Memphis: Tips for a Multi-State Trip
Using Memphis as a base for day trips into Mississippi and beyond changes a few things about how to plan the trip, on top of the usual first-time-in-Memphis basics.
A car is not optional
Every day trip in this guide, Clarksdale, Tunica, Oxford, Shiloh, needs a car or rideshare, and so does most of the city beyond downtown, Graceland and Sun Studio included. Fill the gas tank before heading south on Highway 61; options thin out fast once you’re out of the city. Downtown itself is walkable and served by the Main Street Trolley ($1/ride, $2 day pass, Main line only), but it has a history of service suspensions, verify it’s running before counting on it.
Money
Everything runs on USD, sit-down tipping is the standard US 18-20%, and Memphis sales tax runs a steep ~9.75% combined, applied to restaurant food too, worth budgeting for before the check arrives.
Closed days, get these right
Stax Museum of American Soul Music is closed Mondays. The National Civil Rights Museum is closed Tuesdays. Plan a two-day city stretch around both if you want to see them; scheduling one on the wrong day means missing it entirely.
The honest safety note
Memphis’s citywide crime rate runs above the US average, but 2026 has been the lowest violent-crime half-year on record here, and it concentrates well outside the areas a visitor spends time in. The real risk is car break-ins, not violence, Memphis police run a literal campaign around it: “Stow It, Don’t Show It.” Keep nothing visible in the car, in Memphis or once you’re in a Delta town, and use a garage over a lot or street spot at night. Downtown/Beale/South Main, Midtown, Harbor Town, East Memphis, and Germantown/Collierville are all fine to walk normally. There’s no US State Department advisory for Memphis or any other domestic city, that system only rates foreign countries, so don’t read a silent one into it.
Weather and timing
April through early June and mid-September through early November avoid the worst of it; summers run hot and humid past 90°F, and spring brings real tornado risk, worth checking a weather-radar app before a day trip in that window.
Book ahead
Graceland’s timed tickets, especially around Elvis Week (August 8-16, 2026) or the May events, RiverBeat (May 1-3) and the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest (May 13-16). The National Civil Rights Museum doesn’t require advance booking but does have that Tuesday closure to plan around. If a Delta overnight is part of the trip, book the Shack Up Inn in Clarksdale ahead too, its rooms are limited and go fast on weekends.
Get the car, the closed days, and the May/Elvis Week booking windows right, and the rest of a Memphis-based trip runs itself. See the Memphis, Tennessee guide for how it all fits together.