Elvis Presley's Memphis, New Orleans & Nashville

Meet your tour manager at the airport and transfer to your first overnight hotel stop in either Montgomery or Birmingham, Alabama. Rest and relax after your journey and enjoy your first evening in the Deep South.

Today you’ll head south across Alabama, into Louisiana and along the Gulf Coast to the great city of New Orleans. You spend two nights in the Big Easy, but you should waste no time in soaking up the atmosphere of one of the most exuberant places on the face of the planet.

Optional Steamboat Dinner Jazz Cruise Excursion (Evening) - £106pp: Savour the beauty and romance of the South on board a traditional Southern steamboat. Enjoy views of the New Orleans skyline, and a locally flavoured buffet dinner, as this authentic paddle steamer cruises the Mississippi to the soundtrack of jazz music.

This morning’s optional guided tour is the perfect introduction to New Orleans. See the iron balconies and covered sidewalks of the iconic French Quarter, the brightly painted wooden houses of Tremé and the three spires of St Louis Cathedral on Jackson Square.

This afternoon, take the optional Louisiana Swampland excursion for a glimpse of the surrounding countryside and a taste of Creole life. Tonight, head back to the French Quarter to immerse yourself in the incomparable atmosphere of the place that gave the world jazz, a century ago, and where the sounds and spirits of Louis Armstrong and 'King' Oliver still live on in the many, many bars and clubs.

Optional New Orleans City Tour Excursion (Half Day) - £28pp: Discover the sights, magic and resilience of the unparalleled ‘Big Easy’. From the time-warped, iron-balconied buildings of the French Quarter, centred on Jackson Square, to the famous above-ground cemeteries and the elegant tree-shrouded mansions of the Garden District, the Crescent City is a place of history, complexity, energy and charm that you cannot help but love.

Bidding farewell to New Orleans, you’ll travel north into Mississippi, cradle of the Delta blues and home to the likes of Robert Johnson and Sonny Boy Williamson. You'll visit Tupelo, home of the tiny house in which Elvis Aaron Presley was born, in January 1935, (entry payable locally). You’ll then continue to Elvis's beloved hometown, Memphis, the bustling city on the bank of the Big Muddy. As well as being forever linked with The King, Memphis boasts a musical heritage to match any city in the world. This evening, why not soak up the atmosphere of colourful Beale Street and its near endless choice of restaurants and bars, many of which offer live music?

Don’t miss today's optional, full-day Memphis Sounds excursion, which will include legendary Sun Studio where rock and roll was born, in 1951, with the recording of 'Rocket 88', and where music history changed forever three years later with Elvis's live recording of Arthur Crudup's 'That's Alright, Mama'.

From Sun Studio, you'll make your way to Elvis Presley Boulevard to pay a visit to Graceland, the King’s home, last recording studio and final resting place. After a fascinating day, enjoy another evening in Memphis, perhaps sampling the pork ribs that have led to its unofficial position as The Barbecue Capital of America.

Optional Memphis: Graceland & Sounds of the South Excursion (Full Day) - £136pp: On this excursion you’ll visit legendary Sun Studio, the recording birthplace of musical icons including Elvis Presley and BB King. After time for lunch (payable locally), we’ll head through Memphis to perhaps the most famous southern ‘mansion’ of all, ’Graceland’. Tour the mansion, with its Hawaiian-themed Jungle Room and magnificent Trophy Room (which contains the King’s gold, silver and platinum discs, as well as stage and screen costumes, and his extensive gun collection), pay your respects at Elvis’s grave, and see his cars, motorbikes and Harley Davidson golf cart!

There's a change of musical genres, today, as you journey east to Nashville – the country music capital of the world and your base for the next two nights. Home of the legendary Ryman Auditorium and the Grand Ole Opry, and to scores of hugely accomplished guitarists and songwriters, Nashville is every inch one of America’s foremost music cities. Why not head out, tonight, to catch some more live music?

Our final optional excursion will take you to legendary Studio B – home to countless country hits and a galaxy of Elvis's RCA recordings – and to the Country Music Hall of Fame.

You'll have the afternoon free to experience still more of Nashville's musical delights.

Optional Studio B & The Country Music Hall of Fame Excursion (Half Day) - £65pp: First stop on this musical tour is the world-famous Country Music Hall of Fame, where you can discover the roots of country music on a self-guided tour that takes you through exhibits commemorating country music’s greatest stars. Afterwards, you’ll visit the historic RCA Studio B, Nashville’s oldest surviving recording studio. The studio was the starting point for more popular hits than any other recording studio in the USA, including those of the Everly Brothers, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison and - of course - Elvis Presley, who recorded over 200 songs here.

Take a scenic drive south to Chattanooga (of "choo-choo" fame), a quintessential southern trading town beautifully set on the Tennessee River, before heading to Atlanta airport to check in for your flight back to the UK.

Arrive home, this morning, after an overnight flight and at the end of a wonderful journey through America's musical heritage.