Intro
I’m on my way to New Orleans, but I thought it would be a good idea to leave my thoughts on downtown Nashville now. I’m aware of the other neighborhoods and scenes, but as a first-time visitor I wanted to experience the most popular part of the city and see what all the fuss was about. As such, this report is really a representation of my experiences in and around the Broadway strip.
I didn’t get any bangs, but it certainly wasn’t for lack of trying. My impression is that this isn’t the easiest place for a solo traveler who desires to pick up girls while on a visit, but I’ll explain a bit about that more. For full disclosure, I’m making this post from the point of view of a fit, but not muscular black guy in his 20’s. I dress on the casual side, but it’s a nice casual (sweaters, nice shoes, collared shirts…you get the idea).
Transportation
The airport is about 9 miles away from downtown. There is a public bus (18) that goes downtown from the airport for about 2 USD, which runs about once or twice an hour. If you’re really in a hurry you can user Uber/Lyft, which should run you 15-20 USD. Most flights to the airport are going to be from other US cities. However, Atlanta is under 4 hours away by automobile, so this city is certainly an option for any of you from that part of the South.
I only used Uber, but outside of peak times (so 4-5:30 on weekdays and nights), it wasn’t more than 5 USD for Uber Pool. Traffic, however, is pretty bad around the city. Downtown is consistent gridlock, so give yourself ample time if going to somewhere like Midtown for whatever reason. Anything in downtown is walkable and all the hotspots are concentrated in the same area near Broadway and the Cumberland River.
Food and Drinks
Nashville isn’t known for BBQ, but there are some very good spots scattered around the area. I went to Martin’s BBQ on 4th Ave. and they easily had the best baby ribs I’ve ever eaten in my life. Hattie B’s fried chicken is out in Midtown but you can order online and pick it up (or have it delivered with the very crappy Doordash service). Be warned, though. If you don’t order as it opens you will literally be waiting forever, and fried chicken is certainly not worth a decade-long wait. For breakfast food, Another Broken Egg Café is great, but this place also can be crowded if it gets later in the morning.
Drinks in the downtown area are pricey. I would say a lower-end beer is going to run you anywhere from 6-8 USD with shots and mixed drinks being more. For any predrinking, I went to a small store near the corner of 2nd Ave and Church St., but there are other places in the area. In some of the bars, I did notice that I was being charged more than other people for the same drinks. That’s the first time I’ve ever had something like that happen to me. And something tells me that’s not an unusual occurrence in that part of Nashville.
Logistics
If you’re staying downtown, you want to find a place downtown. Lodging is expensive because of a lack of supply and there’s constantly people visiting Nashville because of all the music and sports events. If there’s a holiday or if it's the summer the population will swell even more. Anywhere around Broadway is fine, but you’re likely going to be paying at least 150 USD per night for good accommodation. There are many hotels but AirBnB is seemingly limited. There’s also a hostel on 1st Ave (Nashville Downtown Hostel), which DigitalNomad mentioned.
I did stay in the hostel for 3 nights (Thursday-Saturday) and had a room to myself. I think there could’ve been another person in the room but no one ever showed up. The hostel has seemingly strict rules (no liquor and beer and wine must be drunk in the lounge area). However, it seemed like it would be very easy to bring back a girl, and it would certainly be easy to do any pre-drinking in the rooms as long as one didn’t create a loud ruckus. During the day, there are two people behind the check-in desk and only one person after 21:00 or so. I did notice there were a lot of cameras throughout the building and there were also surveillance monitors behind the check-in desk, but if you’re not conspicuous you could definitely bring girls back and do stuff because you don’t need to enter the lounge to go into the residential part of the hostel. The staff generally seemed pretty laid back too. One thing to note, though, is that the hostel doesn’t actually have any events, so you have to take the initiative and talk to people.
The girls at the hostel ranged in attractiveness. I saw girls I wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole to others that were at least 7 with the highest being a 8 (close to 9). I happened to meet a lot of au-pairs, which made sense since it’s the December holiday and children are not in school. And while there were a good number of international people, I didn’t get the impression that many people there were the partying and “get wild” type. That being said, I did go out with people on Thursday night and Saturday night.
Nightlife
There are so many bars and clubs on Broadway. Tootsie’s, Honky Tonk, and Whiskey Row have already been mentioned in this thread and others. However, there are several other places that you could walk into and find plenty of people in both the afternoon and the night time. I would recommend bar hopping because every place that you would want to enter is on Broadway between 1st Ave and 5th Ave.
Most venues are multiple levels with live bands but some places have DJ’s. The majority of music is country and rock and roll but sometimes you’ll see bands playing other kinds of music. There’s no denying that one of the best things about Nashville is the live music—it does have the nickname Music City after all. However, this can actually make it difficult to game in many situations because several people are standing around and very focused on the music. If you’re not good with crowds and noise (bring earplugs), then you’re going to have some serious issues. At night there’s usually plenty of foot traffic to chat up girls on the street, so you don’t have to be totally dependent on the indoor venues.
