American Dream Trip
Memphis, Tennessee

Road-trip guide · Tennessee

Memphis

A road-trip stop through Tennessee.

Photo via Wikipedia — Memphis, Tennessee

The smell of hickory smoke drifts down the block before you even see the sign for Central BBQ, and that's usually the first clue you're in the right place. Memphis has a way of hitting you through the senses before you've had a chance to read anything about it. Most families passing through carve out a morning at Sun Studio, where you can stand in the same small room where Elvis, Johnny Cash, and Howlin' Wolf recorded in the 1950s — the tour guide will play the original tracks through the same ceiling speakers. A lot of people also make time for the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel, which takes a couple of hours and stays with you. If you're there for lunch or dinner, the debate between Rendezvous (dry-rubbed ribs in a basement on an alley) and Gus's fried chicken (spicy, crispy, no frills) is one worth having with whoever's in the car. For a night's sleep, some travelers book into Big Cypress Lodge inside the Bass Pro Pyramid — yes, it's a hotel inside a giant pyramid with a bowling alley and an alligator pond — while others go with the Peabody downtown, where ducks walk through the lobby twice a day on a red carpet. Memphis rewards the kind of road trip where you slow down for a day, eat too much, and leave with a playlist you didn't have before.

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What travelers do here

Things to do in Memphis

Graceland
Walk across the Big River Crossing pedestrian bridge over the Mississippi
Check into hotel, walk down to Beale Street
Sun Studio
Beale Street live music crawl
Graceland — Elvis Presley's Home
Beale Street
National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel

Overnight

Where travelers stay

Lodging 1

Hotel near Beale Street / downtown Memphis

Lodging 2

The Peabody Memphis

Lodging 3

Book via Trip.com — look for a downtown Memphis hotel near Beale Street

Lodging 4

Trip.com — search Memphis Downtown hotels

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