Best Places for Crab Cakes in Maryland: A Complete Guide to Local Favourites


Date Published: Sept 6th, 2025 | Last Updated: Sept 6th, 2025
Author: Abby | Category: Travel, USA

Contents:

  1. First things first: Why Maryland?
  2. What is a Crab Cake?
  3. What Makes a Good Crab Cake?
  4. Without further ado… here are some of the top places to grab a crab cake in Maryland!
  5. In Summary

First things first: Why Maryland?

If you were to pick one food ingredient that perfectly encapsulates Maryland cuisine, it would be blue swimmer crabs (with Old Bay Seasoning as a close second). Due to the abundance of these crabs in the Chesapeake Bay that runs right through the Eastern half of the state, the crabbing industry in Maryland has been an important part of the Maryland economy and culture dating back centuries! You can find all sorts of crab dishes in Maryland, including steamed crab, crab soup, crab dip, crab egg rolls, and of course the famous crab cake.

The peak crab season each year is between April to December, with the largest crabs on offer in the fall season between September to mid-November.

What is a Crab Cake?

A crab cake is a delicious savoury type of fishcake that is made up of crab meat and a variety of fillers traditionally bread crumbs, eggs, mayonnaise, mustard, and a variety of seasonings. It’s either baked, fried, or pan-cooked. You can find crab cakes around the world, but a Maryland crab cake hits different. Maryland crab cakes are seasoned with Old Bay Seasoning and the best cakes use jumbo lump crab meat.

What is jumbo lump/colossal crab meat you ask? Jumbo lump crab meat is the most prized and highest grade of crab meat that comes from the swimming fins of the crab – unsurprisingly, it’s also the most expensive. This piece of meat should be unbroken and come in large chunks compared to regular lump crab meat which are in smaller pieces and extracted from smaller swimming muscles of the crab. The best Maryland crab cakes (and the most expensive) are the ones made with jumbo lumb crab meat which results in large chunks of crab in every bite rather than smaller broken and stringy pieces of crab you see in regular crab cakes. It’s certainly an experience, especially for my fellow crab lovers!

For the visual learners like me, I’ve included a photo and diagram of the different types of crab meat:

Comparison of where Jumbo Lump Crab meat is from and how it compares to other parts of the crab.
Image from: https://www.seacoreseafood.com/product/Blue_Crab
Packed containers of jumbo lump crab meat – one of these containers can run you $60-70!

Accompaniments: Crab cakes are almost always served with a small packet of saltine crackers. This is to add texture to the overall softness of the crab cake. Toby prefers not adding it at all, but I like to crumble mine over the crab cake for a bit of extra crunch with every bite. Many people will also order a side of tartar or cocktail sauce to go with their crab cake for an extra kick.

What Makes a Good Crab Cake?

Fillers: The one and only golden rule of a good crab cake is that is should be maximum crab and minimal filler. I’m talking about 85-90% of the crab cake should be just crab meat and the filler should only really be there as a binder to hold the shape and for seasoning (read: Old Bay). No chopped veggies, no fancy herbs – maybe parsley.

Seasoning: Old Bay is a must for Maryland crab cakes and you’ll often taste celery salt as well. It is because of the simplicity of the Maryland crab cake that you’ll find most of them pretty similar in flavour. Some cakes are more heavily seasoned than others but this will be due to personal preference. I prefer mine on the less-seasoned side to not over power the delicate flavour of the crab and most places in Maryland will have a spice shaker of Old Bay so you can add extra seasoning if you like.

Without further ado… here are some of the top places to grab a crab cake in Maryland!

Much like my unexpectedly popular post on The Ultimate Guide to Philly Cheesesteaks in Philadelphia, this post is my personal take on these popular spots. I know there will be a lot of differing opinions and I’ve seen heated debates on who has the best crab cakes, and at the end of the day the answer will depend on individual preference. There’s no one right answer – it’s like asking a New Yorker who has the best pizza. Everyone will have their own favourite and this post highlights some of my favourites and thoughts on these popular joints. The places that we tried were all due to research from locals but this is in no way a comprehensive list. Let me know in the comments if you think I’ve missed a popular spot!

In this post, I’ve reviewed Pappa’s, Faidley’s, Koco’s, G&M, and Jimmy’s.

* Please note that the cost of crab cakes are often seasonal and can change regularly depending on market price. The prices I’ve listed below are from our trip in July of 2025.

1) Pappas: Pappas Seafood Co. & Pappas Restaurant and Sports Bar

Pappas Seafood Co. (carry out only):
Address: 8801 Belair Rd, Nottingham, MD 21236
Hours: 11am-8pm daily
Cost per crab cake: $27.50+tax (market price) for 11oz large jumbo lump crab cake, $25 for Imperial
Website: http://www.pappascrabcakes.com/

Pappas Restaurant and Sports Bar (sit down dining):
Address: multiple locations around Maryland (we went to 6713 Ritchie Hwy, Glen Burnie, MD 21061)
Hours: hours vary by location, usually 11am-9:30pm daily (check the website for more details)
Cost per crab cake: $28.99 for 8oz jumbo lump crab (extra $2 for a platter with 2 sides)
Website: http://www.pappascrabcakes.com/

Pros:

  • Great crab cakes with minimal filler, tons of crab meat, lightly seasoned
  • Good prices at the distribution centre (better than their restaurant)
  • Multiple option of sizes of crab cakes including a large 11oz cake!

Cons:

  • Distribution center located farther out from Baltimore
  • Cream of crab soup is way too salty (at the restaurant location anyway)
  • Lightly seasoned crab cakes which is what I prefer to pair with a tartar sauce, but some may find it bland

Pappas was recommended time and time again throughout my internet research, but everyone always just called it “Pappas”, rather than the full name, so when we typed in “Pappas” on Google maps, it directed me to “Pappas Seafood Co.”. When we arrived, it was a big warehouse-like building that only had carryout options and nowhere to sit. We thought it was strange that so many people would recommend a carryout place until we spoke to the cashier who told us that they have multiple restaurants that have dine-in options but the location we came to was their distribution center. Ahh. We were super hungry at the time and didn’t want to make the further trek to their restaurant after driving 3 hours from NYC so we just ordered carryout. Luckily they had pretty much a full menu and there was one picnic table out back so we didn’t have to eat in the hot car.

For those of you who are like us and never seen a “carryout” before, it’s a type of food service where you park your car in a designated number spot in the parking lot, go inside to order, and they’ll bring out the food to your car. Neither Toby and I had encountered a ‘carryout’ service before coming in Maryland – we thought it just meant takeaway. When we arrived, we thought the numbered lots were for reserved parking so we chose a spot without a number (which ended up being for employee parking – we thought it was strange why we had to park so far away from the main door 😂). When they asked us what our car spot number was, we just told them which car it was 😅.

There was an option of the size of crab cake you want: small, medium, or large. We of course got the large because we were so hungry. It was a whole 11oz and very filling. It was delicious from the very first bite! There was no skimping on the crab meat and minimal filler. It was lightly seasoned – just the way I like it and it was even better paired with their tartar sauce.

We also ordered the Imperial Crab cake that is made with their imperial sauce. The Imperial was more moist with more seasoning and eggy in flavour. It’s a gluten free option without a binder so it was also more sloppy looking. I thought it was good but not as good as the regular jumbo lump crab cake but Toby LOVED it way more.

This crab cake was the one to beat but just incase we were biased because we were starving when we tried it, we tried it again at one of their restaurants on our way back home from DC. The restaurant looked like any other sports/family restaurant (we went to the location in Glen Burnie). We sat at the bar and we ordered both the jumbo lump and the imperial crab cake again. I can confirm that this was still our top pick for favourite crab cake after trying 4 other places. (Side note: I also ordered the recommended cream of crab soup and it was super salty – would not recommend. Stick to the crab cakes.)

2) Faidley’s Seafood

Address: 119 N Paca St, Baltimore, MD 21201 (inside Lexington Market, level 1)
Hours: 10am-5pm most days, closed Sun
Cost per crab cake: $25 + tax (market price) for 6.5oz jumbo lump crab cake
Website: http://faidleyscrabcakes.com/

Pros:

  • Best location within Baltimore downtown, although a bit of a walk from the waterfront
  • Great oven-roasted browning flavour

Cons:

  • More expensive for the smallest crab cake on this list (standard size for most places is 8oz, theirs is 6.5oz)
  • More filling compared to the other crab cakes with less crab
  • Food-court order style
  • Standing room and some picnic tables outside

Faidley’s is an institution in the Baltimore area. Open since 1886, they have the reputation as being one of the oldest seafood purveyors in the Chesapeake Bay region. It also has the best location for tourists (right in downtown Baltimore!) compared to all the other places in this post. It’s roughly a 15 minute walk from Oriole Park baseball stadium or a 30 minute walk from the Baltimore waterfront. Located in Lexington Market, Faidley’s has food-court style service where you go up to order and they put your food on a tray. They also have a separate area for a raw bar and takeaway raw seafood/meat (including raccoon and muskrat meat!).

There’s standing room only here at the high tops or there’s a few picnic benches on the patio outside. The first time we went it was on a Monday afternoon in March during game day. It was pretty busy but not crazy. The second time was in July which was a lot less busy but the food was still consistent.

There’s only one size of crab cake here, which is a 6.5 oz for $25 (market price), smaller than the standard 8oz size at other restaurants. The food was served very quickly (almost immediately!) and on first impressions, it had a lot more browning compared to other cakes but also had more filler. Despite this, it was well-season and the roasted browned flavour gave the crab cake more depth that the other cakes didn’t offer. It was like having thanksgiving stuffing out of the oven, crab-cake style! If this crab cake was larger with less filler, it would’ve easily taken the number one spot for best crab cake for me!

We also got a “Coddie” which is a fried cod and potato ball (not bad), the crab dip (amazing!), and the cream of crab soup (I thought it was okay, but Toby liked it).

You can actually watch them make the crab cakes while you wait for your food. I saw celery salt, Old Bay, and crushed crackers go into the mix!

3) Koco’s Pub

Address: 4301 Harford Rd, Baltimore, MD 21214
Hours: 11am-9pm on most days, closed Sun & Mon, evening only Tues (check their website for up to date hours)
Cost per crab cake: $39+ tax (market price) for an 11oz crab cake
Website: http://www.kocospub.com/

Pros:

  • Great ambience with lovely decor
  • Koconut shrimp was delicious
  • Good service

Cons:

  • 15 minute drive from Baltimore (can be tricky to get here if you don’t have a car)
  • Texture of the crab cakes were too soft for my liking compared to others
  • Not a fan of the cream of crab soup
  • Much more expensive crab cake compared to others ($39 for an 11oz – Pappa’s takeaway was $27.50)

Of all the crab cake joints we’ve visited in Maryland, Koco’s pub had the most character with great vibes. It’s situated at the end of a quiet street – you can’t miss it, it’s the bright yellow house! Although a little farther out from Baltimore (15 minute drive), Koco’s reputation of great crab cakes seem to fill the place again and again. When we arrived without a reservation, there was only seating at the bar available (which was a bit uncomfortable since the table top doesn’t extend out as much as it should and we had to lean in to eat – you can probably notice it in one of the photos below). The interior of the restaurant made you feel like you were in a tropical family restaurant/pub with more brightly coloured walls and decor.

From the reviews, apart from their crab cakes, others have recommended the Koconut shrimp and the cream of crab soup, so we ordered all 3!

  • Crab cake: Although their standard crab cake size is the same 11oz as Pappa’s large, it seemed much smaller when it arrived (there are also larger and smaller options available that’s not on the menu). The crab cake was overall good, however we felt that it was a bit heavy on the Old Bay seasoning and the crab meat was more shredded in the crab cake rather than large chunks of crab meat which made it a softer texture that I didn’t prefer.
  • Koconut Shrimp: This was our favourite. It’s shrimp covered in koconut shavings and deep fried, served with a jalapeño raspberry sauce. The sauce sounded weird but interesting and it was delicious!
  • Cream of Crab Soup: Unfortunately, I wasn’t a fan of it. It was too thick and floury with minimal to no crab flavour. It if weren’t for the clumps of crab meat in the soup, I wouldn’t have known it was crab soup.

Overall, although the ambience of the place was fantastic and there was lovely service, the food fell a little short for us (except the Koconut shrimp) and we found it expensive compared to the others.

4) G & M Restaurant

Address: 804 N Hammonds Ferry Rd, Linthicum Heights, MD 21090
Hours: 11am-9pm daily
Cost per crab cake: $29+ tax for an 8oz crab cake + 1 side, or $58+tax for two 8oz crab cakes + 2 sides
Website: https://gandmcrabcakes.com/

Pros:

  • Delicious crab soup
  • Comparable prices of crab cake to the others

Cons:

  • 15 minute drive from Baltimore (can be tricky to get here if you don’t have a car)
  • Crab cake didn’t taste as fresh as some of the other places

G & M Restaurant is about a 15 minute drive south of Baltimore and is a very large restaurant tucked away in a quiet plaza just off the freeway. The outside of the restaurant feels like you’re about to walk into a warehouse, but the ambience of the place inside I would describe as old school grand – a bit outdated with a dash of fancy. There’s wooden floors, wooden chairs, folded fabric napkins, and tall ceilings. When we arrived on a Tuesday afternoon around 3pm, the restaurant was pretty empty so we sat at the bar.

They had a decent sized menu and also a Ballpark Special menu. We ordered the crab cake, cream of crab soup, and the pretzel crab dip.

  • Crab Cake: The standard crab crake size here is only 8oz (for $29 with one side, or two crab cakes for $58 with two sides). There’s also an a la cart 4oz crab cake option for $19. The crab cake was good and lightly seasoned, not too heavy on the Old Bay with good chunks of crab meat in the crab cake without too much filler. However, although it ticks the boxes on a good crab cake for me, the overall taste of the crab didn’t seem as fresh as some of the others.
  • Cream of Crab Soup: This was the BEST cream of crab soup we’ve had on our trip – I was starting to lose hope after being disappointed again and again. Unlike most cream of crab soups, the flavour of the crab actually penetrates into the soup with good chunks of crab meat. You can also tell they use wine in the recipe which gives it great flavour. I started off with a cup of soup, but it was so good that I ordered a bowl to go at the end of our meal (it was indeed still delicious the next day)!
  • Pretzel Crab Dip: This was a game day special that I couldn’t resist because I love pretzels. It was a huge portion with lots of crab and the dip was great. Toby especially liked it because it was similar to the Imperial Crab Cakes at Pappa’s.

Overall, the food was great. The crab cake is smaller and a little more expensive than Pappa’s, but it comes with a side, so I guess it evens out. Had the crab cake tasted fresher, it would’ve taken the #3 spot over Koco’s for me. The cream of crab soup is definitely a must-try here and that alone I feel is worth the drive out from Baltimore.

5) Jimmy’s Famous Seafood

Address: 6526 Holabird Ave, Baltimore, MD 21224
Hours: 11am-2am, daily
Cost per crab cake: $34+tax for 8oz
Website: http://www.jimmysfamousseafood.com/

Pros:

  • Big menu
  • Open late
  • Modern look

Cons:

  • Mandatory 21% gratuity on all dine-in cheques! (18% gratuity + extra $3% “labor of love” service charge) – wtf
  • 15-20 minute drive from Baltimore (can be tricky to get here if you don’t have a car)
  • Slow service despite the bar being near-empty
  • Douchey vibes
  • May not be real Maryland crabs!

Jimmy’s Famous Seafood is a HUGE restaurant outside of Baltimore that has a restaurant section and a bar/lounge section. We weren’t sure which area to go in, so we went into the first door closest from the parking lot and was in the bar section. It seemed like a pretty modern venue with nightclub vibes (they are after all open until 2am daily). We arrived on a Friday afternoon around 3pm and the were only 2 other tables seated around the bar. Eventhough it wasn’t busy, service was very slow. Someone gave us menus and seated us right away, but no one came back to acknowledge us after 10 minutes of waiting so we went up and ordered at the counter. While we were waiting, I scrolled through some Google reviews of this place and realized that many poor ratings were due to a mandatory 21% gratuity! Low and behold, as I scanned the menu more closely, right at the bottom in small print it states “Jimmy’s reserves the right to add an 18% gratuity because we love our employees”…”We add a 3% labor of love service charge to all checks at Jimmy’s Famous Seafood.” Wuuuuut? Pardon my language, but fuck that. Coming from NYC, we’re used to tipping a lot more, but a restaurant that has mandatory tipping just didn’t sit well with me. It screams cheapskate owners that don’t want to pay the employees a decent wage so they take that expense out on the customers. No way were we being forced to pay 21% gratuity just for sitting down (and at the bar!) without being told about it beforehand, especially with no service and we had to order at the counter. Toby went back to the counter and told them that we’re going to take away our food to avoid that mandatory tip – they still charged us the 3% labor of love fee 😒. Super shady. If you’re going to add on a charge, at least inform your customers beforehand instead of letting them find out on their own.

Tipping frustration aside, they had a huge menu with plenty of choices that sounded delicious, but unfortunately at this point of the day we were getting pretty full so we only ordered a crab cake and also the crab egg roll that was highly rated from the reviews.

