Must see attractions in Memphis

  • Top Choice

    Graceland

    If you only make one stop in Memphis, it should be here: the sublimely kitschy, gloriously bizarre home of the King of Rock and Roll. Though born in…

  • Top Choice

    Sun Studio

    This dusty storefront is ground zero for American rock and roll. Starting in the early 1950s, Sun's Sam Phillips recorded blues artists such as Howlin'…

  • Top Choice

    National Civil Rights Museum

    Housed partly inside the Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King Jr was fatally shot on April 4, 1968, is the gut-wrenching National Civil Rights Museum…

  • Top Choice

    Stax Museum of American Soul Music

    Wanna get funky? Head directly to Soulsville, USA, where this 17,000-sq-ft museum sits on the site of the old Stax recording studio. This venerable spot…

  • Elvis Presley's Memphis

    Graceland's new $45-million, 200,000-sq-ft state-of-the-art entertainment complex is five times the size of the old visitor center. Highlights include…

  • Memphis Pyramid

    Don't laugh, but the most striking building in Memphis, a 32-story pyramid completed in 1991, is now home to an enormous Bass Pro Shop. Even if you don't…

  • Memphis Music Hall of Fame

    It was a long time coming, but Memphis finally has a shrine to its own. This small but well-done museum, the sister gallery to the Memphis Rock 'n' Soul…

  • Full Gospel Tabernacle Church

    On Sunday, put on your 'smell goods' and head to services in South Memphis, where soul-music legend turned reverend Al Green presides over a powerful…

  • B

    Blues Hall of Fame

    Dedicated to Blues Hall of Fame inductees, this intimate and well-done space features a rotating art gallery on the lobby level and a small but well…

  • W

    Withers Collection Museum

    Featuring content culled from a 1.8-million-strong photo archive, this museum and gallery pays tribute to the work of famed African American…

  • M

    Memphis Rock 'n' Soul Museum

    This Smithsonian museum, next to FedEx Forum, examines how African American and white music mingled in the Mississippi Delta to create the modern rock and…

  • W

    WC Handy House Museum

    On the corner of 4th St, this shotgun shack once belonged to the composer called the 'father of the blues.' He was the first to transpose the 12 bars and…

  • M

    Mud Island

    A small peninsula jutting into the Mississippi, Mud Island is downtown Memphis' best-loved green space. Walk across the bridge to the park, where you can…

  • C

    Children's Museum of Memphis

    Give the kids a chance to let loose and play in, on and with exhibits such as an airplane cockpit or an earthquake 'shake' table at this museum targeted…

  • M

    Mississippi River Museum

    Pop in here to learn a little bit more about the cultural and natural history of the Big Muddy. Be sure to check out the scale model of the lower…

  • B

    Brooks Museum of Art

    At this well-regarded art museum on Overton Park's western fringe, the excellent permanent collection encompasses everything from Renaissance sculpture to…

  • L

    Levitt Shell

    A historic band shell and the site of Elvis' first concert in 1954. Today the mod-looking white shell hosts free concerts in summer and fall.

  • E

    Elvis Statue

    The world's first bronze Elvis statue was erected in this small plaza in 1980.