Let’s face it: Nashville is not the first place you think of when you want to switch off for a weekend. You think country music and honky tonks, or cowboy boots and The Grand Old Opry. But relaxing and recharging? 

I didn’t know what to expect when I got off the plane in Nashville. I knew the stereotypes of the city; between the rise in the city’s popularity as a bachelorette destination and the celebrity voices booming through the airport, I thought “Nashvegas” was an appropriate nickname. Boy, was I wrong. 

“We have no idea how that started,” Edie Emery, senior director of public relations at Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp, told a group of journalists back in November. The bachelorettes started arriving on their own, she explained, taking advantage of the vibrant, sprawling pop-up and rooftop bar scene. Between the bars, honky tonks, world-class food scene, and the constantly shifting constellation of celebrities, it’s shocking Nashville isn’t already a bigger party city. With how many people are moving to and visiting the Nashville area, this could change in the future. 

But no matter how many people come to Music City, there’s a seriousness in the air – an openness to inspiration, creation, and collaboration. It’s safe to experiment here, to stretch out and take up space. To let your hair down and get lost in the beauty – and music – around you. 

Walking into the Four Seasons Hotel Nashville, you’re greeted by bright, natural light and smiling faces waiting to welcome you to your temporary home. The sound of cocktails being shaken and music from the hotel’s restaurant filter in, only enhancing the homey feeling. I’d been in the Nashville area for a few days already and knew what to expect in terms of hospitality – or so I thought. 

The Four Seasons blew my expectations out of the water. I wasn’t the only one impressed, either. “It was my first time staying at a Four Seasons Hotel, and I loved every minute of it,” travel writer Ashlee Fechino, founder of The Happiness Function, tells me. “The hotel is the perfect place to stay in downtown Nashville if you want to have a little fun and relax.”

When you’re planning a wellness trip, whether solo or with your partner, where you stay matters. How well taken care of and how at home you feel can make or break a wellness trip, and with Four Seasons Nashville, I’d never felt more of either feeling on the road before. 

Walking into my room was like walking into my apartment after a long day out. I hadn’t done anything difficult that day – a trip out to the Jack Daniels Distillery for a private tour/whisky tasting and lunch at Miss Mary Bobo’s – but tension still let go when I stepped through that door. 

Rooms are spacious, with floor-to-ceiling windows looking out over either the city or Cumberland River. My room looked out at the river, with clear views of Nissan Stadium and the pedestrian bridge – a cityscape bathed in gold when I got to my room that day. Below me was the seventh-floor terrace, home to the hotel’s infinity pool, rooftop restaurant, and year-round hot tub guests have access to. 

If you do leave your room during the day (and leave the “do not disturb” light off), you can expect turn-down service. When I’d get back to my room in the evening, the curtains were closed for me, and the lights turned down low. Housekeeping even left a pair of slippers out for me and organized loose Apple cords I had lying on a table. 

River-facing rooms are also perfect for watching the sun rise if you’re up early enough. Room darkening blinds help to keep out the sun, though, if you want to sleep in. Each room also comes equipped with a white noise machine to help quiet the pulse of the city, dulling the outside world just enough to ensure a good night’s sleep.

Whether or not you’re staying at the Four Seasons, make time to visit The Spa. Beyond the usual array of spa offerings like massages and facials, The Spa offers various body rituals meant to be as indulging as they are rejuvenating and relaxing. 

“Whether it’s the invigorating Signature Gold Polish for exfoliation or the toning Remineralizing Mud Exfoliation, each ritual is dedicated to fostering serenity and holistic well-being,” Hannah Fogelstrom, Digital Marketing and Public Relations Coordinator for Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences Nashville tells me over e-mail. “With expert therapists curating an ambiance dedicated to unwinding and self-care, visitors are treated to an urban sanctuary.” 

Fogelstrom also highlights The Spa’s Tennessee Honey & Whiskey body ritual, a relaxing and indulgent experience with local flavors. After being exfoliated using Honey & Whiskey cane salt scrub, guests are wrapped in a mix of honey, clementine, and vanilla shea body butter. 

Located on the seventh floor, guests visiting during the warmer months can finish their visit with a trip to Rivière Rooftop. Here, French Riviera meets Nashville as guests enjoy lunch, dinner, or a post-massage drink by the hotel’s infinity pool and hot tub. Listen to the sounds of Broadway as you relax with stunning views of the Cumberland River and Nashville’s skyline. 

