Memphis

The second-most visited house in the United States after the White House, the Graceland Mansion was home to a world leader of a different kind, the 'King of Rock 'n Roll', Elvis Presley.Today, thousands of fans of all ages travel to Memphis to tour the house, grounds, and visit the musical icon's grave. The house has been kept as close as possible to how it was when Elvis lived there. Mansion tours are offered with audio players describing the rooms and memorabilia, including Elvis' trophy building that houses all of his awards, trophies, and platinum records.Just outside the mansion is the Elvis Presley Automobile Museum containing the star's renowned 1955 pink Cadillac. 32 other cars that were owned by Elvis are lined up along a recreation of a tree-lined street complete with a 1950's drive-in theatre, a collection of Elvis' personal belongings, and a re-creation of an airport terminal where the singer's two private jets are on display.Graceland Plaza offers several dining options for visitors, most with a focus on 1950's and 1960's diner-style food, including some of Elvis' favourites like the infamous deep-fried peanut butter, banana and bacon sandwich.As of 2006, Graceland joined the White House, Mount Vernon, and Monticello as a National Historic Landmark, the USA's highest designation for historic properties, usually accorded to the homes of American presidents. Long live the King.

Address : Elvis Presley Boulevard

E-mail : [email protected]

Website : www.graceland.com

Telephone : +800 238 2000

Admission : General admission: $64 adult, $32 children, other concessions available.

The Memphis Botanic Gardens are a sensory delight through which to stroll at any time of year. The 96-acre site at Audubon Park, in the east of the city comprises 26 formal gardens. Each garden is designed according to a theme or species, ranging from a tranquil Japanese garden to the magnificent Municipal Rose Garden, an organic vegetable garden, and a tropical conservatory. Highlights are the Ketchum Memorial Iris Garden, at its best in April and May, and a Sensory Garden designed to be enjoyed by the disabled.The gardens host a weekly farmer's market on Wednesday from April to October, providing locally grown and sourced produce and delicacies. From February to October, Tuesdays on the Terrace are also hosted by the gardens, providing an evening of wine tasting with proceeds going to support school-going children. Fratelli's Cafe, located between the Water Garden and the sculpture Garden, provides delicious lunches and snacks in the tranquil environment.Three annual plant sales are hosted by the gardens, with all the proceeds going to various educational and horticultural programs. Throughout the summer months, the gardens host live concert evenings, inviting visitors to bring picnics and relax on the lawns for the duration of the concert.

Address : 750 Cherry Road

E-mail : [email protected]

Website : www.memphisbotanicgarden.com

Telephone : (901) 636 4100

Opening times : Daily 9am-6pm

Admission : $10 adults, $5 children, other concessions available.

Put together by Smithsonian Institution, the Memphis Rock n' Soul Museum is a collection of rare recordings, vintage films, photographs, and interactive exhibits celebrating the history of American musical pioneers. The museum is located on the corner of the legendary Highway 61, otherwise known as the Blues Highway, and the equally famous Beale Street, home of urban jazz and blues.The exhibition fills seven galleries and covers the development of American popular music over the past century. From gospel to blues and rock, the museum exhibits costumes and guitars from performers like Elvis Presley, Ike Turner's piano, and B.B. King's 'Lucille' guitar. Each of the seven galleries has a specific focus - rural culture, rural music, coming to Memphis, Sun Records and youth culture, soul music, social changes, and the bravo gallery, focused on the performers and other music industry players who contributed to a successful civil rights movement.The time covered by the exhibition reaches from the start of blues and rock in the 1930's with rural field hollers and sharecroppers, all the way to the present day and the continuing influence these genres have on the world, both musically and culturally. An audio guide is available and takes visitors on a tour of the music that was the biggest influence on culture and lifestyle in the 20th century.

Address : FedEx Forum Plaza, 191 Beale Street

E-mail : [email protected]

Website : www.memphisrocknsoul.org

Telephone : (901) 205 2533

Opening times : Daily 9.30am-7pm.

Admission : $12.50 adults, $9.50 children, other concessions available.

