Memphis in 4 Days on a Budget (Daily Costs)
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4 days rounds out Memphis with Midtown and Shelby Farms
Four days completes the city core: three days of music and civil rights history, then a fourth day for Midtown’s neighborhoods and one of the largest urban parks in the country, entirely free. Expect roughly $80-130 a person per day; the main budget guide explains the full range. Building up to this from a shorter trip? The 3-day itinerary covers everything here except Day 4. Have even more time, the 5-day plan adds a Mid-South day trip on top of this four-day core.
Book these before you go
- A timed Graceland ticket for Day 2, especially near Elvis Week (Aug 8-16 2026)
- A Sun Studio tour slot for Day 2 afternoon
- Nothing for Days 3 and 4, Stax aside (closed Mondays, check your date)
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 (weekend nights after 9pm carry a $5 security fee with ID and bag checks).
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 for the standard Elvis Experience tour, or about $53 for the entry-level Elvis Presley’s Memphis ticket. Afternoon at Sun Studio (706 Union Ave), roughly $15 adult / $10 ages 5-11, 40-50 minutes. Book Graceland’s timed slot before you land.
Day 2 ticket costs (per person): roughly $68-100.
Day 3: Stax, Overton Park and Big River Crossing
Morning at the Stax Museum of American Soul Music (Soulsville, roughly $20 adult / $16 concession, closed Mondays). Afternoon at Overton Park (free), site of Elvis’s first paid concert (July 30, 1954), then Big River Crossing, a free roughly 1-mile pedestrian bridge into West Memphis, Arkansas.
Day 3 ticket costs (per person): roughly $16-20.
Day 4: Midtown and Shelby Farms
Spend the morning in Cooper-Young and Overton Square, Midtown neighborhoods free to walk and browse. In the afternoon, head to Shelby Farms Park on the east side of the city (car or rideshare needed), 4,500 acres and one of the largest urban parks in the country, with 40-plus miles of trails, free to enter. Round out the day with a return to the Peabody Duck March (free, 11am and 5pm) if you missed it earlier in the trip.
One honest note before you drive out to Shelby Farms or back from Graceland: Memphis’s real visitor safety concern is car break-ins, not violent crime, and the police department’s own line is “Stow It, Don’t Show It,” nothing left visible in a parked car. Downtown/Beale, Midtown, and East Memphis are all tourist-safe with ordinary city awareness.
Day 4 ticket costs (per person): free, aside from meals and transit.
| Day | Focus | Ticket costs (per person) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beale Street, Civil Rights Museum, BBQ | roughly $22-25 |
| 2 | Graceland, Sun Studio | roughly $68-100 |
| 3 | Stax, Overton Park, Big River Crossing | roughly $16-20 |
| 4 | Cooper-Young, Overton Square, Shelby Farms | free |
One concrete money tip: Day 4 is the cheapest day of the trip, use any slack in your budget from Graceland on a BBQ dinner in Cooper-Young instead. Book Graceland ahead; nothing else on this four-day plan requires it.