USA Deep South Road Trip Sep 2025

We landed in Atlanta, picked up a car, rental centre is a 15 minute drive from the airport so it’s not a quick exit from the airport.

We headed straight to the Martin Luther King National Historical Park, a 15 minute drive from the airport and well worth a stop off to see where he was born.

His tomb is here plus the BeHold Monument and a Museum, it was such a peaceful and humbling place to visit.

Back in the car to drive 2 hours to Chattanooga to stay at the Hotel Chalet on the Chattanooga train station. There are restaurants and bars on site, there weren't too many options but it’s a great base.

We visited the 3 must do things in Chattanooga - Rock City, The Incline Railway (worlds steepest incline) where you can walk to Point Park (military history) and Ruby Falls (USA's longest indoor waterfall in a cave).

All were worth visiting, we loved Rock City, it was a fairyland really. The views from the top of all 3 are amazing and at a certain point you can see 7 USA states!

Chattanooga has a river front walk and ‘The Passage’ (flowing water on steps) is nice to see.

Nashville

2 hours North to Nashville, it's a very easy drive. Our hotel was a 7 minute walk from Broadway, a street which tells you, you have hit the country music scene with a bang! Bar after bar, all next to each other with live bands blaring out different genres of country music every day all day.

We covered the Country Music Hall of Fame, Ryman Auditorium Tour, Grand Ole Opry Backstage Tour followed by the Live Opry show. The arena is a 20 min drive from Downtown Nashville with free parking at the shopping mall.

We also hopped onto a city tour which takes you around Nashville.

Memphis

Memphis (3 hours from Nashville). En-route we saw a sign for the Tina Turner & Heritage Museum in Brownsville and personally one of my best stop offs.

We spent 2 nights in Memphis at the Caption by Hyatt, which is a short walk to the famous Beale Street, lots of places to eat, drink and see live music.

We spent an evening in the legendary BB Kings for food and Blues Music (book before you go to get a table).

Of course we visited Elvis Presley's Gracelands, you really need all day here, there is so much to see at the Museum across the street from his house. Definitely opt for the ticket which includes the cars and planes.

We had a quick visit to the National Civil Rights Museum, you need a few hours here, this is where Martin Luther King was shot at the Lorraine Motel.

Next up was Sun Studios. You can go at 10am and ask for a time slot for later in the day, it’s the only way to get a timed visit. There is free parking around here.

New Orleans

New Orleans which is a 6 hour drive from Memphis.

All the drives were very straight forward, we didn't get lost once, the majority is tree lined dual carriageways so very pleasant and not very busy.

We stayed in the French Quarter just off Bourbon Street, you can stay in a hotel on Bourbon Street and have a balcony overlooking the street but it will be very noisy at night, just depends on the experience you are after. They do open up balconies for the public at night so you can get that classic New Orleans balcony view point without having to stay there.

Bourbon Street is a night time street, Canal Street and its off shoot streets are your day time streets, for shopping and food.

We pre-booked a combined Swamp and Plantation Tour and I would really recommend it. The driver was giving us a tour of New Orleans as we were driving which was a bonus.

The Swamp tour was incredible, this is a meandering 1.5 hour boat ride along the swamp and not only did we see lots of alligators, we saw Raccoons, pigs and turtles. It was so scenic and our guide was amazing. He knew those swamps inside out.

We continued to The Oak Alley Plantation, which is a stunning property and a chance to learn more about the history of the family and the slavery that went on there.

We spent the next day wandering around Canal street which is a very long wide street with lots of shops and restaurants and looks really nice with the palm trees and trams running up and down. We stopped at the well known Cafe Du Monde and had their signature Beignets (warm doughnut type pastry with icing sugar) it was very nice.

In the evening we ventured aboard a Mississippi Jazz cruise which sailed up and back for 2 hours. We had dinner included but on reflection we would have preferred to listen to the jazz band for longer and enjoyed the views, so I wouldn’t do the dinner again as you were inside for too long.

We rode the tram to the Garden District to look at the lovely big houses, a few celebrities own houses here and its nice to walk among the mansions. For $3 you can ride the trolleys all day.

In the evening we had a walking Ghost tour as you do in New Orleans. It was a family friendly one so wasn't scary and we were told some interesting history and stories from the past.

Dallas

Just under a 2 hour flight to Dallas. We visited the 6th Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza plus the Grassy Knoll and X marks the spot where JFK was shot.

We took a train to the Stockyards in Fort Worth, what a really busy place this is, the only twice daily cattle drive in the world, country music and lots of people, bars and restaurants. It really is a vibrant place to spend a day or even base yourself here and take a day trip to Dallas if your purpose is just to see the JFK Museum and Reunion Tower in Dallas.

Our last full day in Dallas we visited the Arboretum (Botanical gardens) where they had 100,000 pumpkins. If you like trees, flowers and plants with sculptures, this would be worth a visit (approx 25 drive from Downtown Dallas).

From there to Pioneer Plaza, which is a park back in Downtown Dallas, there is a large display of cowboy statues herding cattle through some water. This is definitely worth a visit if in Dallas.

A short walk to Reunion Tower that gives a 360 degree viewing platform of Dallas. I would recommend this as it's interactive with video screens and cameras that can zoom into the distance. An outside walk around too.

Summary

Tips are expected everywhere, take some cash with you (we took $300 cash and all went on tips) so get low denominations, the bands have tip buckets in every club/bar.

We experienced Country, Blues and Jazz, met some very friendly people and travelled by nearly every mode of transport.

Plus we never ate a bad meal!

An amazing trip!