Great Southern Explorer – New York to Miami

Fly to New York, where you will be met and transferred to your hotel.

We leave New York and travel to Washington, D.C. via Philadelphia, the ‘city of brotherly love’, founded by Quaker William Penn in 1682. In the early days of the colonies, Philadelphia was a leading political and economic centre. On July 4th 1776, the Declaration of Independence was made public in the city. Visit the historic district, where Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington forged the foundation of a new nation, and stop to see Independence Hall and Liberty Bell.

Later, continue through the states of Delaware and Maryland to the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C. for a two-night stay.

Enjoy an included city tour with highlights such as the U.S. Capitol Building, Supreme Court, Library of Congress, the F.B.I. Building, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, the White House and Arlington National Cemetery, site of the JFK Memorial. Spend the remainder of the day exploring some of the many museums comprising the Smithsonian Institute, or stroll the banks of the Potomac River.

This evening, see the city’s monuments and federal buildings all lit up and dine in one of the local restaurants in Georgetown on our optional Washington, D.C. Night Tour.

Depart this morning for Williamsburg, Virginia’s colonial capital, which played a central role in the early history of the United States. In 1609, British Colonists established Jamestown, the first permanent settlement in the New World. 173 acres of Williamsburg's old town have been meticulously restored, creating America’s largest outdoor museum, where costumed actors recreate the characters of Colonial times. Walk along the Duke of Gloucester Street to visit some of the impressive public buildings, colonial houses and the College of William and Mary (admissions not included).

In the afternoon, we head to northern Georgia for an overnight stay.

Travel along portions of Blue Ridge Parkway, through the Blue Ridge Mountains to the State of North Carolina, one of the last strongholds of the tobacco industry. Cities like Winston-Salem and Durham were built by the fortunes made from this profitable crop.

In the afternoon, we travel through the Cherokee Indian Reservation and to the Smoky Mountain National Park, named for the smoke-like haze enveloping the mountains. No other area in North America has a wider variety of deciduous trees than the Great Smoky Mountains. We stay overnight in Gatlinburg, nicknamed 'the Heart of the Smokies’.

Continue this morning through Knoxville, past the renowned atomic energy research area of Oak Ridge where the world’s first nuclear reactor was built.

In the early afternoon, we arrive in Nashville, known as the capital of Tennessee and home to country music. The studios near Music Row and Opryland itself attest to Nashville’s reputation as the most important city in Country and Western music.

We stay overnight in Nashville.

Leave Nashville to drive through rural Tennessee, and continue for an overnight stay in Tennessee’s largest city, Memphis, the city known for blues music and home of Sun Records. A large river port, it was one of the most important links in the cotton trade before the Civil War.

A brief included city tour will take you to the city’s liveliest street, Beale Street, where the Blues and other types of music are played nightly in many clubs. Travel along historic Front Street, once known as Cotton Row, in the days when cotton traders and merchants conducted business.

This afternoon, fans of The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll have the opportunity to join an optional tour of Graceland, former home of Elvis Presley.

Today’s tour takes you to Mississippi, the Magnolia State. Pass through Jackson, the state capital, and continue to Louisiana and New Orleans, the home of the famous Mardi Gras celebrations.

By late afternoon, we arrive in New Orleans, Louisiana’s most important port city, for a two-night stay. The city today is a unique blend of Spanish, French, Caribbean, African and Anglo-Saxon influences – obvious in the food, architecture and, of course, the music.

Tonight, why not join an optional trip and immerse yourself in Creole culture on board an authentic Mississippi Riverboat. Enjoy the dinner cruise and the rhythms of a Dixieland jazz band.

A full day at leisure to take in the French flavour and grandeur of New Orleans. Explore the French Quarter with its trademark wrought iron balconies overlooking the narrow cobblestone streets, enjoy window shopping along Royal Street’s art galleries, take a stroll along the Mississippi River or ride the St. Charles streetcar through the Garden District, an area known for its magnificent architecture.

Leave New Orleans and head through Mississippi and into Alabama. Travel along the Mississippi Gulf Coast through Mobile, Alabama to the city of Pensacola. Enjoy an included visit to one of the top 10 rose gardens in America at the Bellingrath Home (admission included). This 65 acre estate is known for its beautiful home and prize winning rose gardens.

Continue through Mobile. Founded in 1702, Mobile rapidly became one of the most important ports along the Gulf Coast. It played a crucial role for the Confederacy during the Civil War. A month’s long battle over Mobile ended with the city’s surrender to the Union on April 12, 1865.
Continue on to Pensacola, one of Florida’s most important vacation destinations. Spanish colonists founded Pensacola in 1599 and created the first European settlement here. Today, the area is known for its miles of Gulf shoreline, many which are preserved as state and federal parks. Enjoy an afternoon at the beach in Pensacola Beach where you can walk alongside the swaying sea oats, dipping your toes in the warm waters of the emerald green Gulf of Mexico. We then continue to our hotel in Pensacola for an overnight stay.

Drive through the picturesque green countryside of Florida to Ocala, passing the famous thoroughbred horse-breeding farms. Gradually, dense green forests, covered in kudzu and Spanish moss will give way to organised rows of orange groves, marking your arrival in central Florida.

Continue through central Florida to Orlando for a two-night stay. From a site southeast of Orlando, cartoonist and visionary, Walt Disney secretly laid out his East Coast theme park, Walt Disney World. Disney founded an entire city, Lake Buena Vista, and built his 28,000 acre amusement park around it. Today, Walt Disney World has become one of America’s most popular and complete holiday resorts.

We arrive at our hotel in Orlando later this evening.

Enjoy a day at leisure – maybe relax by the pool, take a hot air balloon flight or visit one of Orlando's attractions, such as Disney World, Sea World or Universal Studios (admissions are at extra cost).

Depart for Cape Canaveral, home of the Kennedy Space Center (admission included). The NASA facility has launched manned spacecrafts since Alan B. Shepard became the first American in space on May 5 1961. NASA launched Neil. A. Armstrong, Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin and Michael Collins into space, and on July 20 1969, they became the first men to walk the surface of the moon. NASA has conducted the launches of the space shuttles from Kennedy Space Center since the mid 1970s. You will have the chance to learn some interesting facts during your visit of the Kennedy Space Center.

Travel south to arrive in Miami Beach in the early evening for an overnight stay.

Transfer to the airport for the return overnight flight to the U.K.

Arrival in the UK.