AboutJan Duke Expertise Whether you are visiting Nashville for a day or a lifetime,I can humbly show and guide you through every aspect of what this great city has to offer.
Experience I've written over 1000 articles about Nashville and/or Tennessee, have one published book on the topic, and have had numerous articles and photographs published locally and throughout the world.
Currently I operate and or run several websites and blogs including Nashville.About.com (for the NYT) as well several other local websites.
I'm a longtime resident of Nashville and Middle Tennessee, having Tennessee Lineages that date back to the 18th century.
Question Eight ladies will be converging on Nashville at the end of this month. We are trying to book rooms and have narrowed it down to Embassy Suites Vanderbilt (because one of the girls likes that chain) and Best Western Near Opryland. It looks like the BW would be close enough to things like Opry Mills and Opryland Hotel for us to walk and do some other "on foot" sight seeing.
Is this true, or would we be better off staying downtown?
Finally, how do people usually get around Nashville if they don't have a car? One concierge suggested by taxi, but there are EIGHT of us. I can't find info about a city bus or trolley system.
Thanks for any suggestions. We are all SO looking forward to visiting Nashville for the first time!
Answer Hi Kathy,
Embassy Suites Vanderbilt isn't really in the Downtown District, it's in the Music Row area and would also require transportation to the Downtown District. They also have a daily parking charge of around $5 a day. Yet, it's right down the street from a strip mall that offers some good music and where you might even see a famous person or two.
The Best Western is older than the Embassy Suites, but offers free parking and it's staff is known for being super nice and helpful. It's located in the heart of Music Valley area which offers some great attractions, dining and a few nightly entertainment venues.
Out of the two I would stay at the Best Western, even though it's an older hotel, you would be close to the Grand Ole Opry, Opry Mills, etc and you could take the MTA bus to the downtown area very easily. The Bus (#34)) runs about every 30-minutes from that area to downtown and back from 6am-11pm daily.
Here is the link to the local bus system. You can buy daily or weekly passes.
I hope this helps and if you need anything else please feel free to contact me anytime.
Hope Ya'll have a great time in Nashville!
Jan Duke
Nashville.about.com
