Grand Ole Opry
Experience the birthplace of great country stars dating all the way back to 1925. Find yourself line dancing, exploring the Country Music Hall of Fame, and performing at the very place these stars were born.
52+ years of custom educational travel · Trusted by school groups in all 50 states · SYTA, IATAN, ARC, and NTA accredited
Nearly every name in country music has stood in the wooden circle at the center of the Opry stage, and the Grand Ole Opry has been broadcasting live from Nashville since 1925. Your group performs on the plaza outside the Opry House as the audience arrives for the night, then heads inside to watch the show.
The Challenge
Nashville is an easy city to visit and a difficult one to plan a group trip in, largely because the elements a group wants there are arranged separately, by different people, on different timelines. A leader who takes it on alone tends to find each piece manageable on its own and the combination considerably less so, particularly when the Opry’s calendar is still filling in while a school year or a performance season is asking for a commitment.
The planning is ours to carry, and the decisions stay yours. We help you put your custom itinerary together, and the venues, the confirmations, and the order of the days are handled on our end. What your group ends up with is the trip you actually wanted rather than the one that happened to be available.
A few of our favorite trips
Show Choir
Perform on the plaza as the crowd files in for the show, take a clinic with a vocal coach who spends the rest of the year with touring artists, and sing downtown on a night the bars are full.
Dance Group
Rehearse with a choreographer who works on the shows that come out of this city, perform on the plaza as the audience heads in for the night, and learn to line dance in a downtown hall where people do it every night of the week.
Concert Ensemble
Work through a session with musicians who record here for a living, play the plaza before the audience heads inside, and spend an afternoon in a studio where records your students already know were cut.
How It Works
Custom sounds like more work. With us, it’s less.
1
Discovery Call
Tell us about your group, your rough dates, and how many are traveling. A short conversation to get started.
2
Custom proposal
We send a full proposal with your itinerary, venues, and transparent pricing.
3
Revisions
Change anything you want. Swap a venue, adjust a day, or shift the budget. We revise until it fits.
4
Enrollment
We handle signups, payments, and traveler communication so you do not have to.
5
Support on the trip
Your planner and a 24/7 emergency line are with your group the entire trip.
CUSTOM ITINERARY
What a real trip looks like:
Here is how a four day trip to Nashville can come to life.
The trip that makes an impact
The Experience
Your group hears a fiddle player on the Opry stage one night and spends the next morning across a room from someone who plays sessions for a living, taking a note on their own material from a musician who will be back at work that afternoon. Students come home able to hear an arrangement rather than just a song, catching the harmony choice and the reason a line sits where it does, and directors tell us that shows up in the first rehearsal back, when a section fixes something without being asked twice.
For groups that perform, the plaza is the part leaders talk about for years. The crowd walking into the Opry House came for someone else, and holding even a portion of it is earned rather than given. Most come off that stage steadier than they got on it, and the video a parent shoots from the plaza tends to be the one that circulates through the program all season.
Custom tours since 1974
Why ET Tours?
No two of our trips look quite the same, because we start with you. Tell us what you’re hoping your group takes away from it, and we’ll shape the trip around that, right down to the dates that work for your calendar.
The planner who quotes your trip stays with you through it. The same person who designs your proposal makes your revisions and can travel with your group on the road. You get one point of contact who knows your trip because they built it with you.
For families, that means a trip run by people who have done this for decades. We’ve been planning group travel for over 50 years, we’re accredited by SYTA, IATAN, ARC, and NTA, and every detail from transportation to accommodations is vetted before your group ever leaves. Our custom pricing is transparent, with no upsells and no surprises, and payment plans are available so cost never has to be the reason anyone stays home.
The Difference a Custom Trip Makes
With a packaged tour, you get a fixed schedule and it’s on you to make your group fit it. We’d rather do it the other way around, building the trip around your group and what they want out of it, so every day feels like it belongs there.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
FAQs
How far ahead should we book?
Six to nine months is comfortable for a Nashville trip. Plaza dates are limited and follow the Opry’s own calendar, so the earlier your window is set, the more show nights stay open to you. It is also worth knowing that the Opry moves downtown to the Ryman Auditorium for part of the winter, which changes what a trip in those months looks like, and we go through that before any dates are held.
How does the plaza performance work?
Your group takes the outdoor stage in front of the Opry House while the audience arrives for that night’s show, so the set runs in the window before the doors close. Sets are short by design, and we confirm the length, the start time, and the technical specifications for the stage once your date is held.
What happens if the weather turns?
The plaza is an outdoor stage, and spring and fall in Nashville are usually cooperative but not guaranteed. We tell you the contingency for your specific date before you travel, so nobody is finding out what happens next on the afternoon of the show.
What does our group need to bring?
Instruments, uniforms, and anything specific to your set travel with you, and that space is accounted for in the transportation from the start. We send the plaza stage details ahead of the trip so your director knows what is provided and what to plan around before you arrive.
How do families pay?
Each family enrolls and pays us directly, so nothing runs through the group leader. Payment plans are available, and the price is set at booking with no upsells added later.
Can parents travel with the group?
Yes, and many do. Family travelers can be added to the group booking for hotels, transportation, and show tickets, and they are able to watch the plaza set before heading inside with everyone else.
Who supervises travelers in the evening?
Evenings are scheduled and supervised the same as the rest of the day. Travelers move as a group between the venue and the hotel, and a named tour manager is with you for the whole trip alongside your own chaperones. On the downtown nights, the rooms we use take all-ages groups.
Safety & Support
Every group travels with named tour managers, vetted transportation, and vetted accommodations. A 24/7 emergency line reaches our team at any hour of the trip. From enrollment onward we keep travelers informed directly, so everyone always knows the schedule and who to call. We are accredited by SYTA, IATAN, ARC, and NTA. Full details, insurance information, and our incident protocol are on our Safety page.
Request a custom proposal
Tell us what you teach and where you want to go, we’ll handle everything else.