Mississippi Road Trip

Best Memphis to New Orleans Road Trip Stops

A Memphis to New Orleans road trip is one of the great American drives with music, rivers, history, and food at every turn. While you can push through in a single day, take your time to explore places to see in Mississippi.

Stop at the National Civil Rights Museum before leaving Memphis, then let Highway 61 pull you south through wide stretches of farmland and small Delta towns. Clarksdale is worth a detour; this is the heart of blues country, where you can catch live music or stand at the legendary crossroads of Highways 61 and 49 before rolling on.

Where to Stop: Vicksburg

Roughly halfway between Memphis and New Orleans, Vicksburg earns more than a quick exit ramp. Break up your drive here and you’ll find a city that rewards the extra time.

Start with Vicksburg National Military Park, where 1,800 acres of rolling countryside hold over 1,400 monuments and memorials marking one of the Civil War’s most decisive sieges. The USS Cairo Museum, free with park admission, tells the remarkable story of the ironclad gunboat raised from the Yazoo River after a century underwater. History buffs could easily spend a full morning here.

Downtown, the Jesse Brent Lower Mississippi River Museum offers a fascinating look at river life, including a walk-through replica of a Mississippi towboat and a working river control room simulation. Admission is free. Afterward, stroll along the riverfront floodwall, where a series of large-scale murals painted trace Vicksburg’s past in vivid color. It’s a surprisingly moving outdoor gallery.

Washington Street brings you galleries, local boutiques, and dining. For a rooftop drink with river views as the afternoon light shifts over the water, 10 South Rooftop Restaurant and Bar delivers. Key City Brewery is another local favorite worth a stop. There’s a surprising variety of things to do in Vicksburg MS!

Overnight at Oak Hall, a Boutique Hotel in Vicksburg Mississippi with a private pool in a historic residential neighborhood that’s a world away from the interstate.

Continuing south, Natchez offers antebellum homes and bluff views before the landscape begins its slow Louisiana shift into moss-draped trees, wider skies, and the first hints of Creole architecture. By the time New Orleans appears, you’ll have experienced some of the best things to do in Mississippi as a couple.