I’m near Lexington, Kentucky. Was thinking about going to a concert in Nashville on Saturday night but don’t know how bad the traffic and other issues would be coming into and leaving the city and how late I’d get home with the time zone difference. Would try to sell my ticket if it’s severe

A busy stretch of I-65 will shut down in BOTH directions starting Friday, October 16, and drivers should prepare for some serious detours.

Closure begins at 8 p.m. Friday, October 16, as crews work to replace the bridge deck.

Here's what Nashville drivers need to know:

🚧 I-65 Closure: Both NB and SB directions will close at 8 p.m. on October 16 for demolition work.

🚧 Detour Routes: TDOT will direct interstate traffic around the closure using I-40, I-440, and I-24.

🚧 Hamilton Avenue Bridge: The bridge will remain closed to vehicles and pedestrians throughout construction, with repairs expected to finish by early December.

🚧 Local Alternatives: Drivers can use Chestnut Street or Wedgewood Avenue to cross I-65. Wedgewood Avenue at Exit 81 will also provide access to nearby streets.

🚧 Ongoing Construction: After the full closure, intermittent overnight lane closures are expected from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. as crews construct the new bridge deck.

TDOT warns that heavy traffic and delays are likely, especially around local detour routes.

Whether you're commuting to work, heading downtown for a night on Broadway, or visiting Music City for the weekend, this is one road closure worth planning around.

The Hamilton Avenue bridge project is expected to continue into early December, so Nashville drivers could be dealing with construction-related disruptions for several weeks.

If I have to have surgery at Vanderbilt, what impact will this have for the day of surgery in November and follow-up appointments.

Going to Nashville for the first time ever during the first week in November.

What's the weather like around that time of the year? And what do you girls wear? Any ideas would be highly appreciated.

Thank you!

Hi! We are staying in an Airbnb in The Gulch until Saturday. We purchased some perishable and non-perishable food items for the week and will have some left over. Is there anywhere open on Saturday that accepts donations?

A quick google search told me there used to be a community fridge about 20 minutes from here, but looks like it is closed now and would have been difficult for us to get to without a vehicle. If anyone knows of an open drop off location closer to downtown please share!

Any family friendly halloween/fall activities happening 10/25 to 10/30? thanks!

my Bach weekend happens to be during CMA fest… trying not to totally break the bank! does CMA fest make prices sky rocket and make Ubering impossible? Need honest opinions… like will lines be crazy and miserable

Soooo I booked my Bach trip super early in advanced and now it turns out it’s during CMA fest… be honest am I screwed…? 😭

​

We've just returned from a round trip of approximately 9,300 miles on a whistle-stop tour to tick a couple of bucket-list experiences off our list!

✈️ Getting there

Unfortunately, Newcastle International Airport clearly isn't quite international enough for the flights we needed, so we headed to Edinburgh, flew to Atlanta and then on to Memphis. More about flights and hotels further down.

🎸 Memphis: One for the bucket list

The main reason for visiting Memphis was to see Graceland, Elvis Presley's home, and Sun Studio, where he was discovered, alongside other legends such as Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and BB King.

I'll be honest, Memphis was a bit of a disappointment outside those attractions. Parts of the city are run-down, and crime and drug use are visible issues. That said, don't necessarily let it put you off. Be sensible about where you stay, keep your wits about you, stick to busier tourist areas such as Beale Street, although even that was quiet and use Uber or Lyft rather than wandering around unfamiliar areas on foot.

Where to stay: The Guest House at Graceland is right next to the estate and was a great option for visiting the attraction. The Peabody is another well-known hotel, and don't miss its famous duck parade!

Where to eat: BB King's on Beale Street was recommended to us and it didn't disappoint. It has live music, gets packed to the rafters and serves some good Southern fried chicken.

We managed to fit everything we wanted to see into one day. For us, Memphis was a case of been there, ticked that box, so we moved on to Nashville.

🎤 Nashville: Hell yeah, I'd go back!

We had three options for getting there: fly (around an hour, plus arriving two hours early for check-in), drive for roughly three hours on the interstate, or take a coach.

We'd been advised against Greyhound, and neither of us fancied driving, so we booked Vonlane. What an amazing service! Comfortable, well organised and highly recommended.

Nashville was the real highlight for us. The main attraction is the bars and live music around SoBro and Broadway, but we'd also planned the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Grand Ole Opry and Hendersonville.

Then came the opportunity to pay our respects to the Queen of Country, Dolly Parton, following her passing just a few weeks before our visit. There was no way we were passing that up.

The bar scene has something for everyone, from proper dive bars, honky-tonks and blues bars to multi-level rooftop clubs backed by celebrities.

The live music is fabulous. We only came across one band that didn't impress us, and the sheer amount of talent playing in these places is incredible. Plenty of musicians who could hold their own alongside artists who've already made it big.

