Mississippi River 2025 Memphis to New Orleans

Dear Matt,

A problem with point-to-point cycling tours can be too many miles, too few attractions. To cycle from Memphis to New Orleans in a week, you'd ride busy highways. On this tour our floating resort casts off at sunset, and travels up to 100 miles while we eat and sleep to start another perfect day of cycling early the next morning.

This better plan allows us to savor quiet back routes. While we ride and take breaks to explore intriguing sights of the American South, the ship relocates downriver. At the end of our rides she’ll welcome us back aboard with snacks, cool drinks, and a warm shower.

Before dinner, there's time to nap, or sit topside and watch the river. Each evening, a live concert follows a gourmet dinner and sensuous dessert. This is not your normal cycling tour. It's also not your normal cruise.

America's Finest Cycling Adventure

An eight-day cruise on the American Countess. Starts in Memphis, and ends eight days later in New Orleans. Seven luxurious nights in a deluxe stateroom; no need to repack. An onboard "Riverlorian" explains the Mississippi River's history, culture and sights. This is the finest way to rediscover Mark Twain's America.

Custom downriver itinerary w/ extra stops allows a week of great rides. Routes include prime portions of Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana. Daily choice of multiple routes and mileage. No long or steep hills. Stronger riders will be challenged by extra-mileage loops. It's always OK to sleep in or take a day off. Santana’s daily sans-cycling choice includes scenic river cruise or a ride in a touring coach with panoramic windows.

The Soul of America

The Mississippi River, a mile wide and over 2,000 miles long, gathers its strength from 31 states and 2 Canadian provinces. In an era before electronics and roads, the Mississippi River was America’s original highway.

Photo Itinerary

Santana’s week of Spring cycling starts in Memphis. A warm-up ride takes us through beautiful neighborhoods. A morning pause at Sun Studio allows us to stand at the microphone that launched the careers of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis.

Towards noon our route guides us to the Gates of Graceland. There, a special tour and lunch at Elvis’ fabulous home, where you’ll see famous gardens, his plane, his Cadillacs and, yes, Elvis was a cyclist who owned a tandem bicycle! In the afternoon, we’ll spin down Beale Street to the River.

Keep your eyes peeled. There she is! The newest star on the Mississippi River is the American Countess. The Mississippi’s newest sternwheeler was launched in 2020 and began her first full season in 2022. Partnering with our long-time friends at American Queen Steam Steamboat Company this is the first announcement of Santana’s 7th sternwheel-powered Big River Cycling Cruise.

The following morning in Arkansas starts with a short ride to reach a joyous convocation in downtown Helena’s historic Malco Theater. There, Reverend Arthur Hughes and the gospel choir of Greater First Baptist Church will invoke God’s protection for the following week of rides. While we receive the reverend’s short blessing the Countess will untie and prepare to enter the channel. As we get back on our bikes a long blast from our sternwheeler’s steam whistle signals the start of a three mile race. How many of us will be able to beat the Countess to the center of the wide bridge spanning the Mississippi River?

Coasting down the far side we cross the border to enter the state of Mississippi’s “Delta Country”—the authentic wellspring of American music.

In Clarksdale we ride through “the crossroads” to reach our lunch and a live performance at Morgan Freeman’s Ground Zero Blues Club. Those who ride through the afternoon will reach the ship’s tie-up near the mouth of the Arkansas River.

On day 3 we’ll visit a civil war battlefield and nearby Port Gibson — a town General Grant declared “Too beautiful to burn.” In this town we’ll pass America’s oldest synagogue, study the civil rights mural and visit the store and workshops of an interracial college of quilting.

Leaving by way of Grant’s wilderness march, optional loops will pass the Windsor Ruins and the ghost town of Rodney, where the Union gunboat Rattlesnake laid siege after Union sailors who went ashore for Sunday church service were captured by confederate raiders. 

In Lorman, our lunch at the Old Country Store features the fried chicken that food critic Alton Brown declared America’s Best. Our apres lunch ride cruises down the Trace to Natchez. Once a trade route, the Natchez Trace has become a National Scenic Parkway where trucks and high speeds are prohibited.

We’ll arrive in Natchez and spend the following day partaking in its famous Spring Pilgrimage Festival.

Started by the garden clubs in 1932, this week showcases the town, its collection of antebellum homes, and gardens in full bloom. We'll tour three antebellum mansions that take us back 180 years in US history.

Prior to Santana’s first visit, no bicycle tour had experienced a ride across Angola Louisiana’s State Penitentiary, where a ten mile loop of the wide river surrounds the infamous “Alcatraz on the Mississippi.” If the waters of the mighty Mississippi River permit and the Angola warden agrees, this morning an a capella choir of inmates will welcome us to an amazing story of redemption.

Exiting by way of the main gate, some of the most beautiful miles of our tour wander through the gentle Tunica Hills to reach lunch at Rosedown Plantation, where James Audubon studied and sketched wildlife. Before reboarding the Countess in St Francisville we’ll find time for a guided ghost tour at The Myrtles and a self guided shopping spree at Grandmother’s Buttons.

Rolling through the crowded metropolis of Baton Rouge in the middle of the night, the Countess ties up midway to New Orleans for a choice of routes on Louisiana’s river roads. Since we were here last, one of the beautiful plantations that lines this part of the river has been deglorified to reveal the ugly realities of slavery in America. Other parts of today’s route leave the river to find bayous and enclaves of Cajun culture. Back at the ship an authentic Cajun band will introduce you to zydeco at our crawfish boil on the levee.

Those who remain awake after tonight’s onboard performance will enjoy the spectacular lights of the city as our sternwheeler rolls into the center of New Orleans and docks at the foot of Canal Street.

The following morning, a celebrated local hero and cyclist hosts our loop through the Ninth Ward (where he guided rescue efforts during Katrina) and the Garden District before our tour’s French Quarter finish that ends with a ride down Bourbon Street.

Singles & tandems, no long or steep hills, on any day it’s your choice to go easy or hard with an array of various-length routes and a pair of non-riding options.

Our tour’s on-shore support fleet includes trucks, coaches, SOS/Treasure van, and pro mechanics. Admissions and guided tours of Graceland, Civil War sites, museums, antebellum homes and plantations. Nightly live concerts with a different band each night explore the Mississippi roots of American Music. At no extra charge we'll get your empty bike case to New Orleans, or your built bike back to Memphis. Those who park cars or RVs in Memphis can return aboard Amtrak’s celebrated City of New Orleans. Bike shipping and third-party rental bike info will be sent out two months prior to the cruise.

This unique adventure — complete with rides, off-boat activities, special meals and extra entertainment — was intro’d by Santana in 2006 and improved in 2007, 2014, 2015, & 2022.

Ship & Stateroom Info Tomorrow!

Dates & Pricing on Wednesday!

Your personal invitation to Reserve a Stateroom will arrive on Thursday at 10am Pacific!

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