The best homemade pasta I’ve ever had is at the dining room table of my foodie friend’s house. The second was at Mimo, an Italian-Southern fusion restaurant inside Nashville’s Four Seasons. 

There are two major prejudices you have to overcome to enjoy Mimo. First, you need to trust a hotel restaurant can provide an incredibly cool culinary experience. The second is that eating pasta at Mimo won’t leave you feeling like you ate your weight in carbs. 

Everything at Mimo, from the cocktails to the side of mashed potatoes, is a full-sensory adventure. This is true no matter your dietary restrictions; gluten-free options are available for anyone who wants them. I got lost not only in the presentation of the dishes but their taste, texture, and how weightless everything felt. I wasn’t sitting down to a heavy plate of American dinner table spaghetti, nor was it distressing to see (and want) mashed potatoes. 

“It’s how you slice them,” one chef said when my end of the table of journalists begged for the secret. A group of us was staying at the hotel, and we filled Mimo’s private dining room. The table was a mixture of the menu’s greatest hits, prepared to perfection. We couldn’t believe how light and airy the mashed potatoes were, and we -- as food lovers in one way or another -- needed to know the secret. “Slice them thin before you cook them. It allows more moisture.” 

Mimo is open for breakfast, brunch, dinner, and drinks. 

Wellness looks different for everyone. For me, it’s taking time to put away screens and take in the world around me. Nashville’s 12South neighborhood is a perfect place to do that. Between the public art, clothing stores, and other specialty boutiques along 12th Ave, there are enough to fill an afternoon’s worth of wandering. 

Stop in at Ranger Station and find your new favorite scent. Founded in 2015 by a musician and his wife who thought making candles using cocktail glasses would be a cool idea, the company has grown into what they call a “fragrance house.” Beyond cocktail candles, Ranger Station carries a variety of unisex perfumes with scents ranging from woodsy, like in their “Nashville” scent, to the sweetness of their “Old Fashioned.” Noah Kahan even crafted a “Stick Season” inspired candle for anyone “Homesick” for New England. 

No trip to 12South is complete without at least stopping in to see what imogene + willie has going on. Everything in their store is a small batch, limited edition, and handmade in the U.S.A. 

Other not-to-miss boutiques include Draper James, Reese Witherspoon’s store, and White’s Mercantile, a service station-turned-boutique across the street from Ranger Station. 

To detox and destress, make sure to stop into Salt and Soles. Women-owned and operated, the spa offers a variety of experiences ranging from reflexology to wellness classes. Their big draw, however, is booking time in their salt caves. 

Halotherapy has risen in popularity over the past decade. While there is limited research on the benefits of spending time in salt “caves,” many do claim to experience relief from stress, asthma, bronchitis, cystic fibrosis, allergies, a stronger immune system, and healthier skin, according to Dr. Melissa Young, MD, a functional medicine specialist at Cleveland Clinic. 

Besides relaxing in Salt and Soles’ salt caves, guests can book an Integral Sound Healing session. According to the spa’s website, tuning forks and Tibetan singing bowls help clear and balance your energy. 

“Sound healing is an invitation into a deeper state of consciousness,” Sara Auster, Sound Therapist and author of Sound Bath: Meditate, heal, and Connect Through Listening, tells VeryWellMind, “where you unplug from external stimuli and focus on what’s going on within you.” This can relieve stress and release other emotions you may have been holding back. 

For another slow, sensory food experience, make time to stop in at International Market. Whether for the lunchtime noodle bar or dinner’s upscale Thai-Southern fusion, everything on this menu nourishes on a deeper level than food alone can do. 

Owned and operated by Arnold Myint, International Market sits across the street from the location of its namesake. Myint was raised in Nashville, spending afternoons eating the same pork rolls he now has on his own lunch menu, sitting at the orange booths that now line the windows of the front of his own restaurant. His parents owned the original International Market, Nashville’s first and only source of international cooking ingredients, whose original is now a fountain on Belmont University’s campus. 

