You’ll Never Look at Nashville the Same Way Once You See the Healthy Hotspots It’s Been Hiding
Although its primary claim to fame is being home to the Grand Ole Opry House and birthing an inordinate number of musicians and musical styles, Nashville's recently started gaining a reputation for something other than churning out chart toppers. Not only is it the place Nicole Kidman, Carrie Underwood, and Kristin Cavallari all call home, but it's being called the Berlin of the Bible Belt (AKA the place young, hip, creative types keep moving).
Artists and young people have been relocating to Nashville's hipper neighborhoods and taking advantage of a bustling art and wellness scene. Whether you're scoping the city out for a long weekend of music obsessing or weighing its potential as new home, here are all of the wellness-ified things to do in Nashville, including places to be, and ways to sweat in the city.
Keep reading for the healthiest places to sleep, eat, and play in Nashville.
Good sleep
Urban Cowboy
The concept of a traditional bed and breakfast fell by the wayside with the advent of Airbnb, but the Urban Cowboy's B&B makes a very strong case for re-embracing the original model. The uniquely decorated rooms bring a bit of the Wild West to the Blue Ridge.
The Hermitage Hotel
The Hermitage is the oldest hotel in Nashville, and it's also one of the most beautiful. It was built in 1910 and still maintains that aura of traditional southern glamour and opulence. It's where you go when you're treating yourself and are looking for that five-star, every-need-anticipated type of experience.
The 404
If small talk makes your skin crawl (let's just say you need a quiet chair at the salon), this is the hotel for you. This small boutique spot is nestled in an emerging and hip neighborhood, The Gulch, and is set up so that you never have to interact with anyone else in the hotel (unless you want to). Each of the five rooms has its own entrance and the concierges, while present, are invisible. It'll, however, serve you well to interact with the hotel, since the 404 Kitchen is known for its delicious dishes. And they've recently partnered with Barre3 so you can conveniently get your workouts in on premises.
Good Food
Avo
As the name of the restaurant implies, Avo does indeed have avocado toast. But what it also has is an entire menu made of innovative, healthy, kosher-certified, plant-based dishes (phew!)—think kimchi spring rolls and spiraled zucchini pasta.
Headquarters
This Nashville coffee spot makes your usual cups of joe, but it also specializes in seasonal and experimental drinks like lavender and charcoal lattes, Vietnamese-style egg coffee, and even rose and beet java. Aside from plenty of caffeine options, the shop also keeps its shelved stocked with locally sourced baked goods including gluten-free and vegan options.
EiO & The Hive
For the sustainability-focused healthy eater, EiO & The Hive is a local haunt known for its delicious, weekend-only brunch; however, should you decide to stop by on a weekday, it serves all-organic breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. Aside from having vegetarian and lactose- and gluten-free options, the restaurant composts 95 percent of the waste it produces, recycles 4 percent, and only sends 1 percent to the landfill.
Good Sweat
Pure Sweat Float Studio
If you're looking for the more rejuvenating variety of sweat sesh, this studio specializes in infrared sauna treatments and floating tanks—which is the closest you'll get to water unless you plan to paddle out into the Cumberland River.
The Chrome Bar
A studio that looks more like a neon-lit nightclub is basically what you'll find at The Chrome Bar, which offers barre and pole dancing classes, plus "fly gym" classes, which are a combination of aerial aerobics and yoga.
Studio 51st
This boutique fitness studio is a perfect place to go if you like your workouts how you like your cocktails: mixed. Its offerings include spin classes, trampoline workouts (sign me up ASAP), barre, yoga, and more.
Good Times
Imogene + Willie
You'll find one of Nashville's most cherished lifestyle stories inside a reclaimed gas station. Technically, the couple behind Imogene+Willie specialize in denim—customized, vintage, and designer—but they also have an array of vintage and handmade wares.
Tribe Kelley
Since Nashville is a city known primarily for its music history, the fact that one of its preeminent athleisure stores is owned by Brian Kelley (of country band Florida Georgia Line) and his wife is pretty perfect. Tribe Kelley is a mix of clothing that you could be active in and items that are a better fit for living that the bathleisure life.
Third Man Records
When Jack White decided to expand his label, Third Man Records, in an effort to revive the vinyl industry, he naturally took it to Nashville. At the Tennesee outpost, you'll be able to sift through stacks of records, listen to vinyl in a soundproof room, catch a live act, or book time at the recording studio.
Mercy Lounge
If you're making the sojourn to Nashville, you'd be remiss not to see a show and potentially discover your new favorite band. Mercy Lounge has two stages so you can catch a more famous act or a band that's about to break.
Before boarding that plane, read up on this trick for handling your swollen feet and these four ways to fall asleep mid-flight.
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