Memphis 7 Day Itinerary (No Tourist Traps)
Honest framing up front: Memphis’s city core is genuinely done by day four. This itinerary covers that core properly first, then adds three light Mid-South day trips instead of manufacturing extra in-city filler days. A car is worth having for the whole trip, both the city sights beyond downtown and every day trip need one.
Day 1: Downtown and the Civil Rights Museum
The National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel (450 Mulberry St) anchors the day, built around the site of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination on April 4, 1968. Give it real time, it’s one of the most significant history museums in the country. About $25 adult / $22 child / $23 senior-student, 9am-6pm, last entry 5pm, closed Tuesdays.
Lunch at Central BBQ, then Beale Street by day for the markers and back after dark for live music at B.B. King’s Blues Club, Rum Boogie Cafe and its Blues Hall, King’s Palace Cafe, Silky O’Sullivan’s, or Alfred’s on Beale. Weekend nights after 9pm bring a $5 security fee at some entrances plus ID checks and metal detectors.
Worth knowing for the whole trip: Memphis’s citywide crime rate runs above the US average but concentrates outside the tourist core, and 2026 has actually been the lowest violent-crime half-year on record here. The real risk to a visitor is car break-ins, not violence, hence the local police campaign “Stow It, Don’t Show It.” Nothing visible in the car, garages over street spots at night.
Day 2: Graceland and Sun Studio
Book Graceland ahead, it’s timed entry. The standard Elvis Experience tour (mansion, entertainment complex, and jets) runs about $85 adult / $49 youth; the entry-level Elvis Presley’s Memphis tier without mansion access is around $53. Give it a genuine half-day, then Sun Studio (706 Union Ave) in the afternoon, tours run 40-50 minutes and fill fast, about $15 adult / $10 ages 5-11.
Day 3: Stax and the river
Stax Museum of American Soul Music (926 E. McLemore Ave, Soulsville) sits on the original Stax Records site. About $20 adult / $16 concession, 10am-5pm Tuesday through Sunday, closed Mondays. Afternoon in Overton Park, then a walk across Big River Crossing, a free, roughly one-mile pedestrian bridge into West Memphis, Arkansas.
Day 4: Midtown and Shelby Farms
Morning in Cooper-Young and Overton Square, Midtown’s walkable cluster. Afternoon at Shelby Farms Park, 4,500 acres and one of the largest urban parks in the country with over 40 miles of trails. Time the evening for the Peabody Duck March (149 Union Ave, free, since 1933) at 5pm.
Day 5: Tunica day trip
About 30-45 minutes south, Tunica, Mississippi is the easiest Mid-South add-on, the casino corridor plus the Gateway to the Blues Museum.
Day 6: Clarksdale day trip
Further south on Highway 61, about 75-95 minutes, Clarksdale is the real Delta blues pilgrimage, the Crossroads of Highways 61 and 49, Ground Zero Blues Club (Morgan Freeman is a co-owner), and the Delta Blues Museum. Leave early, it’s a longer drive than Tunica.
Day 7: Oxford day trip
About 80-90 minutes southeast, Oxford, Mississippi is a literary and college-town day: Ole Miss, Rowan Oak (Faulkner’s home), Square Books, and the town square, a slower, different pace from the blues towns the two days before.
Concrete tip: Stax and the Civil Rights Museum close on different days (Monday and Tuesday), map all seven days against both before locking the itinerary, and don’t stack more than one day trip back to back without a rest day, three straight driving days is genuinely tiring. Book ahead: Graceland’s timed tickets, and hotel rates near Graceland during Elvis Week (August 8-16 2026). For the tighter city-only version, see the 4-day itinerary , and the Memphis guide covers the city core in full.