at 1:15 p.m. It shuts all day on Thanksgiving, 26 November.

The exhibits include "Opry 100", for the Opry's hundredth anniversary, and a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame display. A theatre film, "Soul of Nashville", is part of the tour. The building opened in May 1892 as the Union Gospel Tabernacle and housed the Opry from 1943 to 1974, by the Ryman's history page.

How far is the Grand Ole Opry House from the Ryman, and what does its daytime tour cost?

The Grand Ole Opry House is about 9.4 miles by road from the Ryman, on our own routing, at 600 Opry Mills Drive. Its Daytime Tour costs $46.65, including taxes and fees, and needs no show ticket. That figure comes from the Opry's tours page as we read it on 30 October 2026.

The tours page lists no days or hours. The Opry's directions page mentions no public transport, and its car park opens only for evening shows, from 5 p.m. It prints no parking rate.

A show runs about two hours with a 15-minute interval, and children under 4 enter free. There is no coat or bag check and no formal dress code. Outside food and drink, water included, are not allowed in. On 30 October 2026 the Opry's home page listed shows into December and said its 2027 tickets were on sale. It printed no ticket price.

Some shows play at the Ryman instead, under the name "Opry at the Ryman". We did not read their dates.

What do the Johnny Cash Museum and the National Museum of African American Music charge?

The Johnny Cash Museum charges $32.95 plus tax for general admission, and the National Museum of African American Music $33.33 for an adult aged 18 to 64. The African American music museum opens its galleries free on the first Wednesday of each month. The next one falls on 4 November 2026.

The Johnny Cash Museum opens from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week, and closes on Thanksgiving and Christmas. A child aged 6 to 15 with an adult pays $28.95 plus tax, and under-6s enter free. Online tickets carry a convenience fee and do not expire. The $1 discounts for seniors, students and the military apply only in person.

The National Museum of African American Music opens from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Tuesday to Saturday, and from noon on Sunday and Monday. Last entry is at 4 p.m. for everyone, and it closes on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. Youths aged 5 to 17 pay $29.33, over-65s $31.33, and children aged 4 and under enter free.

Every general admission ticket includes an interactive RFID wristband, which costs $5 on free Wednesdays. Those free days exclude the Jubilation! show. Online tickets cannot be refunded but stay valid for a year. The museum's own garage, at 598 Broadway, charges a flat $25. The L&C Garage, at 144 5th Avenue North, charges $10 for the first three hours.

How do you pay for the Parthenon in Centennial Park, and when is it shut?

The Parthenon sells admission only on site, at its ticket counter or in its museum store, by its own hours page. An adult pays $15, and over-62s and youths aged 4 to 17 pay $10. Card payments carry a 2.3% convenience fee, and the kiosk does not take phone wallets.

The Parthenon stands at 2500 West End Avenue, about 2.9 miles by road from the Ryman on our own routing. Its museum opens from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. from Monday to Thursday and on Saturday. On Friday it closes at 3:30 p.m., and on Sunday it opens from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. An audio tour of the outside runs at any hour.

As a Metro Parks building, the Parthenon follows Metro's holidays. It closes on Veterans Day, 11 November 2026, on Thanksgiving and the day after, 26 and 27 November, and on 24 and 25 December. On 5 November it closes at noon. Water bottles, food, drinks and large bags are not allowed in, and small lockers cost 25¢.

Centennial Park itself, 132 acres at 2500 West End Avenue, is open from dawn to 11 p.m. every day, by Metro Parks. It was the site of the 1897 Tennessee Centennial Exposition, which is why the Parthenon replica stands there.

How much does Metro Nashville's hotel tax add to a room?

Metro Nashville's hotel occupancy tax is 7% of the room rate, plus a fee of $2.50 a night, by Metro's finance department. It applies to stays of under 30 days. By our arithmetic, a $200 room carries $16.50 of it a night, and a $300 room $23.50.

The rate rose from 6% to 7% on 1 July 2023, under ordinance BL2022-1529, and the nightly fee stayed at $2.50. The rise depended on stadium revenue bonds being issued by 1 January 2024, and Metro's page does not say whether they were. Its tax payment page, last updated on 5 January 2026, still offers the form for taxes due after 1 July 2023.

Tennessee's general state sales tax is 7% and its rate on food 4%, by the Department of Revenue. Nashville adds a local rate of 2.25% and a 0.5% transit surcharge, 2.75% in all and the most the state allows, in force since 1 February 2025 by the department's rate lookup and local rate table.

A purchase in Nashville therefore carries 9.75% in all, and food at the state's 4% rate carries 6.75%. We could not confirm whether sales tax also applies to a room, so check the total on the hotel bill. Our guide to sales tax in the USA explains why shelf prices leave the tax out, and our page about Tennessee covers the rest of the state.

How many days does Nashville reach 90°F, and when do Middle Tennessee's tornadoes come?

Nashville International averages 54.1 days a year at 90°F or more, on NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals, and July alone brings 18.2 of them. Two-thirds of Middle Tennessee's tornadoes have come in March, April and May, in a National Weather Service study of 1830 to 2003.

Rain falls in every month, 50.51 inches a year in all, and no month gets under 3.3 inches. October is the driest month and May the wettest, with 5.02 inches. The airport sees about 4.7 inches of snow a year and 66.3 nights at or below freezing, most of them from December to February.

The same Weather Service study found tornadoes most common between 5 and 6 p.m. Central Standard Time, and least likely in September.

The city is on Central time. Clocks went back an hour on Sunday 1 November 2026 at 2 a.m., from UTC−5 to UTC−6, and New York stays an hour ahead.

How far are Mammoth Cave and the Smokies from Nashville, and what do they charge?

Mammoth Cave National Park is 99 miles from Nashville's airport, by the National Park Service, and the Great Smoky Mountains are about 220 miles away on our own routing. Neither park charges an entrance fee. Neither is on the 2026 list of parks that add $100 for visitors from abroad.

Mammoth Cave keeps Central time, and its cave tours need tickets, from Recreation.gov or the visitor centre. The Park Service strongly recommends booking. The road is I-65 north to exit 48, Park City. The Park Service puts the drive from Nashville's airport at 90 minutes.

The Smokies are on Eastern time, so the drive east loses an hour on the clock. The park charges no entrance fee, but a parked car needs a parking tag. Tags cost $5 a day, $15 a week or $40 a year, and the park runs no timed-entry reservations.

The Natchez Trace Parkway ends near the city, at milepost 444. Its northern entrance is off I-40 west of town at exit 192, McCrory Lane, then Highway 100. Our guide to national park fees for international visitors explains where the $100 surcharge applies.