Deep South USA Plus Texas

Overview

Deep South USA Plus Texas

Experience the unique culture, history, music of America’s Deep South, home of the blues, plus the charms and classic images of Texas, the 'Lone Star State'.

Take one of America’s classic ‘road trips’ exploring the Deep South, renowned for its gracious hospitality, its charming southern drawl, its unique Creole and Cajun cuisine and, of course, the most popular music genres of the 20th century – jazz, rock n’ roll, the blues and country.

Flying into Atlanta, Georgia, site of the 1996 Olympic Games, which really put the city on the map. In Memphis visit The National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel, an engaging cultural attraction of America’s historical milestone. Atlanta has a lovely laid-back southern charm and is the perfect start to a fascinating tour. We then travel through the rolling rich farmland of Tennessee, past the cotton fields of Mississippi to Louisiana’s moss covered bayous and the vast South Texas plains. You’ll stay in some of America’s most fascinating cities: Austin, Nashville, Memphis, the amazing New Orleans, as well as Houston, San Antonio and Dallas. We drive through state capital city of Texas, Austin, an inland city bordering the hill country.

We stay two nights in Nashville, known as Music City USA, the centre of the huge country music industry - where aspiring artists come to start their careers, songwriters try out their new songs and where anyone can walk into one of the myriad of live music venues and hear some of the best music-making in North America.

Not too far down the road lies another of America’s great musical cities - Memphis. Home of the remarkable Sun Studios that launched Elvis’ stratospheric rise to fame and the site of his sprawling home, Graceland; Memphis also played a pivotal and tragic role in the civil rights movement as the place where Martin Luther King was assassinated.

We stay three nights in New Orleans, ‘The Big Easy’ with its motto ‘Laissez les bons temps rouler’ – let the good times roll, depicts exactly what makes this city such a rewarding place to visit. Its famously progressive spirit and liberal attitudes date back to its French roots, when convicts were freed on condition that they settled there. Then it became an unruly smuggling enclave ensuring its rebellious streak continued to thrive. Always pushing the boundaries, it was inevitable the exceptional French, Spanish, American and African cultures fused so harmoniously producing a unique city which has given birth to jazz and its most famous son, the remarkable Louis Armstrong. It was also home to some of the greats of American literature such as Mark Twain and Tennessee Williams, who famously said that ‘America only has three cities, New York, San Francisco and New Orleans. All the rest are Cleveland!’

Our extension into the ‘Lone Star State’ of Texas includes a visit to the very soul of Texas – the Alamo, where in 1836 an estimated 183 men were killed by Mexican troops trying to prevent Texas from gaining its independence. As the second largest US state, Texas is unbelievably almost three times the size of the UK, and has a proud cowboy tradition dating from the 19th century. We discover this almost legendary western heritage during our visit to a working cattle ranch learning how the life and back-breaking work of cowboys evolved into the sport of rodeo, next we see the Fort Worth stockyards, in their heyday the world’s largest.

Who can ever forget the excitement, hope and sheer exhilaration the US gave the world during the 1960s and ‘70s at the height of its space program, the moonshots and those immortal phrases ‘That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind’ and of course probably the world’s most famous understatement, ‘Houston, we have a problem!’ We’ll tour the Johnson Space Centre and NASA’s ‘Mission Control’ from where the ill-fated Apollo 13 crew was saved from almost certain disaster by the innovative thinking of some of the best scientists and engineers in the world. It does not seem so long ago, but would you believe the return trajectory through the earth’s atmosphere was calculated using a ‘slide rule’ – how the world has changed! The space centre is still used today to train astronauts and develop the new technologies for future manned missions to Mars.

Finally, it’s Dallas, which during the 1980s was the setting of the world’s most watched TV programme! However probably more famously, in 1963 the ’Big D’ was propelled to world attention when (allegedly!), Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated President John F. Kennedy, for whatever reason we shall ultimately never know and after which it seemed the entire planet went into mourning - especially so when his son poignantly saluted his father’s coffin. We see the ‘grassy knoll’ and learn all about the events of that famous day.

