Deep South USA

Prices

Value package from: £2,289
Standard package from: £2,385
Superior package from: £3,180

You can mix and match hotels from our value, standard and superior options – call for package price.

Dates

Daily departures available from 1st May – 31st October

---

Day 1 – Arrive Atlanta

After a non-stop flight taking just over 8 hours, collect your rental car at the airport and drive to your chosen hotel. All of our hotel options are located conveniently downtown, so you will be well positioned to explore on your full day at leisure tomorrow. If you would prefer not to drive on arrival, we can arrange transfers to your hotel and car rental collection from downtown after your 2 night stay in Atlanta.

Hotels:
Value – Clarion Inn & Suites
Standard – Aloft Hotel
Superior – Ritz Carlton

---

Day 2 – Atlanta

Famous for its links with Margaret Mitchell’s classic Gone With the Wind, Atlanta rose from the ashes of the Civil War to become a commercial and financial giant of the Southeast. Host to the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games the city is also the birthplace of Martin Luther King, Jr and his birthplace along with the Ebenezer Baptist Church can be seen in the Sweet Auburn Historic District.

Jimi Hendrix, Bobby Brown and Elton John have all called this sophisticated and contemporary city home, and highlights include the Carter Presidential Centre, the World of Coca Cola Pavilion and the CNN Centre, home of the largest TV network where a behind the scenes tour gives insight into the complexity of production required to put on a good show.

Have a great evening in the city known as ‘The Big Peach’ as you choose from the abundance of superb restaurants and take in some of the many jazz bars. If you are in need for some retail therapy, you will be spoilt for choice with two Simon Shopping Destinations in Atlanta: Lenox Square and Phipps Plaza, both located in Atlanta’s affluent uptown district Buckhead.

Underground Atlanta sizzles at night or a short cab ride can get you to Blind Willies Bar for the best in blues, booze and Cajun food! Your hotel, the Hilton Downtown, is perfectly located within walking distance of the best attractions of the downtown area.

Hotels:
Value – Clarion Inn & Suites
Standard – Aloft Hotel
Superior – Ritz Carlton

---

Day 3 & 4 – Atlanta – Nashville
250 miles

Drive to “Music City USA”. Nashville, home of Country Music and the legendary Grand Ole Opry, Visit the museums of music giants; the Country Music Hall of Fame and Studio ‘B’ where the “Nashville Sound” was created by Chet Atkins, Dolly Parton, the Everly Brothers, Elvis and many others. And don’t miss Opry Mills, with more than 200 popular stores, Tennessee’s largest outlet and value retail shopping, dining and entertainment destination- located right in the heart of the Music City.

Be sure to hear some live music at a classic honky-tonk like Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge. Kick up your heels to the country sounds at the famous Wildhorse Saloon or take a cabaret dinner cruise aboard the General Jackson Showboat on the Cumberland River. Overnight at the Sheraton Downtown, right in the heart of the city so you can safely walk to the evening’s entertainment venues.

Make your Nashville extra special and take one of our Private Tours with a genuine local singer songwriter

Private sedan/SUV tours with a singer/songwriter. These are musicians actually working in the business and “living the Life” in Nashville. This is a 3 hour experience which includes a traditional city tour, a 20 minute private performance by the singer/songwriter, and finally the guide will escort them to a Honky Tonk and give them the lay of the land downtown and insight about the HonkyTonk Culture. This program is a flat £350.00 for 1-3 people.

Hotels:
Value – Clarion Downtown (Inc free Continental Breakfast)
Standard – Capitol Hotel
Superior – Westin

---

Day 5, 6 & 7 Nashville – Memphis
212 miles

Continue to Memphis, home of the Blues, Beale Street, W.C. Handy and Rock ‘n’ Roll. Visit Graceland, Elvis Presley’s beloved mansion, see his two private jets and his many cars at the Automobile Museum, simply a ‘Not to be missed visit’ and you should allow half a day for this.

We have given you 3 nights here as you can easily spend a day at Graceland.

Don’t miss the tour at Sun Studio, opened by Sam Phillips in 1950 and dubbed the “birthplace of rock’n’roll. Here Elvis, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash first recorded; you can actually stand on the spot and hold the very same microphone that Elvis held back in the 50’s. A trip out to Mud Island, the 52-acre park showcasing the mighty Mississippi River is well worth a visit. Enjoy afternoon tea in the Peabody Hotel and witness the hilarious March of the Peabody Ducks.

