Whether you are visiting Music City on a romantic getaway or just looking for a good date night ideas, let me fill you in on some under-the-radar romantic things to do in Nashville. My husband Brad and I are based in Nashville and we love to go on regular date nights. Everyone knows about the main attractions — the honky tonks on Broadway, the Ryman Theater, the Grand Ole Opry, but I think some of these Nashville date ideas will surprise you!
Nashville Date Night Ideas
Whether you want to try something food-related, athletic, artistic…or you want to work out your trivia skills with the one you love, check out some unique date night ideas in Nashville for your next night out!
Climb The Walls
This local climbing gym can make a fun family outing, but it can also be a blast as a date night too! You can climb to your heart’s content (or until your arms give out) – encouraging and challenging each other along the way. Afterwards, grab some dinner and drinks at M.L. Rose down the street and go home happy and completely exhausted.
Climb Nashville is located at 3600 Charlotte Ave, Nashville, TN 37209
Take a HIke
Sometimes it is nice to take a day date and head out onto one of our local trails or Greenways for a couple’s hike. A few of our favorites perfect for a morning or afternoon adventure include:
- Warner Parks Warner Woods Trail – a 2.5 mile loop with some elevation
- Edwin Warner Harpeth Woods Trail – a 2.5 mile trail full of Beech, Oak & Cedar Trees
- Radnor Lake State Park Lake Trail – 1.35 miles around the lake where we always spot turtles, ducks & deer
- The Mossy Ridge Trail — a 4.5-mile loop with moderate elevation
Make a Goo Goo Cluster
Cooking together can be both fun and romantic. But managing kids …plus work … & life often means married couples don’t have a lot of time to enjoy creative cooking, especially together. There are tons of places that provide cooking classes in Nashville such as Whole Foods Salud Cooking School, Tinwings, and The Chef & I, but one of our favorites is the Go Goo Cluster Chocolate Class. This is a sweet class which allows you to create this iconic Nashville treat.
GooGoo Cluster Classes are held at 116 3rd Ave S, Nashville, TN 37201
Chow Down on a Food Tour
So maybe you enjoy eating but not cooking? Then a Walk.Eat. Nashville food tour is for you. You can explore a new (to you) neighborhood, find new dinner date night options, and enjoy a fun time and good food with fun company.
Walk. Eat. Nashville. offers multiple food tours including East Nashville, Midtown, and Sobro Downtown.
Go on an Art Crawl
Nashville is full of world renowned art museums and galleries, but there are also many smaller galleries around the city. A fun date night is to take an art crawl – here’s one we created a few years ago, or a Nashville Mural crawl for a fun artistic adventure.
Throw Pottery
Another fun, artistic couples event is the couples Pottery class at The Old School Nashville where you learn how to use the pottery wheel while watching the movie Ghost. Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and your love? It doesn’t get much better than that!
The Old School Farm Pottery is located at 512 Rep. John Lewis Way S Nashville, TN 37203
Up Your Trivia Game
Live trivia is popping up all over Nashville and it’s a fun, social escape for parents to hang out while working together to answer trivia questions (and win prizes!). Plus, the trivia questions are a great distraction from spending the entire evening talking about your kids!
My favorite live trivia is the Nashville Trivia Guys at Neighbors in Sylvan Park on Wednesday nights at 7 PM. If you follow them on Facebook or Instagram you can get a clue for the night’s trivia, too. Enjoy dinner and drinks while combining your partner’s random geography skills with your 80s movie knowledge for a really fun kid-free night.
Explore Nashville’s History
Nashville is overflowing with history — from famous landmarks to hidden gems — the stories of these places are intriguing, educational, entertaining and will make you love Music City even more. Nashville Sites is a website and application on your phone or mobile device that offers self-guided, credibly curated, FREE thematically-based tours of Nashville.
My personal favorites include “Women’s Suffrage, “Civil Rights Sit-Ins,” and “Downtown Public Art & Murals.” These are awesome dates that could include a stop for dinner too.
Listen to Live Music
Of course, there is nothing wrong with dinner and live music for a fun date night in Nashville! Our favorite local restaurants are City House, Henrietta Red, and Rolf and Daughters, but there are dozens (hundreds, even) of amazing restaurants that we love to visit in downtown Nashville too.
And since it IS Music City, sometimes we’ll catch some music at one of our favorite Nashville venues such as The Ryman Auditorium, The Grand Ole Opry, The Bluebird Cafe, or The Station Inn.
Take a Day Trip
Clearly Nashville is full of wonderful, creative, active date night experiences, but if you have a full day — or a weekend — there are a few places that would be perfect for an adventure outside of Nashville. A few of our favorite day trips include driving to Lynchburg, Tennessee (about 1.5 hours) to tour the Jack Daniels Distillery, driving to Mammoth Cave State Park in Kentucky (about 1.5 hours) to explore the amazing caves or driving to Cummins Falls State Park (about 1.5 hours) to explore and hike to the beautiful Cummins Falls. Whatever you do in or around Nashville, adventures are sure to follow.
Sarah is a Nashville-based freelance writer, editor and communications consultant. Sarah writes about kid-friendly Nashville and expanding her family’s worldview through travel, food, books, and engaging in our local and international communities at The Wandering Rumpus. Sarah, her husband Brad and their three girls have traveled extensively – both locally and internationally – and are making big plans to do much more wandering with their little brood – around the world and in their backyard – while sharing tips, encouragement, and laughter around travel and experiences with kids.
Follow Sarah @TheWanderingRumpus on Instagram, Facebook, & Pinterest, @WanderingRumpus on Twitter and at TheWanderingRumpus.com.
