Some advice:
First of all, check distances and driving times. Your itinerary COULD be done as shown, but there's going to be a lot of time in the car. Me? I could put up with it, but I recognize not everyone can handle spending a lot of time looking at asphalt.

> we wanted to experience southern culture and food,
> its music and its scenery
Your choices of Nashville, Memphis, and New Orleans are therefore excellent. But is there any reason you're not starting the trip in one of these cities? Atlanta is a fine city and has its charms, but the music scene is not one of them. Basically, you're using up two days of driving just so you can land at Atlanta.

Your use of the phrases "holiday" and "hiring a car" indicates that you are not a U.S. citizen. This means you MIGHT be able to rent a car (in the U.S. we "hire" a driver, but we "rent" a car) without paying an exorbitant drop-off fee. Unless you've already made your reservations, you should look into flying into one city, driving your car rental to another city, and then flying back from the latter. This will save you a day or so of driving, without costing a lot of extra money.

Thanks for the reply PaulRabe. Yeah we've looked into it and each journey is going to be between 2 - 4hrs. Not ideal but we're trying to squeeze in as much as possible in the shortest timeframe. With reference to the Atlana question, you have a very fair point. The company we are booking our holiday through just suggested it and we went with it, not thinking. I'm guessing it's one of the easier airports to get to directly from the UK, which brings me on to your next point.... We're coming over from England and our travel company is arranging a car for us for the entire journey.

Really appreicate the advice, will go back to our travel rep and ask her about flying into a different airport. Which one would you suggest? New Orleans or Nashville maybe? Are these international airports. Also, if we fly direct to one of these airports and will have a spare few days is there any other places to see/stay you think we'd like??

Many thanks

Ask your travel company if you can start in New Orleans.
You don't need the car until you are ready to leave New Orleans for Memphis perhaps by way of Natchez. From Memphis head for Nashville. From Nashville head for Chattanooga. In October the Great Smokies may be too cold. Birmingham is an easy drive from Chattanooga. It is your choice if you want to go into Atlanta or head to the Gulf Coast through the Florida panhandle and drive back through Biloxi to New Orleans.

> Which one would you suggest?
> New Orleans or Nashville maybe?

Either airport would be fine. What would help your travel rep quite a bit would be if you took a look at what flights are available between London and either of these on the dates you want to travel. When I did this on Kayak.com (my choice, but there are many other search sites) for a random day in October, I found you could do flights on one airline (thus guaranteeing a connection) with one stop, and LOTS of time to make in connection, either to Nashville for $1169 (about the same as flying into Atlanta) or to New Orleans for $1316. With Kayak, you can adjust your days of travel, the number of stops, the airline, etc; and get results quickly. With this info, you can help your travel rep zero in on the best possible deal.

> Are these international airports?
Yes, but this is irrelevant unless you have to fly non-stop to your U.S. destination from London. The only airports, that would HAVE to be international ones, are the FIRST one you land at and the one you first take off from on your way home.

I checked, and flying non-stop (say, London to Atlanta) adds about $400 per person to the cost of your flight. Pay me $700 and I'll gladly carry your bags through the airport, and make sure you get to the right gate for the second leg of your two flights! Heck, for $700 I'LL CARRY YOU through the airport!! :^)

I have started to plan a trip South in October. We plan to fly from Manchester to Nashville then rent a car an drive to Memphis and down via Highway 61 through the Mississipp Delta.
We hope to stop at Clarkesdale . Vitzburg & Natchez to New Orleans.We are flying into Nashville and out of New Orleans. I am looking at e.Dreams.com for flights which are really reasonable.
Hope this helps .

To the OP, it will depend upon where you are leaving from in the UK as well and on which airline. If you use a US-flagged carrier then another "international" airport would be Charlotte which has very easy connections to Memphis, New Orleans, and Nashville and you could bypass Atlanta entirely.