It was another 15 minutes before our food was ready, but it seemed much longer. We were seated infront of a TV screen that had a non-stop video loop of the owner/chef doing things in different poses. It was as if he made a commercial of himself, rather than the business. This, on top of the mandatory tipping gave me douchey vibes.

Overall the crab cake was decent and well-made but it didn’t stand out from the other crab cakes. It did come with 3 different sauces though which was nice. I wasn’t a fan of the egg roll but Toby liked it. Overall the food was okay, but the mandatory tipping and the douchey vibes with poor service tainted the whole experience for us.

Even after leaving the restaurant, I was still raging about the shadiness of this place, so I did some googling and I’m gonna leave this here: https://www.reddit.com/r/maryland/comments/1luywvj/in_a_move_that_surprises_no_one_jimmys_seafood_is/

In Summary:

  • Pappa’s takes #1 for us for the best crab cake. It just ticks all the boxes and is also the best-priced!
  • Faidley’s has the best location with more depth of flavour of their crab cakes, however it was also the smallest and most expensive for the size.
  • G&M’s has the best cream of crab soup.
  • Koco’s has the best atmosphere for a restaurant.

I hope you enjoyed reading my take on the best Maryland crab cakes! Leave a message in the comments if you feel that I’ve missed a restaurant that should be on this list!

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Manhattan Chinatown is full of amazing authentic Asian food but in a neighbourhood full of Chinese signage and shop keepers that barely speak English, it can be daunting to find the best food spots amongst the literal hundreds of restaurants in this neighbourhood. This food guide highlights some of my favourite places to eat in Chinatown…

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The Ultimate Guide to a Manhattan Chinatown Food Crawl – bring cash!


Date Published: Sept 2nd, 2025 | Last Updated: Sept 11th, 2025
Author: Abby | Category: Travel, USA

Manhattan Chinatown is full of amazing authentic Asian food but in a neighbourhood full of Chinese signage and shop keepers that barely speak English, it can be daunting to find the best food spots amongst the literal hundreds of restaurants in this neighbourhood. This food guide highlights some of my favourite places to eat in Chinatown including local must-have items! Many of these places are known for only 1 or 2 items on their menu, so we often like to jump from restaurant to restaurant, ordering only a couple things at each place to sample our way through Chinatown. Come hungry as you journey through this food crawl with me!

Contents:

  1. Before you head to Chinatown, here are a few tips to follow to ensure a good time
  2. Where is Manhattan Chinatown?
  3. My favourite Manhattan Chinatown eateries:
Manhattan Chinatown

Before you head to Chinatown, here are a few tips to follow to ensure a good time:

  1. Always bring cash. Many of these hole-in-the-wall joints only take cash and most won’t have ATMs on site. Even if they do take card, often there’ll be a discount if you pay in cash!
  2. Don’t hold up the line. Chinatown operates like many hustle and bustle places in Asia. It’s often about speed and high turnover in many of these OG places. Try and figure out what you want before you get in line (the lines can move very quickly!) or take a photo of the menu and step to the side to take your time deciding what you want to avoid holding up the line.
  3. Don’t expect good service. Time and time again so many fantastic authentic Chinese food joints get poor ratings due to poor service. In Asia, many of these authentic hole-in-the-wall eateries and old school joints are about serving up food quick and cheap and turning over as many tables as they can, street-style. Don’t expect table service, don’t expect niceties, just go in and expect good food and the rest is a bonus. Don’t take it personally, it’s just a way of life that has been ingrained in our cultures. If you prefer a good sit down service, then I’d recommend finding a larger fancy Chinese restaurant – but I have none in the recommendations below, this post is all about quick, cheap, delicious food.
  4. Be prepared to stand or take away. Not exclusive to Chinatown, many food shops in NYC are standing room only or takeaway only, so be prepared to do either. Keep this in mind especially if you’re coming from a day of walking or exploring the city and you’re looking for a place to sit for lunch.
Manhattan Chinatown after a snowstorm

Where is Manhattan Chinatown?

There are a few Chinatowns around NYC (ie Flushing and Bay Ridge), but there’s only one in Manhattan. A quick Google search will show you the outline of this neighbourhood that borders Little Italy. I’ve highlighted the neighbourhood in the maps below.

If you’re feeling like exploring the city and working up an appetite before lunch, my favourite morning route that we take visiting guests is to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge from DUMBO in Brooklyn, walk around the Financial District/Wall Street area, then head up towards Chinatown for lunch. Afterwards you could walk through Little Italy then up to SOHO. You can also consider doing a day of exploring the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island then have dinner in Chinatown afterwards.

Zoomed out map of Chinatown in Manhattan
Zoomed in map of Chinatown, Manhattan
Manhattan Chinatown after a snowstorm

Although Chinatown spans a relatively large area, many of the popular eateries are concentrated around Grand Street, Bayard Street, and Bowery. I’ve mapped out the eateries in this post below to give you an idea of where these places are located (I’m a visual learner – I like maps to orient myself when planning 😊).

My favourite Manhattan Chinatown eateries:

Without further ado, here’s a list of my favourite Chinatown eateries in Manhattan. Let me know in the comments if I’ve missed something you think should be included here!

Matcha Cafe Maiko (the best matcha soft serve we’ve ever had)

Address: 132 Bowery, New York, NY 10013 (multiple locations)
Hours: 12pm-10pm, daily
Website: https://www.matchacafe-maiko.com/eng/
Average spend per person: $5-$15
What to order: matcha and hojicha soft serve

When we first moved to New York, we stayed at an AirBnb for a few weeks until we were able to find an apartment. Matcha Cafe Maiko just happened to be right below our AirBnb. They have some of the best matcha and hojicha soft serves we’ve ever had! Matcha Cafe Maiko uses high quality matcha that allows the strong flavours to come through in all of their desserts. Highly recommend! (Although not a “Chinatown eatery”, this place is so good that I just had to include it in this post!)

Hojicha soft serve
Matcha & Hojicha swirled soft serve

Sanmiwago (a Taiwanese spot with great dumplings)

Address: 90 Bowery, New York, NY 10013
Hours: 9am-2am, daily
Website: https://sanmiwagomeals.com/menu
Average spend per person: $10-$20
What to order: signature pork and chives pan-fried dumplings

We found this place randomly because we were super hungry and it was around the corner from our AirBnb at the time. They advertise themselves as Taiwanese food which was what attracted me to them in the first place, but there are items on the menu that can be from other areas of Asia. It was a small shop and food came out quickly, I honestly can’t even remember everything we ordered, but I remembered that their signature pan-friend pork and chive dumplings were really good!

Xi’an Famous Foods (great spot for cumin lamb and noodles)

Address: 45 Bayard St, New York, NY 10013 (multiple locations)
Hours: 11am-9pm, daily
Website: http://xianfoods.com/
Average spend per person: $10-$20
What to order: spicy cumin lamb noodles, cumin lamb burger

Xi’an Famous Foods serves up delicious food with unique flavours from the Xi’an province of China (read: spicy & lots of cumin). They originally started off in a tiny hole in the wall shop and grew such a large following that they now have 16 locations across the city! A large part of their success can be attributed to a visit from Anthony Bourdain in an episode of No Reservations. Xi’an Famous Foods is known for their spicy cumin lamb noodles and the spicy cumin lamb burger. Both dishes are similar in flavour (one has the cumin lamb served over noodles and the other has the lamb stuffed inside a bun). The noodles are fresh and hand-pulled with the perfect texture so I prefer it over the burger. There’s also a side table with self-serve sauces – I would HIGHLY recommend slapping on their chilli oil and then buy a couple jars to take home. It has a great smokey flavour without being too spicy.

I first came here about 10 years ago and I’m happy to report that although their meat portions in the burger have gotten much smaller, the flavour of the food is just as delicious.

Lamb burger
Spicy cumin lamb noodles

ChiCha San Chen (the best bubble tea we’ve had)

Address: 72-74 Bayard St, New York, NY 10013
Hours: 11:30am-9:30pm daily
Website: https://chichasanchenny.com/
Average spend per person: $8-$12
What to order: bubble milk tea, dong ding oolong tea latte

This is a pretty new spot in Chinatown that only opened in May 2024. It’s a Taiwanese bubble tea company known for their high quality teas and strong flavours and they have a pretty strong fan base. As a Taiwanese person from the land of bubble teas, I’ve had more than my fair share of bubble tea so I’ve got some pretty high standards. At first glance, it’s a fancy looking shop decorated with the theme of marketing high quality Taiwanese tea. The menu is small compared to many bubble tea shops but I didn’t mind because it helps to avoid choice paralysis. We ordered the ding dong oolong tea latte and the bubble milk tea. It was pretty expensive, at about $10 per drink and only comes in the medium size. It took a while for us to get our drink but as we sat there waiting, you can appreciate how much care they take into brewing each cup of tea. The end result paid off. It was indeed one of the most tea-heavy flavourful bubble teas we’ve ever had. If you’re into quality tea, I’d highly recommend checking this place out, but be prepared to wait (it was about 15-20 minutes before we got our drink) and spend $10 per drink.

Kong Sihk Tong (Hong Kong street food)

Address: 65 Bayard St, New York, NY 10013
Hours: 8am-9pm Sun-Thurs, 8am-10pm Fri-Sat
Website: https://kongsihktong.com/
Average spend per person: $10-$20
What to order: Golden lava French toast, beef chowfun in brown sauce, baked rice

Kong Sihk Tong is a place known for serving up Hong Kong style street/fast food. We came here for the first time based on online recommendations. Food was overall average (some fantastic, some just okay) but the prices were great and the service was fast (as you’d expect from a Chinatown joint). There’s a large menu and they take cash only. We went during winter around 11:30am and we were able to be seated right away. Some reviews say that there are often lines out the door in the summer!

We got a few dishes:

  • Curry fish balls: One of their most highly reviewed dishes. It was decent, but similar to the other curry fish balls you can find in Chinatown so I didn’t feel like it was anything special.
  • Golden lava French toast: Another popular item on the menu. It tasted great, but it was definitely on the sweet side. It’s better eaten as a dessert rather than breakfast.
  • Beef chow fun in brown sauce: Fantastic. Great wok hei flavour. It was Toby’s favourite dish of the meal.
  • Baked rice with pork chop: You have an option of 3 sauces: cream, tomato, or black pepper. I ordered the cream base for nostalgia, but was pretty disappointed. I’ve definitely had way better. The pork chop in it was pretty good though! I saw many people order the baked rice – perhaps I’ll try a different sauce base last time since the waitress said it was one of their more popular dishes.

Overall, some dishes were great, some were just okay, but they’ve got a huge menu and we’re open to coming back and trying some of their other dishes!

Curry fish balls
Beef chow fun in brown sauce
Baked rice with pork chop
Golden lava French toast
Golden lava French toast

Bánh Mì Saigon (a damn good Banh Mi)

Address: 198 Grand St, New York, NY 10013
Hours: 10am -5:30pm, Tues – Sun (closed Mondays)
Website: https://banh-mi-saigon.restaurants-world.com/
Average spend per person: $6 – $10
What to order: Banh Mi Saigon (BBQ Pork sandwich)

If you’re looking for Banh Mi in NYC, you’ll be met with countless options. In the search to find the best Banh Mi NYC has to offer, two places kept popping up in my research time and time again: Bánh Mì Saigon and Saigon Vietnamese Sandwich Deli (see below).

For those that are unfamiliar what a Banh Mi is, it is a Vietnamese sandwich made with a French-style baguette-like crusty bread that is filled with a myriad of ingredients that include pickled vegetables, paté, and an option of different meats (no cilantro on mine please). This flavourful combination make it a staple in many Vietnamese restaurants in NYC.

Between the two shops, Bánh Mì Saigon is a larger shop that’s brightly lit with lots of standing room, but no place to sit. Their most popular is the “#1 Banh Mi Saigon” which includes BBQ Pork as the protein. It’s only $8 for a decent sized sandwich. They had by far the best Banh Mi bread I’ve ever had. It has such a perfect crust and texture. and there was a good balance of flavours. Highly recommend!

Saigon Vietnamese Sandwich Deli (another damn good Banh Mi)

Address: 369 Broome St, New York, NY 10013
Hours: 7am – 7pm Tues – Sat, 7am – 5pm Sun, closed Mon
Website: https://www.saigonvietnamesesandwichdeli.com/
Average spend per person: $10 – $12
What to order: #1 House Special (Grilled Pork, Vietnamese Salami, Vietnamese Ham)

Saigon Vietnamese Sandwich Deli is a much smaller shop compared to Banh Mi Saigon. This tiny shop has just enough room for their ordering counter and a large fridge with cold drinks and unlike most Chinatown shops, they actually have a small table by the window and 2 chairs for sitting. Their specialty sandwich is the “No. 1 House Special (grilled pork with Vietnamese ham and Vietnamese salami)”. Although the bread is not as perfect as the bread at Banh Mi Saigon, their filling was really flavourful. My favourite part was the Vietnamese ham 😋. Also highly recommend!

Tonii’s Fresh Rice Noodle (the best rice noodles I’ve ever had)

Address: 83 Bayard St, New York, NY 10013
Hours: 7:30am – 6:30pm
Website: none
Average spend per person:
What to order: Tonii’s special rice noodles (pork, chicken, and dry shrimp) with all the sauces

ChangFun or rice noodles are something I’ve only ever had at dim sum places. It’s usually a rolled up long white noodle dish with a protein wrapped inside and soy sauce drizzled overtop. I had never had fresh rice noodles until coming to New York and Tonii’s (yes, with 2 i’s) blew my mind! At first glance, this hole-in-the-wall shop has no seating and the inside looks a bit suss. There’s a crappy half-fallen down outdoor area with a couple of old chairs and tables that you can maybe clean off yourself if you want to sit and eat, but all the food is packaged as takeaway. I was skeptical, but upon first bite, I was in love! The fresh rice noodles here are so much softer than any dim sum place I’ve ever had. They offer a few different protein options, but their most popular (and my favourite) is the ‘Tonii’s special’ which has pork, chicken and dry shrimp. The rice noodles comes with 4 sauces that are packaged separately and you pour it on yourself: chili oil crisp, sweet soy sauce, hoisin sauce, and peanut sauce. I would highly recommend adding all 4 sauces and mix it all up. It’s seriously delicious and one of my favourite chinatown gems!

Mei Lai Wah (the best pineapple BBQ pork bun you’ll ever have)

Address: 41 Mott St, New York, NY 10013
Hours: 8:30am – 7:30pm
Website: http://meilaiwah.com/
Average spend per person: $3 – $10
What to order: Pineapple BBQ Pork Bun

Mei Lai Wah has hands down THE best BBQ pork buns (charsiu bao) in the city. They come in a regular bun or pineapple bun. The pineapple bun is a misnomer and is named due to the buttery crackled crust on top of the bun that resembles the pattern of the side of a pineapple, but has no pineapple flavour at all. I’d highly recommend getting the pineapple BBQ pork bun – it’s their number one seller. The sweet buttery topping paired with the fatty savoury charsiu pork filling is out of this world!

This place if often very busy with a line up out the door, but the line moves quickly. There’s usually 2 lines, one for cash only and the other for card payment. The cash line is usually much shorter and you can often walk right in to the counter. The shop is quite small, with very limited space and can fit about 5 or 6 people in the store at one time and it’s takeaway only. The buns are baked fresh and served right away, piping hot!

Chang Lai Fishballs Noodles (a place for fishballs and rice noodles)

Address: 55 Bayard St Store B, New York, NY 10013
Hours: 8am – 5:30pm, daily
Website: https://changlaifishballnoodles.dine.online/locations/6703032?fulfillment=pickup
Average spend per person: $10 – $15
What to order: A1. Curry fishballs with rice noodles

This fishballs and noodles shop started off as a food cart and operated on Grand Street for 30 years and only recently opened up this location in 2023. It’s run by a lovely husband and wife (?) team that are so proud of their food and so friendly. Their most popular item on the menu is the “A1 curry fishballs with rice noodles”. I thought the fishballs were just okay but Toby loved them. The rice noodles were my favourite. They’re rolled up and cut into small pieces and mixed with a combination of 4 or 5 sauces that’s a perfect portion for a snack. This is a small shop with limited seating, enough for about 3-4 people.

The Original Chinatown Ice Cream Factory (ice cream with Asian flavours)

Address: 65 Bayard St, New York, NY 10013
Hours: 11am – 10pm daily
Website: http://www.chinatownicecreamfactory.com/
Average spend per person: $8 – 16
What to order: anything! Free samples of their ice cream – popular flavours are pandan and black sesame

Chinatown Ice Cream Factory is a small shop on Bayard Street that serves, you guessed it, ice cream! There are a TON of ice cream shops throughout NYC but nowhere else will you find unique Asian ice cream flavours such as durian, black sesame, matcha, pandan, lychee, ginger, red bean – that’s just to name a few. There’s usually a small line out the door in the evenings, however it moves quickly. There’s only enough room for about 5-6 people in the shop at one time and there’s no seating available. You can sample as many flavours as you like but note that popular flavours can run out earlier in the evening, so I’d recommend coming earlier if you’ve got your eyes set on something. Although a bit pricey at $8 a scoop and $11.50 for two scoops, their portions are quite generous.

We’ve been here twice now and although there’s no doubt better quality ice cream elsewhere with a creamier texture, the flavours they infuse into their ice cream knocks it out of the park and keeps us coming back.