The ducks are the honorary residents at the Peabody Hotel and each morning they come down to the Fountain in the lobby where they remain until 5pm each day when they return with their keep to their Penthouse home on top of the hotel. The Peabody Hotel is your home for the next two nights and legendary, charming, elegant and grand are all adjectives that describe this historic Memphis hotel. Finish your day with a meal at one of the many superb restaurants before soaking up the atmosphere in one of the live music clubs on famous Beale Street. Dining at BB King’s bar and enjoying some fabulous live music at the same time is well recommended.

Hotels:
Value – Comfort Inn Downtown
Standard – Crowne Plaza
Superior – Peabody

The Guest House at Graceland
For those looking for an extra special Elvis experience we can offer the Guest House At Graceland which reflects his hospitality and style through the public areas and themed guestrooms, the design of which was largely overseen by Priscilla Presley. Upgrade cost on Standard package – £112 per person.

---

Day 8 – Memphis – Clarksdale
76 miles

Just a 1 hour 30 minute drive takes you to the birthplace of Blues, where Robert Johnson famously sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads in Clarksdale.

The Shack Up Inn awaits and offers you a truly one-off experience. Spend the night in an authentic, restored sharecroppers shack, some complete with moonshine equipment.

Shack Up Inn has played host to such blues performers and movie stars as Tom Waits, Pinetop Perkins, the North Mississippi All stars, Dwayne, Gary and Cedric Burnside, Kenny Brown, Elvis Costello, Robert Plant, Johnny Neel, Morgan Freeman, Patty Griffin, Big Jack Johnson, Samuel J. Jackson, Sam Carr, Charlie Musselwhite, Mary Louise Parker, John Mayall, Ike Turner, just to name a few. The Shacks will add a new dimension to your stay in the Delta. As you sit in the rocker on the porch, tipping a cold drink while the sun sinks slowly to the horizon, you just might hear Pinetop Perkins radiatin’ the 88’s over at his shack. Perhaps, if you close your eyes even Muddy or Robert or Charlie might stop to strum a few chords in the night!

Site of countless blues festivals and home to famous blues musicians like Muddy Waters and Son House, Clarksdale city will definitely teach you everything you need to know about the health of the blues in the Delta today. The vibe of the blues starts in the Historic Blues District, otherwise known as Blues Alley. Within the city, you’ll find the Delta Blues Museum, a literal blues shrine of artefacts and memorabilia and actor Morgan Freeman’s Ground Zero Blues Club, where famous blues musicians sling lyrics on a juke joint stage almost every night of the week.

Spend an evening enjoying live music here or at Red’s Lounge on the corner of Sunflower and MLK Street. You’ll stay the night at the Shack Up Inn on the Hopson Plantation, located only three miles from the legendary Crossroads, Highways 49 and 61 where Robert Johnson allegedly sold his soul to the devil. Immerse yourself in the living history you will find at Hopson. Virtually unchanged from when it was a working plantation, you will find authentic sharecropper shacks, the original cotton gin and seed houses and other outbuildings. You will glimpse plantation life, as it existed only a few short years ago. Restored only enough to meet 21st century expectations your accommodation in the shacks provides comfort as well as authenticity with indoor bathrooms, heat, air conditioning, coffee maker, refrigerators and microwave.

Hotel:
Shack Up Inn

---

Day 9 & 10 Clarksdale – Natchez
216 miles

On your way south tracking the route of the famous Mississippi River perhaps stop off at Vicksburg, a town of tremendous significance during the Civil War. Known as the “Gibraltar of the Confederacy” it withstood a siege of 47 days before falling to Ulysses Grant’s Union forces and the Vicksburg National Military Park recalls this tremendous event.

Continue to beautiful Natchez for 2 nights allowing you a full day to explore.

This beautiful town is home to the largest number of original Plantation homes in the United States, it really is quite spectacular, and you have the option to stay at one on our Superior package – the beautiful antebellum mansion, Monmouth Plantation. The painstaking restoration of Monmouth from Southern plantation to luxury inn represents the majesty of an age that has passed. A registered National Landmark once owned by General John Quitman, the antebellum mansion and grounds “create a quiet, genteel atmosphere” sought after by John and Eliza Quitman to the tiniest detail. From the colour palettes chosen for each suite to the garden flowers growing in colourful abundance—all reflect the once-upon-a-time splendour of Monmouth’s still-unfolding history. Dinner at Monmouth would be a special way to finish your stay (especially if you are fortunate enough to be served by local legend Roosevelt Owens!).