Since he only uses locally sourced, in-season products – and with everything being made in-house – the menu changes depending on what’s available. My own experience was a long, slow, sunny lunch presented by Myint himself where plates of Yai’s Pork Shumai, Miang Khao Tod Lettuce Wraps, Fried Egg Salad, See Eiw Noodles, Smoked Beef and Squash Curry, and Hatyai Thai Fried Rice were brought out with bottles of Pelligrino. 

“I haven’t had street food this good since I was in Thailand,” Rachel, our PR point person on the trip, said, pointing at the pork rolls. Maybe she’d seen me hesitating, overwhelmed by the amount of food on the table. “You need to get in here.” 

I did get in there and had one of the best meals of my life. As Myint explained his family’s story, his ties to Nashville, and the food on each plate, I was nourishing other parts of me that were starved. I was hundreds of miles away from my family in Buffalo, but felt like I was right back at my grandparents’ kitchen table, laughing about family stories. 

One of the best ways I’ve found to ease food anxiety is to learn more about what I’m eating. Whether it’s understanding how the farm that supplies a restaurant’s potatoes was handed down from generation to generation or why a food’s region is important, the extra information builds a bigger picture and deeper relationship. 

Creating that relationship between people and their coffee is one of 8th & Roast’s missions. The shop itself was childhood friends Ed and Q’s unofficial headquarters long before they got into the coffee business. Today, the company is more than a coffee shop; it’s the cornerstone of coffee culture in Nashville. 

Beyond serving up quality, ethically sourced coffee (they partner with producers directly), 8th & Roast offers coffee classes to help anyone who wants to know more about coffee. Planned and facilitated by Ben Cureton, the company’s head of quality control and training, classes range from free “Coffee 101” – a two-hour seed-to-cup crash course in coffee – to a $45, 2.5-hour masterclass on pour-over coffee. 

Upcoming classes can be found on the company’s Eventbrite page. 

For low-impact movement, take time to walk through Nashville’s Frist Art Museum. Located inside the beautiful art deco U.S. Post Office building, the Frist, a non-collecting museum, features a rotating selection of exhibitions. 

I walked through Raqib Shaw’s “Ballads of East and West” and Multiplicity’s “Blackness in Contemporary American Collage” during my visit in November. Not only will you be able to just in some gentle movement, but looking at art has its own benefits. 

Not only does a half hour of looking at art lower your cortisol (stress hormone) levels, but Laura Tuomisto, ATR-BC, ITR-CTS, Art Therapist, Certified Trauma Therapist, and director of Shenandoah Art Therapy, explains that “viewing art [also] increases empathy, tolerance, and critical thinking skills.” She adds looking at art also stimulates the reward center – the part of the brain that addictions light up. 

But there’s something else about art that makes it an essential aspect of wellness. “Art can harness the healing power within each of us and help bring us into community with one another,” Jackie Armstrong tells Museum of Modern Art Magazine. “When in front of an artwork, we are connected to the artist and to others who have experienced it. And connection – to themselves and others – is at the core of art and healing.” 

Before heading out of town, book time at Rhapsody Spa. Located on the third floor of The Westin Nashville, Rhapsody Spa offers not only traditional spa services, like CBD massages and Age Defying facials, but guests can also book IV therapy services. With anecdotal benefits ranging from hangover cures to boosting your immune system, an infusion is a perfect way to end a wellness weekend in Nashville. 

As Lindsay Slowiczek, PharmD, a drug information pharmacist, tells Healthline, IV therapy “allows [vitamins and minerals] to be absorbed quickly and directly into the bloodstream, a method that produces higher levels … in your body than if you got them from food or supplements.” Slowiczek adds, “Higher levels of the vitamins and minerals in your bloodstream lead to greater uptake into cells, which theoretically will use the nutrients to maintain health and fight illness.” 

Rhapsody Spa’s IV therapy treatments have a variety of wellness goals. Not only can you walk in (no appointments are necessary for IV therapy treatments) and ease your hangover with a “Recover” or “Recover+,” but you can ease PMS symptoms with “Relieve” or “Immune Boost” your body before getting back on a plane home. 

However, check with your medical provider before testing the waters on IV therapy. There can be such a thing as “too much of a good thing;” overloading on certain minerals like potassium or even fluid can lead to complications. Dr. Slowiczek warns certain health conditions, like kidney disease, seriously slow the body’s ability to process certain electrolytes and other minerals. “People with certain heart or blood pressure conditions can be at risk of fluid overload from the infusion,” she adds.