Two months across the south of the United States

Settle in Miami Beach and enjoy the seaside atmosphere of the city.

Walk in Miami Beach and its Art Deco neighbourhood, relaxation on the beach, visit of museums and parks, shopping in a mall or in a designer's shop... In the evening, outing in Ocean Drive, Collins Avenue and Washington Avenue.

Departure at dawn. Discovery of the ecosystem, alone or with a guide, cycling or canoeing. Departure in the very day to arrive at in Key West late in the day unless you decide to extend until the next morning.

If you slept in Everglades or on the road to Key West, you can fully enjoy the bridges which will lead you to the end of the Keys. If you had already returned to Key West, rent a bicycle or scooter to take advantage of the streets of the island, its lush vegetation and Caribbean houses. Enjoy the sunset on Mallory Square.

Swimming and relaxation are on the programming of this day.

Last walk in the city. Shopping.

Walk along the Atlantic coast of the Sunshine State to Georgia. Stop in Orlando in one of the many amusement parks.

At 3 pm in north of Orlando, you enter Georgia through the Atlantic facade. It's off this beautiful border coast that you can go to the Golden Isles that form, from South to North, Cumberland Island, Jekyll Island, St Simons Island and Little St Simons Island. Spend the night in Brunswick and walk through the streets of the historic centre.

Spend the night in Brunswick and walk through the streets of the historic centre.

Savannah is a gem of the Antebellum architecture. Visit her beautiful homes like the Owens-Thomas House. Enjoy the excellent culinary reputation of the city to taste the soul food and the seafood. Take the time to taste the charm of a city marked by the American Civil War. Located at one-hour drive from Brunswick.

The walk continues in the beautiful streets of Savannah.

Leave the coast and enter the Georgian lands to reach Macon, one of the best preserved cities in the South and located 2-hour drive from Savannah. The historic centre is a dive in the pre-war south.

Start the tour of the city by Centennial Olympic Park which houses, among others, the Georgia Aquarium. Atlanta's other great attraction is World of Coca-Cola, the head office of the famous company. Visit the High Museum of Art. 

Don't miss the Martin Luther King National Historic Site in the Sweet Auburn neighbourhood. Also think of Margaret Mitchell's house, the author of the famous novel, Gone with wind, which gave birth to one of Hollywood's greatest successes.

Approximately 5 hours and half from Atlanta to Georgia and Charleston on the South Carolina coast. Take the time of this journey to cross the Savannah River and soak up the atmosphere of the South.

A beautiful highlight of the south, Charleston is an open-air museum that tells the farmers life and the Civil War violence. Don't miss the Fort Sumter National Monument where the civil war began in 1861. 

The Antebellum architecture lovers will not be delighted, the city is full of beautiful mansions typical of the pre-war period.

From Charleston you can make a day excursion to Beaufort, a very beautiful historic city at 1 hour an half south of the city.

Less than an hour's walk from Charleston, immerse yourself in the atmosphere of Old South Antebellum and visit the beautiful plantations surrounding Ashley River Road.

Cross the Atlantic coast of South Carolina 60 miles north, more known as the Grand Strand. Departure from Georgetown, a languidly charming old town which was a very well-known destination in the 19th century.

A little farther to the north, Pawleys Island is slightly out of time. Then go to Myrtle Beach, the great attraction of the coast.

Wilmington is a magnificent drop-off point to enjoy the coast. As charming as Charleston or Savannah, its historic centre is worth a visit. The white sandy beaches of the surrounding area are also unmissable, including Wrightsville Beach.

North of Wilmington, the Cape Lookout National Seashore is the gateway to the Outer Banks, where you can spend two days by alternating beaches on Ocracoke Island and scenic lighthouse visits such as Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. 

Continue exploring the Outer Banks beaches. Once you have fully enjoyed the ocean, go to the lands from North Carolina to the state capital, Raleigh 4-hour drive.

It is in this central triangle of the North Carolina where the most prestigious American universities are located. Beyond the magnificent campuses, these three cities enjoy a pleasant student atmosphere.

Leave the plain and join the Appalachians to the east of the state in the town of Boone, about 3-hour drive from Durham. A university city oriented towards the culture of the Appalachian, it is a pleasant part of the visit. Take the Blue Ridge Parkway, a scenic road that crosses the magnificent Appalachian landscape. Take your time before joining Asheville at 2 pm from Boone.

Asheville is the centre of the New Age Renaissance where the new American hippies meet. It is also a centre of American culinary renewal as well as a place of traditional local music (bluegrass and country). Enjoy this particularly relaxing atmosphere during the day.

To the east, Cherokee is the gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. A Cherokee land, this park in the Appalachians makes the link between North Carolina and Tennessee. Enjoy the wild beauty of the places and take a two-day trek if you are a nature lover.