Double Crispy Bakery (great steam buns and egg tarts)

Address: 230 Grand St, New York, NY 10013
Hours: 7am – 7pm, every day
Website: none
Average spend per person: $5 – $10
What to order: egg tarts (2 kinds), pineapple bun, mooncakes

I’m always on the hunt for a great egg tart. Double Crispy Bakery was recommended by a coworker of mine who’s a born and bred local. This bakery offers egg tarts in two different types: a “Custard egg tart” which is more traditionally Chinese with a formed crumbly crust and an intact gelatin-like eggy center, and the other a “Macau style egg tart” which is similar to the Portuguese egg tart, pastel de nata, that has a flaky crispy crust with a softer creamier eggy center. Both were delicious. The custard filling had great flavour with a boost of vanilla, but the flaky crispy crust of the “Macau-style” was preferable for me. Although not my favourite egg tart shop (that’s in Bay Ridge), it’s still pretty good here!

They also have a good pineapple bun (a misnomer that’s named for its flaky sweet crust that resembles a pineapple, but actually has no pineapple flavour at all) and mooncakes year-round in a few flavours (I don’t love mooncakes, so you can be the judge). Their large steam buns behind the counter are also pretty decent and are filled with savoury pork, egg, and Chinese sausage.

Shu Jiao FuZhou Cuisine (cheap peanut noodles)

Address: 295 Grand St, New York, NY 10002
Hours: 8am-8pm, 7 days a week
Website: none
Average spend per person: $3-$10
What to order: No. 5 peanut noodles, fried dumplings, fish ball soup

If you’re looking for great cheap Asian food in Chinatown, look no further than Shu Jiao FuZhou Cuisine. This no-flare restaurant offers street food items served at lightning fast speeds (seriously, the food was literally ready within 1 minute of us paying!) and nothing was over $6. Their most popular dish is the “No. 5 peanut noodles 拌面” for $3.25. It’s a generous portion of well-cooked soft wheat noodles over a peanut sauce mixture – no meat, no toppings, just noodles and sauce. I had my reservations when I first walked in and every other person in the restaurant was not Asian, but I love a good peanut noodle dish so I couldn’t resist. The peanut noodles are simple but indeed delicious and worth the visit! The cashier also recommended the fried dumplings (I thought was just okay, but Toby loved it), and the fish ball soup (which I also thought was okay but Toby enjoyed the vinegar addition to this classic soup). If you’re looking for a seriously quick and cheap place for decent food, check this place out!

The ZongZi/Bah-Chang lady outside of Grand Street Station

Address: Outside of Grand Street subway station (intersection of Grand Street & Christie Street) – just listen for her call of “Baaaah-chang”!
Hours: Usually 2pm-5pm most days
Website: https://maps.app.goo.gl/pVKw4RUNyq7avchf8
Average spend per person: $2-$3
What to order: Taiwan-style zongzi/”rice dumpling”

If you’re unfamiliar with the classic Chinese staple food, Zongzi (or also known as Bah-chang in the hokkien dialect) is glutinous/sticky rice filled with a choice different ingredients all wrapped in bamboo leaves in the shape of a triangle prism. The fillings can be savoury (commonly pork belly, egg yolk, mushroom, peanuts) or sweet (commonly red bean or mung bean). The Zongzi should be warmed prior to eating – most commonly via steaming, but you can also unwrap it and microwave it if you’re feeling lazy to bust out the steamer.

Like a character from a studio Ghibli movie, the beloved elderly Zongzi/Bah-chang lady has been selling zongzi for over 2 decades outside of the Grand Street subway station at the intersection of Grand and Christie. Her husband and daughter in law makes the zongzi and she sells them. You can hear her siren call of “Baaaaah-chang!” rain or shine.

Her most popular savoury zongzi is the Taiwan style (represent!) and the most popular sweet zongzi is the red bean. She sells them at a great price at $3 per meat-filled zongi and $2 for the others. Cash only!

We first heard of this lady when we first moved to New York in early 2023 and stayed in an AirBnB a few blocks away from the Grand Street station and would often hear her “Baaah-Chang” call. Unfortunately our AirBnb wasn’t equipped with a kitchen so we never had a chance to try them until recently! I bought her two most popular types and they were indeed pretty good. There was a decent amount of filling and the texture of the sticky rice was perfect. Although I’ve had better, for the price she charges and the quality of the filling, it’s a pretty good Zongzi.

Here’s a Youtube interview I found if you want to find out more about her story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJCbypba4kM&t=386s

The menu

Mee Sum Cafe (a breakfast joint with reputable Zongzi)

Address: 26 Pell St, New York, NY 10013
Hours: 5:30am – 5pm, daily
Website: none
Average spend per person: $10-$20 per person
What to order: dim sum, zong zi

Mee Sum Cafe is known as an OG local breakfast spot, open at 5:30am every single day and serves up traditional Chinese dishes including dim sum. If you’re looking for more Zong Zi (glutinous rice dumplings wrapped in leaves) recommendations, Mee Sum Cafe has a reputation for some great ones, offering up 7 different fillings. Unfortunately when we went, they only had 3 of their 7 kinds left, with the most popular ones sold out 😔. We didn’t have time to eat here so I bought a few frozen ones to go and tried it at home – it was just okay. Perhaps the ones that were sold out are much more worthy of their reputation 🤷🏻‍♀️. I debated whether or not to include them in this post since all I had was their Zongzi and wasn’t blown away, but due to their long standing reputation as an old school breakfast spot, I decided to include it so the rest of you can make your own decision on Mee Sum Cafe and also as a place marker to remind me to go back 🙃.

7 kinds of zongzi/sticky rice wrap

Golden Diner (honey butter pancakes)

Address: 123 Madison St, New York, NY 10002
Hours: 10am – 10pm most days (10am – 3pm on Thursdays) – make reservations ahead!
Website: http://www.goldendinerny.com/
Average spend per person: $20-$30 per person
What to order: Honey Butter Pancakes

Tucked away deep into the non-touristy parts of Chinatown where you need to speak some type of Chinese dialect to order food, Golden Diner is an American-Asian fusion diner that adds a twist to classic comfort foods. You may have seen this diner featured on many Tik Tok and Instagram videos lately showcasing their viral Honey Butter Pancakes – a friend of mine from Canada actually sent me a video of this place which is how we came to find it. I’m not overly excited about pancakes in general, but I am OBSESSED with honey butter chips so of course we had to come and try it. It took two trains to get to this prickly part the lower east side and without reservations, it was a 1.5 hour wait for a table at the bar. I’m glad to report that their Honey Butter Pancakes were indeed worth it. The honey butter syrup really does taste just like the chips and the thick and fluffy pancakes was the perfect light texture to carry the heavy syrup. It comes in a single or double serving. I’d recommend the single – it’s quite heavy and after a while it can be a bit much if you don’t have a sweet tooth.

I’ve written up the recipe for these pancakes that you can check out below:

Golden Diner Honey Butter Pancakes


The Honey Butter Pancakes from Golden Diner in Manhattan are the latest viral sensation! This recipe shows you how to recreate these fluffy pancakes with the unique umami honey butter sauce and a berry compote. Be warned – these heavy but luxurious pancakes may send you into a food coma!

We ordered a few other things here that unfortunately fell short. We had their special of the day which was a asian/cumin fried chicken wings with waffles – way too much cumin and the waffles were dry, and the matcha/hojicha coffee cake which had good flavour, but unfortunately was also very dry.

All-in-all, the pancakes were definitely worth it if you like honey-butter chips, but the rest of the things we ordered fell short. If you plan on visiting, make sure you make a booking, or else it could be over an hour wait for a table!

I hope you enjoyed my list of Chinatown eats! Let me know in the comments if there’s a place you think I should include on this list!

Happy eating!
Abby

Looking For More Ultimate Food Guides? Check out these below!

The Ultimate Guide to Top Philly Cheesesteak Spots


This is my ultimate guide to Philly Cheesesteaks in Philadelphia! I’ve made it my personal mission to try as many popular cheesesteak spots as I can find through online research, word of mouth, and local reviews. This post is my personal take on these popular spots!

AbbyLeave a comment

New South Wales Coastal Drive


The Great Australian Road Trip part II

*Note: this post is still in progress, but I’ve published it for anyone who’s interested in continuing the drive from the Victoria border up the NSW coast 😊*

What’s in this guide? (table of contents in progress)

  1. Sample Itinerary
  2. Eden
  3. Merimbula
  4. Bermagui
  5. Tilba Tilba
  6. Bodalla

New South Wales is the neighbouring state to Victoria (follow our trip from Eastern Victoria here). Crossing the NSW border from Victoria during COVID times was pretty uneventful. We travelled during the pandemic and at the time there were no restrictions to leave VIC and enter NSW so there wasn’t any border security (however on the opposite side of the road there were 2 police cruisers and a bus checking for permits to enter Victoria from NSW). There was only a small lit up sign at the border that warned us that if we left, we wouldn’t be able to return without a permit – a little daunting that we couldn’t turn back, but onwards with our adventure!

Dates we travelled: Jan 8th – 16th, 2021

Sample Itinerary

Day 1: Leave Lakes Entrance in the morning, arrive in Eden around noon. Head over to the visitor’s centre for some recommendations then off to the Killer Whale Museum. Spend a few hours at the museum then drive to Merimbula to spend the night and seek out some fresh seafood restaurants.

Day 2: Do an oyster tour in the morning at Merimbula and have some oysters for lunch. Continue driving north and hike to Horse Head Rock in Bermagui. Take a stroll in Tilba Tilba and check out the cute shops. Stop at Bodalla Dairy Shed for a snack and milkshake (or early dinner). Continue the drive to ACT and stay overnight (or onwards north).

Eden

Eden is the most Southerly town in NSW and sits right on the coastline, making it the first town we stopped in after leaving Victoria. It’s a 2 hour 45 min drive from Lakes Entrance, VIC and a half hour drive from the actual border between VIC and NSW. This small town has a rich history with whales and has some great whale watching spots during the whale migration season (May – November). We were only here for half a day and didn’t come during the whale migration season, but we absolutely loved the Killer Whale Museum!

Eden Visitor’s Centre

Address: Weecoon Street, Snug Cove, Eden NSW 2551
Opening times: Mon-Fr 9am-5pm, check the website for weekend hours
https://visiteden.com.au/visitor-information-centre/

Since this is the first town you’ll encounter in NSW, it’s a great place to stop at the visitor’s center for nearby recommendations. The ladies here were super helpful with recommendations of not only Eden but surrounding areas as well. There’s places to snorkel, beaches, hikes…etc. There’s plenty of brochures and pamphlets if you want more information. There’s also a toilet here if you’ve been holding it in since Lakes Entrance ;).

(They also had this random cool stuffed animal couch on display while we were there.)

Killer Whale Museum

Address: 184 Imlay Street, Eden, NSW 2551
Opening times: 7 days a week (check website for times)
Cost: $15/adult
https://killerwhalemuseum.com.au

This is the top attraction of Eden and we can see why! We didn’t think much of it at first, but the museum was full of so many interesting information of this industry. Eden had a rich whaling industry and the amazing part is that the local fishermen worked together with the wild killer whales (orcas) to hunt for whales. Old Tom was the most famous killer whale that helped with whale hunting. The locals would harvest the blubber and leave the tongue and offal for the orcas. This museum details the background of the whaling industry back in the day as well as highlights orcas and their natural history. There are also beautiful views from the upper level platform! You could easily spend a couple hours here. It’s definitely worth a visit!

Eden Lookout Point and Rotary Park

Address: 263 Imlay Street, Eden, NSW 2551
Opening times: 24hrs

Just up the street from the Killer Whale Museum is Eden Lookout Point, where the we were told is the best place in Eden for whale watching. Unfortunately whale-watching season is between May – November and at the time we were just at the start of January We still decided to check it out anyway for any scenic views, but disappointingly there’s not much to this lookout other than open water so I’d probably give it a miss if it’s not the right season.

Merimbula

Half an hour north from Eden is Merimbula, a coastal town deemed “The Heart of the Sapphire Coast”. When we arrived, the visitor’s centre was annoyingly closed even though they were meant to be open according to their website, so we relied on google searches to tell us what was popular in the area. Merimbula is another popular whale watching location and is advertised to have great local seafood and home to the famous Merimbula Oyster. Disappointingly, I actually struggled to find a well-rated seafood restaurant despite all the ads for fresh seafood. We ended up eating at a tapas bar which wasn’t bad but it was overpriced. The town was small and it took about 15mins to walk the majority of the main street. We did enjoy a nice evening stroll on the boardwalk though, which was probably the most memorable part of this town for us. We only stayed one night which is enough time if you’re looking for main tourist activities. If you’re looking to spend more time, there’s an aquarium in town, some beaches, and fishing charters that we saw advertised but didn’t attend. It was a busy time of year when we travelled so we couldn’t find any affordable hotels or AirBnBs in town so we booked a small camper van AirBnb at the next town over in Wolumla roughly 15mins away.

Our dinner at ‘Ritzy Wine Tapas Bar’, Merimbula – we struggled to find a fresh seafood restaurant in town so we headed to one of the higher rated restaurants in town. The atmosphere was great, but the food was average and kind of overpriced, to be honest.
Our cozy AirBnB in Wolumla for one night because all the accommodation was booked out in Merimbula or too expensive. This was $91 for 1 night.

The Merimbula Boardwalk

Address: Market Street, Merimbula, NSW
Open 24hrs
https://www.visitnsw.com/destinations/south-coast/merimbula-and-sapphire-coast/merimbula/attractions/merimbula-boardwalk

Our favourite part of Merimbula – a lovely boardwalk that hugs the Merimbula Lake. We had a nice evening stroll here after dinner and walked amongst the mangroves and spotting mini crabs and puffer fish!

Book an Oyster Tour!

One thing I regret during our trip was not attending an oyster tour. I didn’t even realize it was something we could do until the morning we were set to leave and by then all the tour tickets were sold out. 😦 The Merimbula Oyster (Sydney Rock Oyster) is one of the most well-known oyster in Australia and is served in many gourmet restaurants around the country. There are a few farms that offer tours and the ones that stood out were Wheelers Oyster Farm and Captain Sponge’s Magical Oyster Tour. If we ever come back around during the right season, we’ll be sure to book a tour!!

Bermagui

Continuing North on the coastal drive, you’ll pass by many small coastal towns with beautiful beaches. A few of them had caravan parks right in front of the water where lots of people were gearing up for a surf. After a while all of these towns start to seem similar. We only stopped in one of these coastal towns: Bermagui, to check out Horse Head Rock.

Horse Head Rock/Camel Rock

Address: Camel Rock Surf Beach
https://www.sapphirecoast.com.au/attraction/horse-head-rock

Horse Head Rock wasn’t a big advertised attraction nor was it highlighted in road trip itineraries, but pictures of it in passing made it look too cool to pass up. Access is at Camel Rock Surf Beach where there’s a big rock that kind of resembles a camel. Continue left following the beach over the rocks to get to Horsehead Rock. Warning, the hike does get a bit treacherous with lots of jagged rocks and uneven footing. Wear appropriate footwear such as hiking shoes or sturdy water shoes (you may get your feet wet at times). At the time we had no idea what we were in for so I had Birkenstocks on and Toby had flip flops (or as the Aussies call it: ‘thongs’ 😉) and it was a real struggle to get over the many MANY jagged rocks. But in the end, the hike was SO worth it. We climbed up a few rocks to get beautiful rugged views of the rocky beach and the actual horsehead rock looked just like a horse head, complete with a mane made of moss! We sat here for a bit just marvelling at how accurate the rock was. Definitely recommend! This hike is only accessible at low tide, so plan ahead!

The walk starts on a pristine quiet beach. You head left of the beach towards the rocks – you can see Camel Rock in the background
Camel Rock in the background to the right
Camel Rock
Beautiful rocky beach scenery along the way
We hiked up a few high rocks to get better views – wear study shoes!
Horsehead rock!
His model pose
Little pools to check out some cool creatures

Tilba Tilba

This little town wasn’t actually on our list of places to stop by, but as we continued our drive on the A1 highway North, we saw a big sign for a cheese factory so of course we had to detour. We followed the signs and ended up in an adorable little town called Tilba Tilba. This town is one main street with lovely houses and boutique shops (pictured below, but it was hard to capture the cuteness of the town). The cheese factory wasn’t actually that exciting and the cheeses were average, but the town itself was just so cute that it was worth the little detour. Also, I bought a hat.

Bodalla

We only stopped by this small town for the Dairy Shed that a friend recommended us. There was a nearby bakery that looked cute but we didn’t stop by. Maybe next time?

Bodalla Dairy Shed

Address: 52 Princes Hwy, Bodalla NSW 2545
https://www.bodalladairy.com.au/

This place was recommended by one of our old classmates who worked in the area. She told us of their incredible milkshakes and good food. We’re SO glad we stopped here. Not only were their milkshakes spot-on, they had AMAZING cheese toasty (grilled cheese) sandwiches with delicious chutney. We weren’t that hungry and only ordered one sandwich, but after a couple bites we just had to go back to get a second! They also had some great products you can bring home and a selection of cheeses and ice creams. There are also a few farm animals on site with set feeding times if you’ve got little ones. If you’re in the area, you definitely NEED to stop here.

