Texas, Presley's Memphis and New Orleans

Fly to Austin, meet your tour manager and transfer to your hotel in San Antonio for your first overnight stay in the USA.

San Antonio, the birthplace of Tex-Mex culture and one of the USA's most attractive cities, is yours to explore, 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.

Journey to Houston to 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 to your downtown Houston hotel for the night. 

Board the coach and head east into Louisiana and Creole Country to the great city of New Orleans, the unmistakable ‘Big Easy’. In the evening, perhaps join an optional Steamboat Dinner Jazz Cruise.  

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, join our optional Louisiana Swampland excursion to explore the surrounding countryside, and later head back to the Quarter to enjoy the night-time atmosphere of the place that gave the world jazz.  

Cross the state border into Mississippi this morning for a visit to Tupelo. Upon arrival, make your way to the Elvis Presley birthplace where you’ll have ample time to explore its fascinating memorials and museums. Discover the former shotgun house which the Presley family once called home and take in the church that inspired Elvis’ love for the rhythms and beats of gospel music.  

After a captivating tour, check into your hotel ahead of an evening at leisure.

Head north, today, through sleepy Alabama 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. 

Discover the musical legacy of the Muscle Shoals studios on two included visits, before we head to Nashville, the undisputed capital of country music, and home to “1352 guitar-pickers” and songwriters. 

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. This afternoon, you'll be free to make the most of your final night in Nashville. Why not revisit some of your favourite spots from the past two days, or explore a new corner for some authentic Southern comfort while sipping on a sweet tea? 

This evening, find dinner in the city before returning to your hotel.

Wake up early this morning for a journey to the great city of Memphis on the Mississippi. Elvis' 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’ beloved Graceland, home and final resting place of 'the King'.  

Join an optional excursion to the Stax Museum of American Soul Music.

Here, you’ll be immersed in the toe-tapping rhythms of one of the world’s most beloved musical genres. Witness its storied history come to life with interactive exhibits and discover the museum’s fascinating collection of musical memorabilia.  

You can also pay a poignant optional visit to the National Civil Rights Museum. Built around the Lorraine Motel, the site of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in 1968, this sobering museum chronicles the American civil rights struggle from segregation to the modern day.

However you choose to spend your day, soak up the atmosphere of famous Beale Street before reconvening at the hotel for a final overnight stay in Memphis.

Journey west, today, into 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, you’ll 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, 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.