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Little more than a decade ago, Nashville, a.k.a. Music City, wasn’t so much a tourist town as it was a destination for musicians — a place where performers like Taylor Swift could still play the Bluebird Cafe without creating a scene.
These days, visitors come in droves. And with more to do both in the heart of the city and in newly popular outlying neighborhoods, many people are staying longer. They might even want to work in a brief escape from what has become a lively, even raucous, city, and explore the lush, surrounding countryside.
Here are three day trips from Nashville, all within a two-hour drive. Tennessee is a beautiful state, especially in the fall, when tulip poplars, sugar maples and hickory trees turn bright red, gold and copper, making the drive as joyful as the destination. Why not see more of it while you’re visiting?
Fall Creek Falls State Park
Known for its bluff-top vistas and stunning waterfalls, Fall Creek Falls State Park (free), about 100 miles east-southeast of Nashville, is one of Tennessee’s most popular — not to mention beautiful — state parks. The 30,638-acre natural area is situated on the rugged Cumberland Plateau, which traverses Tennessee diagonally. Here, you’ll find waterfalls, an extensive cave system, gorges, crystal clear streams and stands of virgin hardwood. In the fall, the park is lit with the bright yellow of towering green ash trees and the russet of red oaks.
A good first stop is the Betty Dunn Nature Center at the north entrance, where you can learn about the park’s flora and fauna and history, stock up on snacks and have a park ranger plan the day’s journey with a curated map.
The park has miles of hiking trails that run from paved and easy to the challenging “cable trail,” a quarter-mile, 300-foot descent over rocks and greenery using a thick steel cable to hold on to. The trail leads to a shallow creek where you can rest and regroup for the trip back up.
There are a few ways to take in the park’s tallest waterfall, aptly named Fall Creek Falls, which plunges 256 feet into a shaded pool. The easiest is at the Fall Creek Falls overlook, accessible by car. A more rigorous and scenic way is to start at the nature center and hike to Fall Creek Falls via the Woodland Trail, one of the park’s main paths. The center’s downloadable trail guide visually explains how to get to other notable geologic features, including other falls, such as Cane Creek Cascades and the 95-foot-tall Piney Creek Falls.
Other activities include golfing at the 18-hole championship course just east of Fall Creek Falls Lake, and, if it’s warm enough, taking a dip in one of several swimming holes.
Make time to dine at the revamped restaurant at the Lodge at Fall Creek Falls, a sleek hotel overlooking Fall Creek Falls Lake; the menu has vegetarian options but runs to the meaty. Entrees average about $20. Then walk it off on the nearby 2.6-mile out-and-back trail around the lake, which takes roughly an hour to complete.
If a day trip isn’t enough, the park has more than 200 campsites in five areas, 30 cabins, many on Fall Creek Falls Lake, with private porches, outdoor cooking and fishing. Cabins run from $210 to $400 a night, depending on the time of year. A “backcountry” campsite costs $10 to $15, while tent sites start at $18. R.V. hookups are also available from $30 to $60.
Loretta Lynn’s Ranch
Loretta Lynn’s Ranch is the entire tiny town of Hurricane Mills, 75 miles west of Nashville. Wanting to shed the hustle of Nashville in the 1960s, the country music star, who died in 2022, and her husband, Oliver Lynn, found a run-down antebellum-style home on a hill with an abandoned grist mill. The catch was that the town — post office, general store and so on — came with it, so they bought it all.
Today the ranch, which covers 3,500 acres of mostly wooded land and streams, is run by Lynn’s family. In autumn, the ranch holds chuck wagon races and trail rides.
Visitors will find a range of activities, including both small and large musical events, fishing (bring your license), hiking, horseback riding, trail rides and, in the summer, tubing and kayaking down the clear, spring-fed Hurricane Creek, which is stocked with trout. The ranch is also the site of the annual Amateur National Motocross Championship.
If you are a die-hard country music fan, the $35 guided tour is an easy choice. It includes a visit to a replica of the modest house in Butcher Hollow, Ky., where Lynn grew up; a tour of the property’s Southern mansion, with 1970s décor, where she lived for more than 20 years; and a museum with a trove of memorabilia, including dresses, awards and items used in the movie “Coal Miner’s Daughter.” Tour the two homes for $20 or just the 18,000-square-foot museum for $20.
Or, with no entrance fee to the property, one can just drive through and get a feel for the country life that was Lynn’s. Pack a lunch, park and visit what the tiny town has to offer at no charge, including a replica of a coal mine (surprisingly cool), or just sit on benches by the creek that runs through the property. For lunch head eight miles south to Loretta Lynn’s Kitchen & Gift Shop for burgers, pulled-pork options and grilled chicken sandwiches for under $10.
For those who want to stay overnight, the property has 18 cabins, which sleep four and are equipped with Wi-Fi ($105 to $200 per night, depending on cabin and group size). The ranch also has a full-service R.V. park, with rates starting at $40. Camping starts at $25.
The Caverns
The Caverns is a geologically unique entertainment complex in Grundy County and a straight 90-minute drive southeast of Nashville. At the base of the South Cumberland Plateau, near the headwaters of the Elk River, this is some lush territory.
The performance space, known as Big Mouth Cave, is 333 feet underground. Spacious and moody, with color-enhanced lighting and a state-of-the-art sound system enhanced by the room’s already remarkable cave acoustics, the space can accommodate up to 1,200 people for a standing-room concert. Music generally runs from country to bluegrass to Americana. Allison Russell, the Mavericks and Jason Isbell have all performed here, as has the comedian Bill Burr. The complex holds two annual festivals: CaveJam in the spring and CaveFest in the fall. Ticket prices vary by act, but expect to spend at least $69. The space also hosts the PBS series “The Caverns Sessions.”
No matter the season, jackets are recommended — the temperature inside the cave system is a consistent 59 degrees with 91 percent humidity, so the space manages to feel cool when the weather outside is hot, and warm on colder days.
Alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks are offered in the venue, as are sandwiches and other snacks.
The Caverns’ extensive cave system can be explored on a “moderate” guided cave tour ($22.95 for adults and $12.95 for children 3 to 12) or an “extremely difficult” expedition for those over 16 (think head lamps; $130).
If staying overnight, visitors can sleep in a yurt, a cabin or a pre-pitched tent; the cost depends on the type and length of the show or festival. And if time allows, roam the campus of Sewanee: The University of the South, just 15 miles south of the Caverns. The school’s gorgeous Collegiate Gothic architecture is worth its own side trip.
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