Hi guys. Firstly thank you all for the replies and secondly my appologies for my lateness in getting back to you. Right, after hearing your ideas we had a think and took them on board so now our trip has changed slightly. We are still over for 12 nights but are no longer doing the 'Atlana' loop. Instead we are flying straight (well, with a stop-off) into New Orleans then 12 nights later we are flying out of Nashville. I know this means us missing out on Atlanta and Birmingham/Montgomery but this now leaves us with more time to spend on our route. Also, we're not hiring a car now until the 4th day (leaving New Orleans) to cut down on costs. So now our changed plan looks a bit like this...

Day 1/2/3 - New Orleans (We land in the evening so this way we get 2 full days here)

Day 4 - Baton Rouge or Lafayette

Day 5 - Natchez

Day 6 - Vicksburg

Day 7/8 - ?????

Day 9/10 - Memphis

Day 11/12 - Nashville

Like previously stated, we want to try and experience the authentic Southern States (with some nightlife thrown in too) and we're hoping the locations we've chosen will help us with this. Good food, good music, good times

Again, if anybody could help/advise us any further we would be gratefully appreciative and we take all idesa on board. Thanks.

N.B. PaulRabe, thanks for the advice, we sacked off our travel rep and are booking the trip ourselves using Kayak (great help)

Good call on Kayak vs. the travel rep!

I think you could add a day to Memphis and/or Nashville if you like, rather than trying to find something in Mississippi to fill your days 7/8. Nashville has several good day trips, so if you add an extra day or two and find yourself bored in town, you could go to the Jack Daniels distillery (about an hour away; they offer tours), Franklin (a small town about 20 minutes south), or even to Chattanooga for the day. If you're into the blues, though, probably best to keep the time in Mississippi.

What sorts of music and food are you interested in? (rock, country, blues, etc; Southern classics, trendier stuff, fine dining?)

Just so you know, the Smokies are beautiful in October, but the park is also very crowded then. I see that you've eliminated it from your last itinerary, but wanted you to know that October is high season there.

Hi guys, going back to days 7/8 we are thinking of visiting Greenville, Clarksdale, Oxford or Tupelo but if this is maybe not the best choice please let us know, and when it comes to music and food I'm a big Elvis fan and a fan of country music but at the same time like jazz, blues, actually a fan of all music. As for food we're looking for 'southern classics', good local food. Chicken, steak, fish, it's all good.

They are all good places to go, though other than the birthplace, there isn't really much of Elvis in Tupelo.

Oxford is a university town with lots of bars and places to eat but not really a blues town. If you are in Greenville, see about eating at the original Doe's Eat Place. It is franchised all over now so may have gone downhill. In my day, they sold takeaway tamales in the front and enormous steaks in the back. At lunch time, eat tamales, there or elsewhere, while singing along with Robert Johnson: "Hot tamales, got 'em red hot, yes, I got 'em for sale!"

Of the places you have now chosen, you will not "miss" Atlanta and Birmingham. Congrats on consolidating a nice trip.

Guys, really, thank you. I'm touched by all the kind, honest responses and I've taken each and every one of them on board. With reference to flights I HOPE I'm sorted??? We've been looking through the Kayak website and we've found flights into New Orleans and flying back to the UK 13 days later from Nashville for £545 each ($870) so I think that's not too bad. Well hopefully we'll be booking the flight/hols either today or very soon anyway so as soon as we have we'll be back on here picking your guys brains for recommending places to stay, places to eat, places to drink etc

Again guys, thank you for your help and hopefully will speak soon

Hi Marty my friend and I are doing the same trip as you but starting nashville and ending in Nola. I have posted a question about budgets - how much are you expecting on fuel/ food per day? We are Irish so used to being charged highest price for everything so I have no idea how much to allow for - any clues?
I'm expecting good breakfast each day and then play it by ear until probably late dinner - also the jet lag might be a killer - hadn't realized until this wk they are 7 hrs behind which will probably mean a lot of driving v early in the morning! What dates do you go? Be sure to leave some tips when u get back! Suzie

Permit me to assist, Suzie.

> how much are you expecting on fuel/ food per day?