Bateman’s Bay

From Bodalla we went straight to Canberra, ACT, passing through Bateman’s Bay. Although we didn’t stop here, it’s worth mentioning for next time since this place looked pretty cool from the car window!

Continued to Canberra, ACT

From Bateman’s Bay we detoured inland and headed for Canberra, ACT. If you’re going to go to Canberra, this is the time to detour inland. Continue onto the Canberra page (in progress) for more information on things to do there or continue reading this post for more of the NSW coast!

Skipped Sydney

During our first road trip in 2021, Sydney was in lockdown and isolation due to COVID outbreaks so we decided to skip it in fear of being stuck in a hotel room the whole time and not be able to explore, so we drove 5 hours straight from Canberra to Newcastle. We did return to Sydney for a locum job in 2022 – see the separate Sydney post (in progress).

Newcastle

Newcastle is a harbour city 2 hours north of Sydney or 5 hours northeast from Canberra. It’s a small city with a few major streets to explore. We reached Newcastle just before 2pm and had a late lunch at a nearby popular burger place called Rascal. Their burgers were indeed pretty good and their Bailey’s milkshake was A+. We stayed at the Clarendon Hotel (https://clarendonhotel.com.au/) which was a lovely place central to the main part of town. The main floor of the hotel was a popular bustling pub.

The main attraction here is the Newcastle Memorial Walk and the beaches. To be honest, there isn’t all that much “to do” here in terms of tourist things, but it seems like a nice place to live with so many beautiful beaches around. We only stayed one night here, which was enough time for us to explore the city, but you’d need more if you wanted to add on some beach time. After seeing the local sights we headed back to the hotel for a little rest and ordered dinner from the pub downstairs to our room 😜.

Newcastle Memorial Walk

The Newcastle Memorial Walk is a beautiful scenic walkway that commemorates the “100th anniversary of the ANZAC landing at Gallipoli in 1915 and the commencement of steel making in Newcastle” – fact plagiarized from their website (https://newcastle.nsw.gov.au/explore/things-to-do/walking-and-cycling/newcastle-memorial-walk) 🙃. It’s high up on the cliffs so it was pretty windy when we went, but the views were absolutely stunning. We started at Strzelecki Lookout where we parked our car, and the path led us southwest along the coast where it connects multiple beaches with walkways that lead to beach level. We didn’t end up walking the entire path since it can go quite a long way.

Walk along the Esplanade

From the start of the Newcastle Memorial Walk at Strzelecki Lookout, you can continue walking north to the Shortland Esplanade for some more beautiful ocean-side views including a popular local swimming hole called the Bogey Hole. This walk will end near Newcastle Beach where you can continue on, or head back into the main part of town (see map below of our walking path).

Our walking route from the Newcastle Memorial Walk to Shortland Esplanade
The Bogey Hole – a popular swimming spot right by the ocean
Newcastle Beach in the distance

Explore the City Streets of Newcastle

There’s not a ton to do in downtown/CBD Newcastle, but there a few streets with some shops if you feel like exploring. Lunch at Rascal was great and it was a nice little stroll by the wharf, but not a must-do if you’re short on time.

Lunch at Rascal, a popular burger place with pretty decent burgers and Bailey’s milkshake
The wharf at the northern part of town
First bubble tea shop since Melbourne. It was quite disappointing. 😅

Andy’s Cherry Pie Cafe – a stopover on the side of the highway

Address: 17 Bengal St, Coolongolook NSW 2423, Australia

Andy’s Cherry Pie Cafe is a big beautiful yellow building off the side of the highway that screamed ‘Cherry Pies!’ so loudly that we had to pull over and give it a try. The building was big on the outside but the inside was less than exciting so we sat outside. Neither Toby or I have any strong feelings towards cherries or fruit pies and wasn’t really expecting much, so we bought one slice to share. This pie was so damn good that immediately after the first few bites, we went back in and bought a second slice.

Note: When we visited this place in 2021, there was a big ‘for sale’ sign of the business. From my recent Googling, it appears that this business is still up and running, now also serving kebabs and burgers. I have no idea what the pie tastes like these days since changing owners, but I hope it’s just as good as when we had it a few years ago!

Coff’s Harbour

(in progress)

Grafton

Grafton is not the most exciting town. In fact, unless you’re coming for the annual Jacaranda trees, there’s really not much to do here and would be a miss on most people’s road trip itineraries. The main streets are not that exciting with half the shops closed, and every now and then you’ll run into some dodgy characters. Toby and I were hired as relief vets to work at a clinic here for a couple of months. We had no idea what kind of a place Grafton was and probably should’ve done more research when we signed on, however the recruiter made it sound like such a lovely place with beautiful spectacular purple trees (failing to let us know that they only bloom a few weeks in a whole year). Nevertheless, we arrived and saw for ourselves that there wasn’t much to do here, however the people we worked with were amazing and so lovely that we ended up having a fantastic time and loved working here.

There are some local gems we did discover though, like the swimming area. There are also nearby towns and cities that we’d fill our time with mini road trips (see separate posts in progress).

Jacaranda Trees (early Oct – Nov)

https://www.jacarandafestival.com/trees

The most well-known feature of Grafton are the Jacaranda trees that burst with beautiful purple flowers every year. Sadly, Toby and I didn’t get a chance to experience this when we lived in Grafton due to a mismatch of the season. The recruiter that hired us in Grafton used the trees as a selling point for us to come here, but they conveniently left out that it wouldn’t be the right season when we arrive 😒.

We’ve heard that people flock from all over the country to come see these beautiful trees every year. They’re only at peak bloom for a few short weeks (usually starting in October and by November many of the flowers will be carpeting the ground). Coming back to Grafton for the Jacaranda trees are definitely on my bucket list.

There’s even an annual Jacaranda Festival – https://www.jacarandafestival.com/

Fig Tree Avenue

Address: Breimba St, Grafton NSW 2460, Australia

This avenue is lined with gorgeous enormous fig trees in the middle of Grafton. It’s surreal to walk amongst these 17 giant trees and makes a perfect photo-op!

Sherwood Nature Reserve – Scouts Falls

Location: No actual address, but enter Scouts Falls into Google maps to get a general location. There is a small car park on Sherwood Creek Rd near the Sherwood Nature Reserve sign immediately past the bridge over the Middle Creek.

Nestled in the Sherwood Nature Reserve, Scouts Falls is a hidden gem known to locals as a popular swimming spot. The drive to reach this area is via a hilly dirt road with limited road parking and the walk itself is a bit treacherous with uneven ground, slanted steps, and exposed tree roots as a tripping hazard. Definitely bring some reliable shoes for this walk, especially if there was a recent rain to make the rocks slippery and the ground muddy. We saw a woman slip in her flip flops and get her foot cut up by the rocks (however in the same walk, we also saw children running around in their bare feet at full speed 😯). There’s limited signage so you just have to trust the trail and try not to trip on something. After all this, you’re rewarded with a beautiful waterfall that you can swim right up and under, as well as a pool that’s deep enough for some proper swimming. We’ve done this hike twice – the first was during a busy long weekend and we sadly didn’t think to bring our swim suits (we thought this would just be a waterfall viewing hike), so we sat on the edge of the rocks envious of all the people having fun in the water. The second time we came during a weekday and came prepared with our swimming gear. There was no one there the second time we went and it was so peaceful there to swim around under the waterfall.

Maclean

Maclean is a cute small town that we spotted on the map when I was looking for Asian grocery stores around the Grafton area. They did indeed have an Asian grocer, but it was super small and didn’t have what I wanted, however I’m glad we ventured out here because this town was small but cute. The main street had some nice coffee shops and stores to walk through. Maclean is also on the way to Iluka if you’re planning to go to Bluff Beach.

Iluka – Rainforest Walk & Bluff Beach

Iluka didn’t pop up on our radar when we were researching things to do around the area when we stayed in Grafton, however one of our co-workers recommended the rainforest walk connecting up to Bluff Beach. It was about an hour drive northeast of Grafton and we rented some snorkel gear at a local fishing shop. We parked our car at the side of the road and started the Iluka Rainforest Walking Track. It was an easy walk through the rainforest but it was a bit monotonous and not the most exciting scenery. It took just under an hour to reach Bluff Beach.

The beach was empty when we arrived and it was a lovely quiet spot with lots of small sea shells. We set our things down and went for a snorkel. The waters unfortunately weren’t that clear but we did see a few cool fish. I tested out my new Iphone in saltwater for the first time and it was indeed waterproof! This was the start to all my underwater photography for the rest of our Australia trip.

Thoughts on Iluka: Unless you’ve got lots of time, I’d recommend skipping Iluka. Although it’s a nice and quiet small town, the overall views weren’t mind-blowing. However, if you’re into nature walks and a quiet beach, then by all means pack a picnic lunch and a snorkel. You can actually drive to Bluff Beach instead and skip the rainforest walk if you’d rather just enjoy the water views.

Byron Bay

(in progress)

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Top Things to Do in Birmingham, Alabama & Surroundings: A Travel Guide


Date Published: July 13th 2025 | Last Updated: July 13th 2025
Author: Abby | Category: Travel, USA
Date of travel: June 16th, 2025

Birmingham, Alabama is the state’s largest city by metro area (but only second to Huntsville by population). It was a major industrial centre in the 1800s known for iron and steel production that lead to rapid growth and earned the city’s nickname “The Magic City”.

Coming from NYC, Birmingham seemed like a pretty small town, but it’s home to a fascinating history, a giant bare-bottomed statue, and some of the best BBQ around! Nearby around Birmingham there’s a motorsport museum that can’t be missed (even if you’re not into motorcycles), a statue of liberty replica, a national park, and a grotto of miniature holy places.

Contents:

  1. How many days do I need?
  2. Best time of year to travel?
  3. Getting Around
  4. Where to stay?
  5. Things to Do
  6. Food
  7. Just outside of Birmingham
  8. A Sample Itinerary
  9. Some Final Thoughts

How many days do I need?

Although you could definitely fit everything within a 12 hour day, but because the museums all close around 4-5pm, it’s impossible to hit them all before closing time. Therefore, you’ll need 1 day for everything in Birmingham (Civil Rights Museum, Vulcan statue and museum, Sloss Furnaces, and the Botanical Gardens), but add on an extra day to do things around Birmingham such as the Barber Vintage Motorsport Museum (HIGHLY recommend!) or some hiking – plus, an extra day also lets you try out more local BBQ!

Best time of year to travel?

You can visit Birmingham any time of the year, but it gets quite hot and humid during the summer months, so spring (March – May) or autumn (Sept – early Nov) would be the best times to go, especially if you plan on doing some outdoor hikes. If you plan on only sticking to the museums, then any time of year would be suitable.

Getting Around

The best way to get around Birmingham and the surrounding areas is by car.

Where to stay?

As you can see from the map below, everything is a little spread out so it doesn’t really matter all that much where you stay. The “central downtown” area isn’t really worth paying extra to stay near since there wasn’t much in terms of street shopping, nightlife nor a collection of restaurants. We stayed at a cheap Quality Inn off highway 280 for $90 a night and it was actually pretty decent.

Things to Do

Map of things to do in the area. Blue = inside Birmingham, Orange = outside of Birmingham

Vulcan Park and Museum

Address: 1701 Valley View Dr, Birmingham, AL 35209
Hours: 10am-8pm Sun to Thurs, 10am-9pm Fri & Sat (gift shop closes at 6pm)
Cost: $6 per person
Time needed here: ~ 40 minutes
Website: https://visitvulcan.com/

Vulcan, named after the Roman god of fire and forgery, is a colossal 56 feet (17m) tall iron statue that sits on top of a 124 feet (37.8m) pedestal that overlooks the city of Birmingham. Weighing in at 50 tonnes (100,000 lbs), it is the largest cast iron statue in the world and the largest metal statue ever made in the US!

View of the statue from the parking lot
There are mini Vulcan statues around town painted differently
A zoomed in view of Vulcan from the parking lot
We never did find out why they didn’t give him pants 🤔
View of Birmingham from the Vulcan park
View of Birmingham from the Vulcan park
Birmingham

Vulcan was made for the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, Missouri to promote the city’s abundant iron and steel industry. After the fair it was brought back to Birmingham (after sitting on the side of the railroad for 18 months due to unpaid freight fees 😳) but his spear was lost during transport (how do you even lose a giant spear? 🤔). Vulcan sat at the Alabama State Fairgrounds with nothing to hold and companies used this to their advantage. Over the years he held a Coca-cola bottle, ice cream cone, and even Heinz pickles! In 1936 they found Vulcan its current home on top of Red Mountain where he has stood atop his pedestal ever since. In 1946 they made Vulcan hold a temporary light-up torch to bring awareness to traffic safety, and in 2001 they finally made him a new spear and hammer.

You can drive right up to the Vulcan statue where it’s $6 to enter the park which includes admission into the small museum and access to the observation deck at the top of the pedestal right at the base of the statue. Unfortunately when we went, the elevator was out of order so we climbed 159 steps to the top…only to be mooned by Vulcan. The statue faces towards the city, but from the parking lot and the exit of the observation stairs, all you see is his bare bum 😂. I can’t tell if he’s wearing skin-tight pants or they’ve just decided that he should be bare-assed. It seemed like every angle was of his bum.

The elevator is to the right of the statue
First views from the top of the observation deck is of his butt again 😅

The view from the top over Birmingham was nice. Your ticket is actually good for the whole day and the staff recommended coming back for sunset views over the city – a lovely thought, but no way we were climbing these stairs twice in this heat 😅.

The small museum covers the history of the construction of Vulcan and the history of Birmingham’s industries. It doesn’t take long to walk through. Overall we spent a total of 40 minutes here including the observation deck and climbing those stairs.

Sloss Furnaces

Address: 20 32nd St N, Birmingham, AL 35222
Hours: 10am-4pm Tues-Sat, closed Sun & Mon
Cost: Free for a self-guided tour; for a 1 hour guided tour: $10/adult, $5/child – book early, only 2 tours a day at 10:30am and 2pm
Address: https://www.slossfurnaces.org/

Established in 1881, Sloss Furnace was a huge blast furnace plant where iron was made from 1882–1971. Due to vast deposits of coal, limestone, and iron ore in the area, it was once the largest crude iron producer in the world! It provided thousands of jobs for people from all around the Southern states, including former slaves and European immigrants, but it also had an ugly history of racial injustice, union busting and dangerous working conditions. Sloss played a role in the history of civil rights in Birmingham and it is said that the history of Sloss is the history of Birmingham and the industrial age.

Sloss Furnaces was a major source of air pollution and it was closed permanently in 1970 due to a combination of pressures from environmental regulations and the availability of more efficient and profitable ore sources in other regions. Today the site is a national historic landmark and is the first industrial site in the US to be saved and converted for public use. It is currently a museum, an education centre, and a venue for concerts and festivals.

You can tour the furnaces for free as a self-guided tour with information plaques to read, or you can book a $10 guided tour that walks you through the grounds (book early, only 2 tours a days at 10:30am and 2pm). Unfortunately, as cool as this place looked (it’s huge, you can see it from the highway!), we weren’t able to visit because it was sadly not open on Sundays and Mondays when we were in Birmingham 💔. I’ve included it in this post anyway for anyone else that is planning a trip to Birmingham and may want to check it out!

Birmingham Civil Rights Institute

Address: 520 16th St N, Birmingham, AL 35203
Hours: 10am-5pm Tues – Sat, closed Sun & Mon
Cost: $15 per adult
Website: http://www.bcri.org/

Birmingham was known as one of the most segregated cities in the US. It had a notorious history for police brutality and the local KKK was the most violent. The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute is a museum that depicts the struggle for black equality and highlights the civil rights movement in Birmingham in the 1950s and 60s, including the Birmingham Campaign and the Children’s Crusade that included boycotts, sit-ins, marches, and other non-violent protests that were met with brutal violence that shocked the nation and received widespread attention. The events at Birmingham shaped the fight for equality.

Unfortunately this museum was also closed on Sunday and Monday, so we weren’t able to visit when we were in Birmingham, but I’ve included here as another noteworthy place to visit when in town.

Birmingham Botanical Gardens

Address: 2612 Lane Park Rd, Birmingham, AL 35223
Hours: 7am-6pm, daily (hours change seasonally, check the website for the most up to date info)
Cost: Free
Website: https://www.bbgardens.org/

With only one day in Birmingham, we sadly didn’t make it to the botanical gardens before it closed – it didn’t help that it also started raining. I’ve included it in this post because it came highly recommended by a few people in our research and it also has a great online rating. It seems pretty big, so I’d allow at least 2 hours here!

Food

Saw’s BBQ/Saw’s Soul Kitchen

Address: 6 locations, Homewood location is the OG, we went to the Avondale location (215 41st St S, Birmingham, AL 35222)
Hours: Mon – Thurs 11am-8pm, 11am-9pm Fri & Sat, 11am-4pm Sun
Website: http://www.sawsbbq.com/

This Carolina-style BBQ has been voted the best BBQ in Alabama. Although Toby and I didn’t have time to try out the many BBQ joints on offer in Birmingham, we’d agree that Saw’s did indeed serve up some amazing BBQ! There are 6 locations around the Birmingham area, but the OG is the Homewood location. Each location serves the main popular items on the menu, but each one also offers a little something different, according to our server.

