Want a soaking tub after a night on Broadway? Choose the room before the hotel. At several downtown hotels, the only tubs are in accessible rooms with a tub-shower combo, and most soakers worth booking come with a suite. The Hermitage Hotel is the exception, with one in every room. Here’s where I’d book, and the exact room to pick.
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Nashville Hotels
| 1. The Hermitage Hotel Soaking Tub in Every Room Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Location: 10-minute walk to Broadway Guest Reviews: Painted-glass skylight, Italian marble bathrooms, deep soaking tubs, lobby fireplace, Drusie & Darr dinners, in-room breakfast Best Room: The Grand Deluxe – King Good to Know: Everyone peeks into the lime-green Art Deco men’s room downstairs, women included. Price: From USD $605 – $775 per night |
| 2. Fairlane Hotel Nashville Best Boutique Stay Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Location: 10-minute walk to Broadway Guest Reviews: Travertine-column lobby, terrazzo floors, brass-rail bar at Ellington’s, green velvet headboards, marble showers, on-site coffee shop Best Room: Cherry Suite Good to Know: Union Street noise reaches some rooms, so ask for a quiet one at check-in. Price: From USD $415 – $505 per night |
| 3. W Nashville Standalone tub with skyline views Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Location: 15-minute walk to Broadway Guest Reviews: PROOF rooftop bar, 270-degree skyline views, poolside cabanas, Sunset Bar, Carne Mare chophouse, Living Room lounge, yoga lawn Best Room: Fabulous King Suite Good to Know: Pool deck noise carries into some rooms, so ask for one facing away. Price: From USD $450 – $520 per night |
| 4. Thompson Nashville, by Hyatt Clawfoot tub suites in the Gulch Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Location: 15-minute walk to Broadway Guest Reviews: Rooftop bar skyline views, Marsh House biscuits, Killebrew coffee, floor-to-ceiling windows, hardwood floors, brass fixtures, chevron-tiled bathrooms Best Room: Thompson Suite Good to Know: Rooftop bar and Gulch street noise carry into some rooms, so pack earplugs. Price: From USD $415 – $420 per night |
| 5. 1 Hotel Nashville Shortest Walk From Soak to Broadway Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Location: 5-minute walk to Broadway Guest Reviews: Harriet’s Rooftop skyline views, Bamford Wellness Spa, living greenery, charred-wood accents, firepit, café chia pudding Best Room: Panoramic One Bedroom Suite Good to Know: Suite layouts vary, so ask the hotel to confirm your tub before arrival. Price: From USD $525 – $575 per night |
| 6. The Westin Nashville Clawfoot tub plus rooftop pool Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Location: 8-minute walk to Broadway Guest Reviews: L27 rooftop lounge, rooftop pool skyline views, Rhapsody Spa facials, Decker & Dyer dinners, Heavenly Bed, steam room Best Room: Executive Suite, 1 King, High Floor Good to Know: The rooftop pool closes in cooler months, so switch to the indoor pool then. Price: From USD $345 – $465 per night |
How to Tell a Soaking Tub From a Tub-Shower Combo
A room sold “with tub” in Nashville isn’t always a room you’d want to soak in. The bathroom line in the room description tells you more than the room name.
- Accessible Tub Rooms: At several downtown hotels, the only standard rooms sold with a tub are mobility or hearing accessible rooms. Those are tub-shower combos with grab bars, built for safe transfers rather than a long bath. Book one only if you need the access features.
- Read the bathroom line, not the room name. Look for “deep soaking bathtub” paired with “separate bathtub and shower.” That pairing means a tub you fill and sink into, with the shower in its own space. Plain “bathtub or shower” means you’re gambling.
- Where do freestanding tubs show up? In suite bathroom photos. A clawfoot or standalone tub sits out in the open on legs or a plinth, while a combo shares its space with the shower, so scroll to the bathroom shot before you pay.
Downtown vs SoBro vs the Gulch for a Quiet Night
All three put Lower Broadway within walking range. What changes is the street you come home to.
- Downtown’s Capitol Side: The blocks between the State Capitol and Printer’s Alley mix historic buildings, theatres and late bars a few streets back from Broadway’s crowds. The Hermitage Hotel sits steps from the Capitol and the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. Fairlane Hotel Nashville is a two-minute walk from the Printer’s Alley bars.
- What’s SoBro good for? South of Broadway is the convention district around the Music City Center. 1 Hotel Nashville and The Westin Nashville both sit a short walk from the convention center, so book here if a conference or a big downtown show is on the plan.
- Choose the Gulch for dinner on foot. This former railroad yard is now a compact grid of restaurants, boutiques and high-rises, with W Nashville and Thompson Nashville, by Hyatt in the middle of it. Biscuit Love, which started as a food truck, runs its original shop here on 11th Avenue South for the morning after.
I’d pick the Gulch for a couple who eat out more than they bar-hop, and the Capitol side if the Ryman is on the ticket.
How to Avoid Bachelorette Weekends
Nashville is the country’s top bachelorette destination, and Lower Broadway is where the parties go.
- Weekend Nights on Broadway: On Broadway, weekends fill with groups in matching shirts moving from one honky-tonk to the next. That’s the crowd to dodge if you want a quiet hallway and an easy dinner booking.
- Book Sunday to Thursday. The parties come for the weekend, so a midweek stay puts you in town after the groups have flown home. Arrive Sunday and leave Thursday to miss both ends of it.
- Why stay off the main strip? Bachelorette planning guides steer groups to downtown and SoBro to keep them close to the honky-tonks. The Gulch and the Capitol side sit just outside that zone, and they’re calmer bases for two.
Cheapest and Quietest Months for a Nashville Tub Weekend
Winter is Nashville’s low season, and a cold night is when a deep tub earns its keep.