What's Included

  • Scheduled return flights to Atlanta
  • All transfers
  • Journey on Amtrak ‘City of New Orleans’ rail service from Memphis to New Orleans
  • Domestic flight from Dallas Fort Worth to Atlanta
  • Twelve nights in three-star and three-star superior accommodation
  • All tours as mentioned
  • All flight and accommodation taxes
  • Hotel porterage of one item of luggage per person
  • The services of a Riviera Travel tour manager

Full Itinerary

Day 1 - Fly to Atlanta

Arrive at the airport for your direct flight to Atlanta.

Day 2 - Nashville

Driving into Tennessee to Lynchburg, this quintessential little town is a true slice of unspoilt 50s America, with its red-brick courthouse, general store and one traffic light. It’s a great place to just browse the shops and get a bite to eat before we visit Lynchburg’s claim to fame: the Jack Daniel Distillery. Obviously it’s where Jack Daniel’s whisky is made, since 1884 and a tour is a great experience. Interestingly, the county is ‘dry’ and locals are not allowed to consume the product they are most famous for. Continuing across Tennessee’s rolling green hills we soon arrive at ‘Music City USA’, Nashville.

Day 3 - Nashville

In downtown Nashville we visit the Country Music Hall of Fame. A huge museum of all things ‘Country & Western’, it has floors of fascinating exhibits from the earliest days of country music to the megastars of today. There are films and videos of music’s greatest, with their life-stories and costumes. The famed Music Row is close by, lined with studios and record company offices, where we visit the legendary RCA Studio B, where Elvis recorded many of his greatest hits, followed by a ‘who’s who’ of recording superstars such as Roy Orbison, the Everly Brothers, Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson. Lower Broadway is Nashville’s nightlife centre, with stupendous live music in famous honky-tonk bars like Robert’s Western World and The Stage on Broadway and many more. There’s a fantastic atmosphere along the entire street and an evening here is a real ‘must’! Tonight you have the chance to see a country music show at the Grand Ole Opry.

Day 4 - Memphis

Today we say goodbye to Nashville and head to the far west of Tennessee and the city of Memphis and America’s artery, the Mississippi. From its earliest beginnings as a small French garrison, Memphis grew into a magnet for freed slaves after the Civil War and as a cotton trading centre.

This afternoon we have a guided tour around the birthplace of Rock n’ Roll – the legendary Sun Studio, where Elvis recorded his first hit. This insignificant, yet iconic 1950s building, was the starting point for Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison amongst others and is a designated National Historic Landmark. You can still see Jerry Lee’s piano and Elvis’ microphone!

Day 5 - Graceland and National Civil Rights Museum

Today we visit one of America’s biggest tourist attractions, Elvis’ Graceland. The ‘King’ bought the Graceland mansion for $100,000 in 1957 when he was just 22 and it was his main home until his death. From the time it opened to the public in 1982, Graceland has expanded to include Elvis’ private airplanes and his extensive car collection. One of the most iconic houses in America, Graceland’s Meditation Garden is also Elvis’ final resting place.

This afternoon we step back into America’s historical milestones visiting the National Civil Rights Museum at The Lorraine Motel. It was here Martin Luther King was shot on 4th April 1968. Five years previous on 28th August 1963 he delivered his famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech around the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC to a crowd of 250,000 people. The following year in 1964, King won the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through non-violent resistance. In that same year, President Johnson got a law passed prohibiting all racial discrimination.

Day 6 - Amtrak Train to New Orleans

An early departure this morning as we catch the renowned ‘City of New Orleans’ Amtrak train service to New Orleans, a real little piece of America. The double-decker, classic silver coloured train carriages, so typical of the US, feature comfortable reclining armchairs with plenty of legroom, as well as a panoramic glass observation deck and dining car.

Our journey takes us through vast forests, farms and the small ‘southern’ towns lining the eastern bank of the Mississippi like pearls on a necklace. Nearing New Orleans, excitement mounts and we cross Lake Pontchartrain, bizarrely it appears like the train is actually travelling over the water itself. In the evening why not step out and try New Orleans’ famed Cajun cuisine – there are plenty of fantastic restaurants.