Fuel is RELATIVELY easy to calculate:
1) Check the miles (sorry, we haven't advanced to the metric system yet) that you'll be traveling each day.
2) Check the mileage of the car you'll be driving. From this you'll know how many gallons of gasoline (ie, petrol) you'll be burning each day.
3) Check the price per gallon of gas you'll be buying at
www.gaspricewatch.com
You can find the average price for any city in the USA, as well as the location of the least expensive gas. For example, Memphis TN has an average price of $3.61
www.gaspricewatch.com/TN-tennessee/Memphis/gas-prices/page-1/2.htm

Food depends on how much you WANT to spend.
:^) If you drink like an Ir...; uhhh, I mean if you drink a LOT, you'll spend more than if you're as sober as a judge.
The cheapest way to eat is to buy your food at supermarkets. Second cheapest is to buy at fast food outlets. Third cheapest is at convenience stores. Fourth cheapest is diners and family restaurants, particularly if you watch for specials. If you eat at fine dining establishments, the sky's the limit.

I'd like to add that when breakfasts are included with hotels in the US they typically are sadly lacking in comparison to breakfasts that are included with hotels I have experienced in Europe. So if you are booking hotels with that in mind, you may want to lower your expectations. It can be quite typical that the breakfast on offer might be a few bananas, oranges, apples, juice, cereal, and some breakfast pastries.

If it is a bed and breakfast accommodation, that will be entirely different (and good) and some higher end hotels will be better, but typically don't include breakfast in the room rate.

In hotels with restaurants, you can of course get good hot breakfasts for a fee.

Even within chains, if breakfast is included it can really vary depending on property. In general I have found Hampton Inn and Fairfield Inn and Suites have decent breakfasts included with their room rates.

If this info doesn't apply, you may ignore of course

Every city and small town in the US has breakfast spots (diners, cafes, coffee shops) that are frequented by local people. Mostly they are only open for breakfast and lunch. If you do not get breakfast where you stay, ask the clerk or a taxi driver or policeman where to get breakfast. Because they are for locals, they will not be expensive and will feature local specialties: Bagels in NYC, grits in the South, for example. Here in Richmond, VA, for example, there is a traditon of fried salt mackerel with sliced tomatoes, but you can get egg and bacon, egg and ham, egg and sausage, pancakes, waffles, porridge, whatever. Our biscuits are like puffier scones and are generally delicious.

In such places, you will be the object of attention the moment you open your mouth, but it will be nice attention. Don't hesitate to open yourself to meeting people by telling them you are visitors from abroad and need advice about choosing food or places to visit or shop.

Just to keep you updated.....we've booked our flights for october (12nts) and can't wait!!! Thank you for all your advice guys, you certainly helped make our decision of holiday alot easier

Our plan, as I'm sure I've already bored you guys with is to land in NOLA, spend 3nts there then start moving north-ish via Memphis and flying out from Nashville 9nts later. Apart from Memphis and Nashville we'd like to see and spend time in smaller towns, trying to avoid chain hotels. I have absolutely nothing against chain hotels, I've spent many a night in many a room, but we'd like somewhere a little more personal. A little more American

I think we've decided on Lafayette, Natchez and Vicksburg but if we were to spend 2nts in Memphis and 2nts in Nashville that leaves us with 2nts spare. An option is to make no plans and just see where the wind takes us or maybe take some suggestions from the locals but again, please, if you guys could recommend anywhere between NOLA and Memphis or Memphis and Nashville please let us know. Also, any good food places or bars will be gratefully appreciated.

Thanks again guys, hopefully will hear from you soon.....

*Suzieabroad* Thanks for your messgae and with regards to a budget I had'nt actually thought about a proper one......until now. For fuel, like PaulRabe kindly posted, I figured out a budget of $150/200 should be loads and I'll try and explain why....(please excuse my infant-like knowledge of maths if I've completely mucked this up)
If your car does 25mpg to do 100miles would require 4gallons. If you do 1000miles you would require 40gallons. If petrol is $3.61 a gallon, this times 40 comes in at $144. Does this make sense?? The more I read it the more it confuses me
As for spends on food/drink I have no idea. We're planning to eat in small diners and drink in local bars, soak up the southern atmosphere, but we like a drink as much as the next couple and love a good meal so I am scared to figure that one out.....
For 12nts would $1500 cover food & drink? Any help with this guys would be appreciated by us both I think.

