Arriving at Tupelo Regional Airport in Tupelo means nearby cities such as Oxford, Corinth, and Columbus are all an easy drive away. Tupelo is the birthplace of Elvis Presley and the headquarters town of the Natchez Trace Parkway, with a tidy downtown of brick storefronts, music venues, and diners. The feel is small-city Southern, where people still talk about the 1936 tornado, the hardware store where Elvis bought his first guitar, and the right way to cook a dough burger.

Standout experiences around Tupelo: - Tour the two-room shotgun house where Elvis was born and the museum next door - Stop by Tupelo Hardware, where a young Elvis chose a guitar over a rifle - Order a dough burger at Johnnie's Drive-In, open since 1945 - Drive a stretch of the Natchez Trace Parkway and visit its headquarters visitor center - See bison and elk at Tupelo Buffalo Park and Zoo - Walk or bike the trails at Veterans Park and Ballard Park - Join the Tupelo Elvis Festival each June for tribute shows downtown - Fish or camp at Tombigbee and Trace state parks

Tupelo is an easy launch point for north Mississippi. Oxford, with Ole Miss, Rowan Oak, and the Square, is about an hour west; Corinth and its Civil War interpretive center are an hour north; and Columbus and its antebellum homes are about an hour south. Memphis is just under two hours. Sweet tea and catfish are givens, and the Natchez Trace is at its best in spring when the dogwoods bloom and in October when the hardwoods turn.