I just got back from a 3-night stay in Nashville, Tennessee, and thought I would post my thoughts on the place for fellow travelers. I’m a 33-year-old British guy living in Zug, Switzerland. I tend to run a form of high-roller game and usually spend my time prowling in Eastern Europe. I’m 5’8 and lift but don’t look particularly athletic. I’m blonde with blue eyes and people often remark that I remind them of the cartoon character Tin-Tin. I have 3 friends from Canada (Toronto) who were planning on hitting up Nashville and I decided to join them as it’s a city I’ve always wanted to see and will probably never have the chance to visit again.
Logistics: The only direct flight from Europe to Nashville is from London. I actually flew from Zurich to Atlanta, which is Delta’s main hub, and got a short 30-minute flight from Atlanta to Nashville. From the airport I got a flat rate taxi to the city center for USD 25. I landed during rush-hour, but traffic was okay, and the taxi trip took about 20 minutes. There is also an express bus, the number 18, which costs USD 1.80 and takes about 40 minutes to get you downtown. I stayed downtown so didn’t use any public transport or taxis during my stay in the city.
Accommodation: As others have pointed out, Nashville has become a party destination, but hotel accommodation has not really kept pace with that growth in tourism. We paid USD 200 per night per person for an Airbnb that was right around the corner from Broadway and basically right downtown. My advice is to bite the bullet and get a place that is as close to Broadway as possible. Broadway is where all the bars are, and you want to be able to bring girls back to your place for after parties and eliminate any last-minute resistance that a girl might get as you close in on that flag! One other point, Nashville has 2 pro-sports teams (Titans in the NFL and Predators in the NHL) so during the season the city is full of fans from the opposing team which might also add to hotel issues.
Where to party: We spent all our time on Broadway which is basically tourist central. The entire street is just one bar after another. The best bar in our view was Tootsies. This place is just packed every day and night and the pure volume of girls passing through was incredible. The other bar we liked was Tequila Cowboy which had a large roof-top patio which was great for day-time drinking and people watching. We didn’t really venture beyond Broadway but there is another area of the city called the Gulch, about 15 minutes’ walk from Broadway, that looks a lot more up market and perhaps attracts an older, more professional, crowd.
Food: As we stayed on Broadway I found the food to be quite disappointing. As I said before, Broadway is tourist central, so food is bland and generic and a bit overpriced for what it is. I generally ate BBQ or Brisket at each place but found the quality to be poor. As this was my first time in the South I was hoping for a better culinary experience. The reality is that you need to head away from Broadway to the Gulch area to find better quality dining with real southern specialties. I typically spent USD 20 per meal, which included any tips. In terms of beers, the going rate was around USD 7/beer (domestic like Coors Lite) which was reasonable in my view. One thing I love about the US is breakfast diners. Every morning we hit up a place called Another Broken Egg which had fantastic all-day breakfasts (closes at 2pm) which is the best way to kill any hangover and get the ball rolling on the next drinking session.
The girls: Okay so on to the good part. There were 4 of us on the trip and 2 of the guys got bangs. Generally, what we found is that almost all the girls you meet on Broadway are tourists who are there as part of a Bachelorette party. A majority of the girls we spoke to were from the Midwest, so places like Milwaukee, Chicago, Ohio, and Kansas. The typical age was mid 20’s, but you also had plenty of girls out celebrating their 21st birthday so plenty of 21 and 22-year old’s. I have to say I like the girls from the Midwest, very friendly, plenty of attractive blondes and brunettes, and generally very easy to talk to. I work in finance so have been to NYC numerous times and am used to the pretentious “I’m special” types you get out there but here we found nothing but easy going, friendly girls. Not one of us experienced a major blow-out or a rude rebuff. I found that this makes it very easy to maintain confidence despite facing a few rejections early on.
The one downside is that we found it very hard to get these girls to leave their groups, and when we did manage to get a girl to leave, the fat “mother-hen” type would be there to drag her away. I would say that each of the 4 guys spoke to around 20-30 girls each night. The sheer volume of girls in a bar like Tootsies meant that you didn’t even have to move around. We just perched up at a table on the patio and grabbed girls as they walked buy. One thing that we noticed is that a lot of the guys there don’t approach so if you do you will have a lot of opportunities to speak to girls. The way I think this place works best is to get numbers on your first night and arrange to meet up the next day to close. The guys in our group who banged got numbers on Thursday night, met the girls again on Friday night, and then sealed the deal on Saturday night. So basically, a mini “3-date” rule of thumb to close. I get the impression that this place is not a SNL place.
What kind of guys do well here: the 2 guys on our trip who banged are big, tall, athletic looking types. If you don’t look like you lift I think you will be at a huge disadvantage here. I was discussing this with one guy and I think in Europe, where soccer is the main sport, girls prefer a leaner physique, whereas in the US where it’s all about football, the girls like big muscle-men. I noticed that the guys who did best were over 6 feet and had big arms. Also, and no-offense to Midwesterners, I found the girls to be quite basic and unintellectual. If you’re working in a professional job you will get bored to death talking to a 24-year-old hairdresser about college sports and TV series/celebs. In terms of style, the more formal you look the more out of place you will be. The top guys were wearing trucker hats, jeans and a t-shirt. This is not the place to be rocking Ferragamo loafers and a Patek Phillipe watch. I think a big guy with cave-man style game will do well here.
In terms of races, I didn’t see any black guys at all on my trip. I understand Memphis is a majority-black city, but Nashville was almost 100% white, at least the down-town core looked like it. The music on Broadway is 100% country and I guess if you like R&B and hip-hop this place is not for you at all. I saw a handful of Indian-looking guys but that was about it.