Day 7 - New Orleans

This morning we have a walking tour of New Orleans’ famous French Quarter with an expert local guide. We see the charming art galleries and antique shops along Royal Street, the white stucco St Louis Cathedral and Jackson Square, full of artists, musicians and fortune tellers, and walk up the iconic Bourbon Street, centre of the city’s nightlife. The afternoon is free for you to explore this charming city at your leisure. This evening, you have the opportunity to enjoy an evening jazz cruise with dinner on board the Steamboat City of New Orleans.

Day 8 - Free Day in New Orleans

A free day to relax in the ‘Big Easy’ and explore further afield. Alternatively, you may choose to visit some of the most impressive Antebellum Plantations outside New Orleans combined with a fascinating boat tour of the nearby Louisiana swamps, known for their alligators and snapping turtles, and where you can admire the fauna, such as the moss-draped cypresses native to the bayous of Louisiana. Oak Alley Plantation is a National Historic Landmark and is considered the Deep South’s most spectacular mansion. Dating from 1839 with two rows of mighty oaks leading down towards the Mississippi River, the house has been fully restored to its magnificent 19th-century opulence and grandeur.

Day 9 - Housten & Nasa

We leave New Orleans this morning heading ever westwards along Louisiana’s Cajun country towards Texas. As we enter the outskirts of Houston, our first stop is at the world-famous NASA Johnson Space Centre, still a working NASA base from where the international space station is controlled. We visit ‘Mission Control’, now restored to its 1965 look with all the original equipment and furniture – a unique experience.

We also see a full-size Saturn V rocket which famously has no on-board computer, they were just too big at the time, plus the huge indoor training facility for the astronauts of the International Space Station.

Day 10 - San Antonio

We continue further into the south Texas plains arriving in San Antonio this afternoon. Originally settled by the Spanish who built a mission station here, the Alamo, whose name was destined to be one of the most evocative words in American history. It was here in 1836 that a seriously outnumbered group of settlers, including Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie, were besieged by the Mexican army for nearly two weeks before they were overrun. Tonight we stay just round the corner from the Alamo and within easy walking distance to the charming Riverwalk area with its many bars and restaurants, ideal for trying out the region’s famed Tex-Mex cuisine.

Day 11 - Forth Worth

We say goodbye to friendly San Antonio and travel north to Dallas, stopping in Austin for some free time to explore. On arrival in Fort Worth, we visit the historical Stockyard District. This evening you have the opportunity to attend the world’s only year-round rodeo, held in the historic Cowtown Coliseum. See some of the best rodeo athletes perform thrilling feats of bull-riding, tie-down roping, team-roping, barrel-racing, bronc-riding and breakawayroping.

Day 12 - Dallas

This morning we visit the infamous Dealey Plaza, where President John F Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald. The floor in the Texas Book Depository from where thefatal shots were fired has been converted into the excellent 6th Floor Museum dedicated to explaining the background and the events of that fateful day on the 22nd of November in 1963.

The rest of the day is free for you to explore Dallas.

Day 13 - Return Flight

You arrive home this morning after a really memorable tour.

Day 14 - Arrive Home

You arrive home this morning after a really memorable tour.

Hand Picked By

Clare Hughes

Riviera offer fantastic tours, why? A number of things, value for money is excellent, hotels they use are excellent and the make a break of many a tour, the guides, are also chosen very carefully. With all of this, it is no surprise we sell and promote so many Riviera Tours. Call us and book with the confidence of a great holiday in store

Clare Hughes

Additional Information

  • Date: Various departures for 2024
  • Star Rating: 3 Superior
  • Board Basis: Bed & Breakfast
  • Duration: 13 nights
  • Departure Airport: London Heathrow
  • Guide Price: From £2,749pp
 Enquire Now

Latest from our Travel Experts

Nicole's AMAzing experience on board AmaSerena

Nicole group

I had an amazing opportunity to stay on board AmaWaterways AmaSerena for one night during the CLIA...

Read More
Margaret's Extraordinary Expedition Cruise to Antarctica

Mags intro

“Where? Antarctica … Really? Yes! Wow” …was all I could say to a fact finding...

Read More
Snow, hot chocolate and huskies with Caroline!

Caroline intro

After a bright and early start and a meet up at Bristol Airport, we flew 3 and a half hours to...

Read More