Discovering the American South

Thirteen nights from Nashville to New Orleans, self-drive with the flights included, which covers the same country as the other southern route in reverse and with a different emphasis.

Nashville takes the first three nights, with the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Ryman Auditorium, RCA Studio B, where a great many famous records were cut, and Music Row, with Grand Ole Opry tickets available: the show has run since 1925 and is still broadcast live.

Memphis follows for three nights by way of the Natchez Trace Parkway, an old trade route now a protected road with no commercial traffic on it, with Graceland, Sun Studios, the Stax Museum and the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel. Vicksburg comes next, where the Civil War siege of 1863 split the Confederacy and the cemeteries and surviving houses are still the town’s main business, then Vacherie, with the restored plantations along the Mississippi, and New Orleans with a swamp tour at the end.

Flights from a choice of UK airports, fully insured car hire, all the accommodation and round-the-clock support while travelling are included, and the price is quoted per person. Fourteen days at this pace leaves the music cities three nights each, which is what they need. The plantation sites are presented with the gravity the subject requires rather than as period charm. Spring and autumn are the better seasons, since the Mississippi in high summer is hot and humid, and the Natchez Trace in October is the best drive on the route.