Plan with Rovo. Drive with your favorite map.
The Memphis to 30A drive runs about 490 miles and roughly 8 hours nonstop, which makes it a genuinely long single-day trip — doable, but most families either leave early in the morning or plan a real break somewhere around Hattiesburg.
From Memphis, the route follows I-55 South through the Mississippi Delta and into Jackson, where it picks up US-49 South toward Hattiesburg. At Hattiesburg, you turn onto US-98 East, which carries you nearly the rest of the way — through Lucedale, across Mobile Bay via the US-90/98 concurrency through Daphne and Fairhope, and on into the Florida Panhandle toward 30A.
Jackson's I-55/I-20 interchange is the one predictable slowdown on this route, especially weekday afternoons. After that, the Hattiesburg-to-Mobile Bay leg on US-98 has long gaps between towns, so it's worth fueling up in Hattiesburg before committing to that stretch — services get noticeably sparser until you reach the Daphne/Fairhope area on the Eastern Shore.
Plan This Route with Rovo →No. Mississippi and Alabama don't have toll interstates on this corridor, so I-55, US-49, and US-98 are free the whole way. The only toll in the area is the optional Mid-Bay Bridge near Destin (about $4 cash each way), which isn't on the direct US-98 path into 30A.
At roughly 8 hours nonstop — closer to 9-9.5 with stops — it's a long single push rather than a relaxed one. Some travelers break it into two days around Hattiesburg or the Mississippi Gulf Coast instead of doing it all at once.
Memphis's I-55 corridor near the I-240 interchange gets congested on weekdays roughly 7-9am and 4-6pm, so an early start before 7am is the simplest way to clear it. The other timing factor is Jackson, MS, where the I-55/I-20 interchange sees its own rush-hour slowdown midway through the drive.