Ultimate Deep South

Three weeks looping out of Atlanta and back, which covers the Appalachians, the music cities, the Gulf coast and the Atlantic in one circle. Flights, car and hotels are arranged together from the UK with a road book for the driving.

The first week climbs: two nights in Asheville with the Biltmore Estate, then two in the Great Smoky Mountains. Two nights in Nashville follow, then two in Memphis for Graceland, Sun Studios and the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel. The Great River Road leads to a night at Natchez and then two in New Orleans.

The second half is the part other southern routes miss. Two nights on Pensacola Beach, where the sand is white quartz washed down from the Appalachians, then US-98 along the Florida Panhandle to Tallahassee. The coast turns north for two nights in Savannah and two in Charleston before the run back. Two nights in Atlanta close it, with the World of Coca-Cola and Martin Luther King’s resting place on Auburn Avenue.

Around 2,450 miles over twenty-one nights, with twelve stops and eight of them two nights or more. The operator’s own page suggests the circle can also be started in Nashville or New Orleans, which is worth asking about if your flights suit that better, since the published itinerary only begins in Atlanta. The itinerary is bespoke and departures are arranged around your dates. It suits anyone who wants the whole South rather than a slice of it, and ends up back where the flight home leaves from.