Mud Island in the Mississippi River offers a fascinating insight into the famous river with a series of immersive and informative attractions. The island emerged in the river in 1900 and was soon turned into a 52-acre park. The main attractions on the island are the Mississippi River Museum, an amphitheatre where touring acts perform during summer, a huge swimming pool, and a display of the Memphis Belle, a famous B-17 bomber from World War II.The permanent exhibitions at the museum are focused on Mississippi River transportation over the years, river engineering, exploration and settlement of the river and its banks, and more. A monorail runs from Memphis to Mud Island, offering beautiful views of downtown Memphis, the Mississippi River, and Mud Island River Park.The highlight of a visit to Mud Island, however, is the unique and fascinating River Walk, a scaled down replica of the lower Mississippi River from Cairo, Illinois to New Orleans in Louisiana. The River walk is five blocks long and represents a journey of 1,000 miles (1,609km). The walk ends in a one-acre replica of the Gulf of Mexico, where visitors to the island can rent paddle boats to explore the area while taking in some of the best views of the Memphis city skyline.Canoes and kayaks are available for rent on the island for further exploration of the river. Mountain bikes are available for visitors who would like to explore the island by bike.

Address : 125 North Front Street

Website : www.mudisland.com

Telephone : (800) 507 6507

Opening times : Wednesday - Sunday 10am-5pm, closed Monday and Tuesday.

Admission : $10 adults, $8 youth, free for children 4 and under.

The Pink Palace, a nickname bestowed on this elaborate pink marble Memphis mansion by the locals, was intended to be a luxury home for the founder of the Piggy Wiggly chain of supermarkets, Clarence Saunders, when he began building it back in the 1920s. Before the ostentatious mansion was completed Saunders declared bankruptcy, and the homestead ended up in the hands of the city of Memphis for use as a museum.The Pink Palace Museum is devoted to culture and natural history, its origins preserved in the form of a replica of the first self-service grocery store in the country, Saunders' Piggly Wiggly. Visitors can also explore dioramas, exhibits, and audio-visual displays that trace Memphis' development from the arrival of the Spanish explorers through the Civil War and yellow fever epidemics. An award-winning medical exhibit highlights Memphis' development into a health care centre for the United States. Dinosaurs and fossils also feature, as does an excellent medical-history section.The museum also includes a planetarium, an Imax theatre, a nature centre, and a science centre. Nearby are two further houses of historical interest - the Magevney House, an 1830's clapboard house built by Irish immigrants that is furnished as it would have been originally, and the Mallory-Neely House, a 25-room house built in 1852 that still has all its original furnishings.

Address : 3050 Central Avenue

Website : www.memphismuseums.org

Telephone : +901 636 2362

Opening times : Monday - Saturday 9am-5pm, Sunday 12pm-5pm.

Admission : $13 adult, $9 children, other concessions available.

Stax Records was not only the most successful soul music studio in history - recording the likes of Isaac Hayes, Otis Redding, and The Staple Singers - but also a cultural phenomenon. It furthered the ends of social integration at a time when segregation was still a grim reality in the USA.Although Stax Records was forced into involuntary bankruptcy at the end of 1975, its legacy lives on, in the form of the Stax Museum of American Soul Music. Located at the original site of Stax Records, the museum pays tribute to all of the artists who recorded there, with a rare and astonishing collection of more than two thousand interactive exhibits, films, artefacts, items of memorabilia, and galleries.The only soul music museum in the world, the Stax Museum includes tributes to other influential soul music record labels, such as Motown, Hi and Atlantic Records. Artists that may not have released albums under the Stax Records label but were big players in the soul music world are also highlighted at the Stax Musuem - the Jackson Five, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles and Ike, and Tina Turner, amongst others.

Address : 926 East McLemore Avenue

Website : www.staxmuseum.com

Telephone : (901) 261 6338

Transport : $13 adults, $10 children, other concessions available.

Opening times : Tuesday to Sunday 10am-5pm, closed Monday.

Visitors who come to Memphis to pay homage to Elvis Presley inevitably find their way to the legendary recording studio in Union Avenue where the King of rock 'n roll's career, and that of numerous other stars, began. The story is that Elvis first walked into the Sun Studio in the early 1950s to record a song as a birthday present for his mother. The owner of the studio was self-taught, and made several 'mistakes' that resulted in the sound we now know as the first version of rock 'n roll.The rest is musical history, now enshrined in the studio that also launched the likes of Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, and Jerry Lee Lewis on the road to stardom. Visitors to the studio can hear outtakes from recording sessions, touch Elvis' first microphone, view a great deal of memorabilia, and listen to anecdotes. Alongside the studio is the Sun Studio Café, a diner that retains its 1950s style and is still a favourite musician's hangout.The studio still hosts live sessions and recordings with current artists. Free shuttles are on hand to transport visitors to and from either Graceland or the Rock 'n Soul Museum.

Address : 706 Union Avenue

Website : www.sunstudio.com

Opening times : Daily 10am-6pm.

Admission : $14 adults, free for children.