Things to do in Memphis
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Memphis
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Spring is best, with mild weather and the festival peak including Memphis in May.
Summer is hot and humid. Do outdoors at dawn, museums at midday and Beale at night.
Fall is best and the locals favourite, with cooler weather and perfect barbecue crawl conditions.
Winter is quiet and cheap, good for museums and food, with few outdoor festivals.
What's on
- Beale Street Music Festival first weekend of May
Memphis in May kickoff at Tom Lee Park with four stages from blues to hip hop.
- World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest mid-May
Hundreds of teams compete. Much of it is private tents, so the public draw is the spectacle and vendors.
- Africa in April April
Spring festival filling the shoulder of the Memphis in May season.
- Elvis Week mid-August
Graceland pilgrimage week, with the candlelight vigil on 15 August. Book everything far ahead.
- FedEx St. Jude Championship August
PGA Tour playoffs at TPC Southwind.
- Cooper Young Festival September
One of the city biggest street festivals, in Midtown.
- Starry Nights at Shelby Farms winter season
Drive through holiday lights at Shelby Farms Park.
Best things to do in Memphis
National Civil Rights Museum
The essential Memphis stop, built around the Lorraine Motel, tracing the civil rights movement with real depth.
Sun Studio
Stand in the small room where Elvis, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis recorded, on a guided tour full of stories.
Stax Museum of American Soul Music
The soul counterpart to Sun, with Isaac Hayes gold Cadillac, a recreated studio and the Soul Train dance floor.
Graceland
Elvis Presley home and wider complex of cars, planes and costumes, affecting even for non devotees.
Beale Street
Three blocks of historic blues clubs best done at night, picking one serious room and staying for live music.
The Peabody Memphis
Watch the Peabody ducks march to the lobby fountain at 11am and 5pm, then stay for a drink in the Grand Lobby.
Memphis Rock 'n' Soul Museum
A Smithsonian affiliated primer on sharecroppers, radio and race that makes Sun and Stax land harder.
Blues Hall of Fame Museum
Small hall honouring individual blues inductees with artefacts and listening, across from Rock n Soul.
Where to stay in Memphis
Downtown / South Main
first trip, all-round base
Walk to Beale, the Orpheum, FedExForum, the Civil Rights Museum and the riverfront, the only base for a full evening without a car.
Midtown / Overton Square and Cooper-Young
repeat visitors, longer stays, local Memphis
Walk to Overton Square dining and theatre and the Shell, with a short drive to the Zoo, Crosstown and Downtown.
East Memphis / Poplar Ave corridor
families with a car, business, safety-first travellers
Peaceful chain hotels near Shelby Farms with easy parking and driving everywhere, but no walk to dinner neighbourhood feel.
Think twice about
- Whitehaven / Graceland area (Elvis Presley Blvd)
High crime area around the Graceland complex. Visit Graceland in the morning, do not walk around after dark, and do not book the cheap motels on Elvis Presley Blvd.
- South Memphis including Soulsville and Orange Mound
No visitor hotel stock worth the name, higher violent crime rates and nothing walkable at night. Stax is a drive in, drive out visit.
- Frayser / North Memphis and the airport / American Way corridor
Flagged as high crime with no visitor upside. Cheap airport area rooms are a false economy for a leisure trip.
Best restaurants in Memphis
Payne's Bar-B-Que
A no frills converted gas station serving the chopped pork sandwich with hot mustard slaw pilgrims travel for.
Central BBQ
The consensus all round barbecue pick, with dry rub ribs, smoked wings and famous barbecue pork nachos.
Cozy Corner
Charcoal grilled barbecue since 1977, famous for Cornish game hen, rib tips and barbecue spaghetti.
Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken
Spicy, shatter crisp, cayenne forward fried chicken with white bread, pickles, greens and chess pie.
The Bar-B-Q Shop
A proper sit down pit claiming the original barbecue spaghetti, with excellent glazed ribs.
Interstate Bar-B-Q
Jim Neely family institution since 1979 for mixed plates and sauce, easy to pair with a Graceland morning.
Amelia Gene's
Downtown finest dining room right now, with dry aged strip, Rohan duck and a signature seven layer carrot cake.
Catherine & Mary's
Southern inflected Italian date night room in the Chisca building, known for rigatoni with Maw Maws gravy.
Outdoor things to do in Memphis
Shelby Farms Park
A huge urban park for kayaking Hyde Lake, trails, the buffalo herd and Go Ape ropes and ziplines.
Shelby Farms Greenline
A paved rail trail from Midtown to Shelby Farms, shaded under oak canopy with few road crossings.
Big River Crossing
Walk or cycle the Harahan Bridge across the Mississippi to Arkansas and back, ideally at sunset.
Tom Lee Park
A redesigned riverfront lawn with sculpture, play and sunset views over the Mississippi and barges below.
Mississippi River Expeditions
Guided canoe trips on the vast Mississippi, with sandbars and islands minutes from Downtown. Never go unguided.
Ghost River Rentals
Paddle the shaded, cypress Ghost River section of the Wolf River, calmer than the Mississippi and full of birdlife.
Mirimichi Golf Course
The visitor round to book, a long public championship layout with deep bunkers, streams and lakes.
The Links at Audubon
Municipal golf with a large practice range and six hole short course, good for warm up or twilight play.
Best hotels in Memphis
The Peabody Memphis
The Grand Hotel of the South, with the Grand Lobby, rooftop ducks, Chez Philippe and a spa.
River Inn of Harbor Town
A small elegant riverfront inn with Paulettes restaurant, the quiet luxury pick for couples near Downtown.
The Memphian, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel
The Midtown boutique Memphians recommend, in Overton Square with a rooftop bar and walkable dining.
Hyatt Centric Beale Street Memphis
The only hotel actually on Beale, with a rooftop pool and the Downtown core on foot.
Canopy by Hilton Memphis Downtown
A modern Hilton two blocks from Beale, a solid mid range base for walking the Downtown core.
ARRIVE Memphis
The design forward Downtown pick by the Civil Rights Museum end of South Main.
Hotel Napoleon
A small, quiet boutique option in Downtown, walkable to Beale and the riverfront.
The Guest House at Graceland
A large secured Elvis themed resort across from the mansion, only for a Graceland focused stay.
Is Memphis expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | $85 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | $165 a person |
| Splurge | $350 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Sun Studio: a few days ahead
- Graceland: weeks ahead
- FedExForum: a few days ahead
- Orpheum Theatre: a few days ahead
- Shelby Farms Park: a few days ahead
- Mississippi River Expeditions: weeks ahead
- Mirimichi Golf Course: a few days ahead
- Amelia Gene's: weeks ahead
- Book Graceland timed tickets direct, days ahead in season and weeks ahead for Elvis Week.
- Book weekend dinners at Amelia Genes, Catherine and Marys and Andrew Michael early.
- Book Go Ape, Mississippi river expeditions, Orpheum Broadway shows and marquee Grizzlies games ahead.
- Book hotels months ahead for Memphis in May, Elvis Week and FedEx St. Jude Championship week.
Is Memphis safe?
- Stay on Beale, Main, Union and Second at night and rideshare back to your hotel after midnight.
- Do not walk around Stax, the streets around Graceland or South Memphis at night. Visit by car in daylight.
- Car break ins are the main visitor risk. Leave nothing visible and use secure garages.
- Avoid dark, empty Downtown side streets and surface lots, and use the buddy system on Beale.
Memphis travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Eating serious ribs at the Rendezvous or dinner on Beale instead of at Central, Cozy Corner or Paynes.
- Sleeping in Whitehaven to be close to Elvis and driving to everything else from there.
- Giving the National Civil Rights Museum only an hour between Beale and barbecue.
- Treating Bass Pro Shops at the Pyramid as a day out. It is about 45 minutes.
- Judging Beale Street in daytime. It is a night street.
Getting around Memphis: public transport and more
- Downtown, South Main, Beale and the riverfront are walkable. Everything else needs a car or rideshare.
- Rent a car for trips of three days or more and for Shelby Farms, Meeman-Shelby and barbecue crawls.
- Park in hotel or secure garages Downtown and keep nothing visible in the car anywhere in Memphis.
- Memphis International is about 15 minutes from Downtown by car. There is no useful airport rail.
Who Memphis suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Great |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Good |
Make Memphis your trip
Swearby drafts the days from places people swear by. Swap any stop, then invite the crew by text, even friends without the app. Vote on dates, track costs as you go, and everyone gets one number at the end.
Get Swearby on the App Store