Top 15 Things To Do in Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville’s water scene blends wide riverfront vistas, hidden backwater creeks, and recreational reservoirs—perfect for paddling, fishing, boating, and urban float culture. This guide collects the best ways to get wet around Music City, from calm early-morning kayak runs to sunset boat cruises on Percy Priest.

Nashville condenses a surprising range of American stories into walkable blocks and riverfront curves: country and rock histories sung from stages and neon-lit honky-tonks, brick-lined neighborhoods with evolving culinary scenes, antebellum and Civil War traces, and leafy river parks that invite a slow, observational pace. These sightseeing tours—on foot, by bike, on a classic riverboat, or in a private van—are the best way to turn the city’s pull of music, food, and history into an organized, insight-rich day outdoors.

Nashville’s boat tours stitch together music, skyline, and river culture—offering everything from historic paddlewheel cruises to low-key sunset charters and active kayaking trips. Whether you want a live-music dinner cruise beneath neon bridges or a wildlife-and-history tour upriver, the city’s waterways are an unexpectedly rich way to experience Nashville’s geography and stories.

Nashville’s water scene blends big-city energy with surprising stretches of calm water. From dawn paddles beneath steel bridges to sunset pontoon cruises where skyline silhouettes meet the hum of live music, boat rentals in Nashville unlock a different pulse of the city. This guide focuses on how to get afloat—what to rent, where to launch, seasonal rhythms, and the complementary experiences that make a day on the Cumberland or Percy Priest a memorable escape.

Sailing in and around Nashville is a quietly addictive mix of inland-water technique and big-sky drama: reservoir reaches that open into horizon-like afternoons, river channels that thread slimline city views, and sunsets scored by a distant skyline instead of a shoreline. Expect day sails, sunset cruises, learn-to-sail clinics, and gentle club racing across a handful of well-loved lakes—each offering a slightly different wind character and set of shoreline scenes.

Nashville’s paddling scene balances an energetic urban riverfront with quiet, tree-lined tributaries and broad Tennessee reservoirs. Expect glassy flatwater on lake mornings, steady downstream stretches on the Cumberland, and intimate, meandering runs through the Harpeth’s limestone banks. This guide focuses specifically on kayak experiences—day trips, evening city paddles, and accessible river loops—while pointing to complementary pursuits like SUP, shore fishing, and birding that often share the same launch points.

Nashville's paddle scene blends city skyline paddles with broad reservoir shoulders and quiet coves—an approachable mix for newcomers and enough variety for seasoned SUP-ers. From calm morning laps at Percy Priest to curving river runs past urban parks, the city makes it easy to fold a paddle outing into a weekend of music, food, and outdoor exploration.

Nashville’s E-Bike scene turns a city known for music and late-night eats into a stitched-together playground of riverside greenways, leafy residential climbs, and gravel backroads. Electric assist transforms what would be a sweaty hill day into an accessible, restorative cruise—perfect for mixing neighborhood exploration with longer out-and-back rides to lakes, parks, and historic sites.

Nashville’s bike tours stitch together the city’s musical soul, riverfront panoramas, and leafy parkland into compact, rideable narratives. Whether you’re pedaling a pedal-assist e-bike through neon-lit neighborhoods, rolling along the Cumberland’s edge, or testing gravel skills on the park ridgelines, bike tours reveal the layers of a city best felt at two wheels per hour. This guide focuses on curated guided rides and self-guided loops that let you trade traffic for rhythm, learn local stories, and discover green corridors that link urban culture to wild pockets of woodland.

Nashville’s marinas are urban portals to a diverse inland-water playground: riverfront slips tucked under bridges downtown, expansive reservoir harbors ringed by forested shorelines, and neighborhood boat launches that connect locals to fishing, paddling, and day cruises. This guide focuses on marina experiences—where to tie up, what amenities to expect, seasonal cautions, and how to blend a day on the water with live music, riverfront dining, and nature watching.

Nashville's zoo experiences blend old-town Tennessee charm with modern conservation storytelling. From the wooded, walkable habitats of Nashville Zoo at Grassmere to the adjacent Grassmere Historic Farm, the city's animal attractions are as much about accessible outdoor time as they are about up-close wildlife encounters. Whether you're planning a family day, a focused photography outing, or a quiet morning among sunlit enclosures and native-species exhibits, the zoo scene in Nashville offers layered experiences that feel both local and exploratory.

Nashville’s bike rental scene is equal parts practical transport and low-effort adventure: cruisers for a laid-back tour of honky-tonks, e-bikes that turn the city’s gentle hills into a pleasure, and gravel-ready bikes for riders who want to escape from Broadway into leafy greenways. This guide focuses on renting bikes in Music City—where to go, when to roll, what to bring, and which rides pair best with live music, coffee shops, and riverfront views.