Overview
Central Tennessee, more often called Middle Tennessee, is a region of Tennessee. Besides the obvious destinations like Nashville, there are some lesser known ones, like Carthage, for instance, the hometown of former Vice-President Al Gore.
Updated from Wikivoyage on 1 October 2026 · Something wrong or missing? Improve it on Wikivoyage
Plan your trip
Best time to visit & weather
Most comfortable: Mar–May, Sep–Oct. Summer highs reach about 91°F; winter lows dip to about 30°F. Very hot (Jul, Aug) — plan outdoor time for mornings. Wettest: May and Apr. (climate data from nearby Nashville)
Blue bars: average daily high and low (°F). Purple columns: average monthly rain and melted snow (inches).
Getting there
- From you: to see whether to drive or fly, and how long it takes.
- BNA Nashville International Airport, Nashville — 20 mi away (major hub). Directions
- MSL Northwest Alabama Regional Airport, Muscle Shoals — 93 mi away. Directions
Budget & where to stay
No prices are listed for this place yet. See the Sleep guide ↓ for options.
Sample 3-day trip
- Day 1: Nashville — AT&T Building, John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
- Day 2: Cookeville — Cookeville Depot Museum, State Historic Rock House, Cummins Falls State Park.
- Day 3: Clarksville — Customs House Museum & Cultural Center, Don F. Pratt Memorial Museum, Fort Defiance.
Built from the best-covered destinations in this region; open each for its own day plan.
Photos
Places in Central Tennessee
Nashville
City / town · 153 listings
Cookeville
City / town · 31 listings
Clarksville
City / town · 30 listings
Ashland City
City / town · 23 listings
Hendersonville
City / town · 20 listings
Cowan
City / town · 17 listings
Franklin
City / town · 17 listings
Lynchburg
City / town · 15 listings
Tracy City
City / town · 15 listings
Monteagle
City / town · 14 listings
Sewanee
City / town · 12 listings
Lewisburg
City / town · 12 listings
Tullahoma
City / town · 11 listings
Dickson
City / town · 10 listings
Murfreesboro
City / town · 9 listings
Ocoee
City / town · 9 listings
Waverly
City / town · 6 listings
Fayetteville
City / town · 5 listings
Manchester
City / town · 5 listings
Lawrenceburg
City / town · 5 listings
Brentwood
City / town · 4 listings
Dover
City / town · 4 listings
Hermitage
City / town · 3 listings
Antioch
City / town · 2 listings
Columbia
City / town · 2 listings
Lebanon
City / town · 1 listings
Smyrna
City / town · 1 listings
Winchester
City / town
Mount Juliet
City / town
Cities
- Nashville - Music City U.S.A., Country music capital of the world, and the State Capitol
- Antioch
- Ashland City
- Brentwood
- Clarksville - Home to the U.S. Army's Ft. Campbell and Austin Peay State University
- Columbia - Home of 11th U.S. President James K. Polk with many Southern antebellum homes nearby
- Cookeville - Home of Tennessee Technological University
- Cowan
- Decherd
- Dickson
- Dover
- Fayetteville
- Franklin - Location of the famous Civil War Battle of Franklin
- Hendersonville - City by The Lake, Nashville suburb
- Hermitage
- La Vergne
- Lawrenceburg - David Crockett, Southern Gospel, Amish community
- Lebanon - Home of Cracker Barrel
- Lynchburg - Home of world-famous Jack Daniel's Distillery
- Manchester
- Monteagle - Located along the edges of the picturesque Cumberland Plateau
- Mount Juliet - City Between the Lakes
- Murfreesboro - Location of Civil War Stones River Battlefield, and also home to Middle Tennessee State University
- Sewanee - Home to the beautiful University of the South
- Smyrna
- Tracy City - where a dead man was elected mayor
- Tullahoma - Location of the NASA Arnold Engineering Center
- White House
- Waverly
- Winchester - Nearby Tim's Ford Lake offers recreational activities
Other destinations
- The Natchez Trace Parkway crosses through Middle Tennessee. It begins in Nashville and continues south through Wayne County where it enters Alabama. The road continues all the way to Natchez, Mississippi where it ends. The stretch through Middle Tennessee is often regarded as the most beautiful portion of the road. There are numerous overlooks, hiking trails, and waterfalls in the beautiful scenery of the rolling, Tennessee hills.
- Lake Barkley
- Land Between the Lakes
See
- Tennessee Wineries. Visit at least one of the more than 20 wineries in Tennessee. Here in Middle Tennessee are these: Beachaven Vineyards & Winery (Clarksville), Sumner Crest Winery (Portland), Red Barn Winery & Vineyards (Lafayette), Beans Creek Winery (Manchester), Keg Springs Winery (Hampshire), Holly Ridge Winery and Vineyard (Livingston), Highland Manor Winery (Jamestown) and Stonehaus Winery, Inc. (Crossville)
- Meriwether Lewis National Monument or Grinder's Stand, east of Hohenwald along the Natchez Trace, grave and reconstructed inn where it is believed Meriwether Lewis took his life.
- State Historic Rock House, in Sparta, is a historic way station along a wagon road between Nashville and Knoxville circa the 1830s where Andrew Jackson once stopped, and near the town of Sparta that nearly became Tennessee's state capital.
- Cumberland Caverns, east of Manchester, is the 2nd largest cave in Tennessee, with a chandelier from the Lowes Metropolitan Theater in New York City.
Drink
Visit the Microbrewery at Yazoo in Nashville. Take the tour get a growler
Go next
- East Tennessee - The Eastern Grand Division of Tennessee with valleys and ridges plus the Allegheny Mountains
- West Tennessee - The Western Grand Division extends west from the Tennessee River and is the northern boundary of the Mississippi Delta cultural region.
Nearby
Adairville
City / town · 47 mi away
Franklin
City / town · 27 listings · 55 mi away
Russellville
City / town · 12 listings · 59 mi away
Auburn
City / town · 6 listings · 62 mi away
Hopkinsville
City / town · 6 listings · 65 mi away
Lewisburg
City / town · 68 mi away
Scottsville
City / town · 8 listings · 69 mi away
Elkmont
City / town · 1 listings · 74 mi away
My experience
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