Memphis, the famous city of Tennessee is where rock ‘n’ roll originated. Renowned for Presley’s Graceland Mansion and Stax Museum, Memphis welcomes about 11.8 million tourists in a year. While Memphis is mainly visited for vacations, Nashville, on the other hand, is home to major multimillionaire business ventures. Interestingly, it has been ranked the fourth-best city to start a business. Therefore, both these major cities of Tennessee are must-visit locations, be it for holiday or business purposes.
A hindrance-free trip to either of these cities requires you to understand how far Memphis is from Nashville. Not only the distance but you must also know the various travel options available to you. Finding additional information about the time taken to travel would also be beneficial.
Go through this guide to access all the details required to plan your Nashville to Memphis, TN, trip.
Non-stop Driving Time & Distance from Memphis to Nashville
| Nonstop Driving Distance | 212 Miles/341 KM |
| Nonstop Driving Time | 3 Hour and 10 Minutes |
Some of you may plan on taking a trip to Nashville for business purposes. You wouldn’t want to fritter away your time by taking leisure journeys. A quick non-stop drive by car covering the distance to Nashville, Tennessee can be the best travel choice for you.
Estimated Drive Time Between Memphis to Nashville
| Average Speed | Travel Time |
|---|---|
| 30 mph (48 km/h) | 7 hours 04 minutes |
| 40 mph (64 km/h) | 5 hours 18 minutes |
| 50 mph (80 km/h) | 4 hours 14 minutes |
| 60 mph (97 km/h) | 3 hours 32 minutes |
| 70 mph (112 km/h) | 3 hours 01 minutes |
| 75 mph (120 km/h) | 2 hours 49 minutes |
The distance from Memphis to Nashville can be covered via the following route:
- I-40: I-40 is a major East-West Interstate Highway in the U.S. North of I-20 and I-30. This road is also called “Music Highway” as the traffic creates a rumbling musical tone. Hence, this road leaves its commuters with a fun-filled experience of driving. Also, it is the most flexible route between Memphis and Nashville. While following this route, take the exit at 208A and merge with I-65S toward Huntsville. After exiting at Church St., turn left to reach Nashville, Tennessee.
Tip: To avoid congestion, do not travel from 7 am to 9 am and from 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm.
Road Trip from Nashville to Memphis
An entertaining road trip by car is truly the best way to put your mind at ease. Nashville and Memphis are particularly famous for their many tourist attractions. A long road trip between Nashville, TN, to Memphis, TN, allows you to visit these delightful sights. You can stop along the way at Dickson, Hurricane Mills, Lexington, Jackson, Covington, and Central BBQ.
The above time was calculated with regard to the following itinerary. You can always customize your itinerary to include more stops at your convenience:
- Start your drive in Nashville.
- From Nashville, drive for 48 minutes to reach Dickson in Tennessee. Here, you can visit Tennessee’s oldest courthouse as well as the Clement Railroad Hotel Museum in downtown Dickson. You can spend an hour in the city of Dickson before resuming your journey.
- After you restart the drive, 47 minutes on the road will get you to Hurricane Mills. Here, you can tour around Gutter Bound Distillery, Overholt’s Farm Market, and the Loretta Lynn Ranch. This mini-tour will take 1 hour of your time.
- Then drive for about 59 minutes to reach Lexington. You can easily spend up to an hour in Lexington by visiting the Antique malls, trampoline parks, and state parks. Enjoy the authentic Tennessee meals at the restaurants here.
- A 35-minute drive from Lexington will get you to your next stop, Jackson. Jackson is famous for Century Farm Winery and Rusty’s TV and Movie Car Museum. Enjoy this city for an hour.
- Drive for another hour to stop at your next location in Covington. Covington is a city in central Tipton country. Stay here for an hour and enjoy the beautiful sights.
- Ideally, your last stop would be Central BBQ after a drive of 53 minutes from Covington. This restaurant is famous for its Iris Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken. Spend up to 50 minutes to an hour here.
- In the end, you can drive for 9 minutes to reach Memphis, Tennessee.
Note: The relative distance between Nashville and Memphis alters depending upon the stops that you make.
Nashville to Memphis Airports and Flights
Scheduled commercial flights from Nashville to Memphis, TN, are a great way to efficiently cover the distance between these two cities. Commercial flights are one of the most comfortable means of transport to cover short distances. They are also affordable and easily accessible. For this, you can associate with the two major airports: Nashville International Airport (BNA) and Memphis International Airport (MEM) to book your flight tickets.
The connecting airport between Nashville and Memphis is Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW). Here, you may have to spend at least 2 hours of layover. Along with this, you may have to also spend a considerable amount of time at the security checks. This can increase your overall travel time. Though the distance from Nashville to Memphis remains the same, the travel time expands due to these mentioned factors.
Flying Non-stop from Nashville to Memphis
| Nonstop Distance in Air | 197 Miles/316 KM |
| Nonstop Time in Air | 40 Minutes |
The shortest distance between any two places is either the “straight line distance” or the “crow fly distance”. Considering that you have to cover the miles from Nashville to Memphis, the fastest way can be by flying without any stops between them. The most preferred method of non-stop flying is by private jets or by helicopters.
This short travel time of just 40 minutes is extremely useful to travelers, especially entrepreneurs. Non-stop flying allows you to travel back and forth between these cities without the slightest bit of discomfort. Moreover, the sunny weather conditions of Nashville and Memphis prove to be an added advantage for those choosing this way of travel.
Conclusion
In this space, we provided a systematic guide with all the details to travel between Nashville and Memphis in Tennessee. All the modes of transport were explained with complete descriptions about time and distance. We hope that the given itinerary will guide you to design a pleasant road trip.
Share your opinions about the trip between Nashville and Memphis in the suggestion box.
Check another guide by us explaining how far Jacksonville is from Orlando. You can also read how far Chicago is from Cleveland to plan a trip to these cities.
