Cornelius Amann
October 06, 2026
5/5
Deep South: Nashville, Memphis, the Mississippi Delta and New Orleans
9 days from Nashville to New Orleans: two nights each in Nashville and Memphis, a night in Clarksdale for the Delta blues, a night on the bluff at Natchez and two in New Orleans.
9 days · Nashville to New Orleans · up to 12 guests
The living room and music room at Graceland, Elvis Presley's home in Memphis Photo: Capvideo, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Graceland,_Peacock_White_Living_Room.jpg)
The facts
At a glance
- Length
- 9 days, 8 nights
- Start and end
- Nashville to New Orleans
- Group size
- 7 to 12 guests
- Activity level
Easy
Easy: town and museum walking on pavements, about 3 to 6 km a day, with up to three hours on your feet in the bigger museums. Whitney Plantation is an outdoor walk on paths in the heat. The longest drive, on day 6, is about four and three-quarter hours, split into four legs of two hours or less, and you can sit any visit out.
- Meals included
- 8 breakfasts, 5 lunches, 2 dinners
- Room of your own
- + CAD 1,070 (estimated price)
- Season
- March to May and October to early December
Highlights
Why this trip
- A night at the Grand Ole Opry, after the Country Music Hall of Fame and RCA Studio B
- Graceland at the first entry of the morning, then Sun Studio, where Elvis made his first records
- An unhurried afternoon at the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel
- The Stax Museum, then down Highway 61 to Clarksdale for the Delta Blues Museum and a night of live blues
- Dockery Farms and the B.B. King Museum in Indianola on the road south
- Evening light over the Mississippi from the bluff at Natchez
- The French Quarter early with a local guide, a Creole cooking lunch and a Preservation Hall concert
What makes this trip different
Free time is part of the plan
Free time and choices are marked on the days they fall.
Solo without the penalty
A room of your own is + CAD 1,070 (estimated price).
Day by day
Itinerary
Tap any stop on the map to open that dayClick any stop on the map to open that day
Arrive in Nashville
Nashville International Airport (BNA) to your hotel downtown, then Lower Broadway
- Welcome dinner
- Stay in Nashville
- Drive about 15 min
Fly into Nashville International Airport (BNA), about 15 km east of downtown, where a driver meets you in arrivals for the short ride to the hotel.
Evening
Plan to land by about 3 pm so you have time to settle in before the group meets at 5:30 pm; late arrivals are met and brought to dinner. Your See Sight Tours guide runs through the week ahead: the drives, the museum days, the evenings with live music and what the Delta heat is like. Then we sit down together to a welcome dinner downtown. Afterwards the guide walks the group down Lower Broadway, where the honky-tonks keep a band on stage from late morning until well after midnight, usually with no cover charge. Step into two or three, hear a few songs in each and find the room you like best. The hotel is a few blocks away, so anyone who wants an early night after the flight can slip off whenever they choose.
Included
- Pick-up at Nashville International Airport (BNA)
- Welcome briefing with your guide
- Welcome dinner
- An evening walk down Lower Broadway and its honky-tonks with your guide
Free time: Free until the 5:30 pm meeting
Activity: Plan to land by about 3 pm.
The Hall of Fame, Studio B and the Opry
Downtown Nashville to RCA Studio B on Music Row, then the Grand Ole Opry House
- Breakfast
- Stay in Nashville
- Drive about 30 min
We are at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum when it opens at 9 am, ahead of the school groups. The galleries run from fiddle tunes and the first recordings to the present day, with stage costumes, handwritten lyrics and Elvis's gold Cadillac. From the museum a shuttle takes us to RCA Studio B on Music Row, where Elvis, Dolly Parton, the Everly Brothers and Roy Orbison recorded in the 1950s and 1960s, and a studio guide plays the takes in the room where they were cut.
Afternoon
Lunch is your choice downtown and the afternoon is free. Your ticket for the Ryman Auditorium is in your pocket: the 1892 tabernacle was home to the Opry from 1943 to 1974, and you can walk through it at your own pace.
Evening
In the evening we drive about 20 minutes east to the Grand Ole Opry House for the show, where several artists each play a short set, as the radio broadcast has done since 1925.
Included
- Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum from opening
- RCA Studio B tour on Music Row
- Ryman Auditorium self-guided tour, at your own time
- The Grand Ole Opry, with transfers both ways
Optional experiences
- Johnny Cash Museum
- National Museum of African American Music
Free time: Afternoon free in Nashville
Activity: About 2 to 3 hours on your feet in the museum and studio, then a seated evening.
