Downtown Nashville: Insightful Walking Tour Experience
4.8
18 Ratings
Nashville
Join Joe Nashville, a native Tennessean with deep roots in Nashville's history, on an insightful walking tour of downtown Nashville. Experience the city like a local and discover the hidden stories and vibrant culture that make Nashville unique.
Duration: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Cancellation: 1 day learn more
Highlights
  • The Hermitage Hotel - Tennessee’s only 5 start hotel filled with history. HQ of the Women’s suffrage movement prior to the historical vote. Discussion outside
  • Nashville War Memorial Auditorium - Historic state legislative office building and music venue.
  • Tennessee State Capitol - Historic Capital and tomb of two architects. Discussion outside.
  • Printer’s Alley - Historic stories of Nashville’s past of skullduggery. Outside.
  • Ryman Auditorium - “The Mother Church of Country Music.” Outside
What's Included
  • Smaller group tour for a more personal experience
  • No loudspeakers - listen to the guide’s own voice
  • Engaging discussions outside of landmarks during the guided tour
What's Not Included
  • Bottled water
  • Snacks
  • Private transportation
Additional Information

Joe Nashville, the owner of Nashville Experience Tours, is a native of Tennessee with his origins tracing back to Nashville’s first settlement - Ft. Nashborough. His understanding of both the historic and contemporary Nashville is engaging and offers an extraordinary, local-focused tour experience. Joe limits the size of his tour groups to about half of the usual walking tour size to facilitate deeper interaction and attention. You won’t find any loudspeakers around Joe because he always speaks loud enough for everyone to hear. His comprehensive knowledge of Nashville’s events and intriguing locals significantly enhances this tour experience and highlights the authentic Nashville. If walking isn’t your thing, Joe also offers a City Experience Van Tour.

Location
623 Union St
Union Street
Meeting outside the Sheraton Grand Hotel or inside in the lobby.
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.8
(18 Ratings)
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313ancae
Feb 18, 2024
Great tour! - Jim is very knowledgeable. Learned a lot about the history of downtown Nashville. Enjoyed the murals. Highly recommend the tour.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Kevin_s
Jun 28, 2023
Nashville walking tour - Joe was an excellent tour guide. He was very knowledgeable regarding Nashville’s history, as well as restaurants and sites to see he came well-prepared. He even brought us ponchos because it was anticipated to rain.
Review provided by Viator
Billandlizlichfield
May 14, 2023
Entertaining and very informative introduction to Nashville - The guide was very knowledgeable about area and it's history and tried to find connections with the places the visitors came from. Lots of detailed history but delivered in an entertaining way. Supplied a great deal of follow up material after the walk was over.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Stuhct
Apr 1, 2023
Well worth it ! A great way to start a trip to Nashville - We started our trip in Nashville with this walking tour. Nashville is so much more than Broadway, and Larry is fluent in many of the events that shaped Nashville - including a focus on the Civil War & Women's Suffrage movement. This is not a crazy golf-cart ride, but a real education. Very worthwhile, and fun too.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Backpacker662391
Mar 17, 2023
Wonderful tour - My family of four, including two teenagers, went on this evening tour of Nashville and are so glad we did. We saw parts of the city we would have never of seen if it had not been for this tour. We were in town for a college tour of Vanderbilt University so we were in town for a short stay. The tour guide was genuinely interested in making sure we had a great experience. We are definitely coming back to Nashville thanks to him.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Pwsb
Feb 22, 2023
Excellent tour! - We did a walking historical tour of Nashville with Larry (Joe Nashville) and it was great! I read a few reviews where people said it was too focused or not focused enough but in our case, we told Larry what we wanted to learn about (history) and he tailored it to exactly what we wanted to learn. We learned a ton. Plus, Larry was really good about answering our general questions about Nashville before the tour and answered all of our follow-up questions after the tour. Our whole group loved it and we highly recommend it.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Arlene_s
Jan 2, 2023
Fascinating! - Not having been to Nashville I knew very little. The history is fascinating. And the guide was knowledgeable!
Review provided by Viator
Martina_n
Oct 11, 2022
Great! - The Tour was overall great! Joe was very knowledgeable and made it fun, definitely recommend taking it.
Review provided by Viator
M
Oct 19, 2022
Average Tour - Joe is very knowledgeable, yet the tour was too focused on political history. A more balanced tour would have been appreciated.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Wanderwoman93
Sep 26, 2022
Tour is weak on content and glosses over A LOT - I took this tour because I wanted to learn more about Nashville while I was visiting to orient myself to the culture and history of the city. I appreciated that the tour guide/owner Joe was friendly and open, and I did see some places that I wouldn't have otherwise saw. However, the tour itself was pretty light on actual content if you are someone who is really interested in history and facts. It felt like we were just wandering through the streets and pointing out a few interesting things, rather than an intentional tour about how Nashville came to be what it was today. Case in point: At one point, Joe went on a tangent about his lineage and how TN people were "mutts." Or on a tangent about how Nashville government feels non-partisan (which, LOL, because no). Also, I get why in Tennessee in 2022 Joe is trying to straddle a line and be "not political." However, I had a really hard time with the tour basically sugar coating the Trail of Tears, slavery, and segregation. Like Joe would try to say things like "you have to look at it from that time" or "compared to X city, Y people would rather live in Nashville!" But it's not political or controversial to be clear an unequivocal that those things were wrong abhorrent and unacceptable, even to many at the times, and devastated those communities. The CLOSEST Joe got to anything was saying that the rise of private schools was dated when schools were integrated - which, come on, Joe! Just SAY that cities like Nashville have rampant race and economic segregation TO THIS DAY - the rise of private schools and the incorporation of many wealthy suburbs around Nashville (e.g., Brentwood) directly came from white flight and to maintain segregation. It seems like there was so much If you want to really go in depth and understand Nashville, I'd recommend looking elsewhere.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
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up to 12 guests
1 Adult
May 2024
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