Nashville International Airport ranks among the best airports in the United States, according to the 2025 USA TODAY 10BEST Readers’ Choice Awards.
BNA landed in the top 10 nationwide for best airport bar, art, shopping, grab-and-go food and best overall in the large airport category.
“BNA connects Nashville to the world like never before,” the 10BEST award states. “During a layover at Nashville International Airport (BNA), travelers can snag a wealth of music-themed souvenirs from storefronts. Plus, BNA features art exhibits made by a creative and culturally diverse batch of local artists, as well as live music performed on four separate stages.”
The list celebrates the leaders in travel, lifestyle, food and beverage across the country. Categories range from best airline or resort to niche topics like best haunted house or best gluten-free bakery.
So how exactly do the awards work? Each week of the year, USA TODAY selects a panel of industry experts to nominate their favorites in a given category. The public is then given four weeks to vote on what is truly the favorite.
Last month, the topic was Best in Airports, and USA TODAY announced its results on Oct. 15.
Aviation experts nominated BNA for almost every category. It placed in the top for five out of ten of them.
More: USA TODAY’s 10BEST U.S. airports
Best Airport Bar: The Titans Press Box
The Titans Press Box opened in the Nashville International Airport’s central marketplace on Sept. 25, 2023.
Nashville airport’s Titans Press Box nabbed No. 1 on the list of Best Airport Bars, outranking other top spots like St. Louis’s Three Kings Public House, Miami’s Bacardi Mojito Bar and Memphis Made Brewing Company.
The Titans Press Box is the first and only licensed bar and restaurant concept from the Tennessee Titans. The National Football League team partnered with acclaimed Strategic Hospitality — of The Catbird Seat, Bastion and Kisser fame— to launch it in 2023.
Located just beyond security in the central marketplace of the terminal, The Titans Press Box serves game day classics every day.
Food menu items include buffalo wings, nachos, cheeseburgers, patty melts and more. Then there are the cocktails: a frozen rum lemonade called the Titans Blue Freeze, a rose margarita, an Earl Grey tea-infused gin concoction and The 22nd Element with Nelson’s Green Brier Bourbon, lemon and orange.
Art at Nashville airport awarded
A new piece of art, “Twine With My Mingles,” is made by weaving more than 100,000 event wristbands and is on display in the newly expanded Concourse D at Nashville International Airport Tuesday, July 1, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. The Concourse D extension includes additional gates, artwork and retail and is part of the airport’s New Horizon project to meet future passenger demand.
BNA took the bronze in the Best Airport for Art category, falling in behind Tampa International Airport and Indianapolis International Airport.
The Nashville airport is filled with the work of dozens of local Tennessee artists, ranging in medium from sculptures to mosaics to paintings. Since 1988, BNA’s Arts at the Airport program has worked to saturate BNA with representations of Tennessee’s creativity, culture and spirit.
Jacob Hashimoto’s “The Unscalable Rampart of Time,” the hanging kaleidoscope of washi paper and bamboo kites that cascades down by the escalators in BNA’s main lobby, is among the most notable pieces. Another is the colorful, collaged mural of Music City in the International Arrivals Facility, “Nashville’s Rhythmic Skies” by Eric Mobe Bass.
Best airport for shopping: Nashville
Retailer Daniel Diamond in the newly expanded Concourse D at Nashville International Airport Tuesday, July 1, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. The Concourse D extension includes additional gates, artwork and retail and is part of the airport’s New Horizon project to meet future passenger demand.
When it came to the best airport shopping in the country, BNA landed the No. 1 spot on the list, topping out other major airports like Denver and Orlando.
BNA has a distinctly local focus in its concessions and retail options, including Nashville brands like Reese Witherspoon’s boutique Draper James, Green Hills independent bookstore Parnassus Books, The Grand Ole Opry and the Country Music Hall of Fame.
With Nashville-themed merchandise, Tennessee whiskey and rhinestoned Daniel Diamond jackets for sale inside the airport, tourists have an easy time picking up Music City keepsakes on their way in and out of town.
Nashville best airport for grab-and-go food: 400 Degrees Hot Chicken
Not everyone can afford the time it takes to have a sit-down meal in the airport. Whether you got stuck in traffic arriving at BNA, scheduled a tight layover or just feel like eating on the move, USA TODAY readers voted Nashville’s 400 Degrees Hot Chicken as the No. 2 Best Airport Grab-and-Go Food.
Located in Concourse C between Barista Parlour and Na’Sah’s Nail Salon, 400 Degrees offers quick hot chicken, flatbread pizzas and burgers.
The original location is in Nashville’s Bordeaux neighborhood and has been featured on both The Food Network and The Cooking Channel.
Nashville among best large U.S. airports
According to USA TODAY readers, BNA is the second-best large airport in the country. The top spot went to Tampa International Airport.
Meanwhile, the top ten was rounded out by Denver International Airport, Orlando International Airport, Salt Lake City International Airport, Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport and Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport, Miami International Airport and San Francisco International Airport.
Which airports beat out BNA in other categories?
There were only five categories that BNA did not place in, two of which it didn’t qualify for. Those were:
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Best Airport for Dining, which Tampa International Airport won
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Best Airport Lounge, which Dallas Fort Worth International Airport’s Capital One Lounge won
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Best Airport Sit-Down Restaurant, which Landry’s Seafood in Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport won
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Best Resort Airport, which Sarasota Bradenton International Airport won
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Best Small Airport, which Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan, won
Hadley Hitson covers business news for The Tennessean. She can be reached at hhitson@gannett.com. To support her work, subscribe to The Tennessean.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville airport nabs top places in USA TODAY 10BEST Awards
