Recently, a friend was visiting Memphis, TN and invited me along for a weekend of fun, culture, and music. We had a great time exploring all the city had to offer!
Beale Street in Downtown Memphis runs almost 2 miles from the Mississippi River to East Street. It’s significant to the history of the city and the history of blues. Today it’s filled with blues clubs and restaurants, making it a major tourist attraction in the city. The Rock ‘n Soul Hall of Fame has a self-guided walking tour of Beale Street and for $10 you get a map and a hand-held headset device that gives you directions to go to a particular spot, type in a number and hear some interesting tidbits of history or of cultural significance to that location. It was a lot of fun to do and we learned so much more about the area and buildings than we would have just walked on our own. And, as you can see, we especially enjoyed the many painted guitars that lined Beale Street!
Cost: $10 (Self-guided Tour)
While we didn’t make it out to Graceland, we did get to see a statue of The King along Beale Street. Interesting story: this is actually the 2nd Elvis statue here. The first depicted Elvis in his later years, wearing one of his fringed costumes. Well, so many tourists broke off the fringe pieces as a souvenir that the city finally moved the statue indoors to the Memphis Tennessee Welcome Center to protect it from further damage and replaced it with this statue of Elvis, depicting him as he would have been about the time he was playing the clubs along Beale Street, circa 1955.
The Lorraine Motel in Memphis is the location of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in 1968. Now the home of the National Civil Rights Museum, it maintains the rooms Dr. King and his colleagues were staying in on that fateful trip (Room 306 and 307) and traces the history of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. Exhibits are dedicated to many iconic moments in history, including Rosa Parks’ bus ride, a replica burning Greyhound Bus of the Freedom Riders, and an original lunch counter of the student sit-ins in 1961. It’s a powerful, educational, and moving experience. I highly recommend spending a few hours here.
Cost: $15
The downtown area is filled with many beautiful buildings and parks. There is also a trolley that runs on 3 different routes throughout the area. For $1 a ride (or $3.50 a day), you can ride the trolley as you explore the city.
Cost: $2 (two rides @ $1/each)
The photo in the upper right shows the Memphis Pyramid – originally the University of Memphis Men’s Basketball Arena it’s now a Bass Pro Shop. In addition to selling outdoor gear and sporting goods, it also houses the Big Cypress Lodge, Ducks Unlimited Waterfowling Heritage Center, an archery and pistol range, and a 28-story freestanding elevator with a glass observation deck at the top. This photo of the skyline of Memphis and the Mississippi River was taken from the Observation Deck.
Cost: $10 (Ticket to The Lookout Observation Deck)
Want to feel like a kid again? Be sure to stop by the Peabody Hotel and watch the ducks! Twice a day the ducks parade thru the lobby – in the morning to get down to the fountain, and in the afternoon to go back to their ‘home’ for the night. We were there in the afternoon, so watched them walk the red carpet and get on the elevator. Be sure to get there early, as people start lining up about an hour prior to the parade!
Cost: FREE
Memphis has many gorgeous murals painted throughout the city – I especially liked these:
One of my favorite surprises in our visit was the Dixon Gallery and Gardens. A museum dedicated to American and French Impressionist & Post-Impressionist art. Including the Rodin statue Three Shades at the entrance and the Chagall seen below, it also houses a 600 piece Stout Collection of 18th-century German porcelain, which is surprisingly quite interesting and very beautiful. The grounds cover 17 acres and are filled with statues, flowers, fountains, and even a perfumery. It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon.
Cost $7
You can’t go to Memphis and not experience music, somewhere, somehow. In our case, we elected to spend the evening at the Beale Street Music Festival! We experienced 4 stages of music (24 groups performed the night we were there, including Kings of Leon, X Ambassadors, and Death Cab for Cutie!), and rows of food, drink, and art vendors. Located at the bottom of Beale Street at Tom Lee Park along the Mississippi River, we saw a beautiful sunset while enjoying the music into the night.