We went to the Avondale location which was closest to us. At first glance we weren’t sure if we were in the right place. The sign was barely visible – half faded on the side of the wall – but once we entered, the unmistakable smell of BBQ assured us this was it. Unlike a traditional BBQ joint where they slice the food by weight in front of you and you self-serve your sides, this joint was fast-food style where we placed our order at the counter/bar, grabbed a number and the food was brought out to our table.

True to our nature, we ordered a bit of everything that’s popular (sadly, no brisket):

  • Smoked chicken thighs – AMAZING. Perfectly cooked, juicy, slighty crisky and smokey. The sauce was delicious!
  • Pulled pork and grits – my favourite of the meal. It was hearty and tasted like a home-cooked Southern meal. Goes great with their table BBQ sauce.
  • Sweet tea chicken sandwich – this was Toby’s all time favourite. Although the bun sucked and kept falling apart, but the flavour of the fried chicken was SO GOOD. I’d come back just for this chicken!
  • Fried corn, fried green tomatoes, and banana pudding were just okay.
Fried corn
Pulled pork & grits
Fried green tomatoes
Smoked chicken thighs
Banana pudding
Sweet tea chicken sandwich

For everything above we dropped $61 which we thought was pretty reasonable! They also had a pretty good red sauce and white sauce on the table that they sell at the local Piggly Wiggly if you wanted to bring some home.

If you’re into BBQ, there are tons of other BBQ places around Birmingham also with very high reviews. Next time, I’d stay an extra day or two just to try out more places!

Just outside of Birmingham

Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum

Address: 6030 Barber Motorsports Pkwy, Leeds, AL 35094
Hours: 10am-5pm Mon to Sat, 12pm-5pm Sun (check the website for the most up to date info)
Cost: $20 per adult, $15 per child
Time needed here: at least 2 hours
Website: http://www.barbermuseum.org/

If you’re into motorcycles and the motorsport industry, this is the place for you! If you’re not into motorcycles, you should come here anyway!

The Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum has the largest collection of motorcycles in the world. There are over 1000 mint condition motorcycles on display from every era. Neither Toby and I are into motorsports, but this place was so highly reviewed in our research that we had to put it on our list to see what all the hype was about. We’re so glad we did because this is hands down one of the most aesthetically pleasing museums we’ve ever been in. Right from the beginning you’re faced with a shit ton of motorcycles, all perfectly lined up and shiny. The reflection off of all the chrome is mesmerizing. Not only was it cool to see all the motorcycles throughout the years, they also had sections of different type of motorsports such as drag racing, speed racing, dirt biking so you can compare the difference between the different types of motorcycles.

Apart from racing, our favourite part of the museum was actually the history of the invention of motorcycles. They had a steam-operated bicycle that is said to be one of the earliest models of the motorcycle. Back in the day, motorcycles were made by literally adding a motor attachment to a bicycle and as time went on, it became more and more custom and a separate machine on its own. They have war time bikes, Arnott’s biscuit bikes, holiday side car bikes, snowmobile bikes…etc. If you can think of a type and era of bicycle, they’ll probably have it on display! It was honestly such a cool museum to visit and I highly recommend everyone to go! It took us about 1.5 hours here to walk through everything, but if you’re a motorcycle enthusiast, you could easily spend much longer, reading through all of the information plaques.

1867 Roper Steam Velocipede replica – possibly the first true two-wheeled motorcycle with a steam power cylinder and a coal fired broiler 😂
1885 Maybach Daimler Reitwagen replica – another one of the first motorcycles to be built and has a carburetor. It goes a whopping 7mph!
1902 Steffey – how a typical motorcycle used to look like: a bike frame with an attached motor!
Check out this beautiful bike light from 1902!
A little bit of Czech ❤️
A little bit of Australia ❤️
Teeny tiny bikes that Toby remembers from his childhood
2016 Christini 450 II-Track – a motorcycle and snowmobile all in one! 😂
1950 Indian Warrior – in an attempt to boost slow sales in the winter, Indian made a ski bolt-on attachment!
There was also a section on Lotus cars!

Statue of Liberty Replica

Address: 516 Liberty Pkwy, Vestavia Hills, Alabama, 35242
Hours: 6am-9pm? I can’t really find a direct source on the opening hours apart from what’s listed on google maps
Cost: Free
Time needed here: 10 minutes

View from the parking lot walking up to the statue

Something totally random and unexpected to find in Birmingham is a Statue of Liberty replica that’s one-fifth the original size. This statue was commissioned by the Liberty National Life Insurance Company as their symbol and sat on top of their building in downtown Birmingham from 1958. In 1989 the statue was moved to its current location (I couldn’t find a reason why).

There’s not much to do here apart from gaze at this statue – it actually is a pretty good replica compared to the real lady liberty. You don’t need to spend much time here and if you’ve seen the real thing, it’s pretty much just a smaller version so feel free to skip it if you’re on a time crunch. There’s a small parking lot you can park your car, then it’s a 30 second walk to the statue.

Toby for size reference

Oak Mountain State Park – Kings Chair Overlook Hike

Cost: $5 per adult for admission into the state park
Hours: 7am-8pm, daily
Park Website: https://www.alapark.com/parks/oak-mountain-state-park

Length: 5.4km total
Elevation Gain: 360m
Trail type: Out & back
Difficulty/Terrain: moderately strenuous, mostly uphill with a moderate incline, nice walking terrain
Estimated duration: 2 hours total
Starting point: North Trailhead Parking Lot (975W+43, Pelham, AL 35242)
Things to bring: water bottle, sunscreen & hat (most of the trail is shaded with some sunny area), good hiking shoes, tick/insect repellent depending on season, screenshot of the trail map
More Trail info: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/alabama/king-s-chair-overlook-loop (we didn’t do the full loop, just the out and back on the blue trail)

Located just 30 minutes outside of Birmingham, Oak Mountain State Park is Alabama’s largest park and offers recreational activities such as hiking, fishing, camping, horseback riding, and biking.

There are numerous hikes in this state park, but due to timing, we only went on the most popular hike, the King’s Chair Overlook. You can reach the overlook through a few different trail paths and make it into a loop, but we took the most direct route by starting on the blue trail and followed the trail left until we reached the overlook (I’ve highlighted our path in the map below) then turned back the way we came.

Overview of the path (blue trail) we took to get to King’s Chair Overlook in Oak Mountain State Park

The trail starts at the North Trailhead Parking lot. It’s pretty easily accessible with enough parking for at least 20 cars. We started at 8am to try and escape the heat and there was only one other car there when we arrived. It was a little busier when we left but still plenty of parking.

Parking lot
Trailhead starts across the road from the parking lot
Trail map of multiple hikes in the area
Starting on the Blue Trail!

Overall the hike was moderately strenuous with a pretty consistent moderate incline almost all of the way. It took us about 2 hours total. It was a lovely walk through the forest and the views at the top were great with an overlook of the tree canopy below, but if I’m being honest, it wasn’t a unique view with interesting structures or special scenery. It was like any other overlook in any other state or country. So if you’re short on time and you’ve done overlook hikes before, I’d probably give this one a miss.

Ave Maria Grotto

Address: 1600 St Bernard Dr, Cullman, AL 35055
Hours: 9am-5pm Mon-Sat, 11:30am-5pm Sunday
Admission: $10 per person
Time needed here: 20 – 30 minutes
Website: http://www.avemariagrotto.com/

If you’re looking for something a little out of the ordinary, the Ave Maria Grotto is a garden area outside of the Saint Bernard Abbey that is home to handmade miniature replicas of famous religious places around the world.

Created by Brother Joseph, a Benedictine monk of the abbey for nearly 70 years, he built his first miniatures in 1912 and at first they were placed near the monastery, but the large number of visitors that would come to see them resulted in them being moved to their current location in the grotto. The current collection includes 125 small stone and cement structures and is built out of stone, concrete, and unwanted donated materials (e.g., broken plates, costume jewelry, ceramic tile, beads, marbles, seashells, etc.).

The Ave Maria Grotto is located 1 hour north of Birmingham. It’s $10 admission per person and will take you roughly 20-30 minutes to walk through the winding garden of miniature scenes. If you’re really into miniatures, then check this place out – if not, then it won’t be quite worth the 1 hour detour just to get here. We stopped by on our way from Birmingham to Huntsville.

A Sample Itinerary

Double check all opening days and times before going! Some places are not open every day.

Day 1:

Day 2:

Some Final Thoughts

  • The Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum was one of the highlights of the area!
  • Saw’s BBQ is AMAZING. I still dream about the pulled pork and cheesy grits.
  • Book tickets in advance for Sloss Furnaces.
  • Not all the attractions and museums are open everyday. Double check the opening times before planning your trip!
  • Will I ever know why Vulcan doesn’t have pants???

Abby2 Comments

Exploring Memphis: From Graceland to Beale Street


Date Published: June 30th, 2025 | Last Updated: June 30th, 2025
Author: Abby | Category: Travel, USA
Date of travel: April 13th-14th, 2025

Contents:

  1. How many days do I need?
  2. Best time of year to travel?
  3. Where to stay?
  4. Getting Here and Getting Around
  5. Map of Memphis
  6. A Word on Safety
  7. Things to Do:
  8. Food
  9. Some final thoughts…

Memphis, TN is credited for being the birthplace of rock n’ roll and home of the blues. I’ve heard so much about this iconic city and expected it to be huge, but surprisingly it actually wasn’t all that big nor all that much to do here apart from museums and checking out live music. Overall Memphis seemed very geared toward tourists, but it’s still worth checking out to visit the historic places such as Graceland, Elvis’ home, Sun Studio where so many artists started, and Lorraine Hotel which is the site of the National Civil Rights Museum and also where MLK Jr. was fatally shot. It’s worth a visit at least once to walk through the historic places, especially if you’re a music fan!

How many days do I need?

Although you only need 2 days to see the highlights, most museums will close by 5pm and each museum takes a few hours to get through (especially Graceland where you’ll need at least half a day), so leave yourself 3 days if you want to get through all the places. I’ve highlighted the main attractions in this post with a rough amount of time you’ll need at each place to help you plan your trip.

Best time of year to travel?

Apart from Beale Street and outdoor exhibits, the main museum attractions are indoors, so the time of year isn’t all that important when visiting Memphis.

April to May will be the best season to travel before it gets too hot, but it will also be the busiest season.

June to August will have more outdoor music and festivals, but it’ll get very hot, so be prepared and have plenty of sun protection!

Budget travel times with the cheapest hotel rates: November to February – it’ll be colder and off-peak season but winters in Memphis tend to be mild compared to other states.

Where to stay?

Stay closer to the downtown area/Beale Street for better access to live music at night and you’ll be within walking distance home afterwards. Most attractions in Memphis are not within walking distance, so unless you plan on taking an Uber everywhere, try to find a hotel with reasonable parking rates or a parking garage nearby.

We stayed here:

Caption By Hyatt Beale Street Memphis
Address: 245 South Front Street, Memphis, TN 38103, United States
Website: https://www.hyatt.com/caption-by-hyatt/memcp-caption-by-hyatt-beale-street-memphis

It was a great location, clean, and a modern hotel. It cost us about $130/night in April but there are definitely cheaper options around if you’re looking for a low cost option. The valet parking here was super expensive and not worthwhile but the parking garage across the street had great rates and was easily accessible.

Getting Here and Getting Around

The closest airport is the Memphis International Airport, which is only a 20 minute drive away from downtown and less than 5 minutes away from Graceland.

Side story: We didn’t find many flights coming into Memphis from NYC that suited our schedule (most flew in the middle of the day and we like to either fly super early or super late to get the most out of our days) so we actually flew into Nashville, TN which had more flight options, stayed around for a few days to check out the country music scene, then made the 3 hour road trip to Memphis. If you’ve got time to spare, I’d highly recommend checking out Nashville!

Downtown Memphis is not very big, but most of the bigger attractions such as Graceland or Sun Studio aren’t walkable and will require some sort of transport. Driving is the best option to get around with free parking at most tourist areas, but you can also choose to use ride share such as Uber or Lyft to save on driving.

We parked here overnight:

MLGW Parking
Address: 234-238 S Front St, Memphis, TN 38103
Google maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/oNvR92fhjKV7Dh1AA

This parking garage was directly across from our hotel and is also a great location near Beale Street. The prices are reasonable and overnight parking is available.

Map of Memphis

Overview of Memphis with the main attractions labelled (blue = attractions, red = food, green = our hotel)
A zoomed in view of downtown Memphis with Beale Street highlighted in Pink (blue = attractions, red = food, green = our hotel)

A Word on Safety

Memphis was listed in the top 3 most dangerous cities in the US. We actually didn’t know this until we arrived on a Sunday night and immediately experienced some wild behaviour from people erratically swerving their cars, yelling on the streets, and grown ass women screaming and crying in a hotel lobby while laying on the ground all within the first 30 minutes of arriving in downtown Memphis. A quick google search highlighted the ugly side of Memphis and put us on our guard for the rest of the trip.

It turns out that the first night when we arrived there was a food festival in town and drew in all sorts of crowds that led to the insane behaviour, but for the rest of the trip we mainly felt pretty safe and just steered clear of any suspicious areas.

To be on the safe side, I’d recommend exploring during the day and stick to the touristy areas and not venture too far off on your own, especially at night. Park your car in reliable parking garages with good security, and stay in hotels closer to the main attractions. Just be on your guard, stay clear of any drama, and avoid sketchy areas and you’ll be fine.

Things to Do:

The top 2 attractions in Memphis are Sun Studio and Graceland. There’s just so much to talk about that I’ve made a separate post for each of them, see below for the links:

Sun Studio

Explore Sun Studio: Rock and Roll’s Birthplace


Sun Studio in Memphis, founded by Sam Phillips, is a historic recording studio where legendary artists started out, including Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, B.B. King, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis. This guide is an overview of everything you need to know before visiting.

Graceland

Graceland: A Complete Guide to Visiting Elvis Presley’s Home


Graceland is the home of Elvis Presley and his family and is the number one tourist attraction in Memphis. My guide contains everything you need to know about visiting Graceland with tons of pictures to help you plan your visit.

Memphis Pyramid: Bass Pro Megastore + Observation Deck

Address: 1 Bass Pro Dr, Memphis, TN 38105
Website: https://stores.basspro.com/us/tn/memphis/1-bass-pro-dr.html
Hours: 9am-9pm most days (check the website for updated information)
Cost: Free entry into the pyramid, it’s $8 to go up the elevator to the observation deck

The Memphis Pyramid was built in 1991 and was originally used as a sports arena/entertainment venue. The pyramid shape was to pay homage to the city’s namesake to an ancient city in Egypt that was known for its pyramids. It was closed for some time in the early 2000’s but then re-opened in 2015 as a Bass Pro Shops megastore.

This is the largest Bass Pro Shop and like most Bass Pros, the inside is decked out to look like a wilderness scene, but this is to the next level. They’ve got alligators, a large indoor body of water with large fish, restaurants, and even a hotel on the upper level where you can rent rooms with balconies overlooking the store or even rent an entire small cabin! So if you’re REALLY into Bass Pro, or just a fan of pyramid-shaped buildings, here’s your chance to live in one. 😉 If you’re not into either, there’s an elevator in the middle of the pyramid that takes you to the top for views of Memphis and the waterfront.

Entering into Bass Pro
The second level is the hotel
You can rent out an entire small cabin here, not just a room!
Beautiful big fish in their pond!
An alligator enclosure
A restaurant and bowling alley
Large catfish in their waters
I bought a cool hat

In the middle of the pyramid is the tallest free-standing elevator in the US and stands 28 stories/300 feet high. It costs $8 to go up and at the top it opens into a restaurant with an outdoor observation deck with sweeping views of downtown Memphis and the Mississippi River. The line can get pretty long, but it moves quickly. Definitely worthwhile to go up for the price!

The tallest free-standing elevator in the US
The restaurant at the top of the pyramid
There was a cool aquarium in the middle of the bar
The observation deck
Hold on to your hats – it was pretty windy!

Bus Tour of Memphis

For an overview of Memphis, we took a musical bus tour with Back Beat Tours. It was a great tour that drove around the city and pointed out historical sites such as the small apartment where Elvis and his parents lived before he made it big and the Overton Park Shell – THE outdoor performance stage where so many have started their careers. The tour guide was a musician and would sing famous songs that was significant to the area as he talked us through the Memphis music history. There’s an option to get dropped off at Sun Studio at the end of the tour if you haven’t visited yet.

Apart from the bus tour, there’s also an option of a walking tour to get more of an overall history of Memphis rather than a focus on music. We had a great time and I’d highly recommend checking them out!

National Civil Rights Museum

Address: 450 Mulberry St, Memphis, TN 38103
Website: https://civilrightsmuseum.org/
Hours: 9am-5pm, closed on Tuesdays (check website for updated hours before going)
Cost: $20/adult

Although there are many civil rights museums around the US, the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis is considered one of the best ones. You’ll need at least 2 hours to get through most of it here, but set aside 3 hours if you want to read everything (there’s a lot to read!).

