Southern Grace

Dining Summary

• 3 Dinner (D)
• 8 Breakfast (B)
• 2 Lunch (L)

Choice Highlights

Choose between two carefully selected activities
• Memphis: Visit Graceland, a National Historic Landmark and museum dedicated to the late, great, Elvis Presley. Tour Graceland Mansion walking through the living room, his parents’ bedroom, kitchen, TV room, pool room, the famous Jungle Room, his father’s office, the newly enhanced Trophy Building and the Racquetball Building for an eye-opening experience on how he and his family lived their daily lives. In Elvis The Entertainer Career Museum, immerse yourself in the King’s career through hundreds of artifacts and photos.
• Memphis: The only traditional English afternoon tea in Memphis is served at Chez Philippe of The Peabody. Complement your tea with a three-course menu of savory tea sandwiches, assorted sweets and warm scones from the Peabody Pastry Shop.
Choose between two carefully selected activities
• Natchez: Awaken your imagination on a private tour of an antebellum mansion. Explore the interior and grounds as you learn about its past and distinct architectural style. This 1850's Greek-Revival cottage on 10 acres near Natchez’s historic downtown is the beloved home of a local who is eager to show off their stunning property. Take in the architecture and wander among the expansive gardens, certified as a Wildlife Habitat and a member of the Rosalynn Carter Butterfly Trail.
• Natchez: Visit Dunleith Historic Inn,  a National Historic Landmark built in 1855 that remains Mississippi’s sole example of a pre-civil-war mansion. Join the Bar Manager at Castle Pub for a mixology class on two seasonal cocktails as you learn the history of each cocktail and the ingredients. After the demonstration relax and sip on the delicious final product.
Choose between two carefully selected activities
• New Orleans: Tour Mardi Gras World’s Blaine Kern Studios, a workshop that has created breathtaking floats for Mardi Gras and other parades around the world since 1947. With your all-access pass, wind through the massive studio where artists and architects build Mardi Gras floats from the ground up. Viewing floats, colorful costumes and props, you’ll learn about the history of this unique and festive tradition, going beyond its reputation and getting a deeper understanding of the real Mardi Gras.
• New Orleans: Embark on an immersive tour of World War II through the exhibits, multimedia experiences and thousands of personal accounts at the National World War II Museum. You’ll learn not only about the role of world leaders, but also the everyday men and women who fought. Through experiences such as the 4D film Beyond All Boundaries, go on a journey through the war that changed the world.

Additional Included Highlights

• Enjoy seamless personal assistance throughout your journey. From securing exclusive reservations, to organising transportation, your Travel Concierge ensures every aspect of your travel is tailored to your tastes and preferences.
• In select destinations, our network of Local Expert Guides will illuminate your journey on a deeper level.
• Included at all hotels.
• Hotel taxes, porterage and tips, as well as tips for included dining experiences, are included.
• Enjoy breakfast every morning, and an array of incredible dining options throughout your journey, infused with discovery and adventure.
• On days where a Relaxed Start (RS) is indicated, you can select to indulge in breakfast in bed.
• Enjoy complimentary hotel WiFi. And, on select coaches, onboard WiFi may also be available.
• Transfers are included on your journey start and end dates, and where additional accommodation has been booked in advance through Luxury Gold. Transfers to train stations or alternate hotels, in the same start or end city as the itinerary, may be requested.

Curated Experiences

• Nashville: Experience the “Smithsonian of country music,” the Country Music Hall of Fame, for a private, behind-the-scenes look at the songwriting process with a local songwriter and singer. On your visit, see memorabilia from stars such as Jim Reeves and Roy Orbison as you uncover the enduring beauty and cultural importance of country music.
• New Orleans: Follow the path of the Mississippi River that has created one of the most distinctive and important American cities and coastal environments in the world. Your Local Expert offers you an insider’s perspective on La Nouvelle Orleans from New Orleans Lakefront Airport to the surrounding wetlands, ghost forests and the new levees and barriers put in place since Katrina. A Bayou-side chat and lunch with a local oysterman offers a rare peek into one individual's experience in this storied place.

