Tennessee
Memphis is where American music was born and remade, a river city on the bluffs of the Mississippi where the blues came up from the Delta to Beale Street, Sam Phillips recorded a teenage Elvis Presley in a tiny storefront studio on Union Avenue, and Stax Records gave the world Southern soul from an old cinema in Soulsville.
It is also one of the most important places in the story of civil rights: the Lorraine Motel, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968, is now the National Civil Rights Museum, one of the most powerful museums in the country. A first visit mixes the headline pilgrimages, from the Jungle Room at Graceland to the microphone at Sun Studio, with nights of live blues on Beale, the twice-daily march of the Peabody ducks and plates of dry-rub ribs and fried chicken. This guide books the tickets worth booking, from Graceland and Sun Studio to Stax and the Rock ’n’ Soul Museum, flags the days museums close and the Thanksgiving shutdowns, and shows how to fit downtown, South Main and Whitehaven into a first trip.
Elvis Presley’s Graceland
Elvis Presley’s home in Whitehaven, with an audio-guided mansion tour narrated by John Stamos, the Meditation Garden, a huge entertainment complex of museums across the boulevard and his two custom airplanes. Open daily except Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.
Sun Studio
The tiny Union Avenue storefront where Sam Phillips recorded Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and the first rock ’n’ roll records, with a 40-minute guided tour that ends in the working studio itself. Open daily.
National Civil Rights Museum
A powerful museum built around the Lorraine Motel, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968, tracing the struggle for civil rights in America from slavery to today. Closed Tuesdays on its regular schedule.
Stax Museum of American Soul Music
The home of Southern soul in Soulsville USA, on the site of the Stax Records studio where Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Booker T. and the M.G.’s and the Staple Singers recorded, with costumes, instruments and a dance floor.
Elvis Presley’s home in Whitehaven, with an audio-guided mansion tour narrated by John Stamos, the Meditation Garden, a huge entertainment complex of museums across the boulevard and his two custom airplanes. Open daily except Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.
The tiny Union Avenue storefront where Sam Phillips recorded Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and the first rock ’n’ roll records, with a 40-minute guided tour that ends in the working studio itself. Open daily.
A powerful museum built around the Lorraine Motel, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968, tracing the struggle for civil rights in America from slavery to today. Closed Tuesdays on its regular schedule.
The home of Southern soul in Soulsville USA, on the site of the Stax Records studio where Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Booker T. and the M.G.’s and the Staple Singers recorded, with costumes, instruments and a dance floor.
The best overview of Memphis music, on the FedExForum plaza at Beale Street, telling the story from Delta sharecroppers to Sun and Stax with an audio guide of more than 100 songs. Open daily.
FreeThe Home of the Blues, three neon-lit blocks of live-music clubs, barbecue joints and street performers in downtown Memphis, free to walk, with a small security fee on select weekend and holiday nights.
FreeThe most charming tradition in Memphis: every day at 11:00 and 17:00, a team of mallards marches along a red carpet to and from the marble fountain in the grand lobby of The Peabody hotel, led by the Duckmaster.
A lively guided music history tour on a vintage-style bus from Beale Street, with a live musician on board, passing Sun Studio, Lauderdale Courts, the Peabody, Handy Park and St. Jude, with an option to add Sun Studio or Stax admission.
A three-hour guided walking food tour of downtown Memphis with tastings at several local restaurants, from barbecue to a classic burger and dessert, starting in the lobby of a Beale Street hotel. Gratuities included.
A 90-minute evening walking tour of downtown’s haunted history, from the Orpheum Theatre to the former brothel of Earnestine and Hazel’s on South Main, starting on Beale Street.
Hotels we would book ourselves, from splurges to good-value bases.
$$$$Downtown (Union Avenue)
The grand hotel of the South since 1925, home of the famous marching ducks, with 463 rooms freshly remodeled in 2025, the fine-dining Chez Philippe, an indoor pool, a spa and a block’s walk to Beale Street.
Rates on Expedia →
$$$South Main Arts District
A stylish 123-room hotel in a restored century-old railway station on South Main, with neon track signs, a curated vinyl collection and DJ sets, the 8 and Sand restaurant and bar, and the Civil Rights Museum a five-minute walk away.
Rates on Expedia →
$$$Riverfront (Memphis Pyramid)
The most unusual hotel in Memphis, with 103 rooms, treehouses and cabins set inside the giant Pyramid among indoor cypress trees and a swamp with alligators, plus bowling, restaurants and a skyline lookout.
Rates on Expedia →
$$Whitehaven (Graceland)
The official Graceland hotel, a short walk from the mansion, with 450 rooms, 19 specialty suites designed under Priscilla Presley’s supervision, a 464-seat theater, nightly Elvis films and shuttles to downtown and Beale Street.
Rates on Expedia →
$$Downtown (Beale Street)
The best-value base on Beale Street, a 144-room hotel one minute from the clubs and two minutes from FedExForum, with a free hot breakfast, an indoor pool and the meeting point of the downtown food tour in its lobby.
Rates on Expedia →The practical primer for a first visit to Memphis: how many days to plan, what to book ahead from Graceland to the food tour, November 2026 hours and Thanksgiving closures, getting around, and where Graceland, Sun Studio, the Civil Rights Museum and Beale Street fit.
How to choose your base in Memphis, from the grand Peabody and a value hotel on Beale Street to a music-themed railway station on South Main, treehouse rooms inside the Pyramid and the official Graceland hotel.