If you’re visiting internationally and don’t know much about American history, a VERY basic summary that you should know before visiting is that the American civil war was a significant war from 1861-1865 between the Northern and the Southern states over slavery. The Southern states heavily relied on slaves for cheap labor on their industry such as cotton plantations, whereas the Northern states wanted to abolish slavery and make slavery illegal. Spoiler: the North won and slavery was abolished, however as significant as this win was, racism continued and the struggle for black rights continued for decades to come. This museum is a comprehensive coverage through time of the complicated past and the fight for equality. The exhibits starts off with how slavery came to be in America and ends with the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., highlighting significant events along the way and important figures.

The museum is actually located at the site where Martin Luther King Jr. was fatally shot, outside of his hotel room at the Lorraine Hotel. The Lorraine Hotel has since closed down but the outside of the hotel has been preserved, as well as his hotel room. The inside of the hotel is renovated into the museum and it’s actually a pretty cool-looking building from the outside – even if you don’t have time to go to the museum, it’s worth checking out the outside of the building and seeing the site and memorial for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. – it’s free for everyone.

The site where MLK Jr. was shot
Back side of the hotel
Rosa Parks
Sit-ins
Film on the day of MLK Jr’s speech in DC
Film on the day of MLK Jr’s speech in DC
Moments before MLK Jr. was shot, he had asked Ben Branch to play his favourite song, Precious Lord, Take my Hand, at the rally and said “I want you to play it real pretty”. Branch and his orchestra released this tribute album with a 9 minute rendition of the song featuring a solo from Branch to fulfill his promise.
POV from inside the hotel with a view of the balcony outside MLK Jr.’s hotel room where he was shot
MLK Jr’s hotel room

Stax Record Company – Museum of American Soul Music

Address: 926 E. McLemore Ave, Memphis, TN 38106
Opening Hours: Tues to Sun 10am – 5pm (tours stop at 4pm), closed Mondays (double check the website for the most updated information)
Website: https://staxmuseum.org/
Admission: $20/adult, $16 for children and seniors

Founded in 1957 by two siblings, Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton, Stax Record Company (named by combining their last names) became a powerhouse for soul music. They’re known for blending rhythm and blues styles and influential in creating the “Southern Soul” or “Memphis Soul” sound. They are one of the most popular soul music record labels of all time and launched the careers of legendary artists such as Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Rufus & Carla Thomas, Booker T. & the M.G.’s, among numerous others. You can read more about their history here: https://staxmuseum.org/1957-1968/

Although the original recording studio no longer exists, you can visit the Stax Museum and learn all about the history of soul music in Memphis. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to fit this into our itinerary but it was highly recommended by our music tour guide.

The Peabody Duck March at The Peabody Hotel

Address: 149 Union Avenue, Memphis TN 38103
Website: https://www.peabodymemphis.com/
Time: daily at 11am and 5pm, it is recommended to come 30 minutes prior
Cost: Free

Alright, this isn’t a “must do”, but it’s mentioned time and time again by internet reviews so I thought I’d include it for the people that want the “full” Memphis experience.

The Peabody Hotel is a luxury hotel in downtown Memphis that was originally built in 1869 at a location 1 block away from the current location. It housed several historic figures including presidents and generals back in the day. It closed down and re-opened in 1925 one block away and has retained its historical status. Apart from it being a fancy hotel, there’s a long-standing tradition since the 1930s of marching the resident ducks that live on the roof top of the hotel to the fountain in the lobby, called the ‘Peabody duck march’. It’s a 1 minute “show” where people line up along a red carpet and watch these ducks get ushered from out the elevator and to the fountain. I’m told it gets pretty busy, but you can sit at the bar for a better view if you buy a drink. Honestly, it’s not the most exciting, but it’s something different!

Toby didn’t actually tell me about this when he planned this trip because he didn’t think it was that exciting, but I got curious when the tour guide was talking about it and looked it up myself. Here’s a POV youtube video that someone filmed of the march in case anyone’s interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCLMZ_6DSpg. He was right, it didn’t seem that exciting, especially since we had limited time in Memphis.

If you’re REALLY into ducks, for $434, you can book a “Ducky Day” package that includes a 1 night stay and duck-themed souvenirs 😂.

Beale Street

Beale Street is a historic street in downtown Memphis known for live music, restaurants, and shops and is considered the heart of Memphis. If you came to Memphis for some live music, this is the place to go. The entertainment part of Beale Street only runs two blocks between S. 2nd St. and S. 4th St. (highlighted in pink in the map above) with about a dozen restaurant/bar/live music venues scattered between the many souvenir gift shops.

Take a stroll down during the day and check out the shops and restaurants. Read the historic information plaques, check out a statue of Elvis’, get an old school milkshake at A. Schwab, or take a walking tour to learn more about this historic street.

Come in the evening for the iconic experience when the neon lights are lit up and the live music pours out of these venues. We’ve asked multiple locals on what their favourite place is for live music, but it really depends on who’s playing that night and what kind of music you’re into. Some musicians will be seasoned pros, whereas others may just be starting out. Instead of seeking out a specific place, I’d recommend just taking a stroll down Beale Street with open ears and see which artists you enjoy. Although Beale Street is known as the “Home of the Blues”, we not only heard different styles of Jazz, but country music and even a mini orchestra band while walking down!

On our last night in Memphis we settled in at Rum Boogie Cafe and listened to Baunie & Soul perform for a few hours before returning home.

Although a very touristy area, be a bit cautious when walking around downtown Memphis at night. When we arrived on a weekend night, there were some rowdy crowds around with a few suspicious characters, but during the weekday it was a bit quieter and we felt completely safe.

Food

Arcade Restaurant – Memphis’ Oldest Cafe

Address: 540 S Main St, Memphis, TN 38103
Hours: 7am – 3pm daily
Website: http://arcaderestaurant.com

Arcade Restaurant is Memphis’ oldest cafe, open since 1919! Back in the heyday when Memphis was a bumpin’ place to be, the Arcade was open 24/7, catering to the many resident musicians at the time, including Elvis Presley! It is known that Elvis was a regular at the Arcade and would always order a fried peanut butter and banana sandwich at his preferred booth beside the back door in case he ever needed to make a quick escape from crazy fans! You can actually sit at ‘the Elvis booth’ if you’re lucky enough for it to be free when you’re there!

Even without the Elvis popularity, the Food Network listed the fried PB sandwich on their top 100 sandwiches in the US. We came here early in the morning for breakfast before our day at Graceland to experience this retro-style arcade and to ‘eat like The King’. We got to sit at the Elvis booth! The fried PB and banana sandwich tasted exactly as it sounds – two slices of bread with peanut butter and sliced banana in the middle, then pan-fried on the outside until golden. It was a fine sandwich, but not mind-blowing, something you could easily make at home. They had some pretty good sweet potato pancakes though and the smoked turkey and brie sandwich wasn’t half bad either!

Blues City Cafe (on Beale Street)

Address: 138 Beale St, Memphis, TN 38103
Hours: 11am-1am most night, open until 3am on Fri and Sat nights
Website: https://bluescitycafe.com/menu/our-menu/

This restaurant was recommended by our tour guide for some good classic southern food. It is conveniently located right on Beale Street, perfect for grabbing dinner then strolling down the street for some live jazz music.

Being our first time in the South, we wanted to try a bit of everything. Their gumbo cheese fries and BBQ ribs were just okay, the fried catfish was beautifully fried and super fresh, the collard greens were pretty good, but my all time favourite was the gumbo. I originally got a small cup but it was so good that I immediately ordered a full size bowl 😅. They will usually have live music in the back, but we must have just missed them when we were there 🤷🏻‍♀️.

Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken

Address: 310 S Front St, Memphis, TN 38103
Hours: 11am-9pm most days, until 10pm on Fri and Sat night
Website: http://gusfriedchicken.com/downtown-memphis-tennessee-location/#menu

We arrived in Memphis pretty late in the evening and many restaurants were already closed, but we found Gus’s that was only a 2 minute walk from our hotel with a ton of positive Google reviews so off we went, excited to try our first fried chicken in the South!

This joint was indeed busy and as usual, we ordered a bit of the most popular items to try it out. Apart from the fried green tomatoes, sadly the rest of the food was very underwhelming. The spicy fried chicken that so many people online rave about was just okay. It was cooked well, but the flavours were lacking. We really wanted to like it 💔.

Memphis BBQ

We’ve heard so much about Memphis BBQ, but unfortunately most of the popular BBQ spots weren’t open on the days we were there so we never got to experience true Memphis BBQ, apart from the okay ribs at Blues City Cafe. Memphis BBQ is predominantly pork-based, although some restaurants also serve beef cuts. From what I can tell, Memphis-style BBQ offers pork ribs that are served either “wet” (with a sauce covering) or “dry” (cooked with a dry rub).

Here’s a list of popular Memphis BBQ places we’ve come across in our research incase we ever head back to Memphis again or if anyone is planning a trip (as you can see, most are closed Sunday & Monday, the only 2 days we were in Memphis 😭):

Charlie Vergos’ Rendezvous
Address: 52 S 2nd St, Memphis, TN 38103
Hours: 11am-9pm most days, closed Sun & Mon
Website: https://hogsfly.com/

Cozy Corner Restaurant
Address: 735 North Pkwy, Memphis, TN 38105
Hours: 11am-8pm most days, closed Sun & Mon
Website: https://cozycornerbbq.com/menu/

The Bar-B-Q Shop
Address: 1782 Madison Ave, Memphis, TN 38104
Hours: 11am-8:30pm most days, closed Sun & Mon
Website: https://thebar-b-qshop.com/

Central BBQ
Address: 147 E Butler Ave, Memphis, TN 38103 (2 locations)
Hours: 11am-9pm daily
Website: https://eatcbq.com/pages/downtown

Some final thoughts…

  • Memphis is very touristy, especially Beale Street
  • Be cautious of safety and suspicious characters
  • Graceland and Sun Studios are the two main attractions in Memphis
  • Don’t visit on a Sunday or Monday if you want to have good Memphis BBQ
  • Civil rights museum is worth visiting for its historical significance
  • Check out the bigass Bass Pro Pyramid, if not for the shop, then for the observation deck at the top
  • If you like ducks, head to The Peabody

AbbyLeave a comment

Explore Sun Studio: Rock and Roll’s Birthplace


Date Published: April 29th, 2025 | Last Updated: April 29th, 2025
Author: Abby | Category: Travel, USA
Date of travel: April 13th, 2025

Contents:

  1. How to get here
  2. How much time do I need?
  3. Tickets & Cost?
  4. The Guided Tour

Address: 706 Union Avenue, Memphis, TN 38103
Website: https://www.sunstudio.com/
Cost: $20 per adult
Hours: 10am – 5:15pm, daily

Started by Sam Phillips, Sun Studio is a historic recording studio where it all began for many great musicians including Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and B.B. King. It is also credited for recording the very first rock and roll single, Rocket ’88 and the site of recording the Million Dollar Quartet. No musical tour of Memphis is complete without checking out Sun Studios!

How to get here:

Travelling here by car is the easiest way. There’s a small parking lot behind the building. You can also get here by public transport or bundled as part as a few Memphis local music tours.

How much time do I need?

Although mammoth in reputation, Sun Studio is actually quite small. You can only visit with a guided tour that lasts about 45 minutes to 1 hour with a gift shop in the lobby. They give you a bit of extra time at the end of the tour to take in the studio surroundings and to ask any questions you may have.

Tickets & Cost?

Annoyingly, you cannot reserve tickets ahead of time. Ticket purchases are only made in-person on a first come first serve basis. From their website they mention that it’s not uncommon for people to stop by earlier in the day to purchase a ticket for later in the day. Tickets for the day open up at 10am and you can buy a ticket for any time that day.

You can only see the studio as part of a guided tour and the tours are run every hour. From their website, these are the current tour times: Monday – Sunday 10:30, 11:30, 12:30, 1:30, 2:30, 3:30 and 4:30. Double check their website for the most up to date times before you travel.

We came in the middle of April which wasn’t quite peak tourist season yet and we were also arriving in Memphis in the evening so we were able to walk in a purchase a ticket for the 4:30pm tour without having to wait. I can see this being a problem in peak tourist season – the space isn’t very big so there’ll be a limit on the number of people they can fit in a tour group, and considering this is the #2 tourist attraction (second to Graceland) in Memphis, I can imagine it would get quite busy and sell out early!

One way to avoid the hassle of coming in early in hopes to get a ticket is to book a Memphis Tour that has the Sun Studio tour included in the ticket. We went on Backbeat Tours and there was an option for the tour to drop you off at Sun Studio and get picked up later.

The Guided Tour

Upon arrival of this small brown brick building, snap a few photos outside then head inside to the retro vintage style lobby. Here is where you’ll buy tickets and there’s also a small counter where you can purchase a cup of pour-over coffee while waiting for the tour to start.

Take a gander around the various items displayed and check out the small record shop in the back. There’s also many photos and memorabilia on the walls as well – even in the bathroom!

The tour will start at the back where you’re led up a narrow set of stairs to a room full of memorabilia. Our guide was a musician and knew plenty about the history of Sun Studio and also played some original tunes recorded right there! He started off with how Sun Studio started and went along the wall and pointed out important items throughout history.

Sam Phillips disliked pop music and wanted to start a recording company that recorded the less popular non-pop music, mainly the blues. He started off as the Memphis Recording Service. To generate revenue, he’d record anything for anyone with a portable device in a suitcase and would travel to church events, weddings…etc. His slogan was “We Record Anything, Anywhere, Anytime”. He had an open door policy where anyone could come in and record what they wanted for a small fee.

Memphis Recording Service is credited for recording “Rocket ’88”, what music historians would deem as the very first rock and roll song due to the distortion in the guitar. The distortion is due to an amplifier that broke while the band was on their way to the recording studio and an attempted repair was made by stuffing wadded newspapers to make it work. The result produced a distorted sound that Sam Phillips loved and kept the recording as-is. The band then brought this record to Chess Records for release. It became the third-biggest R&B single in jukebox plays of 1951.

Memphis Recording Service was only a recording service where people would come to lay down their track then leave with a record where they would bring to record labels. Sam Phillips wanted a bigger piece of the picture and thus started Sun Studio, his own record label.

He signed many artists that would go on to have successful careers including B.B. King, Rufus Thomas, and Howlin’ Wolf. Despite his success, he was struggling to keep the business afloat and the copyright infringement lawsuit for the release of Rufus Thomas’ “Bear Cat”, a response song to Big Mama Thornton “Hound Dog” (later re-recorded by Elvis) nearly bankrupted the business. Phillips continued on and had more hits from artists such as The Prisonaires, a group of 4 incarcerated men that were so popular that they were given special permission to temporarily leave prison to record a single.

Bear Cat record
The Prisonaires

Sun Studio gained a reputation and would draw in artists from all over. One of those artists was Elvis Presley. Elvis came to impress Sam Phillips, but on the day he arrived to record “My Happiness”, Sam Phillips was out of town and he met Sam’s assistant Marion Keisker instead who recorded his songs for him. After his performance, Marion was so impressed that she made an extra copy of the recording to give to Sam upon his return. Sam did not like the recording at all – he wasn’t into pop music, but he brought in Elvis along with two local musicians to record a ballad demo he had acquired to test it out. The session was unfruitful and Sam was unimpressed with Elvis as a ballad singer. As the musicians were packing up, Elvis was losing his big chance with Sam and just started playing and singing. As guitarist Winfield “Scotty” Moore recalled: “All of a sudden, Elvis just started singing this song, jumping around and acting the fool, and then Bill picked up his bass, and he started acting the fool, too, and I started playing with them. Sam, I think, had the door to the control booth open … he stuck his head out and said, ‘What are you doing?’ And we said, ‘We don’t know.’ ‘Well, back up,’ he said, ‘try to find a place to start, and do it again.'” Although Sam wasn’t impressed with Elvis as a ballad singer, he loved Elvis as a blues/rockabilly singer.

3 days later the record was played on Memphis DJ Dewey Phillips’ radio show, Red, Hot, and Blue where he famously smashes records of songs he did not like. Listeners kept phoning in to find out about Elvis and his record was played again and again on the radio. The success of Elvis tied into the ongoing success of Sun Studio. Phillips realized that his label wasn’t big enough for the rapid popularity of Elvis and wouldn’t be able to break him out across USA, so for the betterment of Elvis, Phillips sold his contract for an unprecedented amount to RCA. The money he got for selling Elvis’ contract helped settle his debts and provided the financial roads to launch other famous artists including Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis.

Dewey Phillips’ DJ desk with smashed records on the ground

After some time in the memorabilia room, we were then led downstairs to THE famous studio room where so many stars have stood and played before. This was the exact room where Elvis took a chance a sang out the blues to impress Sam Phillips.

The original reception/waiting area of Sun Studio

Sam donated most of the original recording equipment so you can see what it was like back in the days. The ‘X’ marker tape is still on the ground where the artists would have stood during their recording session. They even left the original microphone in the room so you can touch a piece of history and take a few photos. 🙂

The Million Dollar Quartet happened right here in this studio as an impromptu jam session between Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, and Johnny Cash. It started off with Jerry Lee Lewis playing piano for a recording session with Carl Perkins, then Elvis walks in for an unexpected visit (he was already signed to RCA at this point and no longer with Sun Studios). Sam Phillips called in Johnny Cash to join the session (although Cash’s version of the story said he was already there to listen in on the Perkins session) and all 4 of them were jamming together. The engineer behind the booth that day decided to record the session without any of them knowing. Phillips saw this as a chance for good publicity and called in a journalist that snapped the infamous photo and the next day coined the term “Million Dollar Quartet” in the papers.

