Back in April, I traveled down to Tupelo, MS on a work trip with my client Bianca and the blogger group that she’s a part of (Southern Curve Collective). It was a press trip with My Tupelo, the city’s tourism center, and I had the pleasure of documenting their trip.

One of the things that I love about being a photographer that shoots with other lifestyle influencers is that I get to share in the experiences as well and if time permits, I can also capture content for myself. During our 48 hours in Tupelo, we had a full but not too heavy itinerary, so I wanted to share my experience here just in case someone in my community has been thinking about visiting Tupelo, but wasn’t sure where to start. Tupelo is only an hour and a half away from Memphis, so if you live here and were interested in going somewhere for a day trip or a short weekend trip, it’s totally worth the drive.

Here’s what we did:

Located in the center of the Mississippi Hills region, Tupelo has a population of less than 40,000, but it swells by almost 300% daily because of its location, so that means it’s rich in both history and culture. Obviously it’s known for being the birthplace of Elvis, but over the years it’s developed its on unique city style that allows for people to both work and play.

When we first arrived, we checked into the newly opened Hotel Tupelo, which had a simple yet sophisticated design.

After check-in, we headed over to NOON, a fresh fast-dining restaurant. I love places like this because it’s a healthier alternative to traditional fast food, but you can grab it when you’re stretched for time and on the go. I had a Poke Bowl and it was delish!

After lunch, we headed over to Elvis’ Birth Place, which is a museum dedicated to the history of The King and his time there.

We then hopped down to Queen’s Reward Meadery for a tasting. Queen’s Reward is Mississippi’s first meadery; it’s a small batch meadery that makes a wide variety of meads (made from fermented honey, yeast and water) from traditional dry and sweet to fruit-flavored meads including cranberry, pinot and lemonade. a winery or brewery that produces honey wines.

We took a tour of the facility with the owner and sampled a few different drinks, including a slushie! The grounds are designed for you to be able to hang out so imagine doing a tasting here and then relaxing for a bit with friends.

After our tasting, we headed back to our rooms for a quick nap and outfit change. Dinner was at Park Heights, a fine dining restaurant that offers a menu of modern American cuisine including grilled oysters, foie gras, butter poached Alaskan halibut, and prime cuts of beef. The food and drinks were DIVINE, and it was a great way to close out the evening on Day 1.

Day 2 was a little bit slower because there was a random snow storm the night before! Thankfully, the streets were clear, so we headed out for a late breakfast at Butter Bean, a quant little coffee shop. I had Avocado Toast, Fruit and Yogurt Parfait and a Caramel Macchiato but be forewarned: their portions are generous, so I should’ve only ordered one thing. Ha!

The girls had a spa day scheduled at Haven Studio, so while they got their treatments, I took pictures around the space and captured content for them as well.

This took a few hours, so once we were done we headed to this really cute diner-style restaurant named Kermit Soul Kitchen. The food was so good, and I loved all of the eclectic artwork that they had throughout the building.

After we ate, we did a little shopping and walked around downtown before grabbing coffee at Tupelo River Coffee. We then headed. back to our rooms for a quick change and then headed to Love Your Selfie Studio so that they could shoot some more style content.

For dinner, we went to Romie’s Grocery for an old fashioned southern meal, and then Crave Tupelo for dessert.

Before we headed home the next morning, we had brunch at Jobos, the restaurant inside of Hotel Tupelo. The cuisine is modern coastal with a twist. We snapped a little bit more content in and around the hotel and then headed back home!

We had a blast in Tupelo. I’m not going to lie, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the city, but Chasi, one of the bloggers that was there lives there and loves it, so we were all pleasantly surprised. The food was incredible, and I loved the intimate culture of the city. The unexpected snow storm threw off our plans a bit, so there’s plenty more for me to see and I DO plant to go back!

If you’re interest in visiting Tupelo for yourself, click here to learn all about the city and what it has to offer. Thank you to Visit Tupelo for hosting us!

Have you ever been to Tupelo?

This trip was sponsored but all thoughts and ideas are my own.

lifestyle travel travel guide tupelo