Well, it would be a mistake to go all the way to Memphis and not take a look at Graceland—just stay clear of the awful tourist trap shops and spend your time in the mansion. I didn’t find much else to do or see in Memphis, but I didn’t look that hard. I stayed one day, but I was doing some serious touring. You may find enough to justify staying longer. Hope you enjoy your trip.

I live near Nashville TN and have been to Memphis several times. spend an evening on Beale Street, eat some good Memphis BBQ in one of the restaurants there (BB King’s is nice) and enjoy that aspect of the city. You probably should check out Graceland, though I myself have never been. Beyond that, there isn’t much to really do here in my opinion. They have a very nice zoo, that has Panda’s, but if you are doing a U.S. tour, your time would likely be better spent elsewhere.

Two or three days is probably plenty, but I could always find a way to fill two or three more days in Memphis.

Graceland is a must, but as suggested earlier, avoid the giftshop. The mansion itself is the thing to see (and maybe the Lisa Marie, Elvis’s private jet). You’ll wait in fewer lines if you show up early. Seriously.

Wander up and down Beale street, once during the day and once at night. Have a mint julep or three at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis-it’s an old school hotel. Catch the ducks there if you really want to. If Mud Island is open, it’s cool. I’ve not been to the Civil Rights Museum, but I want to. The BBQ is awesome-pulled pork is the specialty here. Rondezvous is great if it’s open. I like Neely’s, but other 43er’s have reported bad experiecnes there. If you’re into Falulkner, Oxford, MS isn’t far from Memphis.

Spend enough time here to really soak it all in. Especially the music. Johnny Cash and Elvis both started their careers here. W.C. Handy, father of the blues, lived in Memphis too.

I feel that Memphis is one of a few American cities that helps to explain American culture to non-Americans in ways that NYC and Boston, as wonderful as they are, can’t (but that’s my opinion).

We went on a long weekend. Did Graceland on Friday (weekay crowds), checked out Beale Street on Friday night, checked out the region and the Civil Rights Museum on Saturday, and did a little self-guided “early Elvis tour” on Sunday morning.

Don’t miss the music. Memphis is still a good live music town.

Hello :)

I would say 2 or 3 days at least…downtown is nice (Beale St, Peabody Place), so is midtown
(between interstate 240 and east parkway)avoid south Memphis (unless
you want to go to Graceland) and be sure to check out the zoo…it’s great!
And if you’re into gambling, there are casinos just south of Memphis in Tunica, MS…I worked there for 7 years.

Now I’m homesick…

Have fun and let me know how your trip was!
Cheers!!!

Sorry I’m so late in answering this… but I would definitely say 3 days is a good idea.

Graceland is a must, so much to see there in the mansion and it’s museums. I like the auto display and all of his old movie posters and costumes. Bring a big marker with you to sign the wall too…

Beale Street is great after dark… very lively. During the day it’s rather dead.

Everyone raves about the Rendezvous for ribs – but they are not my favorite. They do “dry” ribs, I like ribs cooked in sweet BBQ sauce better – there was a great place for that on Beale, but I can’t remember the name. At night we went to Rum Jungle for drinks and karaoke, that was fun. If you go to B.B. Kings order the fried pickle appetizer… my mouth is watering just thinking about them! There’s also a Hard Rock Cafe there if you’re a collector.

Sun Studios is a must. It’s small and a short tour, but SO WORTH IT! The history there makes that place musical holy ground. They also have a little sound booth where you can record a karaoke track standing only meters from where Elvis recorded his first song! Plus the cd they give you has a label on it that looks like an old Sun Studios 45.

The Civil Rights Museum is also a must in my opinion. The museum is built into the facade of the old Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. Very interesting. Across the street from there is also a museum that covers the investigation of his death and several conspiracy theories. Very interesting.

We also went to the Rock & Soul museum… none of us enjoyed it much – but that may be because it was the 4th or 5th museum we went to in 2 days. We never made it to Stax – there was a stabbing in front of it the day we were going, so we decided to skip it.

The Gibson guitar factory in Memphis also offers a tour – I HIGHLY recommend it if you’re at all interested in music or how things are made. It’s one of the few tours I’ve been on that actually lets you on the factory floor. Very cool.

As was already pointed out – the casinos in Mississippi are close by as well… and the drive there takes you through cotton fields and stuff, so it gives you a good perspective on our history as well as geography and agriculture.

Lastly – since you are big music lovers… if you are familiar with Jeff Buckley, you can visit the house he lived in where he died, and the bank of the Wolf River where he ventured out to his death, between the shores of Memphis and Mud Island. (That completed my “Morbid Tour of Memphis” with Elvis’ place of death, his gravesite, the Lorraine Motel, Jeff’s house, his place of death and where he washed up on shore… Nice, eh?)... I’m sure there are sites of other tragedies there as well…

On your way down to Memphis make sure you stop through Nashville… not a lot of touristy stuff to do unless you’re in to Country music, but a great city. There’s always great music at a number of venues – and a ton of great local eateries too.