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Visit Nashville on the cheap
History and culture
Feeling guilty about honky-tonkin' and want to get a little culture? The Hermitage, antebellum home of President Andrew Jackson, is open daily, 12 miles east of downtown. Tours cost $17 for adults, $11 for students 13-18 and $7 for children 6-12.
Jackson would certainly welcome the common man to his 190-year-old home. But don't insult the place! Jackson, a feisty geezer in his day, might rise from his grave on the grounds and challenge you to a duel.
In Nashville's midtown area, across from Vanderbilt University in Centennial Park, is The Parthenon, a replica of the original Parthenon in Athens. Inside is a re-creation of the 42-foot statue Athena and an art museum featuring 63 paintings by 19th and 20th century American artists. Admission is $6 for adults and $3.50 for children. But if you don't go in, you can still get close to the structure by driving through the 91-acre park. There's a small lake in the park with reasonably friendly ducks, two free craft fairs a year and free musical entertainment on most summer weekends.
"Our arts and cultural offerings are our best-kept secrets," Spyridon said.
For those who like history, the city also offers the civil rights room at the Nashville Public Library, a Grand Ole Opry museum, the Tennessee State Museum, the Tennessee Agricultural Museum and self-guided tours of the 150-year-old state Capitol — all free.
A short walk from the honky-tonks is the elegant Union Station Hotel, which opened as a train station in 1900 and became a hotel in 1986. The Richardsonian-Romanesque design structure has a 65-foot, barrel-vaulted lobby ceiling featuring gold-leaf medallions and 100-year-old original luminous prism stained glass.
At each end of the lobby are two bas-relief panels of a steam locomotive and horse-drawn chariot. The structure became a National Historic Landmark in 1977.
Enjoy the free walk through the lobby because to spend the night, the rate posted on the hotel Web site is $206 to $279 for two adults for one weekend night in April.
Other attractions
Northeast of downtown is the Gaylord Opryland Resort Hotel & Convention Center — a little town all its own. It has about 2,900 rooms, nine acres of indoor gardens, cascading waterfalls, a free dancing waters show nightly and an indoor river with its own delta flatboat. You can spend half a day just walking around this site, but the cost to park is $18 ($25 for valet). It's $9 to ride the flatboat.
Opry Mills, next door to the hotel, has 1.2 million square feet on the former site of the Opryland USA theme park, which was torn down in 1997. It has more than 200 places to shop, eat or play.
For other shopping, there's an outlet mall 30 minutes east of Nashville on Interstate 40 with more than 40 stores. There's a free flea market every weekend at the Farmer's Market near the state Capitol, and a much larger free one on the fourth weekend each month at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds. This one boasts of dealers and vendors from 30 states and patrons by the bus load. Parking is $4.
A 90-minute drive southeast of Nashville, via either I-24 or I-65, is the Jack Daniel Distillery in Lynchburg. Tours are free and lively. How many people work there? "Oh, about half," guides like to say.
Also away from the blazing fiddles and rhythm guitars is the quiet, picturesque Natchez Trace Parkway, which can be accessed just south of Nashville. There are no tolls, and for the adventurous, it goes 444 miles south through Alabama and into southern portions of the Mississippi River. You may find dulcimer demonstrations along the way.
Staying on the quiet, outdoor side, fishing in the Nashville area is extraordinary. Bass (and others) is waiting to be caught at J. Percy Priest Lake and Old Hickory Lake. A one-day fishing license is $5.50.
Elsewhere, a half dozen wineries are within an hour of Nashville.
Lodging and getting around
The Courtyard Nashville Downtown is $109 a night and you can walk to all the downtown attractions. A Red Roof Inn off I-65 15 minutes south of downtown averages $47 a night.
Parking downtown is up to $12 a night. Taxis cost around $10 for a downtown ride and twice that for transportation from outlying areas to the center of town.
The city normally has 11 million visitors a year, but expects a 5 to 8 percent decline until the economy improves.
The Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau is offering discounts of up to 50 percent at http://www.visitmusiccity.com/visitors/TotalAccess.
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