West to Memphis and the Lorraine Motel
Nashville to Memphis on Interstate 40, then the National Civil Rights Museum and Beale Street
- Breakfast and lunch
- Stay in Memphis
- Drive about 3.5 h
We leave Nashville at about 8:30 am and drive about 340 km west on Interstate 40, across the Tennessee River and the flat farm country of West Tennessee, with a coffee stop on the way.
Afternoon
By noon we are in Memphis, where lunch is a plate of pulled pork or ribs at a barbecue place downtown. In the early afternoon we walk into the National Civil Rights Museum, built around the Lorraine Motel, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot on the balcony outside Room 306 on 4 April 1968. The exhibits run from slavery and the Montgomery bus boycott through the sit-ins and Freedom Rides to the sanitation workers' strike that brought King to Memphis, and across the street the Legacy Building follows the investigation of his killing. Allow about three hours; your guide starts with you and then leaves you to your own pace. After check-in and a rest we go down to Beale Street together for a blues set in one of its clubs, cover charge included.
Evening
Dinner is your choice.
Included
- Drive from Nashville to Memphis with your guide
- Barbecue lunch in Memphis
- National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel, with the Legacy Building
- A blues set on Beale Street with your guide, cover charge included
Free time: Dinner free on Beale Street or near the hotel
Activity: About three hours standing and walking in the museum, with benches along the way.
Graceland and Sun Studio
Memphis to Graceland in Whitehaven, then Sun Studio on Union Avenue
- Breakfast
- Stay in Memphis
- Drive about 45 min
Morning
Graceland opens at 9 am and we take the first entry slot, so the mansion is quieter than it will be by late morning. Elvis bought the house in 1957, at 22, and the rooms are kept as they were in the 1970s: the white living room with its peacock stained glass, the wood-panelled kitchen, the Jungle Room with its green shag carpet. The tour ends in the Meditation Garden, where Elvis and his parents are buried.
Afternoon
Across the road the Elvis Presley's Memphis complex holds his cars, his stage costumes and his two private jets; give it an hour or two before a light lunch on site. In the afternoon we drive back towards downtown to Sun Studio, where Sam Phillips recorded "Rocket 88" in 1951 and Elvis made his first records in 1953 and 1954. The guided tour ends in the small studio room itself, which still works as a recording studio.
Evening
The rest of the afternoon and the evening are free: the Peabody ducks march out of the lobby fountain at 5 pm.
Included
- Graceland mansion tour at the first entry of the day, with the Meditation Garden
- Elvis Presley's Memphis: the cars, costumes and jets
- Sun Studio guided tour
Optional experiences
- Memphis Rock 'n' Soul Museum
Easier option: Skip the Elvis Presley's Memphis complex and go back to the hotel after the mansion tour for a rest before Sun Studio.
More active option: In the late afternoon, walk the Big River Crossing, a path on the Harahan Bridge, across the Mississippi into Arkansas and back.
Free time: Late afternoon and evening free
Activity: About 3 hours on foot at Graceland and an hour at Sun Studio.
Stax, then Highway 61 to Clarksdale
Memphis to the Stax Museum, then south on US 61 to Clarksdale, Mississippi
- Breakfast and lunch
- Stay in Clarksdale
- Drive about 2 h
Morning
A slower morning, then the Stax Museum of American Soul Music in South Memphis, rebuilt on the site of the old cinema where Stax Records cut hits for Otis Redding, Booker T. and the M.G.'s, Sam and Dave and Isaac Hayes, whose gold-trimmed Cadillac stands on the floor. Late morning we take US 61 south out of Memphis into Mississippi, about an hour and a half across the flat Delta, with cotton and soybean fields running to the tree line.
Afternoon
Lunch is in Clarksdale, then we spend the afternoon at the Delta Blues Museum in the old freight depot, where the cabin Muddy Waters lived in on Stovall Plantation has been rebuilt inside. Your guide shows you the crossroads of Highways 61 and 49, tied in legend to Robert Johnson, and the Riverside Hotel, which was the hospital where Bessie Smith died in 1937. The late afternoon is free.
Evening
Our departures are timed so this is a Friday or another night when Clarksdale's clubs and juke joints have live blues, and we go together, cover charge included.
Included
- Stax Museum of American Soul Music
- Drive down US 61 into the Mississippi Delta with your guide
- Lunch in Clarksdale
- Delta Blues Museum
- The crossroads of Highways 61 and 49 and the Riverside Hotel
- An evening of live blues in a Clarksdale club, cover charge included
Free time: Late afternoon free in Clarksdale
Activity: Easy walking in a small town; the clubs are hot and loud, and you can leave whenever you like.
