Memphis Base Travel Tips: 7 Costs to Know

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7 practical costs and habits for a Memphis base trip

A Memphis base trip runs on a rental car more than the city core alone would, and a few specific numbers keep both halves of the trip on budget.

  1. Budget a car from day one, not just for day trips. Downtown is walkable and trolley-served, but Graceland, Sun Studio, Stax, and every one of the day trips (Tunica, Clarksdale, Oxford, Shiloh) need a car or rideshare. Renting for the whole trip usually beats renting only for the day-trip days.
  2. The Main Street Trolley runs $1 a ride, $2 for a day pass. It only covers the Main St line now, the Riverfront and Madison lines are suspended, and it has a history of safety-related service pauses, verify it’s running before counting on it for a specific day.
  3. Tip 18-20% at sit-down restaurants. Standard US practice, and menus don’t build in a service charge, so the tip is genuinely on top.
  4. Tennessee’s sales tax runs about 9.75% combined in Memphis, and it applies to restaurant meals too. Factor that into every meal budget, not just retail purchases.
  5. Fly into MEM, about 8 miles southeast of downtown. Delta is the largest carrier here; Uber and Lyft wait at the arrivals curb, no need to prebook a transfer.
  6. Beale Street adds a $5 security fee after 9pm on select weekend and holiday nights. ID and bag checks come with it. It’s a sign of how seriously the street is secured, not a reason to avoid it.
  7. Book Graceland and any Elvis Week lodging early. Graceland is timed-entry year-round; Elvis Week (Aug 8-16, 2026) and the RiverBeat and barbecue-contest weeks in May all push Memphis and Graceland-area hotel prices up together.

What’s the actual safety risk in Memphis?

Car break-ins, not violent crime. Memphis Police’s own campaign, “Stow It, Don’t Show It,” says it plainly: leave nothing visible in a parked car, and prefer a garage over a lot or the street for evening parking. Downtown, Beale, South Main, Midtown, Harbor Town, East Memphis, and the Germantown/Collierville suburbs are the tourist-safe zones; standard city awareness, lit streets, skip