Take Your Family to Memphis, Tennessee, for a Long Weekend

Fresh and exciting, Overton Square in Memphis, Tennessee, is emerging as one of the city’s trendiest locations for family travelers. The neighborhood has transcended its past as an overlooked spot and has taken on new life as a nucleus for food, entertainment and the arts.

Stay in the thick of things at The Memphian, a boutique hotel in Overton Square that opened in 2021. Sparkling with glamour from a bygone era, the flashy cool decor includes animal prints, neon chandeliers and Pop Art prints sure to spark plenty of family discussion. After morning coffee and a breakfast of chocolate almond overnight oats, stuffed French toast or biscuits and gravy at the hotel’s Complicated Pilgrim dining venue, pick up rental bikes and peddle along shady trails at nearby Overton Park.

Bring along a picnic lunch or head for the Memphis Zoo, where fun activities include the Penguin Encounter; Sloth Encounter, Tortoise Encounter; or up-close and personal encounters with elephants, rhinos, lemurs or otters. Kids can even interact with “zoolebrity ambassador animals” such as the zoo’s striped skunk, red-tailed boa, nine-banded armadillo, binturong or keel-billed toucan.

Enjoy an evening show or matinee at one of the neighborhood highlights, which include The Hattiloo Theater, Theatre Memphis, Ballet Memphis and Playhouse on the Square. During the day before the performance, take your family for afternoon tea at 17 Berkshire, where signature cakes and pastries include ice cream drip cake, French silk mini tarts and petit fours.