Graceland, Memphis

Elvis Presley bought Graceland in March 1957 for $102,500, when he was 22 years old and had already earned enough money to own something significant. He lived there until his death in August 1977. The house has been open to visitors since 1982 and now receives around 600,000 people per year, making it the second-most-visited private home in the United States after the White House.

The house is smaller than you expect. The 4,750-square-foot main structure is a Colonial Revival suburban mansion, impressive for Tennessee in 1957 but modest relative to what a contemporary celebrity would own. Elvis kept redecorating; the result is an extraordinary document of 1970s interior design. The Jungle Room – with its green shag carpet ceiling – is a genuine piece of American folk art and simultaneously the most disturbing room in any famous person’s home.

What You See on the Tour

The audio tour (narrated by John Scheinfeld) covers the mansion’s main rooms, the trophy hall, the car and motorcycle museum, and Elvis’s grave in the Meditation Garden at the back of the property, where he is buried alongside his parents and his twin brother Jesse (who died at birth).

The Trophy Room is where the depth of the collection registers: gold records covering every surface, stage costumes in glass cases, film contracts, concert photographs. The jump suits from the 1970s Las Vegas shows are more elaborate in person than any photograph suggests.

The Lisa Marie – the private Boeing 707 Elvis had converted for personal use in the early 1970s, parked on the property – is open for walkthrough. The interior, with its gold-plated seatbelt buckles and pale blue leather, is an extraordinary artefact of the period.

Tickets: the Elvis Experience Tour covers the mansion and most exhibits. Elvis Week 2026 runs August 8-16; tickets are on sale now if this timing appeals.

Memphis Beyond Graceland

Sun Studio on Union Avenue is where Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Howlin’ Wolf all recorded in the 1950s. Still operational, giving one-hour tours at $16 per person. The mixing desk and microphones used on Elvis’s first commercial release (That’s All Right, 1954) are still there. A genuinely moving experience.

Stax Museum of American Soul Music in the Soulsville neighbourhood covers the history of the Memphis soul label that produced Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, and Sam and Dave. Well-curated and far less visited than it deserves.

National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel is built around the balcony where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968. Room 306, where King stayed on the night of his death, is preserved exactly as it was. Admission $20. One of the most important American museums.

Eating

Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken is genuinely exceptional – spicy batter, juicy chicken, correctly famous. Expect a queue. About $12 for a full meal. The Rendezvous in a downtown alley has been serving dry-rub ribs (Memphis style, no sauce) since 1948; full rack around $32.

Staying

The Guest House at Graceland is directly adjacent to the property with 450 rooms and multiple restaurants; doubles from around $200 per night in peak season. The Peabody Hotel downtown is the historic Memphis landmark (ducks march through the lobby to the fountain at 11am daily); doubles from around $250 per night.

Plan at least two full days: one for Graceland and one for Sun Studio, Stax, and the Civil Rights Museum.