12 Unique Places to Visit in Southeast USA (2027 Bucket List)

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The Southeast is the part of the US that keeps surprising me. One minute I’m watching a black bear stroll past my viewpoint in the Smokies, and the next I’m people-watching under the live oaks in Savannah’s Forsyth Park. It’s quirky and friendly, and it’s full of places you won’t find anywhere else.

These are my 12 favorite unique places to visit in Southeast USA, refreshed with the dates and tips you’ll need for 2026 and 2027. I’ve flagged the big events, like Mardi Gras in February 2027, plus the ferries and permits you should book early. Once you’ve ticked these off, my full guide to unique places to visit in the US has plenty more road-trip ideas!

• 🐊 My #1 tip: If you’re staying in Miami and want gators without the hassle, I highly recommend this small-group Everglades tour from Miami. It picks you up in town and gives you close to an hour out on an airboat. It’s the easiest way I know to see the Everglades in half a day!

Unique Places to Visit in Southeast USA at a Glance

I’ll admit it, I used to think the Southeast was mostly beaches and barbecue. Then I found an island full of wild horses and a canyon that switches its waterfalls on and off, and I was hooked. If you’re planning a 2027 trip, these five are where I recommend starting.

1. New Orleans, Louisiana: The best live jazz in America, plus Mardi Gras on February 9, 2027
2. Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Free to enter, full of black bears, and home to fireflies that blink in perfect sync
3. Savannah, Georgia: Stroll between 22 historic squares with a to-go cocktail in hand, totally legally
4. Cumberland Island, Georgia: Wild horses wander around mansion ruins on an island you can only reach by ferry
5. Everglades National Park, Florida: The one place on Earth where you can spot alligators and crocodiles on the same day

1. New Orleans, Louisiana

There’s no other city in America quite like New Orleans. This Louisiana city on the Mississippi River was French, then Spanish, before it became American. It’s also where jazz started, and you’ll find a live band playing somewhere in town pretty much every night.

My advice is to walk Bourbon Street once to say you did it, then head to Frenchmen Street, where locals go for live jazz. For breakfast, get beignets and a café au lait at Café du Monde. Don’t wear black, because the powdered sugar gets everywhere! Go early, since the stand closes at night now.

If you want to see the city at its wildest, Mardi Gras is February 9, 2027, and I recommend booking your hotel months ahead. For music, Jazz Fest is April 22 to 25 and April 29 to May 2, 2027, and the lineup usually comes out in December. In between, ride the St. Charles streetcar for $1.25 past Garden District mansions that’ll make you question your life choices.

2. Great Smoky Mountains National Park (NC & TN)

Some of the fireflies in this park blink in perfect sync, and people enter a lottery just to watch them. Great Smoky Mountains National Park straddles the Tennessee and North Carolina border, and it’s the busiest national park in the country. Even better, it’s free to enter, though you’ll need a parking tag if you stop for more than 15 minutes.

My favorite place to spot black bears is the 11-mile Cades Cove loop, where they wander around like they own the place (which, let’s be honest, they do). Don’t be the person who abandons their car mid-road for a photo. Stay at least 50 yards back, because it’s the law here, and bring binoculars instead.

For the fireflies, the lottery usually opens in late April for viewing nights in late May or early June. I also recommend the steep half-mile walk to the Kuwohi observation tower, formerly Clingmans Dome, at 6,643 feet. Afterward, Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge are right outside the park with every tourist trap you can imagine, and they’re pretty fun if you embrace the cheesiness.

• Read next: 12 Top Areas to Live in Greenville, SC

3. Jekyll Island, Georgia

Back in the 1880s, America’s richest families claimed Jekyll Island as their private winter escape. Today this Georgia barrier island, between Savannah and Jacksonville, is a state park anyone can visit for a $10 daily parking fee. Two-thirds of it has to stay undeveloped by law, and you’ll notice the lack of high-rises right away.

The star here is Driftwood Beach, where storm-toppled oaks lie bleached and twisted across the sand. Check the tide chart before you go, because the beach is at its best at low tide and shrinks fast when the water comes in. I recommend getting there for sunrise and bringing your camera.

Don’t skip the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, where you can watch rescued turtles at feeding time. If you’re planning a summer 2027 trip, book an evening turtle walk on one of the select nights in June or July, with 2027 dates still to be announced. My last tip is to buy your parking pass online before you arrive and bring a bike for the 20-plus miles of trails.