A few favourites:

🍺 Robert's Western World was one of our favourites, thanks to the resident band and beer at just $2.50. That's a big difference from the usual $10+ prices elsewhere!

🎸 Ole Red was another highlight.

💃 Category 10 offers free line-dancing lessons between 12 and 4 pm, if that's your thing, and draws in huge crowds.

I'd say three nights is probably enough to get around the bars without feeling you've missed anything.

My preference would be Monday to Thursday rather than a weekend. It's busy enough to enjoy the atmosphere without dealing with quite the same crowds.

Would I go back? Hell yeah, with bells on! Just not at a weekend.

🍗 Food: Come hungry!

If you're going for the live music you're going to be rooted to the spot in the bars around Broadway. Here the food is largely centred around hot chicken tenders, burgers and good ole Southern-style comfort food, although Assembly Food Hall in Nashville offers a bit more variety as do other restaurants a bit further out. I liked the look (and smell) of some in the Gulch but with only having limited time the draw of Broadway was too strong.

One tip: book hotels that include breakfast if you can. We didn't come across the same sort of coffee-shop culture that you'd find in New York, so having breakfast sorted makes life easier.

We also had canapés included in Nashville, PB&J sandwiches at Graceland, a complimentary meal in Edinburgh, plus food included in some of our transport and lounge experiences.

Restaurant portions are enormous, so sharing is definitely an option. I'd be surprised if we'd spent more than $100 on food between us until we reached New York!

🏨 Hotels: Don't be afraid to ask!

You can save a fair bit if you make the most of hotel loyalty schemes and cashback sites.

We've had a Hotels.com account for years, from when my husband travelled for work so get top discounted rates but also benefit from cashback after ever 10 nights

We also use TopCashback, which can offer additional cashback on eligible bookings. I've got a referral code if anyone is interested.

And here's another tip: don't be afraid to ask for a little extra!

Email the hotel beforehand if you're celebrating something special. We managed to get complimentary room upgrades, food, champagne and $65 in room credit.

It costs nothing to ask, and as we say up here, shy bairns get nowt!

✈️ Flights: Make the connections work for you

Air miles can make a huge difference to the cost, but you can also find good deals by looking at multi-city itineraries and airlines that work together through codeshare arrangements.

Five out of six of our flights were with airlines in the SkyTeam network, including Delta, KLM and Virgin Atlantic.

I was really impressed with Delta. The food was possibly the best I've had on a plane!

And yes, I'm going to repeat the advice about asking for upgrades and letting airlines know if you're celebrating something special. Obviously, there's no guarantee, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

The Virgin crew from JFK to LHR were fantastic. Their customer service was spot-on without being over the top or sickly sweet. They knew we were celebrating our 60th birthdays and made the journey extra special.

We had a lovely meal where we sat facing each other rather than side by side, received a card signed by the crew and were even given a bottle of champagne to take home.

A lovely touch that made the trip feel even more memorable.

Our only real flight issue came on the final leg from Heathrow to Newcastle with BA. We had to wait for the crew to arrive, delaying us by an hour. So, in a ridiculous twist, our shortest flight ended up taking the longest!

Overall, Nashville was the standout for me, Memphis ticked off a couple of long-standing bucket-list items, and we made some brilliant memories celebrating our 60th birthdays.

Hopefully, these tips will help anyone planning a similar trip. Happy travels!

EDITED following some defensive comments about my observations on food.

Just to be clear, this review is based on my experience, which was largely limited to what was available on Broadway because we wanted to enjoy the live music.

For my fellow Brits, who are the intended audience for this review, I suspect many of you will be doing exactly the same as us. When you have limited time and don’t want to spend a fortune getting around, your options are naturally going to be more restricted. So, this is an honest reflection of what you’re likely to encounter if you stick to the main tourist area.

Some people have interpreted my comments as slagging off Southern fried comfort food, which really wasn’t the point. Clearly, there’s a market for it, hence the abundance of places serving it! But if you’re looking for a bit more variety, you’ll probably need to venture further afield.

I also want to highlight that my daughter is coeliac, and based on what we found, she would have struggled to find suitable variety without looking beyond the immediate Broadway area.

I’m simply sharing our experience to help others planning a similar trip. 😊

Are there any hotels downtown that you would recommend with a pool and parking that is not valet?

My wife and I have 8:00pm tickets for Sunday’s show at the Bluebird Cafe. Since we’re Ubering this weekend, we’d love to eat before the show, walk to the Bluebird, then have dessert while we’re there.

Any recommendations for someplace within walking distance?

Hi all! I’m visiting Nashville with some friends and we’re trying to find places to go for Halloween parties. We know how busy it gets and how full all the bars are so we’re looking for something that won’t require $50 ticket and be super packed. Ideally a place with good music to dance to (not line dancing) .

