8 Best Museums in Nashville: Which One to Choose

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is the strongest starting point if you want Nashville’s country-music story, but it is not the only collection worth your time. You can follow African American music across genres, focus on Johnny Cash, explore Tennessee history or step inside the Parthenon. Choose by the collection you want to spend time with, rather than treating these eight museums as a checklist.

Which museum should you choose?

Museum	Advertised adult admission / payment	Time inside	Journey / mode
Country Music Hall of Fame	$31.95	About 2 hours	about 6 minutes walking
National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM)	Visit-page quote: $33.33 / 2025 announcement quote: $35.00	About 1½–2 hours	about 2 minutes walking
Johnny Cash Museum	$32.95 plus tax / online convenience fee extra	About 1–1½ hours	about 6 minutes walking
Musicians Hall of Fame	—	About 1½–2 hours	about 12 minutes walking
Frist Art Museum	$20 / $10 changeover concession through 26 October 2026	About 1–2 hours	about 7 minutes walking
Tennessee State Museum	Free	—	about 28 minutes walking
The Parthenon	$15 cash or cheque / 2.3% extra by card	About 1 hour	about 23 minutes by bus
Lane Motor Museum	$15	About 1½–2 hours	about 21 minutes by bus

Choose the Country Music Hall of Fame for country, NMAAM for music across genres, the Frist for art or the Tennessee State Museum for history. Cash fans and recording enthusiasts may prefer the specialist collections ranked next to the broader music museums. The Parthenon and Lane require separate bus journeys, while the other choices are walkable from Broadway, with the State Museum farther north.

1. Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum follows the wider country-music story rather than one artist’s life. Instruments, stage costumes and recordings give you different ways into that history, and the Hall of Fame Rotunda brings the visit back to the people honoured by the institution. Choose it when you want a survey before narrowing your attention to a particular singer.

Main admission covers the galleries and Museum programmes, and you explore at your own pace. RCA Studio B, Hatch Show Print and the audio tour are optional extras, not part of the standard museum ticket. Keep the main galleries as the priority if you want an unhurried look at the exhibits rather than a visit built around additional tours.

Advance reservations are not required, but buying ahead is recommended. You select an available timed-entry slot when purchasing. An early visit leaves more room to linger over the galleries before closing, particularly if you stop to read the displays closely.

2. National Museum of African American Music

The National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM) is the broader choice if your interests extend beyond country. Rivers of Rhythm provides a timeline linking the galleries, which explore spirituals, gospel, blues, jazz, R&B and hip-hop. Listening and taking part in the interactive displays matter here, so give the music attention rather than moving through only to look at objects.

Its Broadway location makes it a convenient indoor choice in wet weather. Individual visitors can buy tickets online or in person without an advance reservation, and some discounts are available only in person.

Choose another central collection on Monday, when NMAAM is closed. Sunday’s later opening suits an afternoon visit.

3. Johnny Cash Museum

The Johnny Cash Museum is worth choosing if Cash himself is the reason you are here. Personal artefacts and career memorabilia keep the attention on his life and work, rather than on a broad history of Nashville’s music industry. Its compact, single-artist focus suits a fan who wants to look closely at the objects connected with a familiar voice.

Advance purchase is optional, and you can buy at the museum. Buying online helps avoid the ticket line, but costs extra. Advance tickets have no assigned admission time and do not expire, so they can be used on any date. That flexibility makes this an easier choice when you have not fixed the rest of your day.

4. Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum

The Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum turns your attention to the instrumentalists behind recordings, not just the headline artists. Instruments, recording memorabilia and musician stories reveal another side of familiar records. Its cross-genre emphasis makes it a better fit than a single-artist collection if you are interested in how music was made.

The museum is inside Nashville Municipal Auditorium, north of Broadway. Choose it for the recording stories themselves rather than as an extension of Cash’s life story or a country-only survey.

You do not need an advance reservation. Tickets are available at the counter or online, and online purchase speeds up check-in. Leave room to read the musician accounts and try the interactive exhibits if those are what drew you here.

5. Frist Art Museum

The Frist Art Museum pairs changing visual-art exhibitions with an Art Deco former main post office. The exhibition programme is the reason to choose it for art, and the building adds an architectural interest of its own. Unlike the Parthenon’s permanent Athena statue and sculpture casts, the displays here change between visits.

The approach follows Broadway away from the central music attractions. It is a straightforward non-music indoor choice, and Thursday’s later closing makes it the strongest option here for an evening gallery visit. If you enjoy making as well as looking, leave room for Martin ArtQuest.

Individual admission needs no advance reservation, and tickets can be purchased online or at the museum. Groups of 10 or more need an advance reservation, so an organised group should not use the individual walk-in arrangement.

6. Tennessee State Museum

The Tennessee State Museum gives you state-wide history beyond Nashville’s music industry. Artefacts, films and interactive displays follow Tennessee from First Peoples to the present. The Tennessee Time Tunnel helps connect the periods, while the Children’s Gallery offers a distinct place for younger visitors to explore.

Beside Bicentennial Capitol Mall, it is the longer walk north from Broadway rather than part of the closest music-museum cluster. Choose it when you want to understand the state around the city, and take time with the historical displays instead of looking only for music connections.

Individual visitors need no advance reservation. Exhibition tours for groups of 10 or more require advance booking. The Sunday afternoon opening makes this a later-start choice.

7. The Parthenon

The Parthenon in Centennial Park is a full-scale recreation of the Athenian building, but the interior offers more than the exterior view. The colossal Athena statue, sculpture casts and American paintings make this an architecture-and-art choice, not simply a stop to photograph the columns. Go inside if those permanent features are the attraction for you.

From the Broadway area, take bus 3 towards Centennial Park and continue through the park to the museum. This is a separate outing west of the central collections, and the approach has an outdoor element even though the galleries are indoors.

Individuals do not need an advance reservation, but adult and student groups do. Sunday has a later opening than the rest of the week, so save the interior for after lunch on that day.

In comfortable weather, leave room for a park break after the galleries. Nashville’s parks and gardens offer other outdoor choices if you want to extend that part of your visit.

8. Lane Motor Museum

Lane Motor Museum is the specialist choice for unusual vehicle design. European cars, microcars, amphibious vehicles, motorcycles and prototypes invite you to compare different answers to the same problem of getting people moving. Choose it for the collection’s variety of forms and engineering ideas rather than as another downtown attraction.

Its south-eastern location makes this a deliberate trip away from the central museums. Take bus 18 from the Broadway area and allow for the outdoor approach to the entrance. Bring rain protection in wet weather, or choose a cooler part of the day when the walk would otherwise be uncomfortable.

General admission does not require an advance reservation, while group visits have a separate advance-reservation arrangement. Aim to arrive by 4pm to purchase tickets, rather than leaving collection browsing to the end of the opening day. Treat separately programmed activities as distinct from looking around the vehicle displays.

Sources & fact-checking

Checks against the sources below cover: fares and charges, opening hours, closures, and services.

• Johnny Cash Museum — fares and charges
• Lane Motor Museum — opening hours
• Frist Art Museum — fares and charges
• Frist Art Museum — opening hours
• National Museum of African American Music — fares and charges
• National Museum of African American Music — closures
• Tennessee State Museum — fares and charges
• Tennessee State Museum — service
• Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum — fares and charges
• Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum — opening hours
• Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum — service
• Musicians Hall of Fame & Museum — opening hours
• Musicians Hall of Fame & Museum — closures
• The Parthenon — fares and charges
• The Parthenon — service