TOP 15 best attractions in Memphis

What is it?
Number one of all the tourist attractions in Memphis, a haunt for admirers of the King of Rock'n'Roll since 1982, when the private home of Elvis Presley was open to the public.

Why should you go?
To get a glimpse of Elvis' family life beyond the public eye in his mansion and annexes. Start from the iconic gate, shaped like a sheet music book, and learn how he lived here with his wife Priscilla and daughter Lisa Marie for twenty years. Walk through the spacious kitchen and pool room and gaze at the storied bizarre decor, such as the carpeted ceiling and waterfall of the jungle room, his beloved Hawaii away from Hawaii. To round up, or if you wish to leave out the whole mansion experience, visit the Meditation Garden where Elvis is buried – it's free in the early morning.

Perfect for
Families, couples, history buffs, music lovers

What is it?
A sprawling museum on the civil rights movement, located in and around the infamous motel where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968.

Why should you go?
To experience five centuries of painful African-Americans oppression and civil rights struggles in the United States and explore Dr. King's life and activism. From slavery to freedom, the fully immersive Museum highlights milestone events of the civil rights movement, like the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott and lunch counter sit-ins of the 1960s via arresting and moving artifacts.

Sneak into room 306, where MLK stayed during his fateful trip to Memphis and was killed on April 4, 1968. On the balcony with a white wreath on the railing, the exact assassination place, pay homage to Dr. King and other victims of injustice who pushed national civil rights forward.

Perfect for
Families, couples, history buffs

What is it?
A recording studio where a King-to-be young Elvis Presley was discovered by Sam Phillips, the founder of Sun Studio, a true rock'n'roll landmark.

Why you should go?
To get inside the actual 'birthplace of rock'n'roll' and hold the original Shure 55 microphone used by the King of Rock'n'Roll. Still a working studio, Sun has a story to tell since the early days of the recording business in the 1950s and many legends put on the charts. Elvis' first single That's All Right was recorded here in 1954.

Unlike the Graceland interiors, the studio's workroom is basic yet keeps the energy of the music created here and the original equipment. This is where recording sessions took place, and Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins once got together to perform as the Million Dollar Quartet.

Perfect for
Families, couples, history buffs, music lovers

What is it?
A museum dedicated to American soul music and soul artists, including those who recorded with the Memphis-based iconic Stax Records label, like Rufus Thomas or Jean Knight.

Why should you go?
To witness, listen, and dance to the history of the American soul, co-created by Stax Records. They symbolically relocated a church from the rural Mississippi Delta, so you can get where soul was born from gospel music just inside the museum. As a mix of black and white artists who pioneered soul music, Stax experienced the civil rights movement reflecting its operations, and you will see how.

How's that about a floor-to-ceiling display of the albums and singles released from 1957 to 1975? You can dance to the Stax tracks at the Soul Train TV show dance floor and then marvel at Isaac Hayes' custom Cadillac Eldorado with its fur inside and 24-carat gold outside.

Perfect for
Families, couples, history buffs, music lovers

What is it?
A fully interactive small museum dedicated to presenting the little-known history of blues, modern and run by The Blues Foundation that inducts artists into the Blues Hall of Fame.

Why should you go?
For newcomers, to meet famous blues performers, and for blues aficionados, to deepen their knowledge of the genre via interactive touchscreen displays. You can listen to the hard-to-find singles as you touch and swipe and watch videos while reading about 400 plus inductees into the Hall of Fame.

They include not only musicians, so don't miss interviews with key people in the record industry who provide a curious insight into the history of blues. Private listening booths are showstoppers here. The Museum boasts rare items like Robert Johnson's portrait, one of just two confirmed photos of him, and iconic memorabilia.

Perfect for
Couples, history buffs, music lovers

What is it?
One of Memphis's iconic attractions on Beale Street, a museum that narrates how rock and soul got out into the world and changed it.

Why should you go?
To discover how the title genres were born in the Mighty Mississippi area in the 1930s. A tip: better make it after the Sun Studio and Stax Museum if making them all. Take your individual set and tune into 100 plus songs they featured, while touring with a 300-minute long audio guide.

You are going to trace major labels' formative years up to the Memphis music industry heyday in the 1970s and sense the context. Smithsonian-designed displays include impressive dozens of stage outfits, musical instruments played by the star musicians, and artifacts like the original typed lyrics to "Heartbreak Hotel". When done with the in-depth exhibition, take this audio tour to walk around Memphis and discover other famous places and sites beyond (and along, too) Beale street.

Perfect for
Families, couples, history buffs, music lovers

What is it?
The largest and oldest art museum in Tennessee, located in Overton Park.

Why should you go?
To see paintings depicting rural America by Carroll Cloar, the most famous painter of the American South, who would illustrate President Clinton's inauguration poster in 1993 with his 1966 painting. Apart from Cloar, discover diverse artworks, from ancient to contemporary, featuring Canaletto, Winslow Homer, and Manet.

A more recent focus on African American art acquisitions is made to expand the black audience and attract black people from Memphis. After the art-looking, stroll the Park to find Levitt Shell, where Elvis Presley performed his first paid concert.

Perfect for
Families, couples, art lovers, history buffs

What is it?
A zoo in Memphis, located in Overton Park, and one of the three zoos across the U.S. to have giant pandas.

