Nashville and the Musicians Hall of Fame
While in Nashville, our list of things to do includes:
- Eat Nashville Hot Chicken. See our review of Prince’s Hot Chicken.
- See the Parthenon at Centennial Park.
- Do something music-related. After some research, we decided on the Musician Hall of Fame & Museum and checking out Honky Tonk Highway.
We share our experiences, money-saving hacks, and parking tips for the Musicians Hall of Fame and Honky Tonk Highway in Nashville. Don’t have time to read this now?
Musician Hall of Fame
We started at the Musicians Hall of Fame & Museum. We choose this place because it was about all music and not just country music like some of the other museums in Nashville. We got tickets for half price* *using the money-saving hacks below. The museum had two different sections: The first section was pictures, videos, instruments, clothing, stage props, awards, etc. One of the things I liked about this museum was that it wasn’t only focused on the lead singers or bands but it was about all the great people (producers, engineers, writers, studios, and musicians) who helped make some of the best music!
The second section was the interactive exhibits. This section was really fun and I could see kids really loving this part. Here you get to play instruments. You also get to learn about songwriting, producing, engineering, singing, and rapping. I am not musically talented at all and I have never played an instrument in my life and even I loved this section. Penguin played piano and guitar when he was young and has been known to DJ from time to time and he really enjoyed playing various instruments.
You can easily spend three to four hours at the museum so we broke it up. We did the first section before lunch and then left to eat our picnic lunch at Centennial Park. We came back and did the interactive exhibits, and then rode a free bus to Honky Tonk Highway. This was a great way to break up the day.
Parthenon at Centennial Park
The Parthenon replica was constructed over 100 yrs ago for Tennessee’s 1897 Centennial Exposition. It was built to scale and something worth seeing. The park and parking were free. There was an art museum inside the Parthenon which was $6/pp but we did not check that out.
Honky Tonk Highway
Walking along Honky Tonk Highway was fun and definitely worth the visit. I enjoyed people watching and listening to live music from the bars and restaurants as we walked around. It was a Wednesday and I could not believe how many people were out and about. It reminded me of Bourbon Street in New Orleans. Parking downtown can be expensive so see our tips below for an easy and free way to get to Hony Tonk Highway from the Musicians Hall of Fame.
We finished the evening with hot chicken, moonshine tasting, a few vanilla porters, some chips, and a delicious trio of salsas. Check out our Hot Chicken article for those details.
Money-Saving Hacks
Musicians Hall of Fame & Museum:
- Buy the Musicians Hall of Fame Groupon.
- Adult tickets are regularly $25 each.
- Groupon is 2 adults for $35.
- Get Groupon tickets here.
- Days or weeks before your visit, start watching for Groupon local deals or sales to save even more.
- We purchased when Groupon had an extra 20% off local deals so we got 2 adults for $28.
- If you have a Samsung device, use Samsung Pay to purchase the Groupon.
- I earned $4.46 cashback.
- For more information about Samsung Pay and how to use it check out our Apps & Tools article.
- Pack a lunch.
- Musicians Hall of Fame & Museum gives you a wristband that is good for the day so you can come and go.
Parking Tips
Musicians Hall of Fame & Museum and Honky Tonk Highway Parking:
- Metered street parking.
- The meters near the museum only take quarters. We got $4 in quarters from the museum ticket counter and this gave us the two-hour maximum.
- We did metered street parking for the first two hours at the museum, then drove to Centennial Park for our picnic lunch, and then parked in a paid lot a few blocks from the museum.
- Find and pay for parking with the ParkMobile app.
- You could save money by booking ahead. We saved 10%.
- Parking rates varied greatly. You could save a lot by parking a few blocks over.
- Ride the FREE bus in downtown Nashville called Music City Circuit.
- Two routes: Green Circuit and Blue Circuit.
- There is a Green Circuit bus stop on 4th St outside the Musicians Hall of Fame & Museum.
- We got off on Broadway to walk Honky Tonk Highway.
- Once the bus turned onto Broadway we walked up front and the bus driver asked us where we wanted off and we said anywhere on Broadway so he stopped and let us out.
- To get back to our car, we walked west on Demonbreun St until we found the Green Circuit bus stop sign. It was west of the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum.
- The bus that picked us up was a normal city bus but the digital sign did say Green Circuit.
- Typically the buses are painted green with the words Music City Circuit.
Where did we stay?
Wow! That was our thought as we drove through Seven Points campground in Nashville, TN looking for our site. This place was beautiful! The campground was located on the shoreline of J. Percy Priest Lake. The lake was lovely, the sites were long, spread out, shady and some were right on the lake!
Seven Points Campground Review
- Location: Nashville, Tennessee
- Cost: $22/day
- Site: 57, a well-manicured site with a fire pit, bbq, stone table, lantern hook, and a prep table
- Entry/Exit: No problems
- Pros: One RV and one tent per site. You can swim in the lake.
- Cons: Strict 3 pm check-in, some sites slightly uneven, our passenger side tires were off the ground front and rear, and the single wash/dryer laundry was outside the bathhouse and invaded by bugs
- Comments: No sewer but easy dump at entry, 20-minute drive to Nashville
Looking for things to do in Tennessee? Take a look at our Tennessee articles.
Nashville and the Musicians Hall of Fame Pictures