Monmouth is just one of over 500 pre-civil war mansions in the Natchez area, the oldest permanent settlement on the banks of the Mississippi. You can enjoy a walking tour of the Natchez historic centre, or how about a trip on an authentic Mississippi Steamboat?  Perhaps horse drawn carriage ride to full appreciate the elegant antebellum homes. Whatever you choose your day in Natchez will be another highlight of your Deep South holiday.

Hotels:
Value – Hampton Inn
Upgraded – Hampton Inn
Superior – Monmouth Historic Inn (American Breakfast Included)

---

Day 11 – Natchez – Lafayette
134 miles

Get the full Cajun & Creole Country experience that is Lafayette, with an overnight stop. We suggest to some of the Lafayette museums such as the Acadiana Center, the Alexandre Mouton House, Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, Children’s Museum of Acadiana, Cité des Arts and the Lafayette Science Museum & Planetarium.

Be sure to plan a visit to the Blue Moon Saloon opened in April of 2002 on the back porch of the Blue Moon Guesthouse which has since become one of America’s premier venues for roots music from around the world. This world famous honky tonk is a home-grown place where everyone is welcome.

The Acadian Cultural Center in Lafayette, LA tells stories of the origins, migration, settlement, and contemporary culture of the Acadians (Cajuns) and other area groups. Ranger programs, films, exhibits, and events share a variety of local traditions including music, story-telling, dance, and food, and explore the mysteries of the Atchafalaya Basin, Louisiana’s wildest place.

Vermilionville is a 23-acre historic and folklife park along the banks of the Bayou Vermilion that depicts the Acadian, Creole and Native American cultures from the time period 1765 – 1890. This historic village features guided tours, costumed artisans, live music, cooking school, dance lessons, boat tours, and a gift shop.

If you’re looking to get a view of South Louisiana’s unique wildlife and landscapes visit the beautiful Cypress Lake on the campus of University of Louisiana at Lafayette, LA. You will see swampland, cypress trees, alligators, turtles, fish, birding and so much more.

Hotels:
Value – Hampton Inn (Including American Breakfast)
Standard – Hilton Garden Inn
Superior – Doubletree

---

Day 12, 13, 14 – Lafayette – New Orleans
135 miles

3 nights in the city known as ‘The Big Easy’, gives you 2 full days to take in one of the most unique cities in North America. The birthplace of jazz and an engaging amalgam of cultures and contradictions. Explore the French Quarter, where old brick and beautiful iron balconied buildings reflect both French and Spanish influence dating back to the 1700’s. Stroll along famed Bourbon Street and the other narrow streets of this walking historic district, visit the antique shops and jazz clubs and experience Cajun and Creole cooking at its best. Travel on the famed “Streetcar Named Desire”, walk through the historic Garden District or take a steamboat evening cruise on the Mississippi River.

We strongly recommend a city tour which takes a couple of hours to give you a good overview of New Orleans, its neighbourhoods and the exotic, interesting history & culture of this city and state. Just as the French Quarter is perfectly situated in the heart of New Orleans, the Monteleone hotel where you stay for two nights is perfectly located in the midst of the historic French Quarter. This renowned New Orleans landmark is a member of Historic Hotels of America and it’s been said that the French Quarter actually begins in the lobby of the hotel. You need only step outside to discover quaint restaurants and specialty shops which line the cobblestone French Quarter streets that lead to Jackson Square, the Old French Market and the River Walk where tourists and native New Orleanais stroll the levee and watch the steamboats and barges along the Mississippi River.

Hotels:
Value – Maison Dupuy
Standard – Maison Dupuy
Superior – Monteleone

---

Day 15

Return your rental car to New Orleans Airport and check-in for your non-stop flight back to the U.K.

As this itinerary involves collecting your vehicle in Atlanta and returning it to New Orleans there will be a one-way charge to pay locally of $150, however we believe the incorporation of this one-way maxims your time in key locations. If you would prefer to do a roundtrip rental and avoid the charge we can alter this itinerary or you may like to look at our Deep South fly drive by clicking here.

---

Your holiday includes

• Scheduled Flights
• UK & US Airport taxes
• Accommodation – 14 nights
• Compact car rental based on Hertz – 14 day rental
• Exclusive travel documentation portfolio including personalised maps, itinerary and driver directions along with all applicable tickets and vouchers.

Additional Experiences

Our holidays are completely tailored to suit you. We would be happy to help you choose from a vast array of additional experiences that will enhance your North America holiday adventure.

These might include:

There are many more, often quite unique to your chosen destination so please do ask.