End your stay in the Great Smoky Mountains national park. On the eastern foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, visit the park of Dolly Parton in Pigeon Forge. You will discover the musical arts and traditions of the region. Spend the night in Knoxville (TN).

Go to Lexington, the horse's capital, with its superb Kentucky Horse Park and its race track. Plan an extra day if you want to attend horse racing. On the road between Knoxville and Lexington, stop at Mount Vernon-Renfro Valley, visit the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame & Museum, and in Berea to discover its craft district and its university. Without these stops, it will last 2-hour drive between Knoxville and Lexington.

Visit Lexington at the Trensilvania University and Born Park. In the early afternoon, drive to Louisville. Take the time to visit some Bourbon distilleries which you will find on the Bourbon Trail. The trip between Lexington and Louisville will take you one hour, 2 to 3 hours by stopping at different distilleries.

Visit the Muhamad Ali Center and the Slugger Museum, lunch in the culinary district of Nulu. If you are lucky enough to be on the spot in May, go to the Churchill Downs Hippodrome for the Kentucky Derby, the most famous horse race in America. Taste the cocktail named Mint Julep. In the evening, enjoy the entertainment in Fourth Street Live.

After a last tour on the banks of Ohio, take the road to the south, towards Hodgenville. Visit the museum dedicated to President Abraham Lincoln, winner of the Civil War and the fight against slavery, and then visit Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site. Go to Mammoth Cave National Park. Night on site or at Bowling Green. It takes you 1 hour 40 minutes to travel from Louisville to Bowling Green, and 20 minutes less to Mammoth Cave.

Spend the day by visiting part of the largest network of caves in the world. Night on site or at Bowling Green.

Visit of the National Corvette Museum in the morning, then go to Nashville. It takes 1 hour drive between Bowling Green and Nashville.

Discovering Nashville, the country music centre in the United States. 

Visit the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum and listen to music in the must-go Auditorium.

From Nashville, take the Natchez Trace Parkway, a scenic road leading to Natchez, in the Mississippi. Take advantage of this road to immerse yourself in the local atmosphere and then turn into the Shiloh National Military Park, one of the biggest battlegrounds of the American Civil War. Prolong your visit to Corinth (MS) and its Civil War Interpretive Center, which belongs to the Shiloh National Military Park. The road between Nashville and Shiloh will take you 40 minutes and another 40 minutes to reach Corinth where you can spend the night.

2 hours west from Corinth, Memphis is the city of Elvis and the blues. For the King's fans, a visit of Graceland where he lived and is buried is an absolute must. The Sun Studio visit where he recorded and others like Johnny Cash is also exciting. 

Think also of visiting the National Civil Rights Museum and the Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King was assassinated. In the evening, enjoy listening the blues in the Beale Street clubs.

The city of William Faulkner, one of the greatest American writers, Oxford is located 2 hours south of Memphis. It's a charming gateway to Mississippi. The heart of the city beats at Courthouse Square where you will find restaurants, cafes and a warm atmosphere. Don't miss to visit Rowan Oak, the magnificent home where Faulkner stayed from 1930 until his death in 1962.

The Highway 61 which goes along the Mississippi river from Memphis to New Orleans is called Blues Highway. Immerse yourself in the origins of the blues from Clarksdale where you can visit the Delta Blues Museum. It is a mythical city where you can spend the night. It takes you 1 hour to travel between Memphis and Clarksdale, with a stop at the Gateway To The Blues Visitors Center located on the Highway, at the height of Tunica.

South of Clarksdale, take a full day to visit the area of the Cleveland-Greenwood-Greenville triangle. To east Cleveland, stop at Dockery Farm to see the birthplace of the blues. In Greenwood you will find one of the (many) tombs of the mythical Robert Johnson. By returning to Highway 61, stop at Indianola, where BB King became famous. Don't miss the Ebony Club that belongs to him today. Before you reach Greenville, where you can spend the night, make a last stop in Leland. Visit Highway 61 Blues Museum, then visit Jim Henson Museum, the birthplace of Kermit the Frog. On a direct itinerary, Greenville is at 1-hour drive from Clarksdale.

The capital of Mississippi is no longer in the Delta Region or the Blues Highway, but the blues are still there. You can listen to excellent groups in several famous locations. A rebuilt city after being burned during the America Civil War, Jackson is a modern and airy city, which boasts beautiful buildings to visit (including its two capitoles) and is an important witness to the struggle for civil rights. 

Take the time to visit the Mississippi Agricultural & Forestry Museum. It takes 2 hours to reach Jackson from Greenville.

40 minutes to the west of Jackson, Vicksburg was the place of a major battle of the Civil War. After the visit of the Rode National Military Park, visit the city centre with its cobbled streets and beautiful old mansions.