I’ve seen Pedal Tavern mentioned in one of the threads, but it was sold out for this past week; and it’s 45 USD per person. I see the merits of being in that kind of bar crawl with people but I couldn’t justify coughing up that much when I could’ve met people through other means.
Girls
Downtown is predominantly visitors with a sprinkling of locals. Most women are white—ranging from fatties to some very attractive dimes. The people I met were mostly from other parts of the US—predominantly the South and Midwest. If there is a sports game, expect to see fans of the visiting team because the indoor events arena is right on Broadway and the football stadium is across the river. There were two professional hockey games and one college football game during my time there. People will fill the bars and restaurants before any event.
Girls are often in groups. Some groups are mixed but there were many all-girl groups in Nashville for bachelorette parties, birthdays, or whatever other reason to drink that you can think of. I can’t recall an instance of getting blown out by anybody (25-35 approaches over the 3 nights), but it was difficult to keep sustained interest and escalate. In other words, many girls were friendly and talkative for a bit, but I didn’t see many IOI’s or reliable indicators of sexual interest. I’m not sure if having a wing would’ve helped with this, but those were my experiences.
One thing I would highly recommend is to screen before you approach and certainly during some conversations. There are a lot of married women or women in relationships that prowl the downtown Nashville bars. I ran into girls with boyfriends, those who were engaged and married, and even breastfeeding mothers. You don’t want to be talking to a woman and then find out that she has a significant other. It was all too easy to waste time on a group of girls and then find out that nothing good would come from it.
Another thing to note is that if you dress up too much or too differently, you will definitely stick out (not necessarily in a good way). The locals were polite, but not very engaged or conversational, which checks out with what other posters have said. It almost reminded me of the people in Iceland.
Verdict
If you’ve never been to Nashville, I would highly recommend seeing the city just for the experience and the wonderful music. However, I don’t think I would visit again unless I happened to be in the area on a road trip or something. If I lived in Atlanta or any other city within 4 hours of driving distance, I would probably visit a few times a year, but good lodging is quite expensive. Places outside of downtown will obviously be different as other posters have said, but to me it didn’t seem much different than normal US night game with better ratios and more approach opportunity. It’s certainly no easy place to get laid, but I think that’s been properly stated by other posters.
I’m on my way to New Orleans, but I thought it would be a good idea to leave my thoughts on downtown Nashville now. I’m aware of the other neighborhoods and scenes, but as a first-time visitor I wanted to experience the most popular part of the city and see what all the fuss was about. As such, this report is really a representation of my experiences in and around the Broadway strip.
I didn’t get any bangs, but it certainly wasn’t for lack of trying. My impression is that this isn’t the easiest place for a solo traveler who desires to pick up girls while on a visit, but I’ll explain a bit about that more. For full disclosure, I’m making this post from the point of view of a fit, but not muscular black guy in his 20’s. I dress on the casual side, but it’s a nice casual (sweaters, nice shoes, collared shirts…you get the idea).
Transportation
The airport is about 9 miles away from downtown. There is a public bus (18) that goes downtown from the airport for about 2 USD, which runs about once or twice an hour. If you’re really in a hurry you can user Uber/Lyft, which should run you 15-20 USD. Most flights to the airport are going to be from other US cities. However, Atlanta is under 4 hours away by automobile, so this city is certainly an option for any of you from that part of the South.
I only used Uber, but outside of peak times (so 4-5:30 on weekdays and nights), it wasn’t more than 5 USD for Uber Pool. Traffic, however, is pretty bad around the city. Downtown is consistent gridlock, so give yourself ample time if going to somewhere like Midtown for whatever reason. Anything in downtown is walkable and all the hotspots are concentrated in the same area near Broadway and the Cumberland River.
Food and Drinks
Nashville isn’t known for BBQ, but there are some very good spots scattered around the area. I went to Martin’s BBQ on 4th Ave. and they easily had the best baby ribs I’ve ever eaten in my life. Hattie B’s fried chicken is out in Midtown but you can order online and pick it up (or have it delivered with the very crappy Doordash service). Be warned, though. If you don’t order as it opens you will literally be waiting forever, and fried chicken is certainly not worth a decade-long wait. For breakfast food, Another Broken Egg Café is great, but this place also can be crowded if it gets later in the morning.
Drinks in the downtown area are pricey. I would say a lower-end beer is going to run you anywhere from 6-8 USD with shots and mixed drinks being more. For any predrinking, I went to a small store near the corner of 2nd Ave and Church St., but there are other places in the area. In some of the bars, I did notice that I was being charged more than other people for the same drinks. That’s the first time I’ve ever had something like that happen to me. And something tells me that’s not an unusual occurrence in that part of Nashville.
