Hey. Next September (2023) I’m taking my ageing mum on a bucket list trip to experience the American south. It’s also a bucket list trip for me. She wants to spend 2-3 weeks. She’ll be nearly 66 by then, and don’t know if a chance to do this will come up again, so I want to pack it with opportunities for great memories.
We have mostly the same interests. We are spontaneous, like to mix it up between set tours and making our way. We like to move at our own pace but open to cramming a bunch into one day as well.
We’ll start with a couple of days in New York because I’ll already be there. Then head south together. But to where?
We both want to experience the classic tapestry and ambiance of the south depicted in our favourite movies and books: southern comfort food, historic houses, paddleboat cruises, swamp / Everglades, plantation houses, music, and probably a football game.
We both also want to hit Disney World and Universal.
I like the idea of doing a tour but also like the idea of moving at our own pace. Places that spring to mind are Charleston, SC, Savannah, GA, New Orleans, LA. I also feel like I’d love a bit of the life on the water vibe of Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Key West — dolphins, manatees, boats, seafood.
Not sure if we should do a bus tour all over or base ourselves in one/two places and do day tours.
Would love suggestions. \*We’re Australian btw, so it’s a long way to go and I want to make it special.
22 comments
I haven’t spent much time in the south but would definitely endorse New Orleans and Charleston. NOLA seems to me its own little world (not typical of my experience of other southern cities), while Charleston seems kind of like the ideal of a small southern city. Both have amazing food.
Savannah is worth a visit for sure, as is Nashville, TN.
If you’re in the area during a rocket launch, try watching it from Cape Canaveral National Seashore. Being close enough to feel the rumble is incredible.
Edit: Also Kennedy Space Center. They have a viewing area by the Saturn V rocket.
It’s going to be hot and humid, make sure to drink plenty of water. Depending on where you go you may encounter temperatures around 100⁰F, 37.7⁰C
Charleston and Savannah are definitely good places to stop. New Orleans is good too, but it’s out of the way from the rest for your trip. Starting from NY and going down you’ll be sitting along the east coast, whereas New Orleans you’d have to go a bit west (unless you’re flying which is easy)
When you’re in Florida i suggest going towards the gulf coast, Clearwater or St. Petersburg beach. These are top ranked beaches in the world with white sand, blue water, good seafood, etc. Miami is overrated imo, unless you’re into the materialistic scene
if you can make it down to the keys then absolutely do that too, but that’s going to be a lot of driving as key west is 6 hours away from Orlando
A bus tour will not get you what you are looking for. I would *absolutely* rent a car.
For football you’ll just have to look up the schedule for 2023. Honestly any game will likely be fun for any large state school.
New Orleans is an absolute must. Try not to spend al your time in the French Quarter and do some research into restaurants outside of the touristy areas.
Savannah and Charleston are awesome choices.
Look up a place in SC that does a “low country boil” which is a big seafood boil and is amazing.
Once you get your itinerary more nailed down I would absolutely ask for advice in the *local* subreddits for the places you will be.
If you really want to start in NYC I would probably fly from NYC to Charleston and rent a car. It saves you time and then you can drive down through Savannah hit Florida and swing over to New Orleans. Or maybe drive down the east coast like NY to Miami and then fly to New Orleans.
New Orleans is really the crown jewel of the trip but it’s also the most out of the way for your other destinations. I would cut out Florida before I cut out New Orleans.
The south is really broken into 3 regions and 3 cultural traditions.
Regions: Highland South, lowland south, Mississippi delta.
Cultures: Upper class white, lower class white and southern African-American.
If you hit Western Tennessee, Savannah, GA (or Charleston, SC) and New Orleans you will get a good taste of all 3 regions and cultures.
Make sure to see a gator tour either near New Orleans or in Florida.
I can definitely recommend which cities you should visit based on your criteria, but it’s debatable on how you should get from one region to the next, but I’ll start with the cities…
I’m from the South & have been to each of these cities & feel confident you will enjoy them! There are lots of great areas, & I imagine you will get lots of great suggestions, but here’s my list:
1) Charleston, South Carolina – It’s the quintessential Southern city, & the perfect location to start. There are some lovely beaches in this area too, so I would recommend at least a day trip to one while in this area.
2) Savannah, Georgia – It’s only about 2 hours south of Charleston so easily doable by car. I live in this area, & I know you can take a paddle boat on the Savannah River (savannahriverboat.com). You can have lunch or dinner aboard, & their food is actually pretty decent. Savannah has a gorgeous historic district with lots of squares, great restaurants, museums, etc. Tybee Island is a popular beach close by, (but as an FYI, Hilton Head Island, SC is close too & has nice beaches as well.) Also, lots of movies are filmed in Savannah area, so you may see scenes from some of your favorite movies. (And as an FYI, Forrest Gump’s bench is at the Savannah History Museum.)
