Fly-Drive Around Nashville

Old Jul 8th, 2013, 02:11 PM
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Fly-Drive Around Nashville

Hi. I live in London, England, & am planning a trip with my husband in August to visit Nashville, which has always been my dream as I'm a massive country music fan. We have 2 weeks in total & wanted to drive to a few more places to experience more of the Deep South while we're there. I was thinking of visiting Memphis & New Orleans, but wanted to get some feedback on these, suggestions for how long to stay in each, & recommendations for any other places we should see. Thanks, in advance.
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Old Jul 8th, 2013, 02:50 PM
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Nashville isn't really the *Deep* South - you'll need Alabama and Mississippi for that!

What are your interests other than country music? Do you want to stick to cities, or would you be interested in somewhere like the Smokies? And how much are you willing to drive in a day?

Of the places you've mentioned, I'd give Memphis a couple of days. Nashville two or three, depending on if you want to visit places like the Hermitage or Franklin, or do a day trip to Jack Daniels while you're here. I've never been to New Orleans.
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Old Jul 8th, 2013, 02:58 PM
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First thing, just know it will be brutally hot and humid during that time.

You might consider:

Natchez, Mississippi

Gatlinburg, Knoxville, Smoky Mountains, and Ashville NC/Biltmore House

Corvette Museum/Corvette Factory/Mammoth Cave

River Road area near New Orleans

The Hermitage near Nashville


For Food
I would suggest

Nashville
Hot Chicken-several places
The Loveless Cafe
Las Paletas (popsicles for an inexpensive snack)


Memphis
Gus's Fried Chicken
Blues City Cafe
Rendevouz
Sunday Brunch at The Peabody

New Orleans
Host of places here, but I like Commanders Palace

I'm sure others will add more
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Old Jul 8th, 2013, 03:03 PM
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We spent 16 days in Tennessee a couple of years ago: 3-4 in Nashville, 3-4 in Memphis, 1/2 day in Knoxville, 4 days in Great Smoky Mtns Nat Park, 2 days in Chattanooga, and 1 day driving from Chatanooga back to Nashville.
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Old Jul 10th, 2013, 07:01 AM
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Thanks everyone for your very helpful replies!

Sorry, jent103, I shouldn't have included Tennesse in my reference to the Deep South, but we would like to explore some more of the Deep South, aside from just New Orleans.

We're happy to dive a fair bit in one day, but also don't want to spend the whole trip driving with too little time to spend at each place.

From the little we know of this part of the US, is seems to be very different to where we live and have travelled and so we're keen to get a good taste of the local culture, food, bars and music in the short space of time that we have.
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Old Jul 10th, 2013, 08:08 AM
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A loose itinerary that might work for you: Fly to Chicago. Spend a few hours in Chicago. Take the Amtrak "City of New Orleans" from Union Station to Memphis. (leaves Chicago @ 8PM every night) It arrives in Memphis in the morning. Rent a car in Memphis to go see Nashville. Continue through Chattanooga south into Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana to New Orleans.
From NO, go up the Natchez Trace to get back to Memphis to turn in your rental car. Fly home from Memphis or take the train back to Chicago to fly home.
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Old Jul 10th, 2013, 09:39 AM
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tomfuller, I'm not sure why the train makes sense at all here - they could just fly into Nashville or Memphis or wherever in the South. Chicago does not sound like it's of interest for this trip, and being from the UK I assume the train is not a novelty to them.

Is this August as in three weeks from now? If so, I assume you already have plane tickets bought - where are you flying in/out of?

If you're interested in the blues, I'm not an expert but there are several threads here with good ideas for the Mississippi Delta between Memphis and New Orleans. Charleston, Savannah, Asheville and the Smokies/Blue Ridge Mountains are also all great places in the South to visit. They're each a different kind of South than the Mississippi Delta or Nashville or New Orleans. Depending on the direction you'd like to go, I'd either go Nashville > Memphis > New Orleans via the Delta, or (Memphis, if you like) > Nashville > Chattanooga > Atlanta > Charleston and/or Savannah. There's also Montgomery and Birmingham if you're interested in US civil rights history.

Lots of options! In most halfway touristy cities in the South I think you could see the highlights in 2-3 days, with a fourth if you have time. That's totally an average - each will depend on what *you* want to see.
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Old Jul 12th, 2013, 10:38 PM
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Thanks, again, everyone!

We're flying into Atlanta, but will probably just stay the one night there and then hire a car and head off.

Have been thinking of going from Atlanta to Nashville (3 or 4 nights), to Memphis (2 or 3 nights), maybe stopping 1 night in Jackson, on to New Orleans (3 or 4 nights), and then 1 night in Birmingham before we head home in the evening from Atlanta. Can't work out whether its worth adding in Jackson and Birmingham to break up the trip - thoughts? Or would there be some better smaller towns to stop off in instead, so we dont only do main cities?

I'd love to do SC and go to Charleston, but can't seem to work that and New Orleans and Nashville into the same trip for only 2 weeks - guess I'll have to come back one day and go from Washington down through Ashville.

Thanks, again, for all your help!!

I'm getting so excited!
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