Dockery, Indianola and down to Natchez
Clarksdale to Dockery Farms and Indianola, then south on US 61 through Vicksburg to Natchez
- Breakfast, lunch and dinner
- Stay in Natchez
- Drive about 5 h
This is the longest drive of the trip, about 400 km and four and three-quarter hours at the wheel, the one day over our four-hour limit. The Delta stops lie on the road south, and the alternative is six hours straight from Memphis, so we split it into four legs, none over about two hours. We leave Clarksdale at 8 am for Dockery Farms near Cleveland, the cotton plantation where Charley Patton lived and played and where many place the start of the Delta blues; the gin, the seed house and the old filling station still stand. On to Indianola and the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center, built around the brick cotton gin where King worked as a young man; he is buried in its garden.
Afternoon
Lunch is in Indianola. In the afternoon we follow US 61 south, with a break on the Vicksburg riverfront, where a long floodwall of painted murals faces the Mississippi, and reach Natchez by about 5:30 pm.
Evening
The town stands on a bluff high above the river, and we walk to its edge for the evening light before a Southern dinner together.
Included
- Dockery Farms with your guide
- B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center in Indianola
- Lunch in Indianola
- A break on the Vicksburg riverfront
- Evening on the bluff in Natchez
- Southern dinner in Natchez
Easier option: Stay in the vehicle or in the shade at Dockery, a short stop on open ground, and rest in the vehicle on the long afternoon leg.
Activity: Mostly a day on the road with short walks; the drive is split into legs of about 45 minutes, 35 minutes, 2 hours and 1.5 hours.
Natchez to New Orleans by way of the Whitney
Natchez to St. Francisville, then the Whitney Plantation on the River Road, then New Orleans
- Breakfast and lunch
- Stay in New Orleans
- Drive about 3.5 h
Morning
Natchez in the morning: your guide walks the bluff and the old streets of downtown, then takes us to Forks of the Road, the site of one of the largest slave markets in the Deep South and now part of Natchez National Historical Park, and, where it is open, to the William Johnson House, home of a free Black barber whose diary records life in the town from 1835 to 1851; when it is closed, your guide tells his story outside it.
Afternoon
We leave at about 10:45 am and follow US 61 south into Louisiana, with lunch in St. Francisville, an old river town of live oaks and churches. Mid-afternoon we reach the Whitney Plantation on the River Road, a museum that tells the plantation's history through the lives of the people enslaved there, with memorial walls carrying their names. It is about an hour from there to New Orleans, where we check in by about 5:30 pm.
Evening
The evening is free: your guide will point you to Frenchmen Street, where the clubs have live jazz most nights.
Included
- Morning walk in Natchez with your guide: the bluff, Forks of the Road and the William Johnson House (where open)
- Lunch in St. Francisville
- Whitney Plantation
- Drive to New Orleans with your guide
Free time: Evening free in New Orleans
Activity: About 2 hours on foot at the Whitney, outdoors on paths; bring a hat and water. If the William Johnson House is closed, we spend the time on the bluff and in the old town; if the Whitney cannot take the group on the day, we stay longer in Natchez and reach New Orleans earlier.
The French Quarter, a Creole lunch and Preservation Hall
A day on foot in the French Quarter and Tremé, with the streetcar for the afternoon
- Breakfast, lunch and dinner
- Stay in New Orleans
We start at 8:30 am, before the heat and the crowds, on a walk through the French Quarter with a local guide: Jackson Square, St. Louis Cathedral and the Cabildo, where the Louisiana Purchase was formally handed over in 1803, then the balconied streets, the French Market and beignets at a café along the way. The walk ends in Louis Armstrong Park at Congo Square, where enslaved and free people of colour gathered on Sundays to play music and dance, a tradition many trace to the roots of jazz.
Afternoon
Late morning we cook our own lunch at a Creole cooking class, making and eating gumbo, jambalaya and pralines. The afternoon is free, with a streetcar pass for the St. Charles line out to the Garden District and Magazine Street, or time for the National WWII Museum.
Evening
In the evening we share a farewell dinner, then a concert at Preservation Hall, the small room on St. Peter Street where traditional jazz has been played since 1961.
Included
- French Quarter walk with a local guide: Jackson Square, St. Louis Cathedral, the Cabildo, the French Market and Congo Square
- Creole cooking class with lunch
- A streetcar pass for the afternoon
- Farewell dinner
- Preservation Hall concert
Optional experiences
- National WWII Museum
- Steamboat cruise on the Mississippi
- Swamp tour
Easier option: Stop after Jackson Square and sit with a coffee at a café on the square; your guide comes back for you before the cooking class, or a taxi takes you to the hotel to rest until then.
More active option: In the free afternoon, ride a rental bike along the Lafitte Greenway from Armstrong Park through Tremé to Mid-City and back.
Free time: Afternoon free
Activity: About 3 km on foot in the morning, on flat pavements.
New Orleans and home
French Quarter to Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY)
- Breakfast
- Drive about 30 min
Morning
The morning is yours for a last walk along the Mississippi riverfront, café au lait and beignets, or the National WWII Museum, which opens at 9 am. Check out by late morning, and our driver takes you to Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY), about 25 km west of the French Quarter and a 30 to 40 minute drive depending on traffic. Your guide sees the group to departures and checks your flight before saying goodbye. Book a flight leaving after about 1 pm. If yours leaves earlier, we arrange the transfer at the time you need and you skip the free morning. If you would like to stay on in New Orleans for the music, the food or a swamp trip, we can book extra nights at the same hotel and move your airport transfer to the day you fly.
Included
- Drop-off at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY)
Optional experiences
- Extra nights in New Orleans, booked on request
Free time: Morning free
Activity: Book a flight leaving after about 1 pm.
- Nashville2 nights
- Memphis2 nights
- Clarksdale1 night
- Natchez1 night
- New Orleans2 nights
- Overnight stop
- Day trip
- By boat or train
Wildlife and weather: Spring and autumn bring warm days that suit walking in Memphis and the French Quarter; from June to September it is hot and humid, so we walk early and spend the middle of the day indoors, and autumn departures carry a hurricane-season weather plan.
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Before you book
Right for you?
Good for you if you want
- Music lovers who want country, blues, soul, rock and roll and jazz in the places they came from
- Travellers who want the civil rights story told properly, not as a drive-by
- Evenings out with live music, with the tickets and cover charges sorted
- A one-way trip, Nashville in and New Orleans out
- Solo travellers who would rather not go to clubs alone
Not for you if you want
- The full Civil Rights trail through Atlanta, Montgomery, Selma and Birmingham, which this trip does not visit
- Travellers who dislike heat, humidity or loud late nights
- Anyone wanting resort time or beaches
- Travellers looking for antebellum mansion tours: the Natchez and Louisiana visits focus on the people who were enslaved
Book flights after we confirm your seat.
8 nights
Where you'll stay
Your hotels are named in your trip confirmation.
- Nashville2 nights
- Memphis2 nights
- Clarksdale1 night
- Natchez1 night
- New Orleans2 nights
One price
What's in the price
Included
Accommodation
- 8 nights: 2 in Nashville near Lower Broadway, 2 in Memphis near Beale Street, 1 in Clarksdale, 1 in Natchez, 2 in New Orleans in or beside the French Quarter
- Rooms shared, or your own for a supplement
Transport
- Pick-up at Nashville International Airport (BNA) and drop-off at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY)
- Our own air-conditioned vehicle and driver for the group, with a seat for every guest and room for luggage
- Transfers to and from the Grand Ole Opry
- The RCA Studio B shuttle from the Country Music Hall of Fame
- A streetcar pass in New Orleans
Your guide
- A See Sight Tours guide with the group for the whole trip, with local guides where the sites provide them: at RCA Studio B and Sun Studio, and a local guide for the French Quarter walk
Activities
- Nashville: Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, RCA Studio B, the Ryman Auditorium, a night at the Grand Ole Opry, an evening on Lower Broadway
- Memphis: the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel, Graceland mansion and Elvis Presley's Memphis, Sun Studio, the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, a blues set on Beale Street with cover charge
- Mississippi Delta: the Delta Blues Museum and a live blues night in Clarksdale with cover charge, Dockery Farms, the B.B. King Museum in Indianola, the Vicksburg riverfront
- Natchez: an evening on the bluff, Forks of the Road and the William Johnson House (where open)
- Louisiana: the Whitney Plantation
- New Orleans: a French Quarter walk with a local guide, a Creole cooking class, a Preservation Hall concert
Meals
- Breakfast daily (8)
- Lunch on days 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8 (5), including a barbecue lunch in Memphis and the Creole cooking class
- Welcome dinner in Nashville, Southern dinner in Natchez and farewell dinner in New Orleans (3)
Not included
- International flights to Nashville and home from New Orleans
- US visa or ESTA
- Travel insurance
- Lunches on days 2, 4 and 9
- Dinners on days 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7
- Drinks, including drinks in music clubs
- Tips for your guide and driver
- Optional activities: the Johnny Cash Museum, the Rock 'n' Soul Museum, the National WWII Museum, river cruises and swamp tours
- Graceland ticket upgrades
- Personal expenses
Extras
- Room of your own
- CAD 1,070 (estimated price)
When you can go
Dates and prices
Pick your start date when you request to book. We check that date and confirm it in your quote.
