Best Museums in Nashville

Among the best things to see and do in Nashville is definitely a good tour of some of the city's best museums. From contemporary art museums, to museums dedicated to more specific subjects such as an amazing botanical garden, or the ever-present country music museums.

As it is a southern city, you will also have the opportunity to see some of the relics kept in the great mansions dating from the nineteenth century, such as the Belmont Mansion or The Hermitage. There is also the opportunity to visit a children's museum and a museum dedicated to the development of the railway industry.

Inside the Country Music Museum and Hall of Fame you will find different types of permanent exhibits that recall the life and work of America's most popular country music stars. You can take online and in-person tours of the museum, because they have guided tours both on the museum premises and on their website.

Among the exhibits you can find inside the museum, you will find objects of great value, such as musical instruments, stage clothes, as well as other artefacts and items used by the greats of country music during their concerts and performances throughout their career.

Interesting details

• Tickets: Children under the age of 5 are free. For ages 6 to 12, admission can cost around 18 euros if it's just museum admission, but the price can go up to 53 euros if you want the full experience, which includes entry to the Hall of Fame, the tour of the venue and a visit to Studio B. For people over the age of 13, the entrance fee ranges from 28 to 68 euros per person.
• Opening hours: Closed on Thursdays. Open Monday to Wednesday between 9:00 and 17:00, as well as Friday to Sunday.
• Address: Located at 222 Representative John Lewis Way S in Nashville.
• Parking: There are several car parks that are associated with the museum, so there is a discount of approximately 5 euros, but these parking spaces cannot be reserved on a first-come, first-served basis. There are also several pay lots around the museum where you can get a parking space.

Because Nashville is such a musical city, one of the most prevalent types of museums is music museums. In that sense, the National Museum of African American Music is a bastion of American culture, being considered the only one dedicated exclusively to music of African descent.

One of the best things this museum has to offer is that thanks to technology and the genius of the experts, you can enjoy performances by the all-time greats of African-American music, such as Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Billie Holiday and many others.

Interesting details

• Admission: Children under 7 years old are free. Admission for adults aged 18-64 can cost up to 25 euros. Youngsters between 8 and 17 years old have to pay around 14 euros. Admission for seniors over 65 years of age is approximately 20 euros.
• Opening hours: The museum is closed on Mondays. From Tuesday to Saturday it is open between 10:00 and 17:00. On Sundays it opens between 12:00 and 17:00.
• Address: Located at 510 Broadway Ave in Nashville.
• Parking: Parking is available a few blocks from the museum in downtown Nashville. It is free for two hours while you are visiting the museum.

The Hermitage is one of the most special places in Nashville to learn about the history of this city and, above all, how life was lived in the 18th and 19th centuries. To visit the Hermitage you can use the Nashville City Pass, which is the city's tourist card and includes a visit to the Hermitage. Inside the property you will find a large mansion that belonged to President Andrew Jackson and also large areas of gardens and plantations.

Inside the mansion you will find many objects dating from these centuries, as well as many artifacts that will give you a more in-depth look at the life, work and professional development of this former president of the United States. You'll also find an exhibition on the remarkable character in the Andrew Jackson Visitor Center area.

Details of interest

• Tickets: Prices are divided by venue: the Hermitage grounds and the mansion. For the Hermitage, tickets range from 12-19 euros for youth and adults. For the mansion, prices range from 17 to 26 euros, while the family pass can cost up to 80 euros. Children under the age of 4 are free in all cases.
• Opening times: Closed on Wednesdays. From Thursday to Tuesday it opens between 9:00 and 17:00, while the last admission is at 16:00.
• Address: Located at 4580 Rachels Ln, Hermitage in Nashville.
• Parking: The Hermitage offers parking at no additional charge on the property. There is also a lot designated for parking large vehicles such as buses, RVs, trailers and more.

This is one of the most famous and definitely the largest mansions built in Nashville before the Civil War era. Inside the Belmont Mansion you will see various artefacts and artifacts dating back to the mid-19th century. Outside the mansion you will be able to see the beautiful gardens that decorate the property.

Inside the mansion you will also see the different stories that are kept in the mansion, about the enslaved and the unslaved. The tour guides are happy to provide information about the history of the people who lived there, as well as the artefacts inside the mansion. I recommend including this place in your 3-day Nashville itinerary, so that you can spend enough time getting to know it.

Details of interest

• Tickets: Tickets can cost between 18 and 30 euros for adults. Tickets for young people up to 18 years old can cost up to 12 euros, depending on the type of tour. Children under the age of 5 are free. Admission is divided into three types, the all-day admission, the guided tour and the curator's tour.
• Opening hours: Monday to Saturday the museum is open from 10:00 to 16:30. Sundays open from 11:00 until 16:30.
• Address: Located about 15 minutes from downtown Nashville.
• Parking: On-campus parking is free for visitors. There are also some off-campus lots, which may incur additional charges.

With over 12,000 visitors each year, the Tennessee Agricultural Museum is one of Nashville's most important and most visited museums, and that's because it houses around 3,000 artifacts that used to be used in the city before the advent of electricity.

There are also temporary exhibits so you can see different things every time you visit. The museum has two levels where these objects are displayed. One of the levels is dedicated to the garden with the relics of agriculture and the next level is an old cottage with all the historical treasures of artefacts used back then.

