Your Next Adventure
Your Next Adventure
Natchez Trace Bike Tour
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Trip Overview
Our Natchez Trace bike tour is a perfect late-season or early-season cycling destination on quiet Mississippi roads — with added bonuses for history buffs (including a tour of Vicksburg). Enjoy famous southern hospitality, trees festooned with Spanish moss, and views of the mighty Mississippi River. The Natchez Trace Parkway is a restricted-access road with no commercial traffic built by the U.S. Park Service in the 1930s to honor this historic trail and road. The Trace figures prominently as a pathway in local American Indian history — from the mound-building societies beginning as early as the first century A.D. to the shrinking territories of the Chickasaw and Creek tribes prior to the Trail of Tears. In the early 1800s, boatmen floated goods down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to Natchez, Mississippi, where their boats were sold for lumber. Then they made an over 400-mile trek back to the Ohio Valley on the Natchez Trace. This corridor has been preserved, and now it’s one of the premier cycling destinations in the U.S.
You cycle most of the southern one-third of this 444-mile parkway — and visit fascinating rural historical plantations and ruins. Enjoy two nights in Natchez, MS, and one at an inn situated in a wildlife refuge. The final two nights are in Jackson, MS, where you ride more of the Natchez Trace and visit the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum. You experience rural life, delicious southern cooking and historical landmarks on this iconic bicycle tour.
Surfaces for this tour: 100% Paved
Itinerary
From start to finish, check out the route.
Meet your leaders at the SpringHill Suites in Ridgeland, Mississippi, at 8 a.m. on Sunday, and head out on the Natchez Trace Parkway for your first ride. As you pass through Clinton, stop by the visitor center museum highlighting the history of the Trace and of Clinton. As you continue south, you see the historic location of the Battle of Raymond, where General Ulysses S. Grant’s troops clashed with the confederate brigade of General John Gregg on May 8, 1863. Pedal through history at Dean’s Stand where General Grant made his headquarters after the Battle of Raymond. And see Red Bluff Stand, which previously served as the boundary between the Choctaw tribe and three different nations: France, Spain, and the U.S. A picnic lunch is included.
Finish the day with a walk to Rocky Springs, an abandoned town from the late 1800s. Then shuttle to Natchez for your first night in this state's oldest town. Dinner tonight is overlooking the Mississippi River with some local Mississippi- and Louisiana-style seafood options.
Today you explore Natchez and the surrounding countryside. After taking time to enjoy the hotel in the morning, you cycle to sites preserved by the National Park Service and others — including the Melrose Estate, which was one of the first plantation-style estates built inside a southern city.
You also have a special guided tour through Natchez and a visit to the Natchez Museum of African-American History and Culture. Plus, we provide lunch at a Greek Revival cottage B&B.
If you’re looking for longer miles, you can also do an out-and-back ride on the southern end of the Trace. This is the Deep South! Spanish moss hangs from the trees, and the scenery varies from hardwood forest to open pastures and cotton fields. Dinner tonight is on your own, with a wide variety of restaurants to choose from in Natchez.
Head north this morning on the Natchez Trace and then onto rural side roads. Explore some of the historical artifacts along the Trace, including Emerald Mound — the second largest Indian mound site in the U.S. Ride past Alcorn State University, founded in 1871 by the Reconstruction-era legislature to provide higher education to freedmen. A lunch is included at the historic Old Country Store in Lorman. Along the route, visit the Windsor Ruins — built in the mid-1850s — a plantation that once sprawled over 2,600 acres, which now appears like a Roman ruin, thanks to the 23 still-standing columns. Your home for the night is the Canemount Plantation Inn, a historic 1850s house and grounds that have recently been converted into a B&B. Dinner is at the inn.
The riding today brings you farther north along the Natchez Trace back toward Jackson. See the charming town of Port Gibson and enjoy the quiet scenery on the way back to Rocky Springs. You also visit the Sunken Trace, a preserved section of the original route, where you can easily imagine a lone horseman appearing around the bend on his arduous wilderness journey. A picnic lunch is included. End the day at the edge of Jackson, with a short shuttle to the most elegant Inn in town. Relax and enjoy the privacy of this small, stately inn or explore town in late afternoon and visit sites such as the Eudora Welty Museum. Dinner tonight is on your own in Jackson, with many choices available.
Today’s route begins with a shuttle to the famous town of Vicksburg, nicknamed the Key to the South ... as it was the location of a critical Civil War battle. You travel through history on a private tour to hear about this important area. Next, you visit the USS Cairo Museum and learn about the first American ironclad warship — built at the beginning of the U.S. Civil War. After lunch, you can enjoy historic walking paths through town while visiting museums, such as where Coca-Cola bottling first started ... or enjoy the beautiful Vicksburg Bridge over the Mississippi River and explore the funky shops there. At the end of the ride, you shuttle back to Jackson, where you have a final celebration dinner at the Fairview Inn.
Your final morning features a visit to the Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum — two new interconnected museums that take you through the sweep of Mississippi history and the state’s role as ground zero in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. These museums help put your visit to Mississippi into a more recent historical context. If you prefer to ride, your last day of cycling features an out-and-back ride north on the Trace, where you’ll have one more chance to enjoy the quiet and scenic beauty of riding on the Parkway. Riders and museum goers may have lunch at their leisure, and we offer a shuttle to lunch options nearby.
Map
Dates & Pricing
Prices are per person based on double occupancy (2 people in one room). Single supplement for private room is listed at the top of this page. A deposit of $750 holds your reservation for most tours. For tours less than 6 days, the deposit is $500.
What’s Included
5 nights’ lodging, 5 breakfasts, 5 lunches (you are on your own for 1 lunch in Jackson), 3 dinners (you are on your own for 1 dinner in Natchez and 1 dinner in Jackson), and 2 happy hours. Entrance fee to the Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, and a guided tour of Natchez and of Vicksburg. We also include detailed maps and itineraries, experienced guides, full van support — plus use of a bike and helmet. Airfare is not included.
Dates & Pricing
Prices are per person based on double occupancy (2 people in one room). Single supplement for private room is listed at the top of this page. A deposit of $750 holds your reservation for most tours. For tours less than 6 days, the deposit is $500.
What’s Included
5 nights’ lodging, 5 breakfasts, 5 lunches (you are on your own for 1 lunch in Jackson), 3 dinners (you are on your own for 1 dinner in Natchez and 1 dinner in Jackson), and 2 happy hours. Entrance fee to the Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, and a guided tour of Natchez and of Vicksburg. We also include detailed maps and itineraries, experienced guides, full van support — plus use of a bike and helmet. Airfare is not included.
Inns
Where you stay along the way.
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Gallery
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