Charleston SC - Asheville NC - Nashville TN - Atlanta GA

Over several years having visited most states in America, from the east coast via the mid west to the west coast, we decided to visit the south for a complete change, and what an enjoyable trip we had.

This was a DIY trip for my partner and I booking almost everything via the Internet.

We flew with http://www.google.co.uk/search&hl=en&q=usairways&meta=" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" class="break-word">US Airways flying direct from Gatwick to Charlotte NC, the flight was around 8 hours, flying direct to Charlotte NC prevented changing planes in the US.

On arrival at Charlotte airport at approx 2:00 pm I collected our hire care, having previously booked it on line with Dollar UK, we then headed off for the 230 mile drive to our first destination, the following is a small sample of our itinerary:

Charleston SC.

We booked the Holiday Inn (known as Mills House Hotel) on Meeting street.

As for being a Holiday Inn property, don't let that put you off, the management have done a nice job in restoring this century old property, the public areas of this hotel are actually beautiful, our room was also beautiful.

The location of this hotel cannot be beaten, located in the center of downtown, of course, you are paying for the location, but take my word for it, the price is well worth it for the location, many hotels claim to be "within the historic district" I found this not to be the case.

We took a trip out to Middletonplace

The plantation has something to offer everyone; landscaped gardens, museum house, stable yard, etc, be sure to bring a picnic lunch and definitely allow ample time to wander the gardens!

The only downer about Middleton Place (and all the other plantations, for that matter) is the cost, we paid $45.00pp for the whole package, although we did spend most of the day here.

There are numerous plantations to visit whilst in Charleston each offering their own individuality.

Just of Meeting Street is an open air market with crafts, jewelry, food and basket making, it's worth noting almost 250 years ago it was the largest slave market in north America.

Located just outside Charleston and about 20 minute drive away is Folly Beach, this seemed to be much of a location for the locals, due to the fact we did not see many tourist, however there is a public pier as soon as you come to the island, which was great for picture taking, we also noticed several local residents fishing of the pier, who I have to say, were very friendly towards us.

We took a trip to Hilton Head, which was a good way to spend the afternoon, and consisted of a beautiful marina village, several shops, restaurants, and a lighthouse.

Another day trip, we drove a couple of hours south of Charleston to visit Savannah, another beautiful town located in the state of Georgia, just over the state line from SC, although Savannah was nice and full of history and character, we felt that we enjoyed Charleston a good deal more, maybe because Charleston was a larger city compared to Savannah, however the weather was gorgeous and we found the people in both cities really friendly.

The weather in Charleston was around mid 80's almost everyday.

On completion of our 6 days in Charleston SC and following breakfast we headed off along I-26 for the 4 hour drive to Asheville, this is a direct route from Charleston SC, whilst not much of a scenic route, there are sufficient rest stop areas along I-26 to stop for refreshments.
Asheville NC

We booked the Holiday Inn on Tunnel Road.

This hotel is well located on a busy thoroughfare through Asheville, it has to be said, the hotel was showing it's age, although I believe it's due for renovation sometime next year, that being said we found our room to be comfortable with a microwave, and fridge in our room, this was great for keeping refreshments cool.

There are numerous major restaurants chains located on Tunnel Road, although a car or taxi would be required to visit them.

The Holiday Inn is some distance from downtown Asheville, although we visited the downtown area it seemed to lack appeal, hence we only visited the downtown area once.

Whilst in Asheville we took a trip along the Blue Ridge Parkway , this is a beautiful scenic route, well worth the drive, there are numerous look out points, we drove along the parkway to Grandfather mountain, admission to the mountain was $14.00 pp, although this included the mile high swing bridge, wildlife habitats, and nature walks, well worth the fee.

We spent the whole day along the parkway due to the maximum speed limit being 45mph along the whole 495 miles.

We took a drive out to Chimney Rock, a small town located about an hours drive from Asheville, located next to Chimney Rock is Lake Lure made famous for the filming of "Dirty Dancing" we did not visit Chimney Rock park, we felt blue ridge parkway had fulfilled our needs.

A trip to Asheville would not be complete without visiting Biltmore Estate, a French renaissance château built by George W. Vanderbilt, has 250 rooms, it's stated this is one of the largest and most impressive privately owned historic estates in the world, still under the control of the rich Vanderbilt clan, at first when I saw the ticket price, $45.00 pp, I thought the place was overpriced, but this place is massive, very impressive and beautiful, and worth the admission fee, if you do decide on a visit make sure to go to the winery also and take the tour.

We visited a place called Dillsboro, quaint village about an hours drive from Asheville, for a train journey along the Great Smokey Mountains Railroad, we traveled through historic Cowee Tunnel, crisscrossed the Tuckasegee River, passed through old railroad towns and scenic meadows on our way to Bryson City for a short stop prior to returning, this was a 4 ½ hour round trip, and well worth the $40.00pp.

The weather in Asheville was around mid 70's most days.

On completion of our 6 nights in Asheville, and following breakfast at the Waffle House located next door to the hotel, we took I-40 for the 5 hour 300 mile trip to Nashville TN.

Nashville TN
Just off the I-40 in Nashville TN, we booked the Holiday Inn Express located on Broadway, this is an extremely well located hotel, within 3 blocks from all the action in Nashville, yet far enough away from it.