- December to February: Hotel rates hit their lowest in these months, and outside the holiday stretch the crowds thin out too. Museums and sights around town run quiet, so you’re not queueing anywhere.
- What about the holidays? Holiday events and décor light up downtown streets through the low season. The weeks around Christmas and New Year’s draw more people than January, so go later in winter for the cheapest, calmest nights.
- Aim for April, May, September or October if you’d rather walk between bars in mild weather. These shoulder months bring cooler temperatures and fall color in October, with a higher chance of rain.
- Because cold nights cut outdoor events short, build winter evenings around indoor venues. The Ryman is fully indoors, and so is every bar in Printer’s Alley.
I’d go in late January, when downtown’s quiet and the tub is the warmest seat in the room.
Where to Eat and Hear Music Before the Soak
Each base has a music room or bar within reach, so the soak can close out a proper night.
- Station Inn: Behind a plain sandstone front on 12th Avenue South in the Gulch sits the city’s best-known bluegrass room. Bill Monroe, Alison Krauss and Dierks Bentley have all played here, and bluegrass and classic country still anchor the calendar.
- Want a drink with some history? Printer’s Alley, between Third and Fourth Avenues, was once a strip of speakeasies. Skull’s Rainbow Room pairs dinner with live music, with Bourbon Street Blues & Boogie Bar next door.
- See a show at the Ryman. Country’s mother church sits a few blocks from Printer’s Alley, so a show and a nightcap in the alley fit into one walk. Book the show first and build the night around it.
- If cocktails beat country, head to The Patterson House at the edge of the Gulch. The speakeasy-style bar keeps a short, rotating cocktail menu, and it’s a calmer last drink than anything on Broadway.
Getting From BNA to Downtown
Nashville International sits 8 miles east of downtown, and the ride in is short.
- App-Based Taxis and Cabs: Both pick up at the Ground Transportation Center, and the drive downtown takes 15 to 25 minutes depending on traffic. For a cab, follow the “Taxis/Limo” signs.
- Is the bus worth it? WeGo’s Route 18 runs from the airport to downtown in 20 to 45 minutes and passes near many hotels on the way in. Board at the purple WeGo stop and check the route number on the front of the bus.
- Skip the rental car. Downtown, SoBro and the Gulch are walkable, and The Hermitage Hotel, Fairlane Hotel Nashville, Thompson Nashville, by Hyatt, 1 Hotel Nashville and The Westin Nashville all park cars by valet. Save the car for a day trip out of town.
Nashville, Indiana and the Other Hermitage: Don’t Book the Wrong One
Two name clashes show up in Nashville hotel searches. Both are easy to catch once you know to look.
- Nashville, Indiana: A small town in Brown County, in south-central Indiana, and the gateway to Brown County State Park. It’s home to many of the in-room hot tub suites that turn up when you search for Nashville jacuzzi rooms, so check for “TN” in the address before you pay.
- Which Hermitage is it? Andrew Jackson’s estate, The Hermitage, sits 10 miles east of downtown in a suburb of the same name with its own ZIP code, 37076. A hotel address there puts you out by the estate, nowhere near Broadway.
- Match the street address. The Hermitage Hotel sits at 231 Sixth Avenue North in downtown’s 37219 ZIP code. If your confirmation shows anything else, you’ve booked the wrong building.
FAQs
1. What counts as a deep soaking tub in a hotel room?
A deep soaking tub is a standalone bath set apart from the shower, with no jets. A tub-shower combo puts the showerhead over the bath in one shared space. In Nashville, freestanding and clawfoot soakers turn up mostly in suite bathrooms at design-led hotels downtown and in the Gulch, so check the bathroom photo before you pay.
2. Is a soaking tub the same as a jetted tub or hot tub?
No, they’re three different baths. A soaking tub is still water you fill and drain, a jetted or whirlpool tub pushes water through jets, and a hot tub keeps water heated around the clock. The in-room hot tub suites in Nashville, Indiana, cycle their pumps through the night, loud enough to wake light sleepers. For a quiet night after Broadway, a soaker beats both.
3. Are there Nashville hotels with a hot tub in the room?
Yes, but mostly at chain hotels near the airport, the Opryland area and Franklin, where some king rooms come with a whirlpool. Downtown and in the Gulch, the tubs worth booking are deep soakers and clawfoots rather than jets. Check the state in the address before you pay, since Nashville, Indiana has its own run of in-room hot tub suites.
4. Can you request a room with a bathtub at a Nashville hotel?
You can ask, but a request on a standard room isn’t a promise. Book the room type whose description names the tub, then email the hotel to confirm before arrival. At design-led hotels downtown and in the Gulch, soaking tubs sit mostly in named suite categories, so the room name is your real guarantee.
5. Is downtown Nashville walkable without a car?
Downtown, SoBro, the Gulch and Midtown form the walkable core, and between them you’ll reach Broadway, the Ryman and the Gulch restaurants on foot. Outside that core the city spreads out, and you’ll lean on app-based taxis. East Nashville sits across the Cumberland River, a short ride from downtown, and it’s worth a dinner trip for its bars and restaurants.
6. Is it worth paying for a suite just for the bathtub?
For a two- or three-night stay, yes. The suites with soakers also add a sitting area or a separate living room, so the upgrade buys more than a tub. Book it for a trip between December and February, when hotel rates sit at their lowest, and pair it with a midweek arrival to miss the weekend crowds.
7. Is downtown Nashville safe to walk at night?
Broadway, the Gulch and the main downtown streets stay busy late, with heavy foot traffic and a visible police presence around the honky-tonks. Stick to the lit main streets between the Gulch and Broadway rather than cutting through quiet back blocks. For a walk back after midnight, take an app-based taxi, since even the Gulch is a short ride from Lower Broadway.