Any advice on good bars/ clubs for Halloween?

Hey y'all! A few friends and I (mid-20s) are visiting Nashville for Halloween weekend for the first time.

Planning to spend most of our time on Broadway. Any specific rooftop parties, Halloween events, or bar crawls worth getting tickets for? Or is it better to just bar hop on our own? Wouldn't mind paying for something if it means skipping some of the crazy lines and spending more time actually partying lol.

Been hearing about Azure After Dark. Anyone been? Is it worth it, or are there better parties?

Looking for good music, drinks, and a fun crowd. Appreciate any recs!

Hi all -

I'm coming in from out of state for the USA Rugby matches at GEODIS in a couple weeks. The games start at 3:15, but I was hoping I might be able to find a free/cheap place to park around noonish and have lunch/watch some football for a couple of hours before taking public transit to the game. I am having a hard time figuring out the bus scheduling/knowing for sure what is running since this is not a Nashville SC event but at their stadium so appreciate suggestions for regularly run bus routes or other ones known to go for special events. I'll also note that I will be coming south on I-65, so bonus points if there is somewhere not that far off the interstate either north or south of the city. Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

For Nashville visitors

Get cozy this fall with Skip the Small Talk - it’s a chill, sincere event focused on connection! We will be at Raven Book Lounge!

It’s a guided conversation event—think speed-friending vibes, but calmer and more intentional. 

You rotate through short conversations with prompts that skip past surface-level small talk. It’s structured enough to make it easy, but relaxed enough to feel natural.

Most people come alone. The crowd tends to be thoughtful, open, and just… normal humans who want more community.

Here’s the link if you’re curious:

• Thurs, 10/22 - https://www.skipthesmalltalk.com/store/skip-the-small-talk-night-at-the-raven-book-lounge-thursday-october-22-2026 

Hi everyone,

I am visiting Nashville with my brother and my father this Halloween. It's not our first time in the US (we're Austrian), but it is our first time visiting on Halloween and we've never been to Tennessee either. We're looking for some fun events to attend on October 31 (especially at night) to see what a typical American Halloween looks like. We're pretty much up for anything except maybe excessively crowded night clubs. Feel free to also suggest things outside the city if there's anything cool happening :-)

Thanks in advance, we're excited :D

Hi, my gf and I are visiting Nashville and I'm surprised by the vibes I've been getting around town.
We are staying a few miles east of downtown and haven't even been downtown yet, but all the random spots we've gone to (Publix, breakfast, dollar general, etc) people keep looking and talking to us like we are from outer space. Very unfriendly energy. I feel like we look like standard ass Americans so I'm not sure what it's about. Yesterday I was wearing a baseball cap with a lil Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 flag on it so I was wondering if maybe people thought it resembled a specific red flag that is very contentious, but today no cap and same odd vibes.
I'm from a small town on the west coast where people generally smile at strangers and it's mostly good energy so I'm surprised at the stark contrast. I'd expect this in New York or something but I always assumed people were extra friendly in the south!
And no, I don't advertise that I'm from the west coast if that means anything.
We haven't even been downtown to the touristy areas yet but I like being in the local residential neighborhoods to get the real feel of an area, and so far it's been quite unfriendly.
So far we met one really nice waitress but that was it.
Just wondering folks' thoughts.

I'll be in town this Wednesday for a one-night stay -- I love old hotels and older structures that have been converted to hotels. Just passing through with no particular plans, just want to stay somewhere within walking distance to restaurant options, and maybe a nearby repertory movie theater if there are any. Willing to pay $300-$350 for a room in a cool space. TIA for any recs! (Edit: thanks, everyone. Going with The Russell this time, looking forward to staying there)

Hello!

I am a designer working on a potential new bar along Broadway. In the very early stages. Wanted to play around with a concept surrounding fishing/catfishing.

Any fun stories? Historic stories? Historic figures to highlight? What is fishing like in Nashville/surrounding areas? Names/places to look into?

Think a hunter's lodge but fishing! Cozy, antiqued, etc.

Hello everyone

I am an international medical student looking for housing near Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
I am open to a studio or sharing with a muslim female roommate.
If you have any recommendations feel free to DM me or comment.
Thanks all!

Hi! I’ll be visiting in December with my 3.5 yo and was wondering what the best Christmas activities are

Hey everyone! Thanks in advance for any recommendations you can make to help make my trip the best one!

My girlfriend and I will be visiting Halloween weekend, not for Halloween though, just happens to be that weekend.

We are looking for what ever recommendations you locals can make. We are staying right next to Music City Center and Bridgestone Arena. But don’t mind traveling a little bit.

What sites should we make sure we see?

What food are you known for and what are the hidden gems restaurants should check out?

We are going to a Predators game, any other sporting events we should try to get to?

Anything that is a Nashville must please add to the list.