Logistics
If you’re staying downtown, you want to find a place downtown. Lodging is expensive because of a lack of supply and there’s constantly people visiting Nashville because of all the music and sports events. If there’s a holiday or if it's the summer the population will swell even more. Anywhere around Broadway is fine, but you’re likely going to be paying at least 150 USD per night for good accommodation. There are many hotels but AirBnB is seemingly limited. There’s also a hostel on 1st Ave (Nashville Downtown Hostel), which DigitalNomad mentioned.
I did stay in the hostel for 3 nights (Thursday-Saturday) and had a room to myself. I think there could’ve been another person in the room but no one ever showed up. The hostel has seemingly strict rules (no liquor and beer and wine must be drunk in the lounge area). However, it seemed like it would be very easy to bring back a girl, and it would certainly be easy to do any pre-drinking in the rooms as long as one didn’t create a loud ruckus. During the day, there are two people behind the check-in desk and only one person after 21:00 or so. I did notice there were a lot of cameras throughout the building and there were also surveillance monitors behind the check-in desk, but if you’re not conspicuous you could definitely bring girls back and do stuff because you don’t need to enter the lounge to go into the residential part of the hostel. The staff generally seemed pretty laid back too. One thing to note, though, is that the hostel doesn’t actually have any events, so you have to take the initiative and talk to people.
The girls at the hostel ranged in attractiveness. I saw girls I wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole to others that were at least 7 with the highest being a 8 (close to 9). I happened to meet a lot of au-pairs, which made sense since it’s the December holiday and children are not in school. And while there were a good number of international people, I didn’t get the impression that many people there were the partying and “get wild” type. That being said, I did go out with people on Thursday night and Saturday night.
Nightlife
There are so many bars and clubs on Broadway. Tootsie’s, Honky Tonk, and Whiskey Row have already been mentioned in this thread and others. However, there are several other places that you could walk into and find plenty of people in both the afternoon and the night time. I would recommend bar hopping because every place that you would want to enter is on Broadway between 1st Ave and 5th Ave.
Most venues are multiple levels with live bands but some places have DJ’s. The majority of music is country and rock and roll but sometimes you’ll see bands playing other kinds of music. There’s no denying that one of the best things about Nashville is the live music—it does have the nickname Music City after all. However, this can actually make it difficult to game in many situations because several people are standing around and very focused on the music. If you’re not good with crowds and noise (bring earplugs), then you’re going to have some serious issues. At night there’s usually plenty of foot traffic to chat up girls on the street, so you don’t have to be totally dependent on the indoor venues.
I’ve seen Pedal Tavern mentioned in one of the threads, but it was sold out for this past week; and it’s 45 USD per person. I see the merits of being in that kind of bar crawl with people but I couldn’t justify coughing up that much when I could’ve met people through other means.
Girls
Downtown is predominantly visitors with a sprinkling of locals. Most women are white—ranging from fatties to some very attractive dimes. The people I met were mostly from other parts of the US—predominantly the South and Midwest. If there is a sports game, expect to see fans of the visiting team because the indoor events arena is right on Broadway and the football stadium is across the river. There were two professional hockey games and one college football game during my time there. People will fill the bars and restaurants before any event.
Girls are often in groups. Some groups are mixed but there were many all-girl groups in Nashville for bachelorette parties, birthdays, or whatever other reason to drink that you can think of. I can’t recall an instance of getting blown out by anybody (25-35 approaches over the 3 nights), but it was difficult to keep sustained interest and escalate. In other words, many girls were friendly and talkative for a bit, but I didn’t see many IOI’s or reliable indicators of sexual interest. I’m not sure if having a wing would’ve helped with this, but those were my experiences.
One thing I would highly recommend is to screen before you approach and certainly during some conversations. There are a lot of married women or women in relationships that prowl the downtown Nashville bars. I ran into girls with boyfriends, those who were engaged and married, and even breastfeeding mothers. You don’t want to be talking to a woman and then find out that she has a significant other. It was all too easy to waste time on a group of girls and then find out that nothing good would come from it.
Another thing to note is that if you dress up too much or too differently, you will definitely stick out (not necessarily in a good way). The locals were polite, but not very engaged or conversational, which checks out with what other posters have said. It almost reminded me of the people in Iceland.
Verdict
If you’ve never been to Nashville, I would highly recommend seeing the city just for the experience and the wonderful music. However, I don’t think I would visit again unless I happened to be in the area on a road trip or something. If I lived in Atlanta or any other city within 4 hours of driving distance, I would probably visit a few times a year, but good lodging is quite expensive. Places outside of downtown will obviously be different as other posters have said, but to me it didn’t seem much different than normal US night game with better ratios and more approach opportunity. It’s certainly no easy place to get laid, but I think that’s been properly stated by other posters.