How to Travel to Nashville With Points and Miles for a Bachelor/ette Party

Whatever is drawing you to Nashville, Tennessee — country music, copious amounts of hot chicken or Southern hospitality — it’s a great city to gather all your friends and celebrate your last fling before the ring.

Even if your pals are scattered all over the United States, all major domestic airlines fly to Nashville and offer plenty of ways to attend a shindig with credit card rewards. Here’s your points and miles guide for bachelor and bachelorette parties in Nashville.

Getting to Nashville

Nearest airports

Located about 10 miles east of the city center, Nashville International Airport (BNA) is your gateway to Music City.

Upon arrival, you can hop on the WeGo Public Transit bus route 18 for just $2 and get your feet in downtown Nashville in about 30 minutes. If you’re not a fan of public transportation, or if multiple people in your group arrive on the same flight, Uber and Lyft will do the job.

Once in town, download the Joyride mobile app to hail a golf cart to whisk your party away to a bar that is too far for walking but is too close for a cab.

Flying to Nashville on points and miles

Allegiant Air uses Nashville as one of its focus cities. You can fly nonstop to destinations like:

• Palm Springs, California.

• Fargo, North Dakota.

• Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

• Key West, Florida.

And of course, the big three U.S. carriers — American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines — also operate flights to Nashville from their respective hubs.

But we’re going to focus on one other major player: Southwest Airlines.

Southwest Airlines

Southwest provides a great deal of nonstop service from Nashville to a few dozen U.S. cities, including:

• Baltimore, Maryland.

• Burbank, California.

• Omaha, Nebraska.

• Orlando, Florida.

Southwest Airlines doesn’t implement award charts for its mileage tickets. The redemption rates vary and depend on how much a flight costs in dollars. Rates can go up and down with demand, just like a cash ticket. You can score low-priced flights during one of the Southwest sales — the cost in points drops with the cost of a flight.

Let’s take a look at how many Rapid Rewards points you can expect to redeem for a Southwest award flight.

Here’s an example of a one-way flight from Denver to Nashville searched about 90 days from departure. You can expect to pay $168 or 11,843 Rapid Rewards points for a Wanna Get Away fare, giving you a redemption value of about 1.37 cents per point, which is in line with NerdWallet’s valuation of 1.5 cents.

How to earn Southwest Rapid Rewards points: You can earn Rapid Rewards points in a number of ways, such as:

• By flying with Southwest.

• By utilizing the airline’s dining and shopping partners.

• By using a co-branded Southwest credit card on purchases.

You can also transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards® points to the Rapid Rewards loyalty program at a 1:1 ratio.

» Learn more: Southwest Rapid Rewards program: The complete guide

Best hotels in Nashville for bachelor or bachelorette parties

Budget hotel options

Holiday Inn & Suites Nashville Downtown – Broadway

Just a five-minute walk from the Country Music Hall of Fame and three blocks from Broadway, the Holiday Inn & Suites Nashville Downtown – Broadway is a decent option for budget travelers.

Located in the SoBro district, this IHG property puts you close to Nashville’s food scene and vibrant nightlife.

IHG Rewards doesn’t have an award chart for its properties, so you have to look day by day to find out how many points a specific property costs. Last time we checked, you could book rooms at the Holiday Inn & Suites Nashville Downtown – Broadway for as low as 12,000 IHG Rewards points per night, though it’s smart to note that weekends typically require more points.

» Learn more: Your guide to IHG elite status

Hyatt Place Nashville/Opryland

Within walking distance from the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center, the Hyatt Place Nashville/Opryland is a budget option in the heart of Music Valley.

Start your day with free breakfast available for all World of Hyatt members, herd the cats and go hang out at the Gaylord or catch a Lyft to one of the many watering holes on Broadway.

Award rooms at this Category 2 Hyatt hotel start at 6,500 World of Hyatt points for off-peak nights and go up to 9,500 points on peak nights.

» Learn more: World of Hyatt: The complete guide

Higher end hotels

Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center

The Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center isn’t in the Nashville city center, but what it lacks in location, it makes up for in several amenities:

• Indoor garden atriums.

