Thanks to all who gave tips for our Christmas trip to Savannah and New Orleans. We are now thinking about the following itinerary:

Dec 21: Arrival in Atlanta
Dec 22: Visiting Atlanta.
Dec 23: Driving to New Orleans.
Dec 24: New Orleans
Dec 25: New Orleans
Dec 26: New Orleans
Dec 27: Driving to Cape Canaveral (we know, it is a long drive, but we can make it)
Dec 28: Visit Space Center and driving to Savannah
Dec 29: Savannah
Dec 30: Savannah, day trip to Charleston and Beaufort
Dec 31: Savannah
Jan 1: Savannah
Jan 2: Driving to Atlanta
Jan 3: Atlanta
Jan 4: Departure

We are still thinking, where to spend Christmas and where New Years Eve. We still can swap Savannah and New Orleans, but we were informed that New Orleans will be crowded around New Year because of a sports event.
Any comments are appreciated. Thank you so much.

Spend two nights in Savannah and drive through Beaufort on your way to Charleston and spend two nights in Charleston.

Charleston is a quicker drive to Atlanta than Savannah.

Sorry, Savannah is a quicker drive to Atlanta but both distances are close in driving times.

ttt

I would leave out Cape Canaveral. It is such a long drive - and not a short drive from there to Savannah, either.

I can't imagine driving to New Orleans from Atlanta and then back across to Florida and back to Atlanta.

I'd eliminate New Orleans.

If you plan to do it all, then fly into Atlanta, Savannah or Charleston and then fly out of New Orleans.

Check www.airtran.com and take a look at their route map. If you can get cheap tix between cities you may want to do that instead of driving.

As one poster said, try to fly into one city and out of another.

All good advice; NO and Cape Canaveral are a long way from the others.

My addition to these suggestions is that with the shortened loop, you will have time to drive much of this on back roads, or at least older highways and see some of what is left of the older south, which is going fast.

For example, take US 17 rather than the interstates from Savannah to Charleston, stopping in Beaufort.

In a small town for lunch or dinner? Look for where the cops go or where Rotary or the Lions Club meet. Eat genuine southern food rather than fast food, and it really doesn't take much more time. These local places are geared to getting people in and out and back to work. Failing other recommendations, go to the police station and ask where you can get "meat and three" or "meat and vegetables".

Whoa! The drive to Cape Canaveral from N.O. is wicked. Your route doesn't really make any sense.

Any special reason you want to spend Christmas in N.O.?

How about this: fly into Atlanta. Spend two days. Plan to see something Christmasy at the Fox Theater or Alliance while you are there.

Drive to Savannah for Christmas. Spend a week there with your side trip to Charleston. Then, either

1. Drive to Cape Canaveral, visit, and leave from Orlando.

or

2. Drive to New Orleans, visit, and leave from New Orleans.

You could spend three days in Atlanta, or even stay over Christmas there. I don't know if you have children, but Atlanta would probably be a better place for Christmas for them than Savannah. The Center for Puppetry Arts usually has something wonderful on for kids, it is located in my old elementary school on Spring Street.
Many other kids' activities too, including the Pink Pig at Lenox.

I have read both of your threads. For your complimentary tickets, are you required to fly into and out of Atlanta?

I'd say skip New Orleans on this trip, as that is just a TON of driving, especially if you throw Florida into the mix. At any rate, I wouldn't do both New Orleans and Cape Canaveral.

Here's a suggestion:
Arrive in Atlanta, spend one or two days. Drive to Charleston for a few days, then to Savannah (stopping in Beaufort). Stay in the historic old part of town in both Charleston and Savannah. Look for special Christmas events to decide which of the two to spend Christmas. Drive to St. Augustine, Florida for a day or two on your way to Cape Canaveral. Then back up to Atlanta for your return flight.

If you do New Orleans, you are pretty much just there for the Christmas holiday, and it is a LONG drive from there to Savannah, even longer if you detour through Cape Canaveral.

St. Augustine a wonderful idea, noe! It's on the way and a good day's sightseeing there. (If you play golf, you might want to do so there. Some kind of World Golf thing run by Mariott, I think.)

But I would still leave from Orlando if possible.

Sorry, did not realize you had posted already under a different thread which gave more information about your proposed trip. Obviously, kids are not in the equation.

Savannah might be a better Christmas spot for you all. If you are churchgoers, there are several beautiful churches in historic old town that would make wonderful Christmas Eve or Christmas Day memories. My favorite is Christ Church.

That is a very ambitious itinerary - and I think adding Cape Canaveral is too much. I would skip it.

But - as a native of New Orleans - I wouldn't rule out the Big Easy! No - the city is not anywhere near being completely functioning, but the main tourist areas (French Quarter and Uptown) and doing fine and many of the favorite spots are open. And Christmas in NO can be wonderful - the weather is often warm, the city and homes are beautifully decorated, and there are a multitude of old and historic churches to choose from for services. Just be sure to make reservations for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinners. Unfortunately, I don't know what the status is of the big light display that City Park does each year - may not be happening this year at all since that area was badly hit.

New Years Eve is great fun in NO, but with the Sugar Bowl game - it can get crowded and hectic.

Then, if you skip Cape Canaveral - you could drive from NO to St. Augustine (a lovely, historic spot). I think that is pretty do-able in a long day. And then just head north up the coast.

Thank you all for your opinions!

Seems that we get mixed opinions on the New Orleans vs. Savannah question. We feel a little more toward New Orleans over Christmas because of the concerts while we hope that in Savannah the decorations persist until New Year (right?).

We know that it is quite a trip from New Orleans to Cape Canaveral. My first itinerary was without Kennedy Space Center, however, my son is crazy about it.

Mapquest says 678 miles. We often drive more than 800 miles a day in Europe, so we think, we can make it (we are six persons in a minivan, with at least two drivers, jokes and talks during the drive..). Or are there special circumstances making the drive more cumbersome?

BTW, do you have any hotel recommendations for New Orleans? We think of something between 150 and 200$. We are considering the Dupuy, Royal Sonesta, Richelieu and Monteleone and find it hard to decide. We also thought of Garlands Historic Creole Cottages but got a delivery failure of our email (which I consider a bad sign).

I'm tired just looking at that itinerary!

What about the Stennis Space Center, right at the Mississippi and Louisiana border? Could that substitute for Cape Canaveral? I've not been there but I have stopped at the rest area to "rest" en route to NOLA.

Here's the link I found, if it works:
http://www.ssc.nasa.gov/public/visitors/index.html

Here's the solution - the Huntsville Space Center! Great interactive exhibits for your son. They have "space camp" there every year.

The only thing you'd miss (IMHO) is experiencing the vastness of the assembly building - but even that is not worth that long drive (again, IMHO)

Huntsville, Alabama

Let me be the minority and says that the itinerary is okay. NO to Cape Canaveral is a long drive, but doable in a day. Perhaps leave NO the afternoon on 12/26 and spend the night near Mobile or Pensacola to cut down the driving the next day.

Meanwhile, I agree with GoTravel in the first two replies. After Savannah, spend 2 nights in Charleston and then head back to Atlanta directly. Don't do the day trip thing from Savannah.