From here – you could next road trip to St. Augustine, Florida. It’s the oldest city in the US & was founded in 1565, & they have a charming downtown.
From here you can head to Disney & Universal which are in the Orlando area.
Next, you can continue down I-95 to the Fort Lauderdale & Miami area. Definitely take an air boat ride in the Everglades area!
And from here, you’re still in for more driving, but this next leg of your journey is a road trip everyone should do at least once, & you will drive through the Keys heading to Key West, Florida – one of my favorite cities! Definitely check out the Sunset Celebration at Mallory Square! Although I don’t know your budget, Key West hotel prices have gotten insane so I would possibly limit my time here due to that.
And after this, you’ll want to consider flying to New Orleans, Louisiana. If you drive, it’s at least a 15 hour drive straight through, so definitely plan to break it down into a minimum of a 2 day journey. You can head up I-75 toward Tampa/St. Pete/Clearwater, Florida & stay at least 1 or 2 nights here. The Gulf coast has some of the prettiest beaches, & if you like the artist, Salvador Dali, you will enjoy the Dali Museum in St. Pete!
New Orleans is an amazing city, & you must visit Cafe Du Monde for beignets & of course drinks on Bourbon Street!
You can check out the Reddit pages for these cities for more details, etc., but I think this definitely gives you what you’re looking for, & I’m confident you will enjoy it!!!
Are you open going to fly between destinations? Because if you plan on driving/taking the train from say New York City to Florida that’s basically four of your days eaten up just on travel round trip. Taking a bus will be an entire week gone.
Best advice I could give would be to definitely plan at least your key musts in advance. Dates, activities, and the associated travel. Being Australian you know what it’s like to travel between locations of large country, so imagine NYC to Disney in Florida as a drive from Melbourne to Brisbane, it’s a similar distance.
When you talk about the American South, we don’t include Florida. Florida is Florida.
If you are heading down in later September, I highly suggest you drive Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway. It’s stunning and will take you down the Appalachian Mountains to Great Smoky Mountain national park. There are great towns all along the way. Definitely stop in Asheville.
From there, Savannah is a day’s drive.
You can go Orlando along the coast.
Savannah and Charleston are very close to each other (about 100 miles/160km). I definitely recommend the ghost tours in both places (and New Orleans), and I also recommend a stop in St. Augustine when you go to Florida. If your mom doesn’t find walking extensively to be comfortable, all three (plus New Orleans) have a variety of horse and buggy tours.
I will say that if you tour a plantation in SC, its history is not going to be romanticized. It will be educational and there will be a focus on the ways enslaved people survived and created their own culture, but sometimes people complain about learning history instead of a fairy tale so just realize what you’re signing up for, although it’s not torture porn or anything.
As for food, always ask locals while you’re out— southerners especially will be glad to talk to you! Charleston’s big dishes are shrimp and grits, Low Country Boil, Pirleau, and She-Crab soup, but there are also a few great places to get Midlands style/ Carolina Gold sauce bbq (and you will be able to find just about any cuisine you want; definitely hit the food trucks downtown too).
I hope you enjoy your trip!
All those places sound great (except for Ft. Lauderdale, I’d leave that off).
If you start in NYC and going south, DC is great for history, architecture, and museums (if that is of interest to you). Take the train from Penn Station (or Grand Central) to DC’s Union Station. Inexpensive, see a bit of countrywide, no driving.
Miami is fine, you won’t need many days there to see it. Key West is nice and good for water sports/wildlife, but it is a slog to get down there and back so keep that in mind.
New Orleans is wonderful, please go there. Savannah and Charleston are lovely.
Have a wonderful trip.
ETA: Look into Amtrak and Acela. The train is a good way to go especially down the Eastern seaboard. There are routes across the south too, but I’m less familiar.
Orlando local here.
I def think you should consider a mix of flying and driving. Nola is amazing and not worth missing but further west than some of your other stops. So if you’re starting in NY, consider flying to Nola as your first stop. Then you can fly to Key West and work your way back up the east coast. I don’t recommend renting a car until you’re ready to leave Key West because there is no parking anywhere. And even then, the drive from KW to Miami can take many hours on like a one-lane bridge. Super unideal. Take the Key West Express ferry instead to Fort Myers. From there you can drive up to Tampa/Clearwater/St. Petersburg, then head to Orlando/Disney/Space Coast, and then St Augustine will make for a good last stop in FL before you head to Georgia and then South Carolina.
