The Hotels

Chicago South Loop Hotel is located minutes away from attractions like the Shedd Aquarium, Millennium Park, Navy Pier, Chinatown, and Magnificent Mile shopping. The boutique hotel combines classic style, prime location, and professional guest services. Each room features air conditioning, flatscreen TV, and a refrigerator.

Situated in downtown Memphis near St. Jude and Beale Street, Crowne Plaza is a modern hotel featuring a fitness centre, swimming pool, bar, and restaurant. Their free shuttles take guests anywhere within 3 miles including Beale Street, FedEx Forum, Autozone Park and Bass Pro Shops at the Pyramid. Each room features coffee- and tea-making facilities, flatscreen TV and air conditioning.

Holiday Inn New Orleans-Downtown Superdome is nestled just steps from the Mercedes Benz Superdome, Smoothie King Arena, and French Quarter. Every room includes satellite TV, air conditioning, coffee- and tea-making facilities, and a microwave. After a long day, guests can relax in the swimming pool or at the bar or keep fit at the hotel's gym.

The Itinerary

• Fly from the UK to Chicago.
• Stay in Chicago.
• Stay in Chicago.
• Fly from Chicago to Memphis.
• Stay in Memphis.
• Stay in Memphis.
• Take the Amtrak train between Memphis and New Orleans.
• Stay in New Orleans.
• Stay in New Orleans.
• Fly back from New Orleans to the UK.

Groupon's Guide to Memphis

One of the best ways to experience Memphis is through your stomach. No trip to the city is complete without trying a full plate of Memphis-style barbecue. Ribs can be served wet (brushed with tangy sauce before, during, and after cooking) or, more commonly, dry (rubbed in spices and cooked in a smoker). Memphis has embraced the national food-truck trend, so some of the city’s best cuisine can now be enjoyed on the go.

Another important aspect of Memphis is its storied music scene. Thanks to Sam Phillips’s Sun Studio and the pioneers at Stax Records, the city has played a pivotal role in nearly every genre of American music, including rock, country, soul, and the blues. B. B. King, Elvis Presley, and John Lee Hooker are some of the many musicians who got their start here, and the Stax Museum of American Soul Music chronicles the contributions of several more, including Isaac Hayes, Otis Redding, and Sam & Dave. Each night, you can still hear excellent live music on Beale Street—both in the clubs and while strolling down the sidewalk.

Groupon's Guide to Chicago's Loop

Named after the shape formed by the elevated train tracks that form its perimeter, The Loop is Chicago's downtown and the country’s second-largest business district. Skyscrapers such as the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower) and the art-deco Chicago Board of Trade Building loom large here. They overlook waterfront parks, a glitzy theatre district, and some of the world’s finest art collections.

The Art Institute of Chicago's gargantuan collection covers everything from marble busts to Grant Wood's American Gothic. Just north of the Art Institute, Millennium Park is known for both the Frank Gehry–designed Jay Pritzker Pavilion and for the sculpture Cloud Gate, known to Chicagoans as “The Bean” for its legume-like shape. Nearby Grant Park is dotted with several impressive attractions, including Buckingham Fountain, the Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, and Adler Planetarium. The city's public transportation system is among the country's best.

Groupon's Guide to New Orleans

"Stop thinking of New Orleans as the worst-organized city in the United States," writes author Dan Baum in Nine Lives, his post-Katrina book. "Start thinking of it as the best-organized city in the Caribbean." Some folks think there is something distinctly foreign about New Orleans, a place where people’s priorities seem inclined toward enjoying life and relishing the moment at hand. Nothing says it better than the town’s unofficial Cajun creed: “Laissez les bons temps rouler,” or "Let the good times roll."

Historical buildings with intricate wrought-iron balconies line the narrow streets of New Orleans’s French Quarter. Here, street musicians often fill the air with jazz music, their trombones and tubas swinging back and forth. Just off Jackson Square park and near the towering St. Louis Cathedral, the legendary Café Du Monde serves beignets under heaping piles of powdered sugar. The nearby Frenchmen Street, just north of the Quarter, provides a slightly less touristy taste of New Orleans nightlife. Some of the city’s most popular live jazz and blues bars dominate this historic two-block district, with each venue hosting world-class musicians nearly every night of the week. And then there's Bourbon Street, where neon lights advertise frozen cocktails and crowds gather along 13 city blocks.