• A number of on-site restaurants and bars.

• Water park slides and riverboat tours.

• Shopping.

• Golfing.

• And more.

Your bachelor or bachelorette party will find no shortage of activities at this luxurious Marriott hotel.

The Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center will set you back 40,000 to 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points per night, depending on the season.

» Learn more: Your guide to the Marriott Bonvoy award chart

Grand Hyatt Nashville

Mere steps from Union Station and Broadway, the city’s main thoroughfare, the Grand Hyatt Nashville offers luxury in the heart of Music City.

Your bachelor or bachelorette party guests will enjoy a drink or two at lou/na, one of the highest outdoor rooftop bars in Nashville. Or you can enjoy a series of rejuvenating procedures at the hotel's on-site spa. For country music fans, the Country Music Hall of Fame is a 13-minute stroll away.

The Grand Hyatt Nashville is a Category 6 hotel, and redemption rates here go for 21,000 World of Hyatt points on off-peak dates to 25,000 points on standard dates and 29,000 points on peak dates.

Other accommodation options

Hilton Honors members will find lots of accommodation options in the downtown area for 60,000 Hilton points per night, including:

• Homewood Suites by Hilton Nashville – Downtown.

• Hilton Garden Inn Nashville Downtown/Convention Center.

• Tru by Hilton Nashville Downtown Convention Center.

• DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Nashville Downtown.

Hilton doesn’t price its hotel according to an award chart, but rather correlates its points rates to cash rates, so the redemption rates can go higher or lower.

Best bachelor/ette group activities in Nashville

• See a show at the Grand Ole Opry: Live country concerts take place at the historic venue two to four times per week.

• Learn line dancing: Put your cowboy boots on, grab your entire crew and head to the Wildhorse Saloon to take a complimentary line dancing lesson (see opening schedule here).

• Eat: Music isn’t the only attraction taking the stage in Nashville. Get a taste of the city’s most iconic eats, including meat and three, biscuits and, of course, hot chicken accompanied by a shot or two of Tennessee whiskey.

• Bar hop on Broadway: Enjoy live music and the bar scene at music venues on Honky Tonk Highway, a four-block stretch of street pumping music all day every day.

• Follow up a night of drinking with brunch: We already mentioned the city’s food scene, but Nashville brunch takes a special bow. Nothing screams hen party like bachelorettes and bubbly, and there’s no shortage of either on weekends.

Earning points on a bachelor/ette party

If your friends don’t participate in the points and miles experience, offer to pay for travel expenses with your credit card and split the cost among everybody.

Is one of your party attendees a hotel loyalty program elite member with the highest status? Allow them to book a room, and you might even score an upgrade.

If most members of your group are points savvy, rotate expenses based on whoever’s credit card earns a higher bonus in that particular spending category.

Here are some of the best credit cards for earning points on bachelor/ette party expenses:

• American Express® Green Card: 3x points at restaurants, eligible travel and transit, including ride-hailing services. Terms apply.

• American Express® Gold Card: 4x points at U.S. restaurants and 3x points on airfare purchased directly with airlines. Terms apply.

• Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card: 4% cash back on dining and on entertainment.

• Chase Freedom Flex℠ and Chase Freedom Unlimited®: 3% cash back on dining.

• Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card: 3x points on dining, 2x points on travel and 5x points on Lyft rides (through March 2022).

• Chase Sapphire Reserve®: 3x points on dining and travel, and 10x points on Lyft rides (through March 2022).

• Citi Premier® Card: 3x points at hotels, air travel and dining.

• The Platinum Card® from American Express: 5x points on airfare purchased directly with airlines or with American Express Travel (on up to $500,000 per calendar year). Terms apply.

Use points and miles to book a budget bachelor/ette party to Nashville

A destination party doesn’t have to break the bank, and it’s true for bachelor/ette parties in Nashville. So, enjoy your trip before getting hitched without spending a lot of money and use points and miles you’ve collected with your credit cards instead.

The information related to the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card has been collected by NerdWallet and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of this card.