4. Asheville, North Carolina

Asheville is the kind of mountain town that turns a weekend visit into a “should we move here?” conversation. You’ll find it in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina. It’s unique because one city holds both America’s largest home and one of the country’s best craft beer scenes.

The home is Biltmore, George Vanderbilt’s 250-room castle with 65 fireplaces and its own winery. It’s a big reason Asheville lands on my list of unique places to visit in the Southeast USA. I recommend buying tickets on Biltmore’s website at least seven days ahead, because that’s how you get the best price.

Next, explore the River Arts District, where artists work out of old warehouses by the French Broad River. Hurricane Helene flooded the area in 2024, and the upper section has fully reopened since. The Blue Ridge Parkway is expected to fully reopen in North Carolina by the end of 2026, which makes 2027 a great time for a scenic drive. Finish with a pint at Burial or Highland, two of the breweries locals swear by.

• You may also like: 12 SURPRISING Things to Do in Greenville at Night

5. Hilton Head Island, South Carolina

If you hate neon signs and high-rises at the beach, you’ll love this island. Hilton Head is a barrier island in South Carolina, near the Georgia border, and it was planned so no building would rise above the trees. Billboards are banned, and even chain restaurants use small, muted signs.

My favorite way to get around is by bike. The town has 64 miles of public pathways, and at low tide you can ride right on the beach. For a beach day, park at Coligny Beach Park, where parking is free, because other town beach lots charge by the hour.

Next, visit Harbour Town in the gated Sea Pines community to see its red-and-white lighthouse. You’ll need a gate pass to get in, and I recommend going around sunset. Golf fans can catch the PGA Tour’s RBC Heritage there on April 15 to 18, 2027. Wherever you go, keep your distance from the alligators sunbathing by the lagoons!

• For nightlife adventures: 12 AWESOME Things to Do in Hilton Head at Night
• Also in South Carolina: 12 Best Places to Live in Greenville
• For more South Carolina nightlife: Fun & Unique Attractions in Greenville After Dark

6. Savannah, Georgia

In Savannah, you can legally carry a cocktail from one leafy square to the next. This coastal Georgia city was laid out as a grid of public squares in 1733, and 22 of them survive today. You’ll hit a new one every couple of blocks, each shaded by huge live oaks.

The to-go cup rules are easy to follow. Your drink has to be in a plastic cup no bigger than 16 ounces, and you need to stay inside the Historic District. I recommend grabbing one and wandering from square to square until you reach the fountain in Forsyth Park. When your feet give out, hop on the free dot shuttle, which loops downtown about every 10 minutes.

Savannah’s St. Patrick’s Day parade is one of the biggest in the country, and it’s always held on March 17. Any time of year, I advise driving out to Bonaventure Cemetery, the setting that made “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” famous. Just don’t go looking for the Bird Girl statue from the book’s cover. Too many fans showed up, and she now lives at Telfair Museums downtown!

7. Everglades National Park, Florida

Everglades National Park is the only place in the world where alligators and crocodiles share a home. It covers the bottom of the Florida peninsula, a vast wetland of sawgrass, mangroves and slow-moving water. You’ll see far more gators than crocs, since about 200,000 alligators live here and only around 2,000 crocodiles.

My favorite way to see the gators is the 15-mile loop at Shark Valley, on the Tamiami Trail west of Miami. You can bike it or take the two-hour tram, which stops at an observation tower halfway around. Get there early, because the parking lot fills up and the line to get in grows by mid-morning.

Crocodiles prefer salt water, and the Flamingo marina at the park’s southern tip is a known croc hangout. Wild flamingos are returning there too, and the new Flamingo Lodge lets you stay the night. The dry season from December through April is the best time to go. International visitors 16 and up should budget an extra $100 each on top of the $35 vehicle fee.

• 🚤 My pro tip: Want to see the River of Grass without dealing with the drive? Book this Everglades airboat tour with round-trip transportation from Miami, which includes a 50 to 60 minute airboat ride with a guide pointing out the gators!

8. St. Augustine, Florida

It pains this Boston boy to admit it, but the oldest city in the continental US is in Florida. Spanish settlers founded St. Augustine in 1565, more than 50 years before the Pilgrims reached Plymouth. Today its Spanish colonial streets sit on Florida’s Atlantic coast, south of Jacksonville.

Two stops show off its history best. The Castillo de San Marcos is the oldest masonry fort in the continental US and was never captured in battle. Flagler College, built as a luxury hotel in the Gilded Age, has a dining hall lit by 79 Tiffany stained glass windows, and I recommend booking one of the student-led tours.

