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Grand Tour of the Deep South
A wide-ranging road trip through music cities, river towns, Civil Rights landmarks, space-age history, and mountain country, linked together in one continuous journey.
Over three weeks, you’ll connect major cultural hubs with the smaller places where much of the South’s history unfolded, travelling through Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, and the Smoky Mountains. Some days follow fast, practical highways, while others slow down on older routes. Along the way, blues, soul, and country music sit alongside Civil Rights history, river towns give way to bayou landscapes, and modern creativity is balanced with sites of deep historical weight. The pacing is steady rather than rushed, the scenery changes often, and each stop earns its place, offering a fuller picture of the Deep South.
Itinerary overview
You’ll kick things off in Nashville, where two nights give you enough time to settle in and start...
Collect your hire car and Head south on a relaxed two and a half hour run to Florence, with Muscl...
Continue your journey into Mississippi, following a route that runs close to the Natchez Trace Pa...
Put on your blue suede shoes and take the two-hour drive from Oxford to Memphis, a journey that p...
From Memphis, curve south into the Mississippi Delta for your overnight in Greenwood, about ninet...
Drive south through Mississippi to Vicksburg, roughly three hours from Greenwood, and you’ll feel...
The following day is a short hop to Natchez, one of the oldest settlements on the river and the s...
Drop into Baton Rouge in just over two hours, following a route that eases you back into a more u...
Leaving Baton Rouge, the road carries you south into the flat prairies and bayou country of Acadi...
The drive into New Orleans is simple, but crossing the final bridge always feels like entering an...
Leaving New Orleans, follow the Gulf Coast to Mobile in around two and a half hours. The city ble...
Coming up from Mobile, the inland drive to Montgomery takes about two hours, and you can detour b...
The drive north to Huntsville takes around three and a half hours, and the route naturally passes...
Leave Huntsville and head northeast toward the Smoky Mountains, a drive of around four hours, wit...
If you’re not ready to wrap things up, it is easy to continue. You could add a few nights in New ...
Nashville
You’ll kick things off in Nashville, where two nights give you enough time to settle in and start exploring without rushing. Your included Fun Nashville Attraction Pass does a lot of the heavy lifting, opening the doors to big-name sights like the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Johnny Cash Museum, RCA Studio B, and Hatch Show Print, plus the Old Town Trolley tour if you want an easy orientation of the city. Come evening, follow your ears to Broadway’s neon-bright honky tonks, a rooftop stage, a songwriter round at the Bluebird, or a smaller listening room where someone with a guitar and a notebook might just be tomorrow’s headliner.
Step out the front door and you’re in the thick of it: neon lights, live music drifting down the street, and that unmistakable Nashville buzz.
Kimpton Aertson Hotel is a design-led base that puts the city’s music, food, and nightlife within easy reach.
The essence of Nashville’s personality is brought into the folds of Omni Nashville thanks to thoughtful touches and design quirks in this large, perfectly located hotel.
A touch south of Nashville’s famous Broadway, the SoBro neighbourhood is home to live music venues, restaurants, and bars. At the heart of it is the Cambria, a hotel that h...
Florence
Collect your hire car and Head south on a relaxed two and a half hour run to Florence, with Muscle Shoals just across the river and providing one of the day’s real surprises. The studios here look modest from the outside, but stepping into FAME or Muscle Shoals Sound Studio puts you in the rooms where Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Percy Sledge, and The Rolling Stones shaped some of the most influential music of the twentieth century. It is intimate, unpolished, and all the more powerful for it. After soaking up the history, continue into Florence for the night, where the Tennessee River widens, the pace slows, and the shift from big city buzz to small town rhythm feels instantly welcome.
In downtown Florence, the cultural heart of the wider Muscle Shoals story, GunRunner Hotel is a ten-suite boutique stay that puts you right where music history, local life,...
Tupelo and Oxford
Continue your journey into Mississippi, following a route that runs close to the Natchez Trace Parkway, the historic travel corridor that once carried Indigenous peoples, traders, and later musicians through this part of the South. Tupelo is about 90 minutes from Florence and sits right on the Parkway. Here, you can visit Elvis Presley’s birthplace, told with surprising intimacy through his childhood home, the museum, and the surrounding park. After exploring Tupelo, stay overnight nearby or continue for roughly an hour to Oxford. In this lively university town, independent bookshops, bars, and a handsome square make an inviting stop for the night.
