I can hear the late Casey Kasem’s lead in on Top 40 right now: “At number 9 this week is a city that is more well known for producing top ten hits from country artists than for reaching the top ten itself: Coming in one spot above Rome, Nashville is no. 9 on Lonely Planet’s Top 25 Destinations in the World for 2016.”
Music City made the list in Lonely Planet’s book published in October called Best Travel in 2016, available for purchase now. . Here is the complete list of the top ten:
- Kotor, Montenegro
- Quito, Ecuador
- Dublin
- George Town, Malaysia
- Rotterdam, the Netherlands
- Mumbai, India
- Fremantle, Australia
- Manchester, U.K.
- Nashville
- Rome
Nashville also made Business Insider’s list of the “Hottest U.S. Cities for 2016,” sharing top honors with the likes of Austin, Texas, Cambridge, Massachusetts and Atlanta, Georgia. This should come as no big surprise for those of us are not transplants, as we have come to appreciate the finer things that Nashville has to offer. From its world-renowned full scale reproduction of the Classical Parthenon, to the musically famous RCA Studio B, Quonset Hut, Tootsie’s, Grand Ole Opry and Ryman Auditorium, all the way up to the Bat Building. The city has always had its charm. That charm was somewhat locally contained until the ABC drama series Nashville begin airing a few years ago (thanks to our friends over at the Music City Music Council). Then all hell broke loose. After that, the food critic for the New York Times, penned her widely read article in August of this year, 36 Hours in Nashville: The Food Scene. TripAdvisor also identified Nashville on one of the US cities with the greatest increase in interest from international travelers. Suddenly, Nashville is busting at the seams and everyone wants a piece of the moon pie, You can view many of Nashville’s recent accolades at the Visit Music City website maintained by the Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp, which produced the following video: