Texas, Presley's Memphis and New Orleans

Fly to Houston, meet your tour manager and transfer to your downtown hotel for your first overnight stay in the USA. 

This morning, visit NASA's world-famous Lyndon B Johnson Space Centre. This was the heart of the moon landings 50 years ago and remains a working base for the International Space Station. The site offers an incomparable taste of modern history, with its restored Mission Control and the sight of the towering Saturn V rocket that fired the Apollo astronauts into orbit. Continue on to San Antonio, capital of Tex-Mex culture and one of the USA's most attractive cities. 

Compact and very much a walking city, explore downtown San Antonio today. Relive the siege of The Alamo - when Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie held out heroically for almost two weeks before finally succumbing to the overwhelming forces of Mexican general Santa Anna, and discover the famous River Walk that snakes its way across the city.   

Today you'll make your way to the Texan State Capital, Austin. Here, the city's thriving music scene has given rise to a wealth of great clubs and bars, including the famous Broken Spoke. After some time here, we'll continue north through the Lone Star State and to the cattletown of Fort Worth, the starting point of the famous Chisholm Trail, and still home to authentic Western culture. The famous Stockyards are the focal point of the Historic Quarter, where wooden boardwalks and old-fashioned store fronts recreate the days of the Old "Wild" West.   

Spend this morning at the Stockyards – don’t miss the daily Texan cattle-drive. This afternoon visit glittering Dallas, forever associated with the tragic events of November 1963.  You'll return to Fort Worth via Southfork Ranch, and tonight you'll have the chance to further explore the Stockyards' area or venture into downtown Fort Worth.   

Today, we'll journey to the great city of Memphis on the bank of the Mississippi. Elvis's hometown boasts a musical heritage to match any world city and a host of historic landmarks.  

Today's full-day Memphis Sounds excursion will include a visit to legendary Sun Studio and to Elvis's beloved Graceland, home and final resting place of The King.   

Spend some time in downtown Memphis and take a wander down Beale Street or perhaps visit the Memphis Rock n Soul Museum before we head to Nashville. This is the undisputed capital of country music, home to “1352 guitar-pickers” and songwriters, many of which you’ll find performing in the bars on Broadway. 

An optional excursion will introduce the legendary Studio B - where countless country standards and a galaxy of Elvis's RCA hits were recorded - and the Country Music Hall of Fame, home to one of the world's most extensive musical collections. 

Today's full-day Memphis Sounds excursion will include a visit to legendary Sun Studio and to Elvis's beloved Graceland, home and final resting place of The King.  

Head into sleepy Alabama today to our next stop, Muscle Shoals. This town is home to Rick Halls' Fame Studios, which put the likes of Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin on the map, as well as the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, where Bob Dylan, Paul Simon and the Rolling Stones all recorded.   

Continue to Tupelo for the night – the town where Elvis Aaron Presley was born in 1935. 

Take the chance this morning to visit Elvis’ birthplace – a humble two-room house set in parkland alongside Elvis’ childhood church – the building in which Elvis was first exposed to the rich, southern gospel that became a staple of his music (entrance payable locally). Then, board the coach and head south into Louisiana and Creole Country to the great city of New Orleans, the unmistakable ‘Big Easy’. Once here, waste no time in soaking up the atmosphere of the city. 

This morning's optional guided city tour introduces the ‘Big Easy’ and will include the famous French Quarter's time-warped, iron-balconied buildings, which radiate out from Jackson Square.  

This afternoon, you'll have the chance to join an optional Louisiana Swampland excursion to explore the surrounding countryside and cruise through the bayou with the chance to see alligators. Later head back to the Quarter to enjoy the night-time atmosphere of the place that gave the world jazz or perhaps embark on an optional Steamboat Dinner Jazz Cruise to enjoy a cruise down the Mississippi.

Today you'll make your way to the Texan State Capital, Austin. and continue to the airport to catch your overnight flight home.  

Arrive back in the UK, after a wonderful journey through America's fascinating Southern heartland.