Panama City Beach
We stayed near the beach near Panama City Beach but never made it into town. The beach was our destination! And it was a great beach for relaxing and walking. Not busy at all.
We stayed near the beach near Panama City Beach but never made it into town. The beach was our destination! And it was a great beach for relaxing and walking. Not busy at all.
Orange Beach wasn’t really our kind of place. Too many high rises. Too much traffic. The beach and the nearby state park are beautiful though.
We found Bay Saint Louis a charming, low key coastal town with a surprisingly nice beach.
Natchez has loads of interesting old houses and is a nice town to wander around.
Natchez is the southern terminus of the Natchez Trace Parkway. It has lots of old houses and B&Bs and is great for walking.
I’ve always been a bit of a Civil War buff and jumped at the chance to visit Vicksburg while we were nearby. We didn’t make it to town. The military park was absorbing.
Stops on the Natchez Trace Parkway between Tupelo and Jackson are mostly historical. Cole Creek has a nice walk through a tupelo/cypress swamp.
The key draw for us in Oxford was the walk through Bailey’s Woods to Rowan Oak, where William Faulkner lived. We understand the hype. It’s a bit of wilderness in the city.
The Natchez Trace from Florence to Tupelo includes a couple of interesting nature walks. A short detour to a state park nets you a restroom and a swinging bridge.
The Natchez Trace Parkway from Franklin to Florence has some of the more dramatic scenery on the route, including two waterfalls.