16 Best Sights in Memphis, Tennessee

Graceland, the estate once owned by Elvis Presley, is 12 miles south of Downtown. A guided tour of the mansion, which Elvis bought in 1957 at age 22, as well as the adjoining automobile museum reveals the spoils of stardom. Graceland might be the only colonial suburban home on record to have a jungle room, a pink Cadillac, and close to 700,000 guests annually. Elvis is buried outside the mansion, and tours conclude with many fans leaving tokens at his gravesite. Reservations are recommended, especially in August during "Elvis Week."

South of Downtown, the motel in which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968 has been transformed into the National Civil Rights Museum, an outstanding facility that documents the civil rights movement through exhibits and clever audiovisual displays.

Chucalissa Archaeological Museum is a reconstruction of a Native American village that existed from AD 1000 to AD 1500. Skilled Choctaw craftspeople fashion jewelry, weapons, and pottery outside the C. H. Nash Museum, which houses historic originals of the same articles.

Relive the days of "King Cotton" in the architectural splendor of the city's cotton trading floor, re-created as it appeared in 1939, when Memphis did a booming business in cotton. Numerous cotton-related artifacts are on display.

FedEx Forum is the home of the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies and University of Memphis Men's Basketball.

Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium is home to University of Memphis football and hosts the NCAA's Liberty Bowl.

In East Memphis, the 96-acre Memphis Botanic Garden has scores of species, from camellias to cacti. The grounds are superbly kept, making this an idyllic getaway.

The Memphis Pink Palace Museum and Planetarium, the converted pink marble mansion of Clarence Saunders, Memphis-based founder of the modern supermarket, houses a mix of natural history and cultural history exhibits, focusing on 20th-century Memphis. A planetarium with lasers and star projectors and an IMAX theater present seasonal shows.

In the shadow of the FedEx Forum just off Beale Street, this museum showcases Memphis as musical mecca, tracing the history of legendary performers who poured into Memphis and made everlasting contributions to blues, rock 'n' roll, and other musical forms. Several jukeboxes give visitors the opportunity to listen to the hits that originated in Memphis.

Overton Park houses the popular 70-acre Memphis Zoo, which includes a 9-acre Cat Country and Primate Canyon. In total, there are about 3,500 animals here, representing over 500 species. Don't miss giant pandas Ya Ya and Le Le. The Northwest Passage features polar bears, seals, and sea lions. The zoo has some nice eateries, shops, fountains, and a farm discovery center.

Memphis begins at the Mississippi River, which is celebrated in a 52-acre river park on Mud Island. A footbridge and monorail at 125 North Front Street get you to the island, where the five-block River Walk replicates the Mississippi's every twist, turn, and sandbar from Cairo, Illinois, to New Orleans, Louisiana. The park also has pedal boat and bicycle rentals and numerous gift shops.

The main house of this museum features displays on slave life and the Underground Railroad that enabled slaves to escape to free states and Canada. It's located in an older neighborhood a few miles north of downtown on the former estate of Jacobs Burkle, a German immigrant and wealthy resident of Memphis in the mid-19th century.

Look for the marquee reading "Soulsville U.S.A.", and listen for the sounds of soul icons like Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, and Aretha Franklin as you approach the former home of Stax Records, rebuilt from the ground up to look as it did during the label's heyday in the 1960s and early '70s. Inside, it's wall-to-wall music—along with a history of Stax, from its beginnings as a home base for local musicians to an international sensation.

Sam Phillips' modest studio is the birthplace of rock 'n' roll, where Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, B. B. King, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Roy Orbison, among others, launched their careers. Tours are given every 30 minutes beginning at 10 am. The studio is seven blocks east of Downtown.

At the The Children's Museum of Memphis youngsters can touch, climb, and explore their way through a child-size city, and delve into the many interactive exhibitions.

This exquisite three-story French Victorian mansion was built in 1870 and has a grand drawing room graced with original parquet floors and large mirrors. Antique furnishings include Aubusson carpets, marble mantels, and a Venetian crystal chandelier. The formal garden still has its gingerbread playhouse, now the museum shop.