Nashville, Savannah and Charleston

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Planning an autumn US holiday and wondering if anyone has any hotel or activity suggestions for these 3 places? Travel company is suggesting Hilton type places but we'd prefer smaller hotels or inns. Centrally located as we won't have a car.
Places that have a bit of local character.

Anyone been and got any ideas? Prices seem quite high - don't want to pay more than £200ish a night for a double room.

I only know Nashville out of the cities on your list but I think your budget might be quite tight for hotels in the downtown area.
I would recommend The Graduate hotel which is just about walking distance from Broadway and has a Dolly Parton themed rooftop pool and bar.
There is zero public transport in Nashville but Uber is readily available. Franklin is about 30 minutes out of downtown and has a picture perfect Main St which is worth visiting. Depending on the time of day, would probably be around $60 return in an Uber.
September / October usually has really good weather, it's drier and less humid than summer but doesn't get too cold yet.
Happy to provide recommendations for things to do in Nashville if you do decide to visit!

Very helpful. Thankyou. Was thinking about Franklin.

And good point about budget. It does seem money doesn't go as far as it used to. Who knew? 😀

I'll look at the Graduate and reconcile myself to maybe 250. Would rather stay under 300 if poss given we'll be away 12-14 nights. But then again a sub standard hotel does spoil things.

Also interested if anyone knows anything about seaside type hotels in that next of the woods. Seems to be big resort places which I'm not sure we need but a couple of days with a pool or beach might be a nice end.

Thanks again for your response.

And yes, would love some Nashville recs! Bars, restaurants, foodie things, jazz/piano bars if they exist, museums, galleries, history etc!

Very jealous! We did Charleston and Savannah a couple of years ago. We rented self catering apartments in both places and they were amazing. The one in Savannah was bigger than our actual house at home!

Charleston is one of the most beautiful places I've ever visited. We walked miles and miles in both places, but certainly in Charleston we also used Uber.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was filmed in Savannah. Based on a true story and you can visit the actual house (which is also pointed out on the bus tour which was excellent). The bus tour in Charleston was also fun. I usually avoid guided tours, but both were interesting and informative.

We did Nashville pre-pandemic - it is great if you are a music fan, but it wasn't my favourite city and definitely not ideal without a car (apologies to any Nashville residents!).

As I've got older I've been more open to city tours so will def do them here. Easy way to get an initial sense of layout.

Nashville is an addition to the itinerary because we feel it's a long way to go just for Savannah and Charleston and we've been to New Orleans and didn't really fancy anywhere else. I think it will suit but do need to do a bit more research.

The big Country Music Hall of Fame museum in Nashville is very impressive - we could have spent all day there. Also Grand Old Opry and the Johnny Cash museum. If music is your thing then it is worth doing the Studio B tour which leaves from the museum and goes to one of the recording studios.

OH is a musician so our trip there was heavily music focused, but as we had come straight from Memphis I was very much "all music-ed out" which may have affected my view of the city :-)

Some of the small towns out in the country are absolutely lovely and the Civil War tours are very sobering - but we had the advantage of a car - not sure if there are trips from the City, definitely worth checking.

You'll have an amazing time.

I do agree that downtown Nashville is overly touristy now, locals don't tend to visit unless for a sporting event or particular concert.
I don't know of any jazz bars, it really is mostly geared towards country music. Check out who's playing at The Ryman during your visit, it's an old church converted into a theater so it's a unique experience and gets some really good acts on.
The twelve thirty club (owned by Justin Timberlake) has an old fashioned supper club atmosphere with booths, arm chairs and a band on most nights.
There's a trend for speakeasys now, I like the one inside The Rutledge restaurant but there's new ones popping up every week!
Rooftop bars are a big thing in Nashville, if the weather is nice I recommend the ones on top of The Westin and The Graduate hotels.
For a special meal, Bourbon Steak is fabulous. It's 30 floors up in the JW Marriott and has panoramic views of the whole city.
If you go to Franklin, Cork & Cow is really lovely for dinner. Both of these restaurants need booking quite far in advance.
The Frist museum is on Broadway and has rotating exhibitions, they had Picasso's last time I went but I don't know what's coming up this year.
If you like sport, American football will be on in September and October and ice hockey starts in October. Both are really fun and you should be able to buy tickets pretty last minute.

We loved the thunderbird inn in Savannah, the breakfast was Krispy Kreme donuts and coffee which suited us! Also gave you a moon pie and an RC cola on your bed everyday. We did a ghost story pub crawl as well which we loved!

Loved Nashville and Charleston too, the Johnny Cash museum moved me to tears at the end, was brilliantly done. Hattie B’s chicken in Nashville is also a must.

@Rocketstarr I loved the Johnny Cash museum and was also very moved. We went to see his grave the following day - it's a bit of a way outside the city and that was the point at which I was moved to tears (also by the kindness of the people in the cafe where we stopped en route - visibly dehydrated and overheating - who refused to let us pay for two very welcome "buckets" of ice cold diet coke!)

@BackToWhereItAllBegan Wish I'd been on MN to ask for your advice before we went!

@BackToWhereItAllBegan thanks so much - some great ideas there that I think we'll enjoy.

And Krispy Kreme for breakfast ! What's not to like.