Leave the past violence of Vicksburg and take the road for the beautiful and quiet city of Natchez, at 1-hour drive. Natchez has preserved its pre-war splendour as it was very little affected by the war.

Continue the visit of Natchez.

Leave early in morning Natchez and go up Natchez Trace, an ancient Indian track that crosses unspoilt bucolic landscapes between Natchez and Nashville, Tennessee. Finish in Tupelo, Elvis's hometown. It takes you 5 hours 30 from Natchez to Tupelo.

Just under 2-hour drive from Tupelo, Muscle shoals, Florence, Tuscumbia and Sheffield are located on the Tennessee River in the northern part of Alabama state. This region is an important musical centre, which supported the development of R&B and soul in the 1960s. Don't miss Alabama Music Hall of Fame in Tuscumbia.

1-hour drive to the east, Huntsville is home to one of the best attractions in the United States. The US Space and Rocket Center is the world's largest museum dedicated to space. A must.

As you return to the geographical heart of Alabama, you will find Birmingham, a city of great historical interest as the defence movement for civil rights was particularly active there. Don't miss the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute describing the history of segregation and the black Americans struggle for equality.

Continue the visit to Birmingham.

The capital of Alabama is at less than 2 hours south of Birmingham. It is also a great place of history: It's here that Rosa Parks decided to sit among the whites on a bus, which started the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Go to the Civil Rights Memorial Center and take a tour at the Dexter Parsonage Museum where Martin Luther King lived, when he was in charge of the renowned church Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church.

Alabama inherited a very small opening on the Gulf of Mexico. Mobile is the treasure. 3-hour drive from Montgomery, it was the first colony installed by the French in the region. For a little bit of history, go to Fort Condé and the Museum of Mobile. Visit the Mobile Carnival Museum, take a tour of the old town by Dauphin Street and discover the beautiful residences in the historic districts. Think also of visiting the USS Alabama to the East of the city.

Shortly after leaving Mobile, plan a stop at Ocean Springs, for its Walter Museum of Art, and at Biloxi for lunch. When you arrive in New Orleans, start by visiting the Old Square before discovering the rest of the city.

For the second day in the one called The Big Easy, you can try a ghost tower or a voodoo tower to dive into the legends and mysteries of the city. Visit the French Market, on the banks of Mississippi and in the neighbourhoods you have to discover.

In the vicinity of New Orleans, you are in cajun countries and in the heart of the bayou, these typical marsh of Louisiana where alligators abound. Profit from a guided tour with a local alligator hunter.

The plantation route stretches over 150 miles between New Orleans and Saint Francisville. For this day, focus on those around New Orleans (you will be on this road again after visiting Baton Rouge). Choose different styles.

Visit the Tabasco factory at Avery Island, discover New Iberia, go up to the village of Saint Martinville for its Acadian monuments, then finish this loop by Breaux Bridge, the world's capital of the crayfish. Spend the evening with a fais do-do (a dancing party). 

Lafayette is about 2 hours from New Orleans.

Take a quick tour in Baton Rouge, the State capital and rival of New Orleans (at just less than 1 hour drive from Lafayette). Don't spend too much time there but instead go to St Francisville at 40 minutes from Baton Rouge where you can choose between one or two plantations to visit.

Leave early for Alexandria at 3 hours and half north of St Francisville. It is the starting point of the Cane River that you will go up at your pace according to the plantation visits or historic residences. Spend the night in Natchitoches, just 1-hour drive north of Alexandria.

Morning departure to reach Texas and Houston. It takes 4 hours and half from Natchitoches. When you arrive, take the time to rest in the heart of one of the great green lungs of the city, such as Memorial Park or Hermann Park. Spend the evening in Downtown to begin this first stage. 

The next day, the early birds will discover Houston via its Museum District by choosing one of its many museums. In the afternoon, departure for the NASA space centre, south of the city.

At 4 hours and 30 north of Houston, Fort Worth is a dive in the Texan cowboys universe. Discovery of the Stockyards district of Fort Worth, including the sale of cattle and longhorns which pound the street guided by the cowboys.

About 4 hours and 30 of Fort Worth to the South, San Antonio is one of the oldest cities in Texas. It is also one of the most pleasant. Once you recovered from the trip, you can easily discover San Antonio on foot. Don't miss the San Fernando Cathedral, the Alamo or the Spanish Governor's Palace that makes the city's charm.

At 1 hour from San Antonio, Bandera is the heart of a cowboy country. Spend this day in a nearby ranch. Sleep on site.

At 2-hour drive from Bandera, Austin is the capital of Texas. It is also the city living an impressive musical effervescence. Visit the city centre, its museums and its capitol and do not hesitate to indulge in a local honky-tonk in the heart of country music.

Here you are at the end of your journey. Pack your bags and join the airport with your head full of beautiful memory.