Looking for a weekend getaway? These 10 destinations are just a short drive from Memphis
John Beifuss- Weekend getaways are becoming more popular than long vacations.
- This article suggests 10 destinations within driving distance of Memphis.
- The destinations offer a variety of activities, from historical sites to outdoor adventures.
Do people still take traditional summer vacations?
Sure, they do. But these days, even the kids are over-scheduled. So for many folks, weekend getaways are more likely — or at least more likely to be frequent — than old-school, days-long road trips.
Here are 10 suggestions for weekend trips from Memphis. This list is by no means definitive — we easily could have cited 50 destinations, maybe even 100. But these 10 places represent a nice starter set, for individuals, couples and families alike.
For purposes of this list we've avoided the mega-destinations, like St. Louis, New Orleans and Nashville proper, as well as some of the more familiar smaller cities, such as Clarksdale and Oxford (although Hot Springs is here).
So fill 'er up, buckle up and fire up that GPS. Which will never be a beauty-of-the-road Bruce Springsteen lyric, but you get the picture.
Giant City State Park, Illinois
A three-hour drive from Memphis, this relatively unsung Southern Illinois gem near is notable for its so-called "Giant City Streets" — huge bluffs of sandstone, dating back some 12,000 years, which is about when human beings also reached this area of the continent.
Large sandstone structures and boulders highlight the numerous hiking trails (some of which are mellow and easy) that crisscross the park's 4,000 acres; accommodations include six cabins constructed in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps, and the historic and comfortable Giant City Lodge, with dining room and bar.
The quaint nearby town of Makanda also is worth a visit.
For more information, visit dnr.illinois.gov.
Greenwood, Mississippi
Two hours south of Memphis, beyond the more familiar and tourist-centered town of Clarksdale (which everyone should visit), Greenwood — which styles itself as "The Heart & Soul of the Delta" — is rich with history, good and bad.
The grave of Robert Johnson, the influential bluesman who was reputed to have sold his soul to the devil at a crossroads near Clarksdale, is located at Little Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Greenwood. A statue of 14-year-old civil rights martyr Emmett Till is in Greenwood's Rail Spike Park, about nine miles south of the Money, Mississippi, grocery store location, where the 1955 incident that led to Emmett's murder took place. Not far from there is the Tallahatchie Bridge, mentioned in Bobbie Gentry's hit "Ode to Billie Joe." Greenwood also offers a tour of locations featured in the movie "The Help," which was filmed there in 2010.
As far as dining goes, the legendary Lusco's restaurant in Greenwood closed down, with a new location now open in Taylor, Mississippi; but Fan and Johnny's is still in business on Main Street, near the Yazoo River, which bisects the town, and just down the street from the luxurious Alluvian hotel.
For more information, visit visitgreenwood.com.
The Hermitage and Nashville Shores, Tennessee
When is a trip to Nashville not a trip to Nashville? When you make it all about the Hermitage and environs.
Devote part of the trip to the Hermitage, which calls itself "The Home of the People's President": the Davidson County estate of Andrew Jackson, seventh president of the United States. Then take the kids (and your forever-young self) to nearby Nashville Shores, a water park, campground and "lakeside resort" on Percy Priest Lake that features such colorfully named aquatic attractions as "Suntan Lagoon," "Wacky Pond," the "Tennessee Twisters" water slides and "Kowabunga Beach," not to mention ziplines and other harrowing attractions.
Needless to say, there's vittles and lodging aplenty, even without venturing into Music City proper.
For more information, visit thehermitage.com and nashvilleshores.com.
Hot Springs, Arkansas
In the 1930s, its famous thermal baths attracted such gangsters as Al Capone and Lucky Luciano; today, Hot Springs remains a popular tourist destination and must-visit for Memphians, even if its storied speakeasies are now classic and curated cocktail bars.
Located about 190 miles west of Memphis, the city's "Bathhouse Row" showcases historic buildings and gardens that complement reputedly therapeutic springs and mineral water baths that since 1832 have been preserved as a park by the federal government; one bathhouse, the Hale, is now a hotel.
Those who want to get wet on the inside may enjoy the Ohio Club, Arkansas' oldest bar, which counts Mae West and Babe Ruth among its former patrons.
For more information, visit hotsprings.org.
Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky
This park bills itself as "More Than a Cave," which means that claustrophobes as well as spelunkers likely will enjoy a visit to its 52,830 acres, which boast rivers and trails suitable for canoeing, kayaking, biking, hiking, fishing and horseback riding, along with portions of what is believed to be the largest cave system in the world.
Of course, the guided tours of this cave are the main attraction; they are available at many different levels of difficulty, from "Accessible Tours" for those with mobility challenges to "Trog Tours" for kids to strenuous tours for those eager to squeeze and crawl through crevices while dodging stalagmites and ducking stalactites.