Hotel Tupelo has a fresh, considered style that might well exceed your expectations for a town of its size.
Graduate Oxford feels fun and welcoming from the moment you walk in, with a design that nods to Ole Miss without taking itself too seriously.
Memphis
Put on your blue suede shoes and take the two-hour drive from Oxford to Memphis, a journey that practically cues its own soundtrack. Line up a little Al Green, some early Elvis, a touch of BB King, or even Marc Cohn and let the mood build as you arrive in one of America’s most storied music cities. If you want to start big, Graceland gives you the most personal look at Elvis Presley’s world, from the house itself to the memorabilia that shaped his legend. From there, the city’s Civil Rights story comes sharply into focus at the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel, an unmissable and deeply affecting stop. You can then dip into Sun Studio for the spark of early rock and roll, wander Beale Street’s neon stretch, and finish with a stroll along the Mississippi riverfront.
This ain’t no Heartbreak Hotel – The Guest House at Graceland embodies southern charm and is woven with an Elvis theme throughout. What’s more, it’s right next door to the Gra
A clean and contemporary hotel with easy access to Memphis’ metropolis of attractions.
Mississippi Delta
From Memphis, curve south into the Mississippi Delta for your overnight in Greenwood, about ninety minutes away. This rural stretch of Mississippi is where early blues musicians shaped the sound that influenced rock and roll, soul, and modern music as we know it. Clarksdale is the best-known stop en route, home to the Delta Blues Museum and the famous crossroads linked to Robert Johnson’s legend, and Blues Trail markers pop up in small towns that once hosted artists like Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. Greenwood places you close to key sites connected to Emmett Till, whose murder in 1955 became a catalyst for the Civil Rights movement, with memorials and interpretive stops helping you understand the significance of what happened here.
Small town pace, wide skies, and a main street define Greenwood, with The Alluvian giving it a fresh, confident edge.
Vicksburg
Drive south through Mississippi to Vicksburg, roughly three hours from Greenwood, and you’ll feel the landscape shift as the Delta’s open fields give way to river bluffs and expansive Mississippi views. The city has a quieter, more reflective rhythm, making it a natural pause point in the journey. Its historic quarter is compact and easy to wander, with restored buildings, independent shops, and cafés near the riverfront. Vicksburg is best known for its pivotal role in the Civil War, when a lengthy siege changed the course of the conflict.
A pleasant riverside hotel with an outdoor pool and everything you need within walking distance.
Natchez
The following day is a short hop to Natchez, one of the oldest settlements on the river and the southern terminus of the Natchez Trace Parkway. Two nights in Natchez let you slow down, wander leafy streets, take in bluff-top views, before heading back into the pace and flavour of Louisiana.
Baton Rouge
Drop into Baton Rouge in just over two hours, following a route that eases you back into a more urban rhythm after Mississippi’s quieter towns. As Louisiana’s capital, Baton Rouge blends politics, riverfront industry, and a large student population, giving the city an energy that feels very different from Natchez. You can wander the historic downtown, look out over the Mississippi from the levee path, or explore neighbourhoods where Cajun and Creole influences meet state history.
Watermark is a spacious, comfortable choice in Baton Rouge and will help you feel settled, even if you’re here just for a night or two.
Lafayette
Leaving Baton Rouge, the road carries you south into the flat prairies and bayou country of Acadiana, and before long, you reach Lafayette, a city shaped by its Cajun and Creole communities and their long presence in this part of Louisiana. The shift is clear in the food on offer, from peppery chicken and sausage gumbo to crawfish étouffée. If you have time to wander further, Avery Island sits within easy reach to the south, where the Tabasco factory shows how its vinegar-aged mash becomes the finished sauce. The surrounding Jungle Gardens provide quiet paths to wander through.
A modern riverfront hotel with an outdoor pool and easy access to the city’s major highways.
Most visits to Oak Alley Plantation end by mid-afternoon. Staying the night means you actually see how this place feels when the crowds go home, and the light changes over ...