Why should you go?
To meet giant panda Ya Ya who arrived from China in 2003 and now renews her loan contract every ten years. Being graced with the half-century panda diplomacy between China and the United States, Memphis Zoo also hosts much talked about multi-million dollar exhibits of wild cats enjoying their 4-acre designer lodging outdoors.

All-time family favorites include African expats like giraffes, rhinos, and elephants who soak in their private pool to fit a creature that large. See grizzlies fishing and black bears walking their grand premises, inspired by Yellowstone National Park. Explore enclosures where other residents live and choose an animal that you or your cub, or your kid would like to encounter.

Perfect for
Families, couples, children

What is it?
A 96-acre botanic garden, divided into 30 specialty gardens, each devoted to different flowers and plants, activities, and terrain.

Why should you go?
To connect with Southern nature and recharge under the lush foliage and amidst the bloom. The Garden's birthplace in 1953, the Iris garden is a popular wedding and date site for couples to linger in. My Big Backyard is an inventive playground for a fun family outing in nature, created and planted with a sense of whimsy for adults and little kids alike to enjoy playing at.

There are sixteen different themed areas to do that. In the photogenic Japanese garden, meet the koi fish and the Canadian geese who become territorial when hatching and guarding the nest, so be aware.

Perfect for
Families, couples, children

What is it?
A museum that reveals an obscure story of enslaved escapees running away through a secret passage under German immigrant Jacob Burkle's home, a short ride from downtown Memphis.

Why should you go?
To discover how the so-called underground railway would operate and how refugees would communicate between each other and 'conductors.' In the mid-1800s, ' king cotton' reigned and ruled Memphis, and cotton fields demanded free labor, making it the largest slave-trading city in Tennessee. Escaping from Southern states, enslaved people would follow the actual route through free states from Maine to Iowa and northwards, supported by a network of activists like Jacob Burkle. The Museum shows you how they would get ready for a liberation journey in the haven of this home and its basement.

Perfect for
Families, couples, history buffs

What is it?
A small but informative museum located in the ornate Memphis Cotton Exchange building, built in 1922, presents Memphis as a global cotton trade hub far back in time.

Why should you go?
To explore Memphis' thriving cotton industry of the past, from field to commodity exchange and then to the Southern culture. The Memphis Cotton Exchange was to the global cotton economy of the 1920s what the NYSE is to the global economy today. While you explore its historic trading floor restored to what it was in the heyday, see how blues was born in the Mississippi Delta cotton fields alongside the 'white gold,' or the cotton itself, and how cotton tycoons made their fortunes and history. Children will enjoy learning about 'king cotton' via hands-on exhibits.

Perfect for
Families, couples, children, history buffs

What is it?
A museum that holds a dazzling collection of decorative arts from Asian countries, particularly from China, and a contemporary Jewish art exhibit in an unlikely downtown office building.

Why should you go?
To discover exquisite and intricately carved jade and ivory objects ranging in size from a miniature bonsai tree to monumental horses and ships weighing several tons, all of them with every tiny detail distinct.

Don't miss pottery from the powerful Ming dynasty, blue and white, spanning three centuries of their reign in medieval China. In the Judaic art section, see artworks by Jerusalem-based artists, like panels and sculptures depicting Biblical scenes and large-scale paintings on Holocaust and the Israeli nation's revival.

Perfect for
Families, couples, history buffs

What is it?
A playground pretending to be a museum for kids with a wide range of interactive and hands-on exhibits.

Why should you go?
To explore cool things to do, play with, throw, scan, cook, plant, climb, collect, climb, build, repair, and whatnot by pre-teens. Apart from the gigantic children's blocks at the entrance, spelling the Museum's name, all the attractions inside are kids-sized and perfectly geared towards them.

The exhibits here recreate familiar environments like a grocery store and kitchen and surprising ones like a real-life FedEx cockpit to foster interactive learning, role-playing, and cooperation between fellow players. You can still join them for a ride at the Grand Carousel, built in 1909 and restored to amuse little ones and their grown-ups.

Perfect for
Families, children

What is it?
Decorated man-made caves in an unlikely place, which is Memorial Park, a Memphis' nonsectarian cemetery grounds.

Why should you go?
To take in the oddly-looking subterranean artistry of the Grotto created by Mexican artist Dionicio Rodriguez and completed with piped harp music. With its Biblical scenes depictions inlaid with illuminated quartz crystals, it resembles a quirky Christian theme park. Above the ground, see the surprisingly lifelike Broken Tree Bench and Abrahams Oak sculptures by the same artist.

Memorial Park was conceived as a cemetery with no tombstones over graves. Yet, some are marked, and you can make your way to the graves of Sam Phillips, the founder and sound designer of Sun Studio, and Isaac Hayes.

Perfect for
Families, couples, history buffs

What is it?
An art museum famous for works by mostly French and also American impressionists, assembled by a couple of local philanthropists, Margaret and Hugo Dixon.

Why should you go?
To behold vibrant paintings by French masters like Monet, Degas, and Pissarro, and the ones by American nomads like Singer Sargent. As for sculptures, see Rodin's works and Gamin, the best-known sculpture by Augusta Savage, an influential black woman artist to be a part of the Harlem Renaissance in 20th century New York City.

Aesthetes will delight in a decorative art collection featuring 19th-century Meissen tableware and figures. Be surprised that George Washington's profile made it not only to many monuments across the U.S. but also to ice-cream molds. Try and find his pewter rendition! Once done, venture out to the English landscape gardens to see sculptures and a conservatory.

Perfect for
Families, couples, history buffs