Although a Holiday Inn Express, this hotel would have no problem competing with any 4* hotels.

Our itinerary included a visit to Country Music Hall of Fame, this place was huge, allow yourself probably half a day here, admission was $17.95, however, located on Broadway is the visitors center, pop in and collect a coupon book, it allows a discount of $2.00pp to the venue, also plenty of other discounts.

A visit to Opryland Hotel is a must, the center of the hotel is filled with tropical gardens, a river with a boat ride, it's difficult to imagine it's actually a hotel, we thoroughly enjoyed walking around the hotel, with it's waterfalls, shops and eateries you can spend a quite a few hours just walking around taking in all the sights, located next to the hotel is Opry Mills shopping center.

No trip to Tennessee would be complete without a visit to a whiskey distillery, the first we visited was George Dickle located in Tullahoma TN about an 1½ hours drive from Nashville, this was both interesting and informative, the distillery is a self guided tour, on completion of the tour, we moved onto Jack Daniel's Distillery located in Lynchburg TN, this was a much more commercialised tour obviously due to the popularity of the brand, whilst both tours were free, we felt the George Dickle was more personalised.

Although we were staying in Nashville, we took the 3 ½hour 240 mile trip along I-40 to Memphis to visit Graceland, we spent half a day touring the location, and as commercialised as it appeared to be, we still found the visit a moving experience, that could be due to the many, many wreaths surrounding the grave were still fresh following the 30th anniversary of Elvis's death.

Following our visit to Graceland, we headed to downtown Memphis and parked just of Beale Street, I'm not sure what it was about this area but we could not get a feel for it, as I say, I'm not sure what it was about the area, whilst creating our US trip, we were undecided about Memphis or Nashville, having walked around Beale Street area, I'm happy we choose Nashville.

Leaving Beale Street, although still in Memphis, we visited the National Civil Rights Museum this is where Dr Martin Luther King was assassinated in 1968, another very moving experience, admission to the museum was free due to us arriving shortly after 3.00pm.

Following the visit, we took the journey back to Nashville.

The weather in Nashville was around high 80's most days.

On completion of our 6 nights in Nashville, and following complementary breakfast at the hotel we took the 4 hour 250 mile drive along I-24 & I-75 to Atlanta GA.

Atlanta GA

We booked the Crown Plaza Hotel Buckhead, this was located on Peachtree Road, known locally as the "Beverly Hills" of Atlanta, located on this road are numerous well known hotels, Ritz Carlton, Hilton, Intercontinental, etc, across from the hotel was a shopping mall with top designer shops, Hugo Boss, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, etc, so it was understandably why the location had inherited both it's nick name and high hotel prices.

Just like most other metropolitan cities Atlanta did seem to be spread out.

Across the street from our hotel was the subway station, it was 6 stops from downtown Atlanta, and a cost of $5.00 pp round trip.

Whilst in Atlanta, we visited the Coca Cola museum, parking around the venue was questionable, some places charging $5.00, some charging $10.00, we found somewhere for $5.00 at the rear of the museum.

Visiting the Coca Cola museum was a fascinating experience, and well worth the $15.00pp fee just to sample all the free coke samples from around the world.

Located about half a mile from the Coca Cola museum is the CNN building, we wanted to do the CNN tour, on arrival it was not possible to purchase same day tickets, apparently tickets sell days, or weeks in advance therefore pre booking is required.

We took a trip to the Carter Center, this is an organisation dedicated to helping those less fortunate than ourself's, and well worth the time to visit, located next to the Carter Center is Jimmy Carter library and museum, the museum has displays and information about the former presidents life, family and presidency as well as special exhibits.

One highlight of our whole trip which left an emotional impact on us was a trip to The King Center.

The Martin Luther King Center located in downtown is an inspirational place to visit, this is an educational community center with historical information on the great leader of the Civil Rights struggle in America.

Take a morning or afternoon of your time to visit this location, his tomb & the "eternal flame" monument are located on the grounds, the tour is free, although donations are welcome, there is a ½ hour video of the great leader and his life, at the end of the video we witnessed several black elderly folk crying, we suspect they witnessed the civil rights struggle.

I'm glad we left the king center until the very end of our trip, on completion of the tour, whilst leaving the King center it brought home to us how lucky and fortunate we really are.

To finish off our holiday, we had dinner at the Sundial Restaurant, this was located on top of the Westin Hotel in downtown Atlanta, although expensive, it was a great way to finish our holiday.

The weather in Atlanta was in the high 90's most days.

On completion of 6 nights in Atlanta, following breakfast we took I-85 a direct route for the 4 hour, 250 mile journey back to Charlotte NC for our flight back to Gatwick.

Handing the car over at Dollar in Charlotte, only then did I realise we had done just over 8000 miles, yes we had done a lot of driving, but I was prepared for it, and have no regrets about the entire holiday, our only regret on a personal note, we wish the US administration would change their policy on emigration.

The details above although long is just a small sample in each location of our overall itinerary.

If I was to give any tips or advice, the only thing I would suggest is to ensure for a perfect holiday, please do your research prior to booking, the Internet is a great way to obtain information.

This completes our trip report, should you have any questions or queries please don't hesitate to ask.

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