Nashville to Memphis: Car, Coach or Flight?

An existing car is usually the simplest choice from central Nashville to central Memphis, especially when you share the fuel cost. A direct coach avoids hiring a car, while a nonstop flight still needs two airport transfers and time in the terminal.

Use the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville and the Orpheum Theatre in Memphis as your starting and finishing points. Memphis Bus Station and Memphis airport are outside downtown, so neither a coach ticket nor a flight ticket completes the journey on its own.

Car, coach or flight?

Ryman Auditorium to Orpheum Theatre. Costs are in US dollars. Coach timings use the advertised minimum, and flight timings use the airline’s average.

Criterion	Existing car	Direct coach	Nonstop flight
Central-to-central estimate	about 3 and a half hours, excluding breaks and traffic delays	About 3 hours 55 minutes, excluding boarding and pickup waits	About 3 and a half hours, including BNA arrival allowance, excluding terminal walking, arrival processing and pickup waits
Journey components	Continuous driving	Walk: about 17 minutes; coach: 3 hours 20 minutes minimum; arrival car: about 16 minutes	Access car: about 13 minutes; BNA allowance: at least 2 hours; flight: 55 minutes average; arrival car: about 21 minutes
Vehicle changes	NoneBest	One, coach to car	Two, car to aircraft to car
One-way planning cost	Fuel: $25–$45 per vehicle, excluding hireBest	FlixBus from $35.98 or Greyhound from $37.98 per adult; arrival car: $25–$45 per vehicle	Flight: $100–$300 per adult; BNA car: $20–$40 and MEM car: $30–$50 per vehicle
Limiting service frequency	Leave when you choose	Each operator lists 5 daily departures, date-dependent	—
Last departure	Flexible	10:10pm, date-dependent	—

Choose the coach if avoiding car hire matters more than departure flexibility. Departure schedules vary by travel date. Entry fares depend on departure and booking lead time, and the downtown car transfer is additional.

Fuel estimates vary with petrol prices and your vehicle’s consumption. Car-transfer ranges vary with demand, traffic and pickup charges. Sharing those vehicle costs favours groups, whereas each traveller needs a separate coach or flight ticket.

Fly when the departure and complete cost suit you, not simply because the flight is short. Airfares vary with demand, booking lead time and fare type. Allow for the walk from BNA’s car drop-off to the terminal before the pre-departure allowance begins. At MEM, baggage collection, walking to pickup and waiting for a car add to the estimate.

Coach boarding and arrival

FlixBus and Greyhound offer direct Nashville–Memphis coaches. Select a direct itinerary rather than one with a transfer. Both advertise a minimum running time of 3 hours 20 minutes, but allow longer if your chosen service takes more time. Each operator lists five daily departures, with schedules varying by travel date, including weekends. The first departure is at 4am. Adult one-way entry fares start at $35.98 on FlixBus and $37.98 on Greyhound. Your departure and booking lead time affect the fare, so weigh the ticket and onward car transfer together when deciding against car hire.

From the Ryman Auditorium, walk south to Nashville Bus Station. Keep your ticket accessible: you must show it to security before entering the lobby. FlixBus boards at Gate D or E within the Greyhound station. Ask station staff which gate your departure uses before settling down to wait.

Memphis Bus Station is outside downtown, so arrange a separate taxi or app-based car to the Orpheum Theatre rather than treating the coach’s arrival as the end of your journey. Its fare is separate from the coach ticket, and waiting for pickup adds time before the road transfer begins. Keep the arrival station, not the theatre, as the pickup location.

Driving via I-40

If you choose a car instead of the coach, set off from the Ryman Auditorium towards I-40 west, the usual direct corridor to Memphis. The journey to the Orpheum Theatre covers about 213 miles. Traffic leaving Nashville or approaching Memphis can lengthen the continuous-driving estimate, and a meal or rest stop adds time rather than replacing part of the drive.

An existing car’s fuel bill is not the cost of hiring one. Rental collection takes time before you leave, and the hire charge sits alongside fuel. Returning a rental in a different city can add a one-way charge, so that choice may cost considerably more than driving a car you already have.

A car gives you control of departure time and keeps bulky luggage with you throughout the journey. Sharing the vehicle makes its fuel cost easier to spread, although one person still has to drive. For more detail on the road approach and the costs of hiring or using your own car, read the I-40 route and driving costs article.

Flying from BNA to MEM

For the flight alternative, start again at the Ryman Auditorium and take a car to Nashville International Airport (BNA). Southwest Airlines operates the nonstop service to Memphis International Airport (MEM). Its published average flight time is 55 minutes. Allow for both airport transfers and time in the terminals when fitting the departure around your plans in Memphis.

At BNA, taxi and app-based car drop-offs are at the Ground Transportation Center on Level 1 of Terminal Garage 2. Leave time to walk from the drop-off point into the terminal, rather than expecting the car to deliver you straight to the departure gate. Arrive at the terminal at least 2 hours before your domestic departure, allowing for bag drop and security before boarding.

At MEM, collect any checked luggage before heading to your onward car. Taxis leave from the centre commercial drive in front of Concourse B baggage claim. For Uber or Lyft, follow the bright orange signs to the Interim Commercial Curb on the arrivals/baggage-claim level. These are distinct pickup arrangements, so choose the location that matches your ride.

The car then takes you to the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Memphis. A short flight can still mean a substantial transfer day once terminal walking, baggage collection and car-pickup waits are included. Compare the air ticket and both ground transfers together, particularly if several people are travelling.

Is there a passenger train?

There is no passenger train between Nashville and Memphis in either direction. Nashville has no operating intercity passenger train service. Its Amtrak Thruway connections are buses, so an Amtrak connection there does not mean you will board a train.

Memphis is served by Amtrak’s City of New Orleans route, but that train does not connect the two cities. For this central Nashville to central Memphis journey, choose the direct coach, a car or the nonstop flight rather than planning around a rail departure from Nashville.

Can you make it a day trip?

A day trip is possible by car, but it means two substantial drives around your visit. An early departure gives you more time in Memphis, and driving lets you choose when to return. Factor in breaks and the driver’s tiredness on the journey back.

For a coach or flight day trip, both the outward and return itinerary must leave meaningful time in Memphis after transfers. An overnight stay is the more relaxed choice if you want to avoid fitting the visit between two long journeys on the same day.

Sources & fact-checking

Checks against the sources below cover: services, key figures, and fares and charges.

• Amtrak — service
• Amtrak — key figures
• Nonstop Destinations | Nashville International Airport® (BNA®)
• Southwest Airlines — service
• Nashville International Airport (BNA) — service
• Ground Transportation
• Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority — service
• FlixBus and Greyhound — service
• FlixBus — service
• Greyhound and FlixBus — service
• FlixBus; Greyhound — fares and charges
• Greyhound — service