Visiting Mississippi on a Budget
Mississippi rewards budget travelers willing to look past the casino billboards — its best stops are free or nearly so. The capital, Jackson, has a remarkable run of free museums: the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum (free Sundays), the always-free Old Capitol and Mississippi Museum of Art, and the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Home National Monument. On the river bluffs to the southwest, Natchez and Vicksburg layer antebellum mansions, the free Forks of the Road slave-market site, and the Vicksburg battlefield. The Gulf Coast — Biloxi, Gulfport, and artsy Ocean Springs — pairs free white-sand beaches and the Gulf Islands seashore with lighthouses, aquariums, and Walter Anderson's visionary art. Inland, Tupelo guards Elvis's birthplace, Hattiesburg the 'Hub City' murals and zoo, and Meridian its carousels and music museums. Spring and fall are ideal; summers are hot and humid.
Cities in Mississippi
Pick a city to see free attractions, cheap activities, and budget travel tips.
Jackson, Mississippi
Mississippi's capital is a budget powerhouse, anchored by an extraordinary run of free and cheap museums. The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum is free on Sundays, while the Old Capitol Museum, the free Mississippi Museum of Art, the Eudora Welty House garden, and the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Home National Monument cost nothing. Add the $9 Museum of Natural Science, the $8 Agriculture & Forestry Museum's living-history farm, the $13 Children's Museum, and the free Governor's Mansion and Fondren Arts District, and a long weekend barely dents a budget. LeFleur's Bluff State Park ($2) rounds out the green space.
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Natchez, Mississippi
One of America's oldest cities, Natchez sits on a dramatic 200-foot bluff above the Mississippi River and is packed with free history. The Bluff Park overlooks the river for free; the Natchez National Historical Park, Natchez Trace Parkway, and Forks of the Road slave-market memorial are all free National Park Service sites. Add the historic 1822 Natchez City Cemetery, the 1730s Grand Village of the Natchez Indians, the Natchez Under-the-Hill Historic District, the Romanesque St. Mary Basilica, the 800-year-old Emerald Mound (8 acres of Mississippian earthworks), and the 1780 Mount Locust house — most of a long weekend can stay free.
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Vicksburg, Mississippi
Vicksburg sits on the bluffs above the Mississippi River — the spot where Grant's 47-day siege in 1863 broke the Confederacy in two and gave the Union control of the river. The 1,800-acre Vicksburg National Military Park surrounding town has 1,300+ monuments along its 16-mile driving tour, the raised Civil War ironclad USS Cairo and her recovered artifacts, and the 17,000-grave National Cemetery — all covered by one $20 weekly vehicle pass. Downtown Washington Street adds the free Lower Mississippi River Museum, the $10 Old Court House, the floodwall's 32 free Riverfront Murals, and the building where Coca-Cola was first bottled in 1894.
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Biloxi, Mississippi
Biloxi anchors the Mississippi Gulf Coast with sugar-white sand, 300 years of layered history, and a budget-friendly lineup well beyond the casinos. Photograph the iconic 1848 Biloxi Lighthouse, walk the free white-sand beach along U.S. 90, and dig into the region's shrimping and oystering past at the $10 Maritime & Seafood Industry Museum. The Frank Gehry–designed Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art ($12) celebrates the eccentric 'Mad Potter of Biloxi,' while Beauvoir ($12) preserves the last home of Jefferson Davis. The free Old Biloxi Cemetery and the multimedia Visitors Center round out a low-cost coastal weekend.
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Gulfport, Mississippi
Gulfport, the coast's working harbor town, mixes free beachfront with cheap family fun. Jones Park sprawls 60 free acres along the water with a splash pad, marina, and replica lighthouse, and sugar-white Gulfport Beach runs right along U.S. 90. The $10 Lynn Meadows Discovery Center fills a 1915 schoolhouse with hands-on play (free last Fridays), and the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies puts on dolphin and sea-lion shows. From the harbor, a ferry runs out to Ship Island, where the free 1860s Fort Massachusetts and an empty barrier-island beach await. Downtown, brick-paved Fishbone Alley adds free public art.
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Tupelo, Mississippi
Tupelo is Elvis country — the King was born here in 1935 — and a budget-friendly base in the Mississippi hills. The Elvis Presley Birthplace centers a 15-acre park you can wander for free (the statue, fountain, and Walk of Life), with the two-room birth house a cheap add. Beyond Elvis, roam among bison at the $11 Tupelo Buffalo Park & Zoo, browse the free GumTree Museum of Art downtown, and stop at the free Natchez Trace Parkway Visitor Center at milepost 266. Free Civil War battlefields at Tupelo and nearby Brices Cross Roads, plus the free Oren Dunn City Museum, round out the weekend.
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Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Hattiesburg, the Pine Belt's 'Hub City,' packs a lot of cheap fun into a college town. The Hattiesburg Zoo ($10) in Kamper Park is a tidy, walkable favorite, and downtown has reinvented itself as a public-art destination — 30-plus murals on the free Public Art Trail and the quirky, free Pocket Museum in an alley behind the Saenger Theatre. History runs deep and free: the African American Military History Museum fills the only surviving WWII USO club built for Black soldiers, and the Mississippi Armed Forces Museum at Camp Shelby is free too. Cap it with the 44-mile Longleaf Trace and USM's free rose garden.
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Meridian, Mississippi
Meridian, once Mississippi's largest city and a great rail hub, has reinvented itself around the arts. The marquee is the Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience — 'The MAX' — celebrating the state's outsized roster of creatives ($14, free first Saturdays). Nearby, Highland Park is free and home to the world's oldest operating Dentzel carousel ($1 a ride), while the Soulé Steam Feed Works preserves a working early-1900s machine shop. Add the free Meridian Museum of Art in the old Carnegie Library, the antebellum Merrehope mansion, the 'Gypsy Queen' grave at free Rose Hill Cemetery, and 3,000-acre Bonita Lakes Park for a full, cheap weekend.
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Ocean Springs, Mississippi
Ocean Springs is the Gulf Coast's artsy heart — a live-oak-shaded town built around the legacy of visionary painter Walter Anderson. The Walter Anderson Museum of Art ($10) anchors a walkable downtown of galleries, indie shops, and the free Community Center murals he painted. Just east, the Gulf Islands National Seashore's free Davis Bayou area offers boardwalks, trails, and a visitor center, linked to town by the free 15.5-mile Live Oaks bike route. Add the free 1890 Charnley-Norwood House — designed by Louis Sullivan and a young Frank Lloyd Wright — and waterfront Fort Maurepas Park for a low-cost coastal day.
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More on Mississippi from TravelCheapUS
In-depth budget travel guides from our companion blog that mention Mississippi.