A vacation in the southeast United States offers visitors the opportunity to relax on sandy Atlantic Ocean beaches, roam the rugged terrain of the Appalachian Mountains, or ride a riverboat down the Mississippi. Encompassing the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia, America's southeast is rich in history, culture, and entertainment.
Trips along the banks of the Mississippi River travel through the southeastern states of Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. In New Orleans, Louisiana, visitors can sample the best of local Cajun cuisine like seafood gumbo and boiled crawfish, then take in some authentic bayou blues. Traveling up to Mississippi, travelers can explore the birthplace of the delta blues, where legend has it bluesman Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil at the spot where Highway 39 crosses the famous Route 61 Blues Trail at Clarksdale. Crossing back over the Mississippi into Arkansas, delta blues thrives along with bluegrass and traditional Ozark Mountain folk music. Arkansas guests looking to relax can take in the reputedly therapeutic thermal waters of Hot Springs National Park.
Bed and breakfast-hopping in the southern states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Virginia, and West Virginia offers grace, charm, and the opportunity to explore historic sites from the Civil War. While enjoying southern hospitality in Georgia, visitors can explore the southeast's largest history museum, the Atlanta History Center, and discover the final significant battle site of the Civil War at Port Columbus. Louisville, Kentucky, draws crowds annually to the Kentucky Derby while country music fans flock to Tennessee to tour the musical history of both Memphis and Nashville. The Talladega Superspeedway may be Alabama's claim to fame, but the state is also home to EarlyWorks Children's Museum, the South's largest hands-on history museum. In Virginia, visitors can explore some of America's earliest history at the Jamestown Settlement and Colonial Williamsburg, and in West Virginia, tourists can explore frontier forts or follow the Civil War Trail.
Beaches rate among the top attractions in the U.S.'s southeastern states of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida. Ocean sailing is a popular pastime on North Carolina's coast along with wetlands eco-tours that take vacationers to view wildlife like alligators and black bears in the wild. South Carolina has its share of famous shores, such as the Grand Strand/Myrtle Beach, which was named one of Travel Channel's "best beaches on the East Coast." Horseback riding down South Carolina's Charleston beaches leads to impressive 19th-century lighthouses like the one on Morris, Folly, and Sullivan's Islands. Down in the sunshine state of Florida, tourists can take on most any water sport, including snorkeling, scuba diving, windsurfing, and kayak fishing. Adrenaline junkies can spend an entire week hitting the amusement parks in Florida, the theme park capital of the southeast, including Disney World, Sea World Orlando, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, and Universal Studios Orlando with its new "Wizarding World of Harry Potter" attraction.