Interesting details

• Admission: Admission is free to the public.
• Opening hours: The museum is open Monday to Friday between 9:00 and 17:00. It is closed on Saturdays and Sundays. It is also closed on special state days.
• Address: Located at 404 Hogan Road in Nashville.
• Parking: Handicapped parking is available in front of the museum.

From motorbikes to amphibious vehicles, this is one of the museums you will love if you love cars and their history. Inside the museum you can see a collection of approximately 150 European cars, making it the largest collection of European cars in the United States.

Among the large number of cars you can find different models, sizes and characteristics that identify each of the cars. Most of the cars on display at Lane Motor Museum date from the early 20th century, and as well as European vehicles, there are also models from America and Asia.

Details of interest

• Admission: Children five and under are free. Young people between the ages of 6 and 17 can pay an entrance fee of around 3 euros. Adults over 18 pay approximately 12 euros, while adults over 65 can pay around 8 euros.
• Opening hours: Tuesdays and Wednesdays the museum is closed, while Mondays and Thursdays to Sundays the museum is open between 10:00 and 17:00. On Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Days the museum remains closed.
• Address: It is located at 702 Murfreesboro Pike in Nashville.
• Parking: Parking is free at the museum.

The Frist Arts Museum is one of the most impressive museums in the city because you can find different exhibitions of all kinds of art, sculptures, paintings and photographs that tell incredible stories. If there's one thing you'll love about this place, it's the diversity in the presentation of the exhibits.

Whenever you visit the museum you will always have a different perspective because they offer temporary exhibitions, so I recommend that before you visit this place, go to their website to find out what are the different exhibitions that are available for the time of your visit.

Interesting details

• Tickets: For general admission, young people and children under 18 can enter for free, while adults pay around 15 euros per person. People over the age of 65 can pay approximately 10 euros per ticket. Military personnel, students and people in groups of more than ten people can pay a reduced ticket price.
• Opening hours: The museum is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Open Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays from 10:00 to 17:30. Thursdays from 10:00 to 20:00 and Sundays from 13:00 to 17:30.
• Address: Located in the Frist Art Museum building at 919 Broadway, Nashville.
• Parking: A parking space is also available when you book your ticket. In case it is full, you can park close to the museum's location in some car parks that are public and charge an additional fee.

The Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum is one of the best places to visit in Nashville because not only is it a large garden with different types of plants, but it is also a large museum where you can discover American art, thanks to the different displays of portraits, impressionist paintings and different works of art of contemporary painting.

Obviously, as the space functions as a botanical garden, you will be able to appreciate different outdoor spaces, where you will be able to walk around the grounds full of flowers, plants and trees that colour the area and bring life to the spaces. This is an excellent activity to do with children in Nashville because the garden includes spaces for children's fun.

Details of interest

• Tickets: It takes 13 to 20 euros to buy a ticket to see the gardens only. To see the mansion and gardens you will need between 18 and 25 euros. The variation depends on the condition and/or age of the visitor. Children under 2 years old are free.
• Opening hours: Closed on Mondays. Open Tuesday to Sunday between 9:00 and 16:00. Holidays may be open from 17:00 to 22:00. On Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day, the museum is also closed.
• Address: Located at 1200 Forrest Park Drive in Nashville.
• Parking: The car park is very close to the museum, but can be crowded at times, so the management asks for carpooling.

Inside this science museum especially for children, you will be able to see one of the most impressive attractions in Nashville, which is none other than its impressive planetarium, which is there to show all visitors the importance of knowing the planets and of course, the great amount of celestial bodies in space.

In addition, you and the children can learn about a wide range of exhibits within the Adventure Science Center museum, which can be constantly changing. Some of the exhibits that most attract children are beekeeping, dedicated to the breeding of bees; the exhibition of the human body, to travel inside it and see the processes that happen inside, among other very interesting ones.

Interesting details

• Admission: Children under 2 years old are free. Children between 2 and 12 years of age pay approximately 14 euros per ticket. Young people and adults over the age of 13 can pay around 18 euros per ticket.
• Opening hours: From Thursday to Monday it is open between 9:00 and 15:00. On Saturdays it opens from 9:00 and 18:00.
• Address: Located at 800 Fort Negley Blvd. in Nashville.
• Parking: Parking is free for all museum visitors.

The Tennessee Central Railway Museum is one of my favourite museums in Tennessee because it is a rolling museum. You board a train set in the 19th century and travel around the state of Tennessee, and even have the opportunity to ride through the most impressive plantations in the region. All this while enjoying delicious tastings of typical southern dishes.

One of the things you have to keep in mind if you want to live an experience like this, is that you must make your reservation well in advance, in order to enjoy one of these train rides, which is definitely one of the best tours in Nashville.

Usually the rides are themed, according to the season of the year. For example: on Valentine's Day you can take a romantic tour, on Halloween they offer a mystery discovery ride, so this is one of the best things to do in Nashville in October. I could also tell you that it's one of the best things to do in Nashville in December because you can go on board the Polar Express.

Details of interest

• Tickets: Tickets to any of these tours can cost between 60 and 150 euros per person. Children under 2 years old do not pay a ticket as they do not need an extra seat. Prices may vary according to the type and theme of the tour. Reservations must be made up to months in advance to secure a seat on the train.
• Timetable: Departure time depends on the tour you are going on.
• Direction: Train departs from 220 Willow Street, Nashville.
• Parking: Free visitor parking is available in front of the museum entrance.