Lodging is plentiful; folks who want to luxuriate in comfort after spelunking in the dark want to check out the Grand Victorian Inn in Park City, Kentucky.
For more information, visit nps.gov/maca.
Mountain View, Arkansas
Home of the annual Arkansas Folk Festival (held in April), Mountain View — a less-than-three-hour-drive from Memphis — is "famous for the preservation of folkways and traditional music," according to the city website.
Open April through October, its Ozark Folk Center State Park "offers visitors an opportunity to watch artisans work in its Craft Village; to stroll through the Heritage Herb Garden; and to hear live Southern mountain music, performed on such instruments as fiddle, banjo, guitar, mandolin, dulcimer and autoharp.
For a more rugged experience, the 50-mile Syllamo Mountain Bike Trail, which winds through the Ozark National Forest, is nearby.
For more information, visit arkansas.com/mountain-view.
New Madrid, Missouri
Business executive turned self-styled disaster prognosticator Iben Browning somehow touched off region-wide anxiety in 1990, when he predicted that a major earthquake would rock the New Madrid Fault in December, with calamitous consequences for Memphis and other cities and towns along the seismic zone. Fortunately, the temblor was a no-show, but the history of the fault line and its earthquakes — including the ones that created nearby Reelfoot Lake in 1812 — is chronicled at the New Madrid Historical Museum, one of multiple attractions in the so-called Missouri Bootheel.
New Madrid also boasts an eight-mile "River Walk and Observation Deck," which combines shopping with scenic views of the Mississippi River's "Kentucky Bend," and the Hunter-Dawson State Historic Site, a preserved antebellum mansion.
Meanwhile, Taster's Restaurant offers "a quintessential American dining experience with a touch of Southern charm," along with "renowned milkshakes," according to various online commenters.
For more information, visit new-madrid.mo.us.
'The Shoals,' Alabama
Stacked almost on top of each other, about 150 miles east of Memphis, Florence and Muscle Shoals are musical meccas — and ideal destinations for blues and rock aficionados who already have experienced Stax and Sun. In fact, two of Memphis' most celebrated music-makers — W.C. Handy and Sam Phillips — were born in Florence; meanwhile, Muscle Shoals bills itself as "The Hit Recording Capital of the World."
Those hits boasted the "Muscle Shoals Sound," which was created at Rick Hall's FAME Studios and at other nearby recording centers, where the in-the-pocket-prowess of such staff musicians as the famous "Swampers" (name-checked in the Lynyrd Skynyrd hit "Sweet Home Alabama") lured such artists as Aretha Franklin, the Rolling Stones and the Osmond Brothers to North Alabama. Visitors can tour the still active FAME, along with such other sites as the nearby Alabama Music Hall of Fame in Tuscumbia, and the "W.C. Handy Birthplace, Museum & Library" in Florence.
For those interested in a less sonic artform, the 1939 Rosenbaum House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, also is open to visitors.
For more information, visit visitflorenceal.com and cityofmuscleshoals.com.
Sparta, Tennessee
A 4-hour-and-37-minute drive from Memphis (per Google Maps), Sparta bills itself as "The Playground of Tennessee!," with "more caves, waterfalls, and scenic overlooks per square mile than anywhere else in the United States."
A center of "adventure tourism" near the Cumberland Plateau and the Falling Water and Caney Fork rivers, Sparta offers numerous camping opportunities, plus lodging options that range from luxury hotels to rustic cabins and a "bed-and-barn."
With so many adventurers about, Sparta also boasts multiple coffee emporiums, tea rooms, pizzerias, shops, a microbrewery, a winery and more.
For more information, visit exploresparta.com.
Tupelo, Mississippi
Suffering from Elvis overkill? Perhaps your appreciation of Memphis' most celebrated celebrity might be refreshed by a visit to the childhood home of the Boy Who Would Be King, i.e., the "Elvis Presley Birthplace and Museum," the two-room shotgun house where Vernon and Gladys lived when Elvis entered the world on Jan. 8, 1935.
In fact, Tupelo has built its tourism appeal on Elvis; the city touts an "Elvis Triangle" that consists of Presley's birth home; the site of Elvis' famous 1956 "Homecoming" concert; and the Tupelo Hardware Company, where Gladys bought her boy his first guitar.
Reasons to stick around after the Elvis tour include a buffalo park; a trampoline park for kids; and heritage trails chronicling the city's role in the Civil War and the struggle for Civil Rights.
And when you're hungry, hit historic Johnnie's Drive-In, where Elvis himselvis is said to have tucked into the signature "dough burger," described by the restaurant as "a testament to inventive local cuisine... a unique creation that stretches the meat using flour, providing a unique texture and taste while keeping price low."
An easy 115 miles from Memphis, Tupelo is as suitable for a day trip as for a weekend.
For more information, visit tupelo.net.