Overall this was a fun trip and I enjoyed seeing the city. As I generally roll in Eastern Europe, and use high-roller game, I felt a bit out of place and didn’t have much success in closing any of my openings. I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to go back here again but if you’re in that part of the country, and you are a big athletic looking guy I would give it a shot.
Logistics: The only direct flight from Europe to Nashville is from London. I actually flew from Zurich to Atlanta, which is Delta’s main hub, and got a short 30-minute flight from Atlanta to Nashville. From the airport I got a flat rate taxi to the city center for USD 25. I landed during rush-hour, but traffic was okay, and the taxi trip took about 20 minutes. There is also an express bus, the number 18, which costs USD 1.80 and takes about 40 minutes to get you downtown. I stayed downtown so didn’t use any public transport or taxis during my stay in the city.
Accommodation: As others have pointed out, Nashville has become a party destination, but hotel accommodation has not really kept pace with that growth in tourism. We paid USD 200 per night per person for an Airbnb that was right around the corner from Broadway and basically right downtown. My advice is to bite the bullet and get a place that is as close to Broadway as possible. Broadway is where all the bars are, and you want to be able to bring girls back to your place for after parties and eliminate any last-minute resistance that a girl might get as you close in on that flag! One other point, Nashville has 2 pro-sports teams (Titans in the NFL and Predators in the NHL) so during the season the city is full of fans from the opposing team which might also add to hotel issues.
Where to party: We spent all our time on Broadway which is basically tourist central. The entire street is just one bar after another. The best bar in our view was Tootsies. This place is just packed every day and night and the pure volume of girls passing through was incredible. The other bar we liked was Tequila Cowboy which had a large roof-top patio which was great for day-time drinking and people watching. We didn’t really venture beyond Broadway but there is another area of the city called the Gulch, about 15 minutes’ walk from Broadway, that looks a lot more up market and perhaps attracts an older, more professional, crowd.
Food: As we stayed on Broadway I found the food to be quite disappointing. As I said before, Broadway is tourist central, so food is bland and generic and a bit overpriced for what it is. I generally ate BBQ or Brisket at each place but found the quality to be poor. As this was my first time in the South I was hoping for a better culinary experience. The reality is that you need to head away from Broadway to the Gulch area to find better quality dining with real southern specialties. I typically spent USD 20 per meal, which included any tips. In terms of beers, the going rate was around USD 7/beer (domestic like Coors Lite) which was reasonable in my view. One thing I love about the US is breakfast diners. Every morning we hit up a place called Another Broken Egg which had fantastic all-day breakfasts (closes at 2pm) which is the best way to kill any hangover and get the ball rolling on the next drinking session.
The girls: Okay so on to the good part. There were 4 of us on the trip and 2 of the guys got bangs. Generally, what we found is that almost all the girls you meet on Broadway are tourists who are there as part of a Bachelorette party. A majority of the girls we spoke to were from the Midwest, so places like Milwaukee, Chicago, Ohio, and Kansas. The typical age was mid 20’s, but you also had plenty of girls out celebrating their 21st birthday so plenty of 21 and 22-year old’s. I have to say I like the girls from the Midwest, very friendly, plenty of attractive blondes and brunettes, and generally very easy to talk to. I work in finance so have been to NYC numerous times and am used to the pretentious “I’m special” types you get out there but here we found nothing but easy going, friendly girls. Not one of us experienced a major blow-out or a rude rebuff. I found that this makes it very easy to maintain confidence despite facing a few rejections early on.
The one downside is that we found it very hard to get these girls to leave their groups, and when we did manage to get a girl to leave, the fat “mother-hen” type would be there to drag her away. I would say that each of the 4 guys spoke to around 20-30 girls each night. The sheer volume of girls in a bar like Tootsies meant that you didn’t even have to move around. We just perched up at a table on the patio and grabbed girls as they walked buy. One thing that we noticed is that a lot of the guys there don’t approach so if you do you will have a lot of opportunities to speak to girls. The way I think this place works best is to get numbers on your first night and arrange to meet up the next day to close. The guys in our group who banged got numbers on Thursday night, met the girls again on Friday night, and then sealed the deal on Saturday night. So basically, a mini “3-date” rule of thumb to close. I get the impression that this place is not a SNL place.
What kind of guys do well here: the 2 guys on our trip who banged are big, tall, athletic looking types. If you don’t look like you lift I think you will be at a huge disadvantage here. I was discussing this with one guy and I think in Europe, where soccer is the main sport, girls prefer a leaner physique, whereas in the US where it’s all about football, the girls like big muscle-men. I noticed that the guys who did best were over 6 feet and had big arms. Also, and no-offense to Midwesterners, I found the girls to be quite basic and unintellectual. If you’re working in a professional job you will get bored to death talking to a 24-year-old hairdresser about college sports and TV series/celebs. In terms of style, the more formal you look the more out of place you will be. The top guys were wearing trucker hats, jeans and a t-shirt. This is not the place to be rocking Ferragamo loafers and a Patek Phillipe watch. I think a big guy with cave-man style game will do well here.
In terms of races, I didn’t see any black guys at all on my trip. I understand Memphis is a majority-black city, but Nashville was almost 100% white, at least the down-town core looked like it. The music on Broadway is 100% country and I guess if you like R&B and hip-hop this place is not for you at all. I saw a handful of Indian-looking guys but that was about it.
Overall this was a fun trip and I enjoyed seeing the city. As I generally roll in Eastern Europe, and use high-roller game, I felt a bit out of place and didn’t have much success in closing any of my openings. I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to go back here again but if you’re in that part of the country, and you are a big athletic looking guy I would give it a shot.