Nashville

Nashville runs on live music and bachelorette itineraries, and it has engineered itself around both with unusual efficiency — Broadway's honky-tonks open before noon and the pedal taverns never stop. The downtown core is predominantly glass and poured concrete built since 2010, with the Ryman Auditorium and a handful of Victorian commercial facades standing as the city's only meaningful architectural anchors. Visitor infrastructure is frictionless: the airport sits 20 minutes from the strip, Lyft is everywhere, and every bar staff member speaks the tourist script fluently. The tension worth noting is that the city's rapid growth has pushed its most interesting restaurant and music scenes — Germantown's chef-driven dining, East Nashville's smaller venues — well away from the tourist corridor on Lower Broadway.