Start from 27 curated places around Hattiesburg, MS, then choose the recommendations that fit your guests.
Restaurants & cafés
Crescent City Grill
Ranked #1 of 211 restaurants in Hattiesburg on TripAdvisor and the de facto benchmark for the city's food scene, Crescent City Grill at 3810 Hardy Street makes everything from scratch daily with a Cajun-Creole soul — chargrilled oysters, zydeco chicken, crawfish étouffée, and crabmeat wontons in a lively, welcoming room. The crawfish offerings follow the season, which means when they are on, locals descend in force. This is the table you book first.
Keg & Barrel
A craft beer pub in a handsome 19th-century downtown home at 1315 Hardy Street that has become the gathering spot for Hattiesburg's college crowd and food-curious locals alike. Over 100 craft beers back up a genuinely ambitious pub-grub menu — wings, fish and chips, chicken and waffles, shrimp and grits — while a dog-friendly patio and live music nights keep the energy high year-round. Rated 4.5 on TripAdvisor and ranked #7 of 272 Hattiesburg restaurants.
Trails & outdoors
Longleaf Trace Trail
A 44-mile paved rails-to-trails conversion running from Hattiesburg through Sumrall, Bassfield, and Carson to Prentiss on a gentle 10-foot-wide asphalt path that accommodates cyclists, walkers, runners, equestrians, and rollerblades. AllTrails rates it 4.8 stars from 306 reviews, making it one of the highest-rated rail trails in the South. Rest stops appear every two miles, the grade rises no more than 50 feet per mile, and the longleaf pine canopy provides shade for most of the route.
Black Creek Hiking Trail (Big Creek Landing segment)
A segment of the 40-mile Black Creek National Recreation Trail in De Soto National Forest, starting from Big Creek Landing south of Hattiesburg and winding through longleaf pine, oak, and hardwood forest alongside Mississippi's only federally designated Wild and Scenic River. The trail is genuinely wild in places — over 100 bridges and boardwalks cross small streams — and the Black Creek Wilderness Area section feels as remote as anything in Mississippi. A short out-and-back from Big Creek Landing delivers solitude that is nearly impossible to find this close to a city.
Things to do
Hattiesburg Saenger Theater
Opened in 1929 as a movie palace, the 997-seat Saenger is now the architectural and cultural centerpiece of downtown Hattiesburg — a stunning Neoclassical Revival and Art Deco building designed by Emile Weil that regularly hosts nationally touring artists, comedians, ballet performances, holiday films, and the beloved annual Rocky Horror Picture Show. Visitors reliably call it intimate, gorgeous, and claim there is not a bad seat in the house.
Keg & Barrel Live Music and Beer Garden
Beyond its role as a restaurant, Keg & Barrel at 1315 Hardy Street is one of Hattiesburg's most beloved live music and social venues, with a dog-friendly outdoor beer garden, rotating live music in an intimate setting, and more than 100 craft beers to navigate. The historic downtown building creates atmosphere that a newer space could not manufacture. On a warm evening with a beer and live music on the porch, it captures what people mean when they call Hattiesburg the Hub City.
Landmarks & sights
Hattiesburg Zoo
Nestled in the 12-acre Kamper Park, the Hattiesburg Zoo is the #1 TripAdvisor attraction in the city and has been named Best Travel Attraction of the Year by the Mississippi Tourism Association. Home to over 75 animal species from every continent, with a carousel, train rides, petting zoo, and an edZOOcation Center. It is exceptionally well-maintained and the staff friendliness earns consistent praise — visitors describe it as one of the finest small zoos they have seen.
African American Military History Museum
Located in the original 1942 USO Club that served African American soldiers from Camp Shelby — now on the National Register of Historic Places — this free museum traces the service of Black soldiers from the Revolutionary War through Desert Storm with hundreds of artifacts, photos, and displays including one of the most complete sets of authentic Spanish-American War medals anywhere. It is a moving, understated, and essential stop that most visitors say they wish they had allocated more time to.