New Orleans is a fabulous city, with wonderful food and music. I have been to Memphis and Nashville and my opinion is that there is no comparison to New Orleans. Maybe an extra night there?

Thanks travelgirl2, trust me I'd love to spend the whole 12nts there but I'm a massive elvis fan and to come this far and not go to Graceland would haunt me forever as for Nashville again I'm a fan of country music so it just seemed the obvious thing to do......really hope I haven't made a mistake. But our plans are flexible so who knows???
Thanks again for your thoughts

I definitely don't think you've made a mistake coming to Nashville, but I live here (and love it) so I'm biased. If you're a country fan you can't beat the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Ryman. And the Opry, of course (Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays). And there's plenty else to do as well.

Thanks for your replies again guys, they really are appreciated. After doing a bit of reading I'm getting a tad apprehensive about our NOLA - Memphis leg of the journey. We leave NOLA on a Sunday and head to Lafayette then are planning (at the moment) to arrive in to Memphis on Friday but we're wondering now if we'll be visiting dead, empty towns along the way as it's during the week?? After our weekend in NOLA we're not after screamiing night life or 24hr bars but hoping that at least somewhere will be open for some food and a drink?? Like I said it looks like Lafayette on the Sunday then:

Monday - Natchez (would like to see a few Antebellum houses)
Tuesday - Vicksburg (military park)
Wednesday - Greenville (because it's en route ha)
Thursday - Clarksdale (visit ground zero blues club)

So I was just wondering if any of you guys could help with any local knowledge or maybe knew if there was a few places open on those week days??

Thanks for reading this, hope to hear from you guys soon....

marty, I don't live in that area so can't comment specifically, but am wondering why you think nothing will be open for food or drink?

Certainly every place has closing hours, but sites don't close down completely during the week, nor do restaurants. In some small towns around where I live, you are more likely to find small business and family owned restaurants closed on Sundays and Mondays, but there is always something open.

Sorry Toucan2, after reading it again myself it may have come across in the wrong way but we were looking to eat and drink in local, family run places, experiencing proper southern food. I've also read that in some southern towns they don't sell alcohol on a Sunday but I'm hoping if we're in Lafayette we should find something

Ah, I see what you mean now. Yes, you will have to wait for some folks more local to those places to chime in. Liquor laws vary widely, and can change not just by town but by county as well. And it's not just in southern states although you may run into it a bit more.

I'm sorry I can't be of more help, hopefully some others will chime in.

The liquor laws in Louisiana are the most liberal in the country. Beer, wine, and hard alcohol can be found in any grocery store 24x7x365. Restaurants are the same in Louisiana. You will be able to imbide in Lafayette on Sunday.

Some small towns in Mississippi will only serve iced tea or soda for drinks. That's the way it is there. Get your alcohol fix in Louisiana.

I would suggest and extra day in Lafayette so you can do Cajun country proper and maybe take in a swamp tour or do some plantations.

Don't miss Clarksdale, MS. The Blues Museum is very important and interesting, and you can visit other places around there associated with the Blues. Ask at the Museum. That won't take two days, but will take much of day 7 or 8.

If it were me, I'd stay another day in Vicksburg, checking out some of the places associated with the Siege. There's also a pretty neat Courthouse there that has interesting exhibits about the War and other stuff.

Use TripAdvisor to find restaurants and places to stay, if you haven't got them already.

If you're looking for a place to stay in New Orleans, I recommend Le Richelieu, which is an older comfortable place on the quiet side of the French Quarter. You can walk from there to a streetcar stop in the French Market, and can also walk to Frenchman Street which has lots of music.