NASHVILLE • MEMPHIS • NEW ORLEANS
Plus optional add-on Dollywood, TENNESSEE!
April 2026 (Dates to be Confirmed)
This Music tour was so popular in 2024, that we’re doing it again!
Journey with me through jazz and blues to rock and roll and country. But it’s also much more than that. It’s exploring some of the most unique cities in America, trying southern cuisine (not a fan of grits!), a little shopping, and some time to explore on your own too.
The full itinerary will be confirmed by about mid-June 2025, so in the meantime, have a read of what we did last time, and email me your expressions of interest if you’d like to be on the mailing list for this tour. It will sell out!
Please note: next year’s tour will start in New Orleans and finish in Nashville – i.e. we’re doing the below itinerary in reverse.
In Nashville we will stay downtown near Honky Tonk Row for easy walking distance to the many live music bars and iconic music museums.
We’ll get to a show at the Grand Ole Opry, and tour of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Studio B, where the legends of country music cut their albums.
In Memphis we’ll stay at my favourite hotel, the iconic Peabody Hotel for three nights.
This elegant accommodation is about one block from Beale Street and known for the famous Peabody ducks that live on the rooftop in their own “hotel” and are brought down in the lift each day to walk the red carpet to the fountain in the lobby, where they swim until 5pm, and the duck master comes to get them. You have to get there early to be in the front and take a photo!
Memphis is famous for Graceland, so of course we’ll be going there with VIP access to enjoy a self-guided audio tour of Elvis’ mansion, as well as his planes and classic car collection. We’ll have time there for lunch at Gladys’ Diner or Vernon’s Smokehouse, named after his parents.
You’ll have free time to explore some of the other music museums in Memphis and we’ll include a visit to the Civil Rights Museum set in the Lorraine Hotel, where Martin Luther King Jnr was assassinated.
We’ll eat BBQ and listen to live blues, jazz and rock n roll.
We will stay overnight in a hidden gem that I am excited to show you. I’m taking you to Houmas House, a former sugar plantation. The mansion is now a restored museum with luxury villas for guests to stay in. We’ll relax this afternoon at our villas – maybe we’ll bring happy hour snacks to sit in the sun in the beautiful gardens.
We’ll have a guided tour of the house and then free time to explore the grounds, lake and majestic oak trees. Tonight we’ll have a special dinner in the coach house.
There are no direct flights between Memphis and New Orleans at the moment, so instead we will drive the six-hours in a private coach. We will stop for snacks and some leg stretches on the way! (And who knows, by the time we put it together there might be direct flights again).
Then we’re off to New Orleans the next morning via a stop at a swamp in the bayous to check out some alligators and other Louisiana wildlife!
Our three nights in New Orleans will be in the French Quarter and easy walking distance to everywhere. This will be my 10th visit to the Crescent City and I can’t wait to take you to my favourite places.
I’ll take you to my favourite venues for live music, some are off-the-beaten-track. We’ll visit the French Market, eat sugary donut beignets, throw $ to the buskers, eat the po-boys and so much more.
Costs:
To be confirmed
What’s not included
- International flights (we can arrange those for you on an individual basis depending on where you’d like to go)
- Travel insurance – a requirement for this tour
- Meals not included above
- Gratuities for drivers or guides
- ESTA US visa waiver or US visitor visa
If you’re interested in this small group tour of a maximum of 16 people, please send me an email [email protected]
*Note: this tour requires 12 people to go ahead.
For an idea of flight costs, jump onto Air New Zealand’s website, or American Airlines or United or Delta, as they all fly direct to the US. You will need to decide which airport you’d like to pass through. My advice would be midwest for an easy time zone to get to Nashville, unless you want to stay a few days on the west coast.
Look for prices to Houston and Chicago on Air NZ, or Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) for American Airlines. Once you know what you’d like to do, we’re happy to assist with any pre-tour stopovers, or making your booking for you. A small fee will apply for us to make your airline bookings (because airlines no longer pay agent commissions!)
If you’d like to come as a single woman and want to room share, please email me and I will let you know if anyone else gets in touch for that too.
I hope you will join me! – Megan
