Things to Do in Memphis When You've Already Seen Graceland

Memphis Beyond Beale Street and the Recording Studios

Memphis is not a three-stop town: Graceland, Beale Street, Sun Studio. Treating it as one is a mistake. The Graceland complex draws roughly 500,000 to 600,000 visitors annually, according to the estate's own reported figures. Tens of thousands more funnel through the Rock 'n' Soul Museum on Beale Street and the Blues Hall of Fame on South Main Street every year. The problem is that the music pilgrimage checklist leaves you with a superficial two-day impression of a major American city. The real Memphis, the one where locals spend their weekends, lives on the riverfront, in the 342 acres of Overton Park, and in the indie commercial corridors like Cooper-Young. This page is for the visitor who has already seen Graceland. It is for someone who wants to understand what it is like to live here, not just listen to its soundtrack.

The National Civil Rights Museum: a Required Stop, Not a Tourist Attraction

Plan Your Visit

At 450 Mulberry Street, on the site of the former Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, sits the National Civil Rights Museum. It opened in 1991, with a major expansion completed in 2014. The museum receives roughly 350,000 visitors annually. Do not treat this as a checkbox. Budget a minimum of three hours. The exhibits trace the arc of the American civil rights movement from slavery through the present day. The emotional weight is substantial. The museum preserves the room where King stayed, exactly as it was. You will see the balcony where he was shot. Arrive by 09:00 on a weekday to avoid the worst crowds. Book tickets online at least 48 hours in advance; same-day tickets sell out by 11:00 on weekends. The closest parking lot, the Civil Rights Museum Garage on Mulberry Street, costs $10 for the day. If you are on South Main Street, it is a 10-minute walk south.

The Riverfront at Big River Crossing and Mud Island

Mud Island River Park

The Mississippi River at Memphis is roughly half a mile wide. Most visitors never see it up close. That is a mistake. Start at Mud Island River Park. The Riverwalk is a scale model of the Lower Mississippi, built at a ratio of 1:2112. Thirty inches equals one mile. The walk is exactly 0.5 miles long. You can trace the river from Cairo, Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico in about 20 minutes of walking. The monorail from downtown to the island costs $4 one way. The failure case: if Mud Island is closed for winter maintenance, which runs December through February, skip it and walk the Main Street to Riverside Drive path instead.

Big River Crossing

Big River Crossing is a pedestrian and cycling bridge that spans the Mississippi, connecting downtown Memphis to West Memphis, Arkansas. It is the longest public pedestrian bridge across the Mississippi. Walk across and back; the full round trip is just under a mile. Do this at sunset. The east side of the bridge, on the Memphis riverfront, has a small plaza with benches and interpretive signage about the river's commercial history. If it is raining, skip the bridge and visit the Mississippi River Museum at the riverfront. It costs $9 for adults and covers the history of steamboats and flatboats. The museum is inside the Mud Island complex and stays open year-round.

Cooper-Young and Overton Park: Where Memphians Actually Spend Weekends

Cooper-Young

Cooper-Young is the intersection of Cooper Street and Young Avenue in Midtown, a district of independent shops, restaurants, and bars. It is not a tourist strip. The businesses here serve locals. Walk the four-block stretch of Cooper Street from Young Avenue to York Avenue. You will find a record store (Shady Grove Vintage & Vinyl, open daily 11:00 to 18:00), a bookstore (Burke's Book Store, operating since 1875), and six restaurants within a three-minute walk. The failure case: most shops close by 18:00, and some are closed on Mondays. If you arrive after 19:00, head to Young Avenue Deli for a beer and a sandwich. It is open until 23:00 most nights. The closest free street parking is on Cooper Street south of Young Avenue. Spaces fill by 11:00 on Saturdays.

Overton Park

Overton Park, established in 1901, covers 342 acres. Within it are 126 acres of Old Forest, an old-growth hardwood forest that has never been cleared. The Memphis Zoo is also inside the park. Skip it if you only have one day and do not have children. Instead, walk the Old Forest trails. The main loop is 1.5 miles and takes about 40 minutes at a slow pace. The forest is shaded. It is usable even on hot afternoons. The park also contains the Levitt Shell, an open-air amphitheater that hosts free concerts from April through October. Shows start at 19:30. Seating is on the lawn. Arrive by 18:00 for a good spot. If the concert is cancelled due to weather, the information is posted on the park's social media account by 16:00 the same day.

The Peabody Ducks and the Daily March

At 149 Union Avenue, the Peabody Hotel has held a duck march in its lobby twice daily since 1933. Five ducks, one drake and four hens, march from their rooftop palace to the lobby fountain at 11:00 and return at 17:00. The Duckmaster, the official title of the person who manages the duck team, leads the procession. Ducks are rotated every three months. A new team is brought in from a farm about 30 miles east of Memphis. The march lasts about 10 minutes. Arrive at least 20 minutes early to get a spot at the lobby railing on the second floor; the ground floor is packed by 10:40. If you miss both marches, the ducks are in the lobby fountain from 11:10 to 16:50, visible from the second-floor mezzanine. The hotel's lobby bar serves coffee and cocktails. You can watch without being a hotel guest. The failure case: the march is cancelled on days when the hotel hosts a private event. Check the Peabody's events calendar online before you go.

The One Thing Most Visitors Get Wrong

The most common mistake visitors make in Memphis is treating it like a static collection of sights rather than a living city. They book Graceland for 09:00, hurry to Sun Studio at 13:00, walk Beale Street until 18:00, and leave the next morning. That schedule misses the point entirely. The city works best when you sleep late, eat a long lunch in Cooper-Young, walk the riverfront at sunset, and let the evening unfold in a dive bar or a free concert at the Levitt Shell. If you plan your day around three ticketed attractions and call it complete, you will leave Memphis having visited a museum of itself, not the place that hundreds of thousands of people actually inhabit.