Prefer to travel without a group or guide? Ask us about arranging hotels, transport and city tours for you to travel independently.
Before you book
Booking terms
Nothing is charged now. Full terms and the cancellation schedule come with your quote, before you accept.
Business addresses
See Sight Tours Trips (USA): 3172 N Rainbow Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89108, United StatesSee Sight Tours Trips (Canada): 5305 50 Avenue, #1091, Red Deer, AB T4N 4B6, Canada+1-888-961-6584Guest reviews
What guests say
Reviews from guests on our day tours.
Jane
October 06, 2026
5/5
Susan
October 06, 2026
5/5
Tom L
October 05, 2026
5/5
MandL83
October 05, 2026
5/5
Darren O
October 05, 2026
5/5
Good to know
Questions
Prices in these answers apply from Jan 1, 2027. Black Friday offer: 10% off the small-group price for requests received by Dec 1, 2026. From CAD 5,650 per person. Dec 2 to Dec 31: from CAD 5,965. From Jan 1, 2027: from CAD 6,280.
What does the Nashville to New Orleans tour price include?
Eight central hotel nights, breakfast daily, five lunches and three dinners, airport transfers at both ends, our own vehicle and driver, your See Sight Tours guide throughout, and every visit in the day plan: Graceland, Sun Studio, the Civil Rights Museum, the Stax, Delta Blues and B.B. King museums, the Whitney Plantation, an Opry ticket, Preservation Hall and two blues nights with cover charges.
How big is the group?
The small-group trip runs with 7 to 12 guests, so the group fits in one small club, around one lunch table and in the narrow rooms at Sun Studio and Graceland without waiting for a coach load to move through.
Who leads the trip?
A See Sight Tours guide travels with the group from Nashville to New Orleans and handles tickets, timings and evenings out. Local guides join where the sites provide them, at RCA Studio B and Sun Studio, and a New Orleans guide leads the French Quarter walk.
How fit do I need to be?
Not very. Most days are town and museum walking on pavements, about 3 to 6 km, with up to three hours on your feet in the larger museums. The Whitney Plantation is an outdoor walk in the heat. You can sit out any visit, and late nights at the clubs are optional.
I'm travelling solo. Do I have to pay a single supplement?
Only if you want a room of your own, which is from CAD 1,070 more. If you would rather share, tell us when you request to book and we will try to pair you with another solo traveller. Evenings out are with the group, so you never have to walk into a club alone.
When is the best time to go?
March to May and October to early December, when days are warm rather than steamy. June to September is hot and humid. The Atlantic hurricane season runs June to November, peaking August to October; if a storm threatens the Gulf coast we change the order of days or the route.
Is the Grand Ole Opry ticket included, and which nights have live music?
Yes. Your Opry ticket and transfers are included on day 2, and the cover charges for a Beale Street blues set on day 3 and a Clarksdale blues night on day 5 are in the price, as is the Preservation Hall concert on day 8. Lower Broadway on day 1 usually has no cover. Drinks are extra.
Why stop in Clarksdale and Natchez instead of driving straight to New Orleans?
Memphis to New Orleans is about six hours of driving, which Intrepid and G Adventures do in one day. We split it so only one day runs past four hours, by about 45 minutes in four legs, and the stops are the point: the Delta Blues Museum and a blues night in Clarksdale, Dockery and the B.B. King Museum, then the bluff at Natchez.
Does the trip cover civil rights history?
Yes, in Memphis and along the river: an afternoon at the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel, Forks of the Road and, where open, the William Johnson House in Natchez, and the Whitney Plantation. It does not go to Atlanta, Montgomery, Selma or Birmingham, which need a trip of their own.
Do I need a visa to visit the US?
Canadian citizens do not normally need one. Most other visitors need an approved ESTA or a US visa before they fly, so check your own requirements early. The visa or ESTA is not in the price.
How does booking work?
Pick a start date and request to book; no payment is taken at that point. We confirm your place, your room and the price within 24 hours, then send the day-by-day plan and, once confirmed, the hotel names. Prices are per person sharing a room, with taxes, from CAD 6,280 for the small group.
Can we travel privately or on our own dates?
Yes. Besides the small group, the trip runs as a private trip for your party only, on a date you choose, from CAD 11,305 per person. If you would rather travel independently on your own dates, ask us from the dates section and we will quote the same hotels, tickets and transfers.
See Sight Tours has been providing travel services across North America since 2006. Operating in 20 cities across Canada and the USA, the company specializes in small group tours that offer personalized, high-quality experiences for travelers.
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