Vacation Planning: Nashville on a Budget

The first couple of months after my mother in law passed were a little on the surviving mode as far as plans: there was grief to be dealt with, some different financial stressors and while we still went on our beach vacation that was planned a few days after she died, it was not what it always had been in the past. We did make some good memories, it was healing and peace of mind for me, but it was not an easy vacation. So now that 2025 is well under way, it is time to plan a few fun vacations. The first, a few days in Nashville is going to be more on the budget friendly side since we plan to spend a week on Long Island at the beginning of the summer.

So how do we plan a vacation more on the budget friendly side?

Lodging

One of the ways, we were able to make a 2 week trip to the Republic of Georgia more affordable was the free lodging (our friends hotel in Tbilisi and our stay at a Hilton in Batumi). We decided on Nashville because of its proximity (just a little over a 3 hours car ride) and because we haven’t visited it much in the past (apart from going by the Opryland Resort). Instead of our typical 7 day vacation, we will go Monday-Thursday and will book our hotel with points. Since our oldest will be in school, we will be able to all fit in a suite instead of booking 2 rooms and we will use our points. Breakfast is usually included. So definitely big savings here since in the past a week’s lodging rental has been costing around $2500 to $3000 dollars.

Food

Since we are saving on lodging, I am not as concerned for food: we will be most likely eating out for lunch and dinner. I will be packing snacks and water because that it always cheaper at home and I can shop sales to stock up. Breakfast should be included with our hotel stay.

Activities

We will do a combination of free and non-free activities. I have done a little research and here are some of my ideas.

• Nashville Zoo: $72 for our family, includes parking (prices vary according to month so I checked the week we plan to go)
• Picnic and Parthenon at Centennial Park
• Belle Meade Historical Tour or Mansion Tour ($28 per person)
• Mural search (I took a screenshot of their location)
• Johnny Cash Museum
• Other ideas include Fort Negley, walk around Opryland Resort, State Capital and Tennessee State Museum (some of these are free).

Eating

I’ll be getting recommendations! A friend has a few places she will tell me about and I am here for your suggestions!

Voila! These are my plans so far! I think having some restaurant in mind will be very important: finding somewhere to eat when hungry is a recipe for disaster! My husband is usually pretty good at finding great places and he has been to Nashville a few times. We are looking for vegan or vegetarian places since this will be during lent.

A bientôt!

Please take a minute to subscribe to the blog to receive an email letting you know when a new post goes live. I usually post Monday, Wednesday and Friday but sometimes have a bonus post during the week. You can also follow me on Instagram @chezmireillefashiontravelmom.com