Visit between November 21, 2026 and January 18, 2027 and you’ll catch Nights of Lights, with about 3 million white lights strung across downtown for free. Use the city’s free park-and-ride shuttle, because downtown parking fills up quickly on lit-up evenings. Grab a hot chocolate and wander St. George Street while the whole city sparkles.

• For coastal nightlife nearby: 12 Epic Things to Do in Hilton Head After Dark

9. Tallulah Gorge, Georgia

Tallulah Gorge is a canyon about 1,000 feet deep in northeast Georgia, and it comes with a waterfall schedule. On a typical day the river barely trickles through. On certain weekends, though, Georgia Power opens the dam upstream, and the gorge’s six waterfalls roar to life.

Few unique places to visit in the Southeast USA let you plan a trip around a waterfall’s opening hours. Whitewater releases usually happen on the first two weekends of April and the first three of November, and 2027 dates haven’t been announced yet. I recommend grabbing a spot on the suspension bridge, 80 feet above the river, where you can watch kayakers take on the rapids without needing a permit.

On regular days, you can hike down to the gorge floor, but the park hands out only 100 free permits a day, first come, first served. The stairs down have over 1,000 steps, and you’ll feel every one on the way back up. Still, that’s easy compared to Karl Wallenda, who crossed the gorge on a tightrope in 1970 and did two headstands along the way!

10. Cumberland Island, Georgia

Cumberland Island is a wild barrier island off Georgia’s southern coast where feral horses wander through the ruins of a Gilded Age mansion. You can only get there by boat, with a 45-minute ferry leaving from St. Marys. With no bridge, no stores and a cap on daily visitors, it feels like a private island you somehow got invited to.

I recommend heading straight for the Dungeness Ruins, the old Carnegie mansion, where the horses often graze. They’re the only unmanaged feral herd on the Atlantic coast, and the park asks you to stay at least 50 feet back. After that, follow a sandy trail through the oak forest to an empty beach that seems to go on forever.

Plan ahead, because ferries fill up and the island has held visitors to about 300 a day for decades. A new park plan could open up more space over time, though nothing has changed for 2027 yet. Bring everything you need, from snacks to sunscreen, and budget for the ferry plus a $15 park fee per adult.

11. Outer Banks, North Carolina

Rent a 4×4 for this trip, because my favorite beach here doesn’t have a road. The Outer Banks is a chain of barrier islands off North Carolina, and north of the town of Corolla, the pavement simply ends. Drive onto the sand and you’ll find wild horses wandering between beach houses, though you need to stay 50 feet away, since petting or feeding them can earn you a $500 fine.

The islands have another claim to fame. In 1903, the Wright brothers made the first powered flight from a dune in Kill Devil Hills, and you can stand on the spot at their national memorial. For a hands-on version, book a beginner hang gliding lesson at Jockey’s Ridge, home to the tallest sand dunes on the East Coast. It’s the reason the Outer Banks makes my list of unique places to visit in the Southeast USA, because where else can you learn to fly where flight began?

One heads-up if you’re a lighthouse fan. The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is closed for climbing during restoration, with no confirmed reopening for 2027. Bodie Island Lighthouse is open for climbs from late April to mid-October, and I advise booking your slot online before you go.

12. Lookout Mountain, Tennessee

If you’ve driven through the South, you’ve probably seen a barn roof painted with three words, “See Rock City.” Lookout Mountain is where those barns were pointing, a ridge rising over Chattanooga on the Tennessee and Georgia line. Rock City sits on top, and a sign painter named Clark Byers once covered about 900 barns in 19 states with its ads.

What makes the mountain unique is how much old-school roadside fun it packs in. Rock City’s trails squeeze between giant boulders to a lookout where, on a clear day, the park says you can see seven states. Underground, Ruby Falls is a 145-foot waterfall inside a cave, reached by elevator. Then there’s the Incline Railway, which climbs a mile up the mountainside at a 72.7% grade, the steepest in North America.

I recommend buying tickets online before you go, because Ruby Falls only sells them online and the Incline now limits daily riders. For a holiday trip, Rock City’s Enchanted Garden of Lights is on from November 13 to December 31, 2026, with extra dates starting January 1, 2027. History fans can also pay $10 to visit Point Park, where Civil War soldiers fought the Battle Above the Clouds.

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