The piano in the studio is not the original piano they played on that day, however it is a piano where Jerry Lee Lewis played and you can see a cigar burn on the keys. The original piano is on display at Graceland.

The tour ends after the studio. They gave us a bit of extra time at the end to look through everything and take some extra photos or ask questions. Overall it was a great tour and super cool to be in the presence of rock history and be able to see and touch where so many famous artists have been before!

AbbyLeave a comment

Graceland: A Complete Guide to Visiting Elvis Presley’s Home


Date Published: April 28th, 2025 | Last Updated: April 28th, 2025
Author: Abby | Category: Travel, USA
Date of travel: April 14th, 2025

Contents:

  1. How much time do I need?
  2. Getting Here
  3. Cost of Tickets
  4. Entertainment Complex/Visitor’s Center – the start of the journey
  5. The Mansion
  6. First Floor of the Mansion
    1. Entryway
    2. Living Room/Music Room
    3. Gladys & Vernon’s Bedroom
    4. Dining Room
    5. Kitchen
    6. The Jungle Room/Den
  7. Basement Level of the Mansion
    1. TV Room
    2. Pool Room
  8. Back of the Mansion
    1. Vernon’s Office & the Smokehouse
    2. Trophy Building
    3. Racquetball Building
    4. Meditation Garden
  9. Back to the Entertainment Complex
    1. Cars, Motorcycles, and Boats
    2. Elvis’ Army Days, Karate, and the Graceland Archives
    3. Elvis’ Influence on Other Celebrities
    4. Music and Film Memorabilia
    5. Costumes and Accessories
      1. The Glorious Jumpsuits!
    6. Awards
  10. Giftshops
  11. Dine, Shop, Check out the Planes, or Back to the Parking Lot

Address: 3717 Elvis Presley Blvd.,Memphis, TN 38116
Website: https://www.graceland.com/
Hours: 9am – 4pm, daily
Cost: $84/adult for standard admission (multiple packages available for an additional cost)

Graceland is a 13.8 hectare property in Memphis, Tennessee, and was once the home of the one and only Elvis Presley. He lived here with his parents Gladys and Vernon from 1957 until his death in 1977. Graceland was declared a National Historic Landmark and is open as a museum that houses everything Elvis, from grade school report cards to his massive collection of beaded shiny jumpsuits. This is Memphis’ top tourist attraction and has everything you need to know about the King! For die-hard fans, you can even stay the night in the “guest house” behind the property which is done up like a resort.

Toby and I came in the middle of April and although it was busy, it wasn’t insane. I’d recommend coming early in the morning to get ahead of the crowds and to go through the exhibit without too many people squeezing around you. Even if you’re not a big fan, Graceland is still a neat place to visit to immerse yourself in Rock n’ Roll history and learn about the icon himself.

How much time do I need?

You’ll need at least 3-4 hours here to get through most of it, but if you want to read through the description of every piece of memorabilia or artifact, then expect to be here for much longer. We got here at 9am when they opened and didn’t leave until 1pm, and we still didn’t have enough time to see his planes! We were going at a moderate pace, reading most things, but not everything. You could seriously spend a whole day here if you add on dining at one of his restaurants on site.

To break it down:

  • The star attraction is the mansion itself, which wasn’t as big as I was expecting (however, we did just recently come from visiting the Biltmore Estate in Knoxville, TN 😂). The self-guided tour of the home took about 1.5 hours. You go through the house in groups, so there can be a bit of a wait to get into the actual house depending on how busy it is.
  • The majority of the Elvis memorabilia and artifacts are inside the Entertainment Complex, which is the building that’s connected to the visitor’s centre. You get access to this area after coming back from the mansion. This took us 2 hours to get through. The exhibits just kept coming and coming!
  • There are a couple of themed restaurants and multiple gift shops around, so add on another 30 minutes to 1.5 hours if you plan on staying for a meal and doing some shopping.
  • To see the planes, you’ll need at least another 30 minutes or so.
  • *Allow for even more time if you decide to get an upgraded ticket package!
https://assets.speakcdn.com/assets/2597/elvispresley-2dmap-20-print.jpg

Getting Here

Getting here by car is the best way to reach Graceland. There’s plenty of parking here and it’s only a short 15-minute drive from downtown Memphis. You can also Uber/Lyft here to save on driving.

There are also options of public transport, tourist busses, and shuttles, however from my research none of them seemed straightforward and I struggled to find costs and timings for these services. Best to just drive or ride share to get a better sense of timing (you should arrive 15 minutes before the start of your timed ticket).

Cost of Tickets

There are a few options for ticket packages that I’ve screenshotted from their website below.

We went for the standard admission (“Elvis Experience“), it’s $84 per adult. Pretty steep, but it includes the self-guided tour of the mansion, the “entertainment complex” (where all the Elvis items are on display including his car collection), and his custom jet plane. These 3 alone will take you at least 4 hours and will give you more than enough everything Elvis.

Entertainment Complex/Visitor’s Center – the start of the journey

Get here 15 minutes prior to the start of your timed ticket to have enough time to find parking, walk up to the massive building that is the Entertainment Complex, and join the line to watch a short intro video that wasn’t all that exciting. Our tour time was 9am, so there was plenty of parking when we arrived at 8:45am.

They didn’t seem to check ticket times, so don’t stress too much if you’re running late. The times are only to ensure there’s not a massive rush of people all at the same time. When you show up, you just join the line to go into the intro video theatre and when it’s full, they’ll close it and open the next one. They’ll scan your ticket right before going into the theatre.

Walking up from the parking lot
The Entertainment Complex/Visitor Center/Ticketing

After the short intro video, you’ll get herded out the back door and into another line to collect your iPad for the self-guided tour (audio guide by John Stamos!) and the line to get on the shuttle bus to take you to the mansion that’s located across the road (see map above to get your bearings). You can only access the mansion through their shuttlebus.

The Mansion

The short shuttle bus ride will drop you off directly in front of the mansion. Here, they’ll usher you to the front door and go over some brief rules before entering the house and instructions on how to start your audio guide.

First Floor of the Mansion

Entryway

You’re immediately greeted by a set of white stairs when you enter the front door. The entire second level was Elvis’ private space and only his closest confidantes were allowed in this space. They’ve kept the upstairs closed off to the public out of respect for him. Too bad, it sure would’ve been cool to see how he would’ve decorated his own bedroom given his eclectic taste for the rest of the house!

If you look closely, there’s a mirror at the top of the stairs to the left. One of the guides said that it was Elvis’ way to look down the stairs without actually coming down to see who was here and if he wanted to hang out with them. 😂

No entry upstairs

Living Room/Music Room

This is the living room/music room where they would gather, entertain, and sing gospel songs on the white grand piano. The beautiful stain glass peacocks are the Christian symbol for eternity and resurrection.

Gladys & Vernon’s Bedroom

Elvis’ parents Gladys and Vernon had their bedroom on the main floor. Gladys was largely involved in decorating this room, including choosing the poodle wallpaper in the bathroom!

Dining Room

This is the formal dining room where Elvis would sit at the head of the table by the window and entertain guests. Behind him would also be where they would set up their Christmas tree. It was common to have dinner served at 9-10pm at night!

Kitchen

As a foodie and an avid cook, I was quite disappointed by the kitchen. I expected it to be grand with elegance! This kitchen was last redone in the mid-70s. Elvis had cooks and maids on staff at all hours of the day in 8-hour shifts so meals are usually cooked to order! Common dishes would be simple Southern cooking including: fried chicken, steaks, pork chops, meat loaf, and many cheeseburgers. Elvis also loved homemade banana pudding so it was always made available.

The Jungle Room/Den

In 1974, Polynesia/Tiki furniture was popular and Elvis decorated this room with these furniture pieces to remind him of his favourite Hawaiian vacation. Check out the floor to ceiling green shag carpeting in this room. The immersive carpeting resulted in fantastic acoustics in this room and Elvis recorded 2 of his records with RCA in this very room!

Basement Level of the Mansion

The stairs leading to the basement was lined with mirrors!

TV Room

Elvis loved football and would watch 3 different games at the same time on 3 TVs. There’s also a pull down projector screen where he could play movies and a jukebox that could hold 100 singles with speakers wired throughout the house.

Pool Room

This is my favourite room of the house due to its beautifully colourful interior and unique wall and ceiling panelling!

Back of the Mansion

As you finish touring the main house, the trail leads out the back of the house over to the unattached smaller buildings on the property grassy areas where they could ride their horses. There’s also a kidney-shaped pool.

Vernon’s Office & the Smokehouse

Vernon Presley, Elvis’ father managed Elvis’ personal affairs including all of his fan mail and the running of Graceland. He had his own office on the property in the back. There’s also an old smokehouse that was once used as a firing range.

Trophy Building

This building was built as an expansion to the home and was also where Elvis and Priscilla had their wedding reception. It has since been renovated to tell Elvis’ personal story and contain artifacts from his family and youth. Here you’ll find old family photos, his first bicycle, a police badge collection (Elvis would have been a policeman if his music career didn’t take off!), and even his grade school report card! The items on display here is in contrast to the memorabilia on display at the Entertainment Complex that focuses on Elvis’ music career rather than personal life.

Interesting fact: Did you know that Elvis was born as the second twin? Unfortunately the first twin Jesse Garon Presley was a stillborn. Gladys and Vernon didn’t even know they were expecting twins until Elvis showed up just 30 minutes later. John Stamos’ character ‘Jesse’ in the show Full House was named as a tribute to Elvis’ brother.

Racquetball Building

Elvis enjoyed racquetball so much that he had a racquetball court built on his property. This was the last room that he was seen alive after playing a game with some friends and singing his last songs on the piano in this room. He retired upstairs to his comfort room and was later found dead.

Meditation Garden

The Meditation Garden was said to be one of Elvis’ favourite places on the property. It was a place for meditation, reflection, and quiet contemplation. Gladys and Elvis was originally buried at Forest Hill Cemetery, but for security purposes, Vernon had them moved here on Graceland. The Meditation Garden is the final resting place for Vernon, Gladys, Elvis, and Minnie Mae (Elvis’ maternal grandmother). There’s also a small plaque here for his brother, Jesse. Lisa Marie (Elvis’ daughter) and Benjamin (Elvis’ grandson) are also buried here.

The self-guided tour of the mansion ends after the Meditation Garden but there’s still TONS to see. You’ll line up to get back on the shuttle bus to go back across the street to the Entertainment Complex, where the visitor centre was.

Back to the Entertainment Complex

The Entertainment Complex is a HUGE building with seemingly endless exhibits on Elvis. It starts off with his car collection and continues on to more artifacts from his personal life including his passion for karate, his army years, his influence on other celebrities, his television and film work, awards, and of course his many MANY bejewelled jumpsuits.

Cars, Motorcycles, and Boats

Elvis’ Army Days, Karate, and the Graceland Archives

Despite being a rockstar, Elvis received no special treatment while in the army (according to the posters, anyway 🤫). This exhibited highlighted his time in the army and his duties.

Elvis was also really into karate. He trained and competed, and earned an 8th degree black belt. I know nothing about the karate world, but it sounds impressive.

There are over 1.5 million items in the Graceland Archives and on display or just a few of these items of Elvis memorabilia. For an upgraded ticket package tour, you can speak to an archivist!

Elvis’ Influence on Other Celebrities

It’s insane how much influence Elvis had to the music industry. This exhibit highlights some of the biggest stars that have drawn inspiration from Elvis in one way or another.

Music and Film Memorabilia

The famous million dollar quartet piano that was at Sun Studio!

Costumes and Accessories

The Glorious Jumpsuits!

Awards

Giftshops

There are many gift shops sprinkled throughout the Entertainment Complex, some are between exhibits. Each one is a little different and annoyingly they don’t all carry the same things. The largest gift shop that will carry most things will be the one at the entrance to the right of the ticketing area, so I wouldn’t bother going through each one unless you really want to.

Check out this replica jumpsuit you can buy for $5000!

Dine, Shop, Check out the Planes, or Back to the Parking Lot

Once you’ve finished going through the exhibits in the massive Entertainment Center (congratulations on your legs for lasting this long), you’re done the majority of it. There are a couple of Elvis themed restaurant options and a few more gift shops before you head back to the parking lot.

But before you get into your car, you’ll see a walkway that leads to his custom planes. Unfortunately we were on a time constraint (who would’ve guessed that 4 hours wasn’t enough?! 😜) and had to leave to make it on time for our Memphis tour so we couldn’t see the planes. I took a quick snapshot photo of the planes from the outside below:

I hope you enjoyed my picture-filled recount of our visit to Graceland! It’s definitely worth a visit!

Abby1 Comment

A Day in Princeton & Beyond – University, Grounds for Sculpture, & Trenton


Date Published: April 21st, 2025 | Last Updated: April 21st, 2025
Author: Abby | Category: Travel, USA
Date of travel: March 1st, 2025

Contents:

  1. How many days do I need?
  2. Parking
  3. Book a walking tour
  4. Historical Nassau Street
  5. Touring Princeton University
    1. FitzRandolph Gate
    2. The President’s House
    3. Nassau Hall
    4. John Witherspoon Statue
    5. East Pyne Hall
    6. Princeton University Chapel
    7. Princeton University Library
    8. Prospect House
    9. Witherspoon Hall
    10. Princeton University Art Museum – Opens October 2025
    11. Some Scenes around campus (aka places I forgot the names of)
  6. Exploring Off-Campus: Scenes around the Town of Princeton
    1. Albert Einstein’s House
    2. Other Famous Houses
    3. Princeton Battle Monument
    4. Albert Einstein Statue
    5. Princeton Battlefield State Park
  7. Nearby: Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton Township, NJ
  8. Nearby: Trenton, NJ

Princeton, New Jersey is roughly a 1.5 hour drive from NYC which makes it a great day trip away from the big city. In fact, it is exactly halfway between Philadelphia and New York, which were the two wealthiest cities back in the days and as a result, Princeton was a popular stop for stage coaches to let their horses rest. You can still find old stone horse troughs still around town!

Princeton is of course home to the famous Princeton University. The main highlight of this town is to tour the campus but there are some cool shops around this town as well to check out. This post will highlight a tour around the college campus, some famous houses, and the nearby Grounds for Sculpture and Trenton, the capital of New Jersey.

How many days do I need?

There’s not all that much “to do” in Princeton, so a half a day will be enough to see the highlights and check out the campus. Make it a full day if you want to visit Grounds for Sculpture.

Parking:

The best parking will be at Spring Street Garage (24 Spring St, Princeton, NJ 08542) which has very reasonable rates and is conveniently located in the middle of town.

Book a walking tour

Booking a walking tour is the best way to explore both the town of Princeton and Princeton University. There are so many notable buildings with a unique history that it’s easy to miss if you walk around yourself. The university campus is also quite large and can be easy to get lost. In this blog post I’ve highlighted some notable places, but they were all covered on our walking tour.

We booked our walking tour with this company. It was reasonably priced and informative. The guy that did our tour seemed to be new 😅 but we still hit all the spots.

Historical Nassau Street

Nassau Street is the main street of Princeton with shops and restaurants. Although we didn’t have time to grab a bite, our tour guide recommended Winberie’s Restaurant & Bar and Triumph Restaurant & Brewery off of Palmer Square.

Apparently most of the nightlife here is targeted to the undergrads.

Nassau Street
An old stone water trough for stage coach horses back in the day (now filled in with concrete)

Across from Princeton University at the corner of Nassau Street and Witherspoon Street is a tudor style building called Lower Pyne (now home to Hamilton Jewelers). This beautiful building was built in 1896 and was used for commercial shops on the ground level and student dormitories above. In 1950 the dormitories were converted to office spaces. You’ll see this iconic building on many post cards of Princeton.

Touring Princeton University

The campus grounds of Princeton University is open to all and you can freely walk around and explore, but access into the buildings is restricted.

For prospective students, you can book a free university tour with admissions information.

For tourists that just want to learn the history of this famous campus, the university runs historical tours with limited dates in the fall or you can book a third party tour company like we did that will not only explore the campus but around the actual town as well.

I’ve highlighted some interesting spots around campus below:

FitzRandolph Gate

FitzRandolph Gate is located just off of Nassau Street, across the street from the Lower Pyne building and infront of Nassau Hall. It is the official entrance to the Princeton University campus. It was erected in 1905 and named after Nathaniel FitzRandolph, who was instrumental in raising the money and land needed to build the college.

The gate was originally always kept closed and locked except for special occasions such as graduation, but the class of 1970 ensured that the gate would always remain open “in a symbol of the University’s openness to the local and worldwide community”.

There is a local superstition that if you exit from FitzRandolph Gate before graduation, you will never graduate from Princeton. You can enter the campus through the gates, but not leave unless you’ve graduated. This includes babies and children that may wish to attend Princeton in the future 😂. Our tour guide was a graduate of Princeton and says that this superstition is still very much alive to this day.