Cost: $57
There are so many things to do in Memphis! Here is a recap of where we went, other places we could have gone:
… and how much I spent for the weekend:
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** This post is dedicated to my cousin, Christopher Gallagher. **
Note: all links are for your convenience only, I am not an affiliate of any company and do not make money off recommending them. I just want to make it easy for you to find them if you’re interested!
Love this, and can’t believe you fit so much in two days! Especially a festival – festivals are my favorite and I would love to see one in Memphis!
The festival was a great experience – very well organized from what I could see!
Memphis is a great getaway! I have done graceland, beale street, the peabody! its such a great spot!
We missed Graceland, but I would really love to see it next time!!
We did a roadtrip last year through the states and missed Memphis, and now I am wishing we didn’t!
What a great itinerary for next time!
Sorry you missed it, hope you get a chance to go back!
I’ve always wanted to visit Tennessee! Between Memphis and Nashville, looks like I’ll have a great time that won’t break the bank!
Yes, there are definitely ways to see both and stay on your budget! (And, I do have a post on my visit to Nashville you could check out for more ideas!!)
Very informative! Appreciate that you included all the prices! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!
I haven’t been to Memphis yet, it looks amazing, adding it to my list, thanks for the tips!
You’re welcome!
Memphis looks like a great town and I can’t believe you did it for so little money, including the festival!
Thanks! It was a lot of fun to visit Memphis!
To be honest, I never looked into visiting Memphis before and it looks amazing. Great read and great tips on saving money here (which us Brits need at the moment when visiting the states – it has got a whole lot expensive for us. Ugh)
I had never really given it much thought either but a friend was going so I tagged along and as you can see, ended up having a great time! Always interesting to see where the dollar (or, in your case the pound) is going to be a better exchange when traveling.
I’ve always wanted to go to Memphis, but so far, we haven’t made it down that far. I’ve heard of the Peabody ducks, as well as the amazing restaurants in the area. I think I would skip the music festival and go during the off season so I wouldn’t have to deal with the crowds.
The Peabody Ducks were such a touristy thing, but also so adorable! I don’t usually go to music festivals for the exact same reason – big crowds aren’t my favorite. Luckily we found a spot to hang out near the edge of the crowd but still had a great sight line to the stage!
We’re always down for inexpensive travel, and Memphis seems like an affordable destination! The National Civil Rights Museum would be a must for us, as we area always looking to teach our kids about equality and justice.
The experience at the National Civil Rights Museum definitely left an impact, obviously because of the subject matter but I was also really impressed with how they laid out the museum and information. I think there are certainly ways to appreciate it at any age and it’s a great options for families!
I haven’t been to Memphis yet, but it sounds amazing. I’d love to check out the National Civil Rights museum as well as all the amazing street art dotted throughout the city. Thanks for adding an itinerary as well as the cost breakdown – super helpful.
The National Civil Rights Museum was stunning! I wish we had more time there and I would definitely go back again.
2 days in Memphis and that which includes a music festival sounds very affordable trip. I never thought of such an affordable budget friendly destination. 3.50$ dollar ride for 1 day sounds like awesome trip. I would surely enjoy those colorful murals.
The murals were so much fun! I absolutely loved seeing them all.
Well, Memphis for sure became famous thanks to Elvis. I would really love to visit this place one day, he was one of the most iconic artists of the past centuries. But the town itself is really nice as well.
Yes, Elvis was a big part of Memphis’ history and culture! I didn’t make it to Graceland this visit, but you can still feel his influence throughout the town.
Memphis comes across as a rocking place to catch up on art and music. The presence of Elvis Presley seems to hang like an aura over the city. Would love to visit Beale Street and my interest is also highly piqued with your account and pictures of the Dixon Gallery and Museums. Hope to get to Memphis someday.
Memphis definitely is rocking!! Hope you get to visit one day soon!