Rex_Digby

Hello, we are flying from the UK to New Orleans on the 14th June 2012 for a three week holiday. So far all we have booked is the first three nights hotel in New Orleans. We have a car for the entire holiday. The only other thing we have planned is that we want to be at Elvis's Graceland on the 2nd July as it's my wife's birthday and this is the main reason for coming to the USA as she is a great Elvis fan. We fly home on the 6th July from Memphis. Any advise as to where to go and where to stay would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks.

qwovadis

Congrats on your trip was born on St Charles Avenue

where the street cars roll neworleansonline.comis great

spend several days there. kpauls.com one ofmy favs for food.

From there head down the coast to Boloxi(casinos) and

bellingrath.com Gardens in Moble then orangbeach.com

for great beaches seafood.

From there might head north to Atlanta up into the

Great Smokies Knoxville Nashville to Memphis.

I like the Peabody Hotel for the ducks there and the

best BBQ(dry rub) ribs in the Universe at the Roundevous.

classic.mapquest.com directions and diatances.

betterbidding.com my #1 choice for nice hotels 70% off

Always book day of and find something nice.


Happy Planning!

qwovadis

Elvis.com Graceland south of the center hotels/area not

great there Peabody is a tonne better.

Memphis BBQ restaurant guide to legendary dry ribs. Menu selection, hours and order information for ribs, barbeque sauce and seasoning.

hogsfly.com best food

bellingrath.org

neworleansonline.com

great info sorry for typos above.

PM if I may help further.

stumpworks73

If you are going so far as Memphis, and you are a music fan, I would continue on to Nashville. If your budget permits, stay at the Gaylord Opryland hotel. If the timing works to attend the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday night, you should schedule (purchase tickets in advance on the internet.) I would also spend an evening at the Bluebird Cafe. The Bluebird is a venue for up and coming song writers and performers. Always an entertaining and economical evening.

If you are in New Orleans on Sunday morning, you should do some research and attend a local Baptist church that has a good music program in the morning. I have Belgian friends who had this experience. They were received as family and loved the morning.

The Smokey Mountain National Park and Ashville, North Carolina are great destinations, but you are increasing your mileage significantly. If you do this trip, find some bluegrass music venues.

Take care on a trip like this that you don't spend too much time on the highway. Better fewer destinations and more time to enjoy than making a campaign and spending all your time filling the gas tank on the rental car.

bachslunch

With three weeks, you can definitely do justice to New Orleans, Memphis, and Nashville. The car is useful in the last two cities, not so much in the first, but it's possible to manage all three without one. See my trip reports (food):

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...experience.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...experience.cfm

(attractions, found at the end of the itinerary inquiry threads):

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...-itinerary.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...y-184065-2.cfm

Some Nashville threads I've participated in with useful info:

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...car-or-not.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...eaten-path.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...e-downtown.cfm

3-4 days is about right for Nashville, 4-5 days for Memphis, and 7-10 days for New Orleans, if you're thorough.

There are several places to explore in between and nearby these three places, including Little Rock AR, Jackson MS, Baton Rouge LA (have been to all three, a day in each is about right). There are several places that are reportedly worth exploring as well where I haven't been (Vicksburg MS, Franklin, TN, Natchez MS, Breaux Bridge LA). See this thread, for one:

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...h-east-usa.cfm

jent103

I absolutely agree that you should include Nashville if you're music fans, but don't necessarily agree with staying at the Opryland. The hotel is a tourist attraction in its own right, but isn't terribly convenient to anything but the Opry house and the giant mall next door. It will take you at least 30 minutes to get from there to the Bluebird or downtown or anything else of interest to tourists. Personally I'd recommend staying closer to downtown (likely *in* downtown, depending on what you want to do) and just making the trip out to the Opryland area once, to see the hotel and the Opry itself.

For other suggestions in Nashville, the Country Music Hall of Fame is really great. You can buy a combination ticket that will take you on a tour of RCA Studio B (I think I have that right - I've been to the museum but not to the studio). I recently took the backstage tour at the Ryman Auditorium and really enjoyed it. The Ryman is one of my very favorite venues to hear anyone, period, so check their schedule to see who's playing when you'll be here. The Bluebird, as stumpworks mentioned, is a famous venue for songwriters and is definitely worth a night. And there are shows happening every night at various places around town (more rock and Americana than country, actually). Check the papers when you get here to see if anything sounds good.

There are other attractions as well (Civil War things, a couple of plantations, the Frist art museum), but since you emphasized music it's hard to know what else might interest you.

In Memphis, aside from the Elvis stuff, the National Civil Rights Museum is excellent.

jent103

PS: Being from the UK, it will be much hotter than you're used to in June. Just a heads up. The humidity shouldn't be too awful yet, though it could be. The last time I was in England visiting friends, they were complaining about the heat when it was barely 80 degrees Fahrenheit - our summer days can easily hit 90 or even 95. Hydrate!

sf7307

bachslunch, I love New Orleans (as I know you do), but 7-10 days? What would you do with yourself (I could spend 7-10 in Paris, or London, or New York, but New Orleans?) after you see all the sights?

bachslunch

sf7307, if you look at my trip report (appended to my itinerary request, last few posts), you'll see that I spent 9 full days sightseeing in NOLA -- details are spelled out. If I'd had another day and the second plantation tour had actually happened, that would have made it ten days. Details:

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...y-184065-2.cfm

There's scads of stuff to see in NOLA if you're thorough.

willowjane

We did a trip to Nashville and Memphis last summer. In Memphis we stayed at http://talbothouse.com/ ,it is located right beside the Peabody and has several fairly large rooms with balconies. It was significantly cheaper and it just had a nice small guest house feel. I would highly recommend it - we walked over to see the ducks and have drinks in the bar at the Peabody. We were able to walk around Beale Street and walk nearby to great restaurants. We love Graceland and we did the full tour - I would suggest you do that. We arrived right when it opened and we had no issues with crowds at all. I would also recommend going to Sun Records while you there. We did both big art museums The Brooks and Dixon (if you are into that kind of thing).
In Nashville we stayed as close to Country Music Hall of Fame as we could - I can't remember the name of the hotel, but I think it was a Hampton Inn. We walked to almost everything from that location. Just going into the bars and listening to music is great. The Bluebird cafe is a real treat if you can get in and get a seat. We did a day trip to Cheekwood Botanical Gardens and really enjoyed the visit.
I hope you have a great trip.

willowjane

Oh my! How could I forget the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville! We saw a show and did the tour the next day where we were able to fill my Mom's dream of singing on stage of the Ryman (Johnny Cash - Jackson). You have to see this place!