New Orleans
The drive into New Orleans is simple, but crossing the final bridge always feels like entering another world. With three nights here, you can really sink into the city’s rhythm. Your included French Quarter walking tour is the ideal introduction, helping you decode the stories behind the balconies, backstreets, and landmarks you’ve seen in a hundred films and TV shows. After that, you can follow your own path. Add a jazz walking tour if you want to trace the music to its roots, visit Oak Alley Plantation for essential and sensitively handled context on enslaved history, or join a daytime or evening jazz cruise for that classic river-view moment. In between, leave room for powdered-sugar beignets, second-line brass bands, and the kind of serendipitous street-corner magic that only New Orleans seems able to produce.
A storied hotel whose lobby is said to mark the beginning of the New Orleans’ famous French Quarter, few American hotels can claim such a rich history as the Hotel Monteleone.
Grandeur and elegance in the heart of New Orleans, Omni Royal Orleans is the perfect retreat for a classic luxury city break.
Artsy-yet-unpretentious, The Old No.77 is close enough to the French Quarter action to get involved but is a pleasingly quieter spot to retreat to once you’ve had your fill.
A red-brick warehouse in New Orleans’ Arts District has been reimagined as a contemporary and convenient hotel without losing a sense of the building’s industrial beginnings.
Mobile
Leaving New Orleans, follow the Gulf Coast to Mobile in around two and a half hours. The city blends maritime history, handsome architecture, and a friendly character. It also introduces another chapter of African American history through the Africatown Heritage House, which tells the story of the last known ship that brought enslaved Africans to the United States and the community formed by its survivors. The nearby Gulf Shores offer sands, seafood, and sunsets if you want something slower by this point in the journey.
An elegant hotel with vaulted ceilings, a prime downtown location and a swanky spa.
After time on the road, this is where your shoulders drop and you let out a satisfied ‘aahhh’. Step out onto the boardwalk, feel the Gulf air hit your skin, and suddenly, t...
Montgomery
Coming up from Mobile, the inland drive to Montgomery takes about two hours, and you can detour briefly through Monroeville on the way if you want to see the town that inspired Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Once you reach Montgomery, two nights give you the space to take in the city’s major Civil Rights sites without feeling rushed. The Rosa Parks Museum, Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, the Freedom Riders National Monument, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the Legacy Museum all sit close together and guide you through the history of segregation, protest, and change.
A riverfront hotel with a rooftop pool and easy access to Downtown Montgomery.
A no-frills stay in a heritage building, with a hearty breakfast thrown in for good measure.
Huntsville
The drive north to Huntsville takes around three and a half hours, and the route naturally passes through the key places that shaped the Civil Rights era. Selma comes first, where the Edmund Pettus Bridge marks the site of the 1965 voting rights marches. Birmingham follows, offering a wider understanding of the period through the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, the 16th Street Baptist Church and the surrounding Fourth Avenue district. After this, the journey continues to Huntsville, where the U.S. Space and Rocket Centre, Rocket Park and the Marshall Space Flight Centre exhibits explain how the city became central to the development of American space travel.
A clean and contemporary hotel where location is everything and rocket view rooms take you out of this world.
Smoky Mountains
Leave Huntsville and head northeast toward the Smoky Mountains, a drive of around four hours, with Chattanooga sitting naturally on the route if you want to pause for river views, the Bluff View arts district or a snapshot of the city’s Civil War history. From there, the road climbs into Sevierville, Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, your base for exploring this part of the mountains. Two nights give you time for short trails and small-town streets. If you want structure, the optional Smoky Mountain Tour offers a guided route into the national park. Dollywood sits just outside Pigeon Forge and mixes a theme park with music, crafts and stories shaped by Dolly Parton’s East Tennessee upbringing. Your final drive back to Nashville takes about three and a half hours and closes the loop.
This place has far more Jolene than kitsch, with just enough Dolly DNA to remind you whose dream you’re standing in
A modern, friendly bolthole just a short drive from the local attractions of Pigeon Forge.
USA cities
If you’re not ready to wrap things up, it is easy to continue. You could add a few nights in New York, Chicago, Miami, or Las Vegas for an entirely different closing chapter. Staying longer in Nashville or Atlanta lets you dive deeper into music and culture, while heading across the Smoky Mountains into North Carolina opens up bluegrass roots, mountain towns, and scenic parkways. For something coastal, travel from Atlanta towards Savannah, Hilton Head, or Charleston for history-rich streets, live oaks, and sea breezes.
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