Exceptional Dining

• Nashville: Get acquainted with Nashville's burgeoning food scene as you join your Traveling Concierge for a Welcome Dinner at Henley’s modern American brasserie where inventive small plates and entrées using classical French technique meet sociable Southern dining. Perhaps start with a grilled broccolini Caesar salad followed by American Wagyu strip or parsnip gnocchi before finishing with banana pudding. Raise a glass with one of their signature cocktails such as “Queen’s Cure” and “Henley G & T” and toast to a grand adventure ahead.
• Memphis: Continue your exploration of Memphis with a backstage pass to Central BBQ Downtown.
• Natchez: Learn to make the signature drink of the South, the Mint Julep, before an elegant, three-course Southern dinner at the Monmouth Historic Inn and Gardens, a National Historic Landmark in Natchez. As you take in your surroundings of this early 19th-century antebellum mansion set in within manicured gardens, let the flavors of the "Crown Julep" show off the best of the South.

Founder's Collection

• Nashville: If you are traveling on a Founder's Collection departure, you will have the privilege of meeting a living legend in the country music sphere. Get to know the harmonica legend Charlie McCoy, a Country Music Hall of Fame musician and Grammy-winning artist, who has collaborated with famous musicians like Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan and Loretta Lynn. Or, chat with Brenda Lee, the recipient of a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for her contribution to music as the top-charting solo female vocalist of the 1960s.

Magnificent Stays

• New Orleans: Relax in luxury at the elegant 1908 Beaux Arts Maison Blanche building in the French Quarter. The Ritz-Carlton, New Orleans retains the grace and charm of this mansion, and is centrally located to the area's most popular attractions, including Bourbon Street.

Passport Moments

• Nashville: You’re in for a treat, joining a professional sound engineer to record a take-home song just as legends like Elvis Presley and Dolly Parton have at legendary Studio B, the cradle of the Nashville sound in the late 1950s and early 1960s and once home to musical titans such as Elvis Presley, Chet Atkins, Eddy Arnold, Roy Orbison and the Everly Brothers. Hear the stories behind the music in an intimate private session with one of Nashville’s songwriters learning how a song is created from concept to hit.
• Memphis: Explore Sun Studios, "The Birthplace of Rock 'n' Roll," on a guided tour. At this circa-1950 recording studio, walk in the footsteps of Elvis and other musical legends including B.B. King, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Charlie Feathers, Ray Harris, Warren Smith, Charlie Rich, and Jerry Lee Lewis.
• New Orleans: Visit Houmas House, the crown jewel of Louisiana's River Road, previously voted best Louisiana attraction. Tour the estate and gardens while you learn about daily life on this former sugarcane plantation. Gain a deeper understanding of the architecture, heritage and history surrounding this 1800's mansion.

Personalise your day

• Memphis: Visit Graceland, a National Historic Landmark and museum dedicated to the late, great, Elvis Presley. Tour Graceland Mansion walking through the living room, his parents’ bedroom, kitchen, TV room, pool room, the famous Jungle Room, his father’s office, the newly enhanced Trophy Building and the Racquetball Building for an eye-opening experience on how he and his family lived their daily lives. In Elvis The Entertainer Career Museum, immerse yourself in the King’s career through hundreds of artifacts and photos.
• Memphis: The only traditional English afternoon tea in Memphis is served at Chez Philippe of The Peabody. Complement your tea with a three-course menu of savory tea sandwiches, assorted sweets and warm scones from the Peabody Pastry Shop.
• Natchez: Awaken your imagination on a private tour of an antebellum mansion. Explore the interior and grounds as you learn about its past and distinct architectural style. This 1850's Greek-Revival cottage on 10 acres near Natchez’s historic downtown is the beloved home of a local who is eager to show off their stunning property. Take in the architecture and wander among the expansive gardens, certified as a Wildlife Habitat and a member of the Rosalynn Carter Butterfly Trail.
• Natchez: Visit Dunleith Historic Inn,  a National Historic Landmark built in 1855 that remains Mississippi’s sole example of a pre-civil-war mansion. Join the Bar Manager at Castle Pub for a mixology class on two seasonal cocktails as you learn the history of each cocktail and the ingredients. After the demonstration relax and sip on the delicious final product.
• New Orleans: Tour Mardi Gras World’s Blaine Kern Studios, a workshop that has created breathtaking floats for Mardi Gras and other parades around the world since 1947. With your all-access pass, wind through the massive studio where artists and architects build Mardi Gras floats from the ground up. Viewing floats, colorful costumes and props, you’ll learn about the history of this unique and festive tradition, going beyond its reputation and getting a deeper understanding of the real Mardi Gras.
• New Orleans: Embark on an immersive tour of World War II through the exhibits, multimedia experiences and thousands of personal accounts at the National World War II Museum. You’ll learn not only about the role of world leaders, but also the everyday men and women who fought. Through experiences such as the 4D film Beyond All Boundaries, go on a journey through the war that changed the world.