WDW is a whole animal in and of itself with the pre-planning, so def reach out to some Disney experts so you’re prepared. If you don’t want to schedule your theme park time to a T weeks in advance, then Universal is def a more achievable theme park. I HIGHLY recommend you do an Airboat tour while you’re in Florida. And please try to visit one of our 100s of natural springs before Nestle drains them to sell more bottled water
Just FYI, south Florida is a varied mix of multicultural big city, rural wilderness, beach towns, quirky islands, etc. I love visiting Miami for things like shopping, clubbing, and latin-american culture and food. I love visiting the gulf side of Florida for things like nature preserves frequented by manatees and relaxing beach time. Miami is a great jumping off point for visiting the Everglades and Key West, but it may not be what you are looking for based on the interests you listed. Also there are a lot of beautiful natural springs in central Florida that are often overlooked by tourists, but more worthy of a visit than sitting on a touristy beach imo.
Charleston SC. Historic city with good food, great beaches nearby with no shortage of fun things to do.
Like others have said, fly south and rent a car. Otherwise you’ll spend a couple of days just driving on the highway. (Could your mom just fly directly to, say, Atlanta, to save money?) Bus trip would take forever. Bucket list: see alligators on an airboat ride. See manatees. Eat key lime pie and good barbecue.
Might be fun to watch a rocket launch from somewhere around Cocoa Beach or Canaveral. They’re going up all the time.
Also, watch out for scammers and panhandlers in New Orleans, they can be aggressive.
If anyone tells you “I bet I know where you got your shoes,” tell them, “Yep, on my feet on Bourbon street.”
For the DisneyWorld/Universal trip, a common approach is a full week, since there are 6 theme parks between them, plus water parks and other things in the area to do.
First two rules of thumb: Get to the theme parks half an hour before opening, and don’t go with the expectation of seeing everything.
I’m guessing that’s more time than she wants to spend there when it’s only 2-3 weeks total. But I don’t know exactly what she’s interested in. We’re in the same age bracket as your mum, and we lost the ability to enjoy most roller coasters a few years ago, with too many aches and such. So we’re quite happy allocating just one day to Universal, but since we’re Harry Potter fans, we’d get the one-day, two-park pass to see both Harry Potter sections. If that’s too much expense, I’d advise just going to the Universal Studios Florida side, skipping Islands of Adventure, because I prefer the varied theming there, Diagon Alley theming blows away anything else there, and in my opinion, better non-coaster rides overall.
For the DisneyWorld, it’s difficult to make suggestions without knowing her preferences. I’m in the “stay on property camp”, which has a steep premium over staying off property, but saves a good deal of time just traveling to and from the parks and usually has other perks that make it worthwhile, though they may have changed in the last few years. It’s still possible to have a good time staying off property, but you have to plan ahead. Reservations for the best in-park restaurants go very quickly, and open up 60 days in advance. I don’t know about the current fastpass system, except I’m pretty sure they’ve changed the name. Check out r/waltdisneyworld or https://disboards.com for up to date advice.
Can’t beat collage football in the south, Alabama, Lsu, gators, aby of those would be the experience you’re looking for
If she’ll be 66, she’ll qualify for senior discounts at a lot of places. That can save you quite a bit of money if you look for the good deals.
Charleston and Savannah are a must based on your description. Fly from NYC and rent a car when you get there.
I”d also recommend St. Augustine, Florida. Oldest settled european settlement in the US. A fun historic district with some nice restaurants and shopping and stuff there. Also in that area is Amelia Island which has a quaint, historic downtown and a nice beach as well with dinner cruises and restaurants on the water.
You can make your way to Disney and then to Miami pretty easily from there.
I can’t speak to Miami and Key West as I’ve only spent a couple days total in each (but remember enjoying the hell out of Key West. Driving that will take you down US1 which is pretty famous drive but I believe they have high speed boats/catamarans that can do the trip pretty quick which may be an alternative.
Good thing is this route/these cities are 90-180 minutes of drive time apart so it will be pretty easy to get to each place and give you plenty of time to do sightseeing.
Don’t do a tour.
With your interests, I think Charleston, Savannah and New Orleans are all musts. You can drive (or probably take a bus) between Charleston and Savannah but you will need to fly to NOLA from there.
There are lots of old plantations between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Oak Alley is probably the most famous. You can take a day tour from NOLA. There are also lots of tours of the swamps. I would do this in NOLA and not Florida of South Carolina.
September is the middle of Hurricane Season and you need to be aware that your plans can change that time of year. If you can, it would be better to go in October (better weather too).