FitzRandolph Gate
The President’s House

Princeton University had a couple of different locations (including Newark, NJ) before settling into its current location. At the time, Aaron Burr Senior (father of Aaron Burr Jr. – the guy who shot Alexander Hamilton, for you Hamilton fans) was the president of the college. The small yellow building below is where Aaron Burr Sr. lived at the time as he oversaw the building of this new campus.

Where Aaron Burr Sr lived
Nassau Hall

Nassau Hall is the first building of the college and also the oldest building on campus. It’s the first building you’ll see through FitzRandolph Gate and its covered with ivy around the majority of the building.

Nassau Hall
Back of Nassau Hall
John Witherspoon Statue

Throughout the years they’ve had many university presidents that kept dying from random things. The university was in a poor state with debt and poor instruction. John Witherspoon came on as the university’s 6th president and was monumental in saving the school from closing down. He travelled to New England and the South and recruited the wealthy to join the school. He updated the curriculum and turned Princeton from a place that predominantly trained clergymen into a place equipped to produce the future leaders of tomorrow.

Although Witherspoon is credited for the expansion and progression of the university, his racist roots in slave ownership has been a topic of heavy controversy. There have been petitions to remove his statue outside of East Pyne Hall, pictured below.

Statue of John Witherspoon in front of East Pyne Hall
East Pyne Hall

East Pyne was built in the late 1800s as an extension to the Chancellor Green Library next door. When entering the middle gates, you’re inside an enclosed square with beautiful architecture surrounding you. This site has been a popular choice for filming movies including the latest movie Oppenheimer.

Princeton University Chapel

The Princeton University Chapel sits in the middle of the campus and was built in the 1920s to replace the previous chapel that had burned down. Its gothic architecture has a hidden surprise – the 5 stone makers hid their faces into the outside of this building (see if you can spot one in the photos!). Inside this beautiful building are impressive stain glass that lines the walls and is said to be the most valuable stain glass in the Western Hemisphere! The pews are carved from wood that was intended for Civil War gun carriages.

It’s a highly sought after place to get married. Our tour guide told us there’s about a 5 year waiting list to get married here! 😮

Princeton University Library

Across the chapel is the Princeton University Library. This enormous library holds over 7 million books including many rare books. It is one of the largest libraries in the world by number of volumes. There’s no public access to the library.

Prospect House

Across the chapel is Prospect House, built in 1851 and housed the university’s presidents for about 100 years, until they were relocated to the Walter Lowrie House (which was originally used as a guest house). I can’t quite find the exact reason why they relocated from this beautiful mansion, but online sources say it coincided with renovations to the building and turning it into a faculty club. Our tour guide says that in the 60s there were protests that a president shouldn’t live so lavishly in the centre of the campus. Whatever the reason, it’s currently the staff and faculty dining area. It’s a pretty nice building. People who get married at the chapel will usually also have their wedding reception here. There’s also a nice garden in the summer.

Witherspoon Hall

Witherspoon Hall was the most modern and elegant dormitory when it was first built in 1877. It was the first to have electricity and indoor plumbing. This is the first building you come upon when entering the campus by stage coach and has been purposefully made to attract a more “affluent” student population (aka them rich kids to bring their money to the school). There are even dumbwaiters and special corridors and rooms for servants!

Witherspoon Hall
Princeton University Art Museum – Opens October 2025

The Princeton University Art Museum has an impressive collection that has been mentioned time and time again as a “must do” when visiting Princeton. Unfortunately they are currently in the works of opening up a new building that’s not set to open until October 2025. It’s located near Prospect House.

Princeton University Art Museum
Some Scenes around campus (aka places I forgot the names of):

Exploring Off-Campus: Scenes around the Town of Princeton

Albert Einstein’s House

Address: 112 Mercer Street, Princeton, New Jersey

Albert Einstein lived here in the final 22 yrs of his life. He was invited to Princeton to be the first to join a think tank – the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS, the one they featured in Oppenheimer). He was never employed by the university while he lived in Princeton. The house is now a private residence even though it is owned by the IAS. There’s no place markers for this house, but the home next door has a sign 😉.

Albert Einstein’s house
Other Famous Houses

Library Place is a street where all the fancy houses are with many of them belonging to celebrities or have had a famous person live there. It’s a lovely quiet street to walk down and gawk at all the beautiful houses. 82 Library Place was the former home of President Woodrow Wilson. This man was super racist even for his time, but his house was damn beautiful. There were a few other famous houses on this street, but this was the only one I could remember 😂.

Woodrow Wilson’s house

On Boudinot Street sits Peter Benchley’s former home, the author of Jaws. It sold for 2.5 million in 2012.

Benchley Home

Morven Museum & Garden on Stockton Street was the home Richard Stockton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. This home is now a museum and garden.

Morven
Princeton Battle Monument
Albert Einstein Statue
Princeton Battlefield State Park

This park is just outside of town. It’s a big field with a monument and is the site where the Battle of Princeton was fought. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to stop here.

Nearby: Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton Township, NJ

Address: 80 Sculptors Way, Hamilton Township, NJ 08619
Cost: $25 per adult

A 15 minute drive from Princeton is Grounds for Sculpture. It is a massive outdoor area with multiple small trails that lead to random sculptures. It’s a pretty cool place with some nice scenery along the water and amongst the tress. Toby and I aren’t big sculpture people but we found some that were pretty neat. There’s a restaurant here called Rat’s Restaurant that has good reviews – we didn’t have time to go, but it looked like a cool place to hang out by the water. It took us about 1 hour to walk through it all, but some people recommend spending at least 2-3 hours, especially if you plan to go to the cafe (reservations recommended).

Rat’s Restaurant

Nearby: Trenton, NJ

Trenton is New Jersey’s capital city. We’ve made it our goal to try and hit as many capital cities as we can, even if they’re not that popular. Trenton is only a short 20 minute drive away from Princeton so we figured we’d check it out. The downtown area looked decent with tree-lined streets and nice shop front buildings, but on closer look many of them looked suspicious or run down and none of them were any I’ve ever heard of and many were vacant. There were also many questionable characters around town. I’ve read that there are some nice museums and restaurants in the area, but the few streets we drove down didn’t make us want to get out of the car.

Trenton Farmer’s Market: I love a good farmer’s market, so we headed to the Trenton Farmer’s Market that was only a few minutes away. The outside did not look nice at all. Unfortunately the inside wasn’t much of an improvement either. The market barely had any produce (perhaps we were in the wrong season) and the produce they did have did not look great and some were more expensive than prices in Manhattan! The shops were kinda junky, with old “antiques”, some handmade items, and a few homemade jam stalls. It took us 10 mins to walk through it all. Although I will say, there were a couple of decent looking meat, sausage and cheese shops, but that was it.

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BAPS Swaminarayan Akshardham – The Largest Hindu Temple Outside of Asia


Date Published: April 20th, 2025 | Last Updated: April 20th, 2025
Author: Abby | Category: Travel, USA
Date of travel: March 1st, 2025

Contents:

  1. Visitor Etiquette & Dress Code
  2. How much time do I need?
  3. Get here early!
  4. When you arrive
  5. Welcome Center
  6. Mandir
  7. Akshardham – the main temple
  8. Parikrama – Red corridor walkway
  9. Shayona Cafe, Gift Shop, Back to the Welcome Center

Location: 112 N Main Street, Robbinsville, NJ 08561 USA
Opening hours: Wednesday to Monday 9am – 7:30pm (closed Tuesdays), gets busy – come early!
Website: https://usa.akshardham.org/
Entry fees: FREE, but you need to reserve a timed ticket on the weekends and on holidays
Time needed: at least 2 hours to walk through everything, more if you want to check out the cafe

BAPS Swaminarayan Akshardham is the largest Hindu temple outside of Asia and it is SERIOUSLY impressive and a MUST visit in New Jersey. It opened only in October 2023 and took 7 years to build with 12000+ volunteers. Some parts are still under construction.

BAPS stands for Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha and it is a socio-spiritual Hindu faith that was revealed by Bhagwan Swaminarayan (1781-1830) in the late 18th century and established in 1907 by Shastriji Maharaj (1865-1951). Founded on the pillars of practical spirituality, the BAPS reaches out far and wide to address the spiritual, moral and social challenges and issues we face in our world. Its strength lies in the purity of its nature and purpose. – https://www.baps.org/About-BAPS/WhoWeAre.aspx

There are multiple BAPS temples globally and more than one location in New Jersey, so make sure you’re inputting the right one when travelling here!

Visitor Etiquette & Dress Code

This beautiful temple is a place of quiet worship and there are a few rules when visiting. The most important is the dress code. Your shoulders and knees need to be covered – if you forget, there may be some shawls or coverings available on the day but you’ll need to ask the information desk.

They will ask you to remove your shoes when entering the temple so be prepared to walk either barefoot or in socks for the majority of your visit. There are shoe shelves at the entrance of each temple.

Respect the silence. People worship here. You can spend as long as you like inside the temples, but be mindful of the volume of your voice.

How much time do I need?

You need at least 2 hours to walk through it all, more if you want to go to the cafe or shop at their grocery store.

Get here early!

Although this temple only opened less than 2 years ago and it’s not quite a tourist hot spot (yet), it still gets busy as the day goes on. I’d recommend coming early in the morning when it’s quieter and feels more serene and there’s also the added bonus of fewer people in your photos and better parking.

When you arrive:

Here’s an overview of the grounds from their website: https://usa.akshardham.org/explore

When you arrive, you’ll see the building from the parking lot. You’ll first walk through the garden area with large golden statue of the child yogi Nilkanth Varni, later known as Bhagwan Swaminarayan and see his 7 year path across the Indian subcontinent during his youth. Bhagwan Swaminarayan is seen as the reincarnation of God and was a spiritual leader and credited for being the founder of the BAPS religion. This statue stands 49 feet tall, to represent his 49 years on earth.

As you walk through the area, you’ll get a great view of the temple with a pool of water in front known as the Brahma Kund. Water represents life and in this pool there’s a mix of water brought from 108 holy rivers and lakes around India and also water from all 50 states in the USA!

Welcome Center

When you reach the Welcome Center on the right side of the temple, this is where they’ll scan your reserved ticket (on weekends or holidays). You’ll go through security then meet some lovely greeters that will give you a map of the grounds and explain the lay of the land.

Guided tours are offered every hour and subject to availability. Check with the information desk if you’re interested. There are also wheelchairs available if needed.

You’ll start your visit at the orientation theatre where they’ll play a 7 minute long video that gives you an overview of this place and areas to visit. There are multiple theatres here so you’re never waiting long for the next video to start. After the video, appreciate the architecture and artwork within this beautiful building.

Mandir

From the Welcome Center you’ll next come across the Mandir. The Mandir is considered the house of the god to whom it is dedicated and is a space for individual worship and personal prayers. There are no photos allowed in here, but there are beautiful marble paintings and carved marble columns similar to the inside of the Akshardham (the main temple). Their website will have photos of the inside if you’re interested in taking a peak, but I highly recommend experiencing the space yourself.

The Mandir is closed at certain times of the day, so keep an eye on the time when you visit. You can always explore the rest of the grounds and come back. It’s a smaller space, takes about 15 minutes to walk through, but there are colourful marble walls here that make it unique compared to the Akshardham.

Akshardham – the main temple

From the Mandir, walk through the centre of the campus and head straight towards the Akshardham – the main temple. You can take plenty of photos on the outside, but no photos are allowed inside.

You will need to take off yours shoes in the Akshardham at the designated shoe shelves. It takes about 30 minutes to walk through it all. The inside is full of amazing intricately carved marble everywhere you turn, including the beautiful ceilings. You get a sense of serenity in this place. The carvings are done by master carvers in India and is then shipped to the USA piece by piece and assembled like a puzzle.

Parikrama – Red corridor walkway

Surrounding the Akshardham are carved red corridor walkways called the Parikrama. These beautiful carved gates creates a trippy effect when you look through. You’ll come across these right at the start of the visit and you could have walked through them clockwise to reach the Akshardham instead of through the middle, but you’ll also come across it when you exit the Akshardham back towards the Welcome Center.

Shayona Cafe, Gift Shop, Back to the Welcome Center

Lastly you’ll enter a building next to the Akshardham that contains the gift shop, cafe, then back to the Welcome Center. There’s an express cafe that’s not always open but the main cafe is the Shayona Cafe which doesn’t open until 11am. They serve both Indian and American food (see photo below of their menu). It looks pretty nice but unfortunately we had lunch plans already so didn’t stay for a bite. Across from the cafe is also a food shop where you can pick up some groceries.

I hope you enjoyed scrolling through our trip to this amazing temple! I highly recommend anyone to visit – it’s such a unique gem in New Jersey!

AbbyLeave a comment

Beef Bulgogi


Date Published: April 18th, 2025 | Last Updated: April 18th, 2025
Author: Abby |Category: mains, asian, quick, easy,
Serves: 4 | Prep time: 12 hours (marinate overnight) | Cook time: 10 minutes

Jump to recipe |

Bulgogi is a Korean dish that consists of thinly sliced meat (most commonly beef, but you can find pork and chicken variations too) marinated in soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, garlic and ginger. Once marinated, this dish is so quick to cook that it only takes a few minutes on the grill, perfect for a busy quick weeknight dinner if you marinate the meat the night before. Serve it over rice, lettuce wraps, or perilla leaves with a side of veggies. This flavourful dish will surely be a hit!

3 Methods for thinly sliced beef:

  1. For best and most uniform results: Freeze the raw steak for 20-30 minutes until semi-firm, then use a meat slicer to slice as thin as possible. I have this model of meat slicer that I chose for the decent price and its relatively small size.
Freeze until semi-firm

2. Freeze the raw steak for 20-30 minutes until semi-firm, then use a sharp knife to slice as thin as possible.

Freeze until semi-firm

3. Buy pre-sliced frozen beef from the hotpot section of most asian grocery stores. This will be the easiest method but will also likely be more expensive.

Anyways, without further ado, here’s the recipe! If you have any comments or suggestions, I’d love to hear from you in the comment section! You can follow me on instagram, youtube and facebook to see all the recipes I post!

Happy cooking!

Ingredients you’ll need:

  • Marinade:
    • 3 cloves garlic, minced
    • 2 tsps freshly grated ginger
    • 4 green onions, sliced to 4cm pieces
    • 1/2 small pear (80g), peeled and coarsely grated
    • 1/4 cup (66g) soy sauce (Kikkoman is fine)
    • 1/4 cup (40g) brown sugar
    • 2 Tbsps (30g) toasted sesame oil
    • 1.5 Tbsps (30g) gochujang (Korean red chilli paste)
  • 700g/1.5 pounds boneless rib eye steak, sliced thinly (for cheaper options, flank steak or skirt steak will also do)
  • Garnish: chopped green onion and sesame seeds

Directions:

Put all the marinade ingredients in a bowl and mix well: 3 cloves minced garlic, 2 tsps grated ginger, 4 green onions sliced to 4cm pieces, 1/2 of a pear, grated (80g), 1/4 cup (66g) soy sauce, 1/4 cup (40g) brown sugar, 2 Tbsps (30g) toasted sesame oil, 1.5 Tbsps (30g) gochujang.

Add the thinly sliced steak into the marinade and massage well. Pour the contents into a resealable bag and marinate in the refrigerator overnight.

Take out the marinated steak 20 minutes prior to cooking to let the meat come to room temperature.

When ready to cook, use a flat skillet or grill pan on MED-HIGH heat and add a drizzle of oil. Add the marinated steak and cook for roughly 2-3 minutes per side until slightly charred and cooked. Done!

Serve with rice. Garnish with more green onion and sesame seeds.

Summarized Recipe:

Beef Bulgogi

Date Published: April 18th, 2025 | Last Updated: April 18th, 2025
Author: Abby |Category: mains, asian, quick, easy,
Serves: 4 | Prep time: 12 hours (marinate overnight) | Cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

  • Marinade:
    • 3 cloves garlic, minced
    • 2 tsps freshly grated ginger
    • 4 green onions, sliced to 4cm pieces
    • 1/2 small pear (80g), peeled and coarsely grated
    • 1/4 cup (66g) soy sauce (Kikkoman is fine)
    • 1/4 cup (40g) brown sugar
    • 2 Tbsps (30g) toasted sesame oil
    • 1.5 Tbsps (30g) gochujang (Korean red chilli paste)
  • 700g/1.5 pounds boneless rib eye steak, sliced thinly (for cheaper options, flank steak or skirt steak will also do)
  • Garnish: chopped green onion and sesame seeds

Directions:

  1. Put all the marinade ingredients in a bowl and mix well: 3 cloves minced garlic, 2 tsps grated ginger, 4 green onions sliced to 4cm pieces, 1/2 of a pear, grated (80g), 1/4 cup (66g) soy sauce, 1/4 cup (40g) brown sugar, 2 Tbsps (30g) toasted sesame oil, 1.5 Tbsps (30g) gochujang.
  2. Add the thinly sliced steak into the marinade and massage well. Pour the contents into a resealable bag and marinate in the refrigerator overnight.
  3. Take out the marinated steak 20 minutes prior to cooking to let the meat come to room temperature.
  4. When ready to cook, use a flat skillet or grill pan on MED-HIGH heat and add a drizzle of oil. Add the marinated steak and cook for roughly 2-3 minutes per side until slightly charred and cooked. Done! Serve with rice. Garnish with more green onion and sesame seeds.

Abby1 Comment