Best Scenic Drives Near Nashville, Tennessee

The countryside around Nashville features tree-lined routes, pastoral farmland, river valleys, and historic scenic byways. Routes are within an hour of downtown and offer diverse scenery from river gorges to rolling horse farms. Spring and fall provide ideal driving conditions.

Natchez Trace Parkway — 50 Miles, 2-2.5 Hours

A historic 444-mile parkway stretching from Nashville to Natchez, Mississippi. The northern sections near Nashville wind through deciduous forest with minimal commercial development. Historic route follows a 5,000-year-old Native American and pioneer trail.

Best Day Trips from Nashville

Nashville sits in the middle of Tennessee, which means you’re within 2 hours of mountain waterfalls, historic small towns, legendary distilleries, and one of America’s most scenic parkways.

Jack Daniel’s Distillery (Lynchburg) — 1.5 Hours

The most famous distillery in America, in the smallest town you can imagine. Lynchburg has a population of about 500 and the entire town exists because of Jack Daniel’s.

The tour: Multiple options from a basic distillery walk-through ($20, 1.5 hours) to tasting experiences and barrel house tours. You’ll see the cave spring where the water comes from, the charcoal mellowing process (what makes it Tennessee whiskey, not bourbon), and the barrel houses where millions of barrels age on the rolling hills.