Last updated August 13, 2026 · Editorial policy
Things to Do in Memphis, TN: What Is Actually Worth Your Time
Quick answer: This is an honest look at Memphis, TN: which popular attraction to think twice about, what to do with that time instead, and the spot most visitors never reach.
Graceland is the attraction most people overpay for. The Elvis Experience runs around $85 per adult and funnels you through a shuttle, an audio guide, and a sprawling Entertainment Complex of gift shops before you reach the mansion. If you want the real origin story, drive to Sun Studio instead, where the guided tour costs about $15 and you stand in the room where Elvis, Johnny Cash, and Howlin’ Wolf cut early records. It delivers more music history per dollar than anything on Elvis Presley Boulevard.
The pick most visitors skip is the Stax Museum of American Soul Music in the Soulsville neighborhood, built on the original Stax Records site. It is quieter, cheaper, and far more revealing about how Memphis actually shaped American sound than the Beale Street crowds suggest.
Two planning moves save real time:
- The National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel (around $25) is closed Tuesdays, so do not build that day around it.
- The Peabody Memphis duck march is genuinely free and runs daily at about 11am and 5pm in the lobby at 149 Union Avenue.
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John Morrison is the founder and lead travel writer at Packzup. Over the past decade he has explored destinations across Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Oceania — always self-funded, never on a press trip.
