Memphis in 4 Days: Budget + Day Trips
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4 days: two proper city days, then Tunica and Clarksdale
Four days gives Memphis’s own sights two full days instead of one rushed one, then hands the back half of the trip to the Mid-South: Tunica for a quick casino day, Clarksdale for the Delta blues pilgrimage. Expect roughly $85-155 a person per day; the main Memphis, Tennessee guide covers the city-side numbers. Tighter schedule, the 3-day itinerary compresses the city to one day and adds a Clarksdale overnight instead. More time, the 5-day itinerary adds Oxford, Mississippi on top of this exact base.
Book these before you go
- A timed Graceland ticket for Day 1
- A rental car for Days 3 and 4, neither Tunica nor Clarksdale has a transit option
Day 1: Beale Street and the Civil Rights Museum
Walk Beale Street by day, free, then the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968 (roughly $25 adult / $22 child / $23 senior-student, closed Tuesdays). Evening: BBQ at Rendezvous or Central BBQ, then Beale Street after dark.
Day 1 ticket costs (per person): roughly $22-25.
Day 2: Graceland and Sun Studio
Graceland (Whitehaven, about 9 miles south, car needed) runs roughly $85 adult / $49 youth standard tour, or about $53 entry-level. Afternoon at Sun Studio (706 Union Ave), roughly $15 adult / $10 ages 5-11. Book Graceland’s timed slot before you land.
Day 2 ticket costs (per person): roughly $68-100.
Day 3: Clarksdale, Mississippi
Drive south on Highway 61, roughly 75-95 minutes, to Clarksdale, the Delta blues pilgrimage: the Crossroads of Highways 61 and 49, the Delta Blues Museum, and Ground Zero Blues Club (Morgan Freeman co-owns it). Round out the evening at Red’s Juke Joint before driving back to Memphis, or stay the night at the Shack Up Inn if you’d rather not do the drive twice in one day.
Day 4: Tunica, Mississippi
Roughly 30-45 minutes south of Memphis, Tunica’s casino corridor, the Gateway to the Blues Museum, and the Tunica RiverPark make for a lighter final day after Clarksdale’s longer drive.
One honest note across the day-trip days: the practical safety concern, at a Delta blues club, a Tunica casino lot, or downtown Memphis, is car break-ins, not violent crime. “Stow It, Don’t Show It” applies wherever the car is parked on this trip.
| Day | Focus | Ticket costs (per person) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beale Street, Civil Rights Museum, BBQ | roughly $22-25 |
| 2 | Graceland, Sun Studio | roughly $68-100 |
| 3 | Clarksdale: Crossroads, Delta Blues Museum, Ground Zero | modest, mostly meals and a live-music cover |
| 4 | Tunica: casinos, Gateway to the Blues Museum | variable, gaming budget is your own call |
One concrete money tip: fill the gas tank in Memphis before Day 3, stations thin out once you’re off the interstate heading into the Delta. Book Graceland ahead; the rest of the week runs on a rental car and a full tank.