This is the second part of
Driving in the South Part 1: A Tour From Atlanta to the Great Smoky Mountains, Nashville and Memphis which can be found here.
Memphis to New Orleans via Vicksburg : From Tennessee to Mississippi to Louisiana
Driving directly from Memphis to New Orleans is a 650 km ride on the I-55. It takes about 6 hours. The route is far east off the Mississippi River, the only town you cross is Mississippi’s capital Jackson. A long ride for a single day but possible, anyways it makes an entire day of your holiday only sitting in the car and driving, nothing else.
A bit further west, you can drive in close distance to the Mississippi River and see the Mississippi Delta occasionally.
Vicksburg is an option to stop (see Article on Vicksburg). The first part of the route from Memphis to Vicksburg has several options to stop, all of them smaller towns: Greenwood (Mississippi Delta) and Indianola (B.B. King Museum) can both be reached on highway 49 and 278 (Northern and Southern Route) and highway 82. Greenwood is one hour from Memphis (75 km), Indianola is on the way to Greenwood (about 1/3 of the distance). Driving from north to south on the highway route takes 45 minutes more than the interstate route (anyways it’s even a few km less). Taking the detour to Indianola and Greenwood will cost you two more hours. You cannot avoid taking the same route back and forth and need to calculate an extra 2 hours for this.
For this part of the route, we decided to take the interstate to have more time in Vicksburg. Also considering the next day, we did not feel like driving an extra 2 hours.
The following day, the route leads from Vicksburg to New Orleans. A direct route is available on interstate 55 (330 km, 3 ¼ hours). Anyways, this second part of the route offers so many options; you would miss a lot on the interstate.
South of Vicksburg, a town called Natchez is worth a stop (1 ½ hours, 120 km). Natchez is a former trade hub and enclave for millionaires with many beautiful, well-preserved antebellum mansions. (more information about Natchez here).
Once you have decided to go Natchez, it’s best to stay on the highway for another 120 km. The interstate is far east of Natchez, driving to the interstate would mean driving unnecessarily east although you are indeed heading south.
Once you’ve reached Natchez, you can go back to the interstate. You go east to I-55 and stay on it until you reach New Orleans. Choosing this option means, it takes 4 ½ hours (400 km) to drive from Vicksburg to New Orleans. If you decide to stay on the scenic route, take highway 61 after Natchez till Louisiana’s capital Baton Rouge. This is a good place to stop for a coffee or food.
Baton Rouge is one hour from New Orleans (I-10). On this route, the next stop is Vacherie with its big plantations (see Plantations in the South). Vacherie is easy to reach (exit 187, highway 6, just follow the signs that say Oak Alley Plantation, ca. 15 minutes). I would highly recommend this stop. It’s close to the main route and you should have seen at least one of the big Vacherie plantations.
This is how we did it. We managed to fit everything in a day; it is doable but a tight schedule. We had enough time for the final stop, the Oak Alley Plantation and also for the first stop Natchez. Anyways, you need to leave early on this day. Driving along highway 61 takes a while. Even though it is very little traffic, it’s slow-moving. Anyways, I would do it exactly like this again. I would not want to miss Natchez or Vacherie.
There is another option for this route:
In Natchez, you can go further west (west of the Mississippi river) (highway 15, 105 and interstate 49). This is a way to reach Lafayette and Avery Island 50 km south of Lafayette. Avery Island is the home of Tabasco (the spicy sauce). Moreover, there are tropical gardens in Lafayette. It is the cultural capital of the Acadian Scene (Cajun and Creole). To see this, you need to take another detour. Anyways, this detour will make your route too long for a single day. It makes an 8-hour-route of 700 km (from Vicksburg to New Orleans with stops in Natchez, Lafayette, Avery Island, Baton Rouge and Vacherie). A mere driving time of 8 hours means, we would not have had enough time to see the attractions on the route properly. One option is to shorten the route (leave out Natchez or Lafayette) or stay a night somewhere on the route (maybe Lafayette).
We chose to leave out Lafayette, because it would have taken the longest detour. Vacherie can be reached easily and we did not want to leave out Natchez.
East of Lafayette (close to West Texas), there are a few nature protection areas. If you have the time and decide to stay another night, you can think about visiting these as well.
From New Orleans to Pensacola: Going from Louisiana to Mississippi, Alabama and Florida
After a couple of days in New Orleans, we are now heading to Florida. This article only deals with the route to the Florida border. Just to get a rough impression of what we are talking about: the entire route is as long as 800 kilometers, starting in New Orleans, driving east along the coast till Jacksonville.
I only describe the first 300 kilometers of this route. The rest can be found in the Article on North Florida.
On interstate 10, it takes 3 hours (320 km) to go from New Orleans to Pensacola. The interstate stays close (almost parallel) to the coast all the time (5 to 10 km inbound). Because the interstate is so close to the coast, you can always alternate between interstate and highway 90, which is the coast highway. Pass Christian and Gulfport are spots to enter and exit the interstate. It is also possible to stay on the coast highway (highway 90) the entire time. For this, you need to plan an extra hour (compared to the interstate route). The latest point to go back to the interstate is Mobile in Alabama; you need to go north to Mobile anyways. There is only one bridge leading over the bay. Because you already are on the interstate, you can stay there.
On this route, there are several environmental protected areas: Gulf Island National Seashore and Mississippi Gulf Park in Alabama and Perdido Key in Florida (information about Perdido Key here). Try to stop in at least one of these parks. The ones that can be reached easily are Gulf Island and Perdido Key. You can also think about spending the night in Perdido Key instead of going to Pensacola for that. The former fishing village Mobile is also an option to spend the night.
We drove along the coast highway from Pass Christian until Biloxi, in Biloxi we took the interstate till Pensacola and did Perdido Key the following morning. On this route, there are many beaches, restaurants and coffee shops for lunch, a coffee or dinner are everywhere. Also, you pass by many veterans’ homes. It was a beautiful, cozy day along the coast.
More Information on this tour can be found in part 1 and part 3:
Driving in the South Part 1: A Tour From Atlanta to the Great Smoky Mountains, Nashville and Memphis
A Tour in the Panhandle/Northern Florida can be found here.