Where to Stay in Nashville

Prices & schedules checked October 18, 2026

Nashville’s visitor bureau splits the city into more than 20 neighborhoods, but four cover most first trips: downtown around Broadway, The Gulch, Music Row and Midtown, and the Opryland and Music Valley area. Here’s what each suits, in Visit Music City’s own words, with hotel searches for each.

We don’t recommend specific hotels. We haven’t stayed in them, and prices change daily. Before you book, check the total with taxes and fees, the cancellation policy and the parking charge.

At a glance

Area	Best for	Where it is (Visit Music City)
Downtown / Broadway	Honky-tonks, the Ryman, first visits, New Year’s Eve	The city’s core
The Gulch	Restaurants, rooftops, murals; walkable to downtown	Just south of downtown, between Broadway and Division Street
Music Row & Midtown	Studio history, Vanderbilt, bars and restaurants with more hotel choice	West of downtown, next to Vanderbilt
Opryland / Music Valley	The Grand Ole Opry, Gaylord Opryland at Christmas, Opry Mills	About 10 miles east of downtown

Downtown and Broadway

“The sound of Nashville echoes from the city’s downtown core,” says Visit Music City: honky-tonks play live music 365 days a year, and historic buildings now hold music attractions, boutique hotels and restaurants. Stay here to walk to Broadway, the Ryman and most of our honky-tonk and trolley tours.

We may earn a commission when you book through our links, at no extra cost to you. Details

Downtown hotels on Booking.com Downtown hotels on Expedia

Both searches are centered on Bridgestone Arena on Broadway (the official visitor center is at 501 Broadway), because a plain “Downtown Nashville” search landed on the wrong spot in our test.

The Gulch

Just south of downtown, The Gulch is “a walkable Nashville neighborhood centered around 11th and 12th Avenues South, between Broadway and Division Street”. The former rail yard is now known for restaurants, boutique hotels, shops, live music, rooftop views and murals, and was the first neighborhood in the South to earn LEED certification for neighborhood development (Visit Music City).

Gulch hotels on Booking.com Gulch hotels on Expedia

Booking.com’s Gulch area is tightly drawn and showed only a handful of properties in our check; widen the map or try Expedia.

Music Row and Midtown

Music Row is “the heart of Nashville’s entertainment industry”, where recording studios sit among homes and offices, including Historic RCA Studio B. Next door, Midtown sits between downtown, Music Row, West End and Hillsboro Village, beside Vanderbilt University. Visit Music City calls it “an exceptionally convenient area to stay” for its walkability, many hotels and closeness to downtown. See our music history tours.

Music Row hotels on Booking.com Midtown hotels on Expedia

Opryland and Music Valley

About ten miles east of downtown and seven miles north of the airport, Music Valley is home to the Grand Ole Opry, Opry Mills and Gaylord Opryland Resort with its SoundWaves water attraction (Visit Music City). It suits an Opry night or a Christmas trip to the resort more than a Broadway weekend; downtown is a drive or a ride away.

About Gaylord Opryland at Christmas: the resort sells its own Christmas packages direct. For A Country Christmas (November 6, 2026 – January 2, 2027) its offers page lists a “Home Alone” ice! package (a room night plus 2–5 ice! tickets) and a Chill & Thrill package that adds SoundWaves. Tax, resort fee and parking are extra, and blackout dates apply (official offers page, as of Oct 2026). Those packages aren’t on the buttons below. If you want one, book it on the resort’s own site with the plain link here, which earns us nothing. The buttons search hotels around the Opry area in general.

Gaylord Opryland Christmas packages (official)

Hotels near the Opry on Booking.com Hotels near the Opry on Expedia

More on the season: our Nashville at Christmas guide.

The Booking.com and Expedia buttons on this page are affiliate links through Stay22. If you book, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. The Gaylord Opryland link is a plain link. Details.