My Mum did the tour on the bus and it was absolutely fantastic, it was the best thing she had ever done, and was very emotional.

There are several topics and some mention a coach tour. If you put Graceland into the Search box at the bottom left hand side of this forum you will find all previous posts.

luci

I've been to Graceland, but didn't do a coach tour. Instead, I booked a local hotel, (not Heartbreak Hotel as it's too far out of town, though very handy for Graceland), and also booked my own flights.

There are many places to visit in Memphis, but Graceland is probably the main attraction for most people. However, you can see most other places worth visiting on foot, and at your leisure, when doing an open visit such as mine.

There is a free bus that will take you to Sun Studios, and it picks up from several locations. I caught it at the corner of Beale Street. Sun Studios are tiny, but there is so much history to take in, that the "tour" takes over an hour. Well worth the visit.

The Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King was assassinated, has now been converted into a civil rights museum. It is only a short walk from Beale Street and, though it may not sound like it, was a very interesting place to visit, giving you some strong insight to how things have changed greatly in a relatively short space of time - due, in no small measure, to Doctor King and his work.

At the top of Beale Street, you have both the Gibson Guitar factory, and also a Smithsonian Museum of Blues, Soul and Rock 'n' Roll. Both are worth the visit, but particularly the Smithsonian, if you are a music buff. I spent 4 hours in there, as I had arranged to meet my wife who didn't want to go there. I could have easily spent a couple of days in there, spending much more time at the various exhibits.

The Smithsonian is a tour through the history of the music so many of us hold dear to our hearts, taking you from the blues as created by the poor cotton-pickers, through other musical genres such as Soul, Country & Wetern, R&B and Rock 'n' Roll. Each exhibit has a number and you can hear the histroy of it by punching that number into your audio unit. There is also a juke box in each section, and you can also punch the juke box song numbers into your audio unit to play them.

No visit to Memphis would be complete without visiting Beale Street at night. There is a vast selection of bars there, with a variety of live music on offer. BB King has a bar at the top end of the street and is known to visit on occasion, though I wasn't that lucky.

Lastly, one tip for you if you do visit Graceland. Unless you are with a tour party, and therefore tied to a departure time, go around twice. This isn't stricktly part of the deal, but I did it and it made a big difference to my appreciation of the whole experience.

Going around with a guide, you will be taken across Elvis Presley Boulevard on a mini-bus and dropped off in front of the house. The guide will then spend approximately 5 minutes at each room in the house, (you only get to see ground level and the basement, as upstairs is private for the family), and, although that is very interesting, it only gives you a mild taste of the place.

When I came back to where the bus picks up passengers to go back across the Boulevard, I asked to go back to the front of the house to take more photographs. It was important at this point not to hand in my audio unit. As I took more photos of the house, yet another group arrived by minibus and my wife and I simply tagged on at the end. When they left the first room, we stayed behind and took more photos, unbothered by other tourists.

By the time we got to the next room, the other party had already moved on and so, yet again, we had the time to soak it up and take more photos on our own. Eventually, a new party of visitors caught up with us, and we simply let them move on by.

I would say our second visit lasted around 6 hours, with many visiting parties overtaking us on the way. Apart from allowing us more freedom for photos and studying each room, it allowed us to punch in the item numbers on many of the hundreds of items on display into our audio units. This tells you the history of each article and, to be honest, you just don't have the time to do that following a guide.

If I can answer any specific qurestions for you, on the above or any other aspect of the trip, please feel free to post your questions here, or send them to me by pm.

JJ.

I have also booked flights and hotel myself. there are day tours you can book when in Memphis.Can't say anymore than Jay Jay. Loved Memphis and the music. Went on holiday with OH who quite liked the music of Elvis and came home with a Elvis fanatic! Same person by the way