Guide

Alcohol-free Activities (for tourists & locals) to do in Nashville:

Here are my tips if you’re coming to Nashville, and want to make sure you stay booze free during your visit:

1. Your daytime itinerary can be focused on brunch and shopping (and sitting poolside when it’s hot out)- there’s so much to do here during the day. Between the Gulch, 12South, and Germantown there is a shopping district and a brunch restaurant with your name on it! I also love pools, and in the summer months I feel it’s sometimes too hot to be outside without being near a pool. If your hotel or AirBNB doesn’t have one, then I recommend getting a day pass at the Dive Motel, Drift Hotel, the Graduate, or find an open hotel pool via Resortspass

2. Your nighttime itinerary can be focused on a nice dinner (don’t forget to check out the menu ahead of time!)- Nashville has some wonderful restaurants and rooftop bars. If I was looking to enjoy a nice evening out with friends, I’d consider going to Bourbon Steak for dinner, and then checking out RareBird or see if the Fairlane, the Bobby, or Dream Hotel have a seasonal pop-up at one of their bars (you’re still around Broadway, but you’re not in the thick of it with the Honky Tonks)

3. Party busses are BYOB (Bring Your Own Beverage)- I have done a Party bus for a work event and helped stock the drink options. Before I was officially booze-free, some of my colleagues don’t drink and I made sure we had Liquid Death and La Croix’s on hand. You can bring whatever canned item you want, so you don’t have to feel pressured to drink on these at all!

4. You can still go out on Broadway!- If you’re really worried, I’d recommend checking it out during the day. At night, there are bars that have non-alcoholic canned drinks (and I will feature those in upcoming posts!), otherwise my go-to drinks are lemonade or a club soda with lime. I’ve also heard most bars offer an NA beer option. Last but not least, you can get NA drinks at Jelly Roll’s new venue and Cali Sober at Friends in Low Places. You can also find places to just sit and listen to music, or you can find a Honky Tonk that offers line dancing!

Additional tips & recommendations:

1. Bars & Restaurants are more accommodating than you think- I always check menus in advance, but the majority of restaurants have options. If you can’t find something, you can always default to an Iced Tea, Lemonade, or an Arnold Palmer!

2. Nashville has a community of people who don’t drink- If you live here, you can and will be able to find like-minded people. I personally have found like-minded friends through Killjoy events and Eventbrite.

3. Yes, you can still go out on Broadway- I personally lead Bar Crawls on Broadway during tourist season (I will get into that in future posts!), and this has helped me to still be social but not feel any pressure to drink (I can’t drink while I’m on the clock). What I have seen on Broadway since quitting drinking, is yes- the energy is high and drunk, but if you want to be out there you can be active and productive there too (think karaoke and line-dancing).

4. Even I continue to be pleasantly surprised by the alcohol-free things to do here- I recently met one of the owners of Cali Sober, and he sent me a list of bars and restaurants where his drinks can be found, here in Nashville, and I was floored. His drinks can be found in bars on Broadway, plus random little dive bars in East. There’s a bar called Mickey’s Dive Bar, and I used to go there every so often with friends. I haven’t been there in a year because I thought it would no longer be a place for me. Now I know I can go back! I was also talking to some friends about a Bourbon Trail tour, and I told them that sounded cool, but I’d never be able to do something like that A) I have never been a fan of whiskey or bourbon, and B) I’d never be able to go to a Bourbon tasting. However, they surprised me by saying their parents don’t drink and this is an activity the whole family can do. They said there’s great history to learn, and you get to see nature and different parts of Tennessee, and there is absolutely the option to go and not drink alcohol. Now, I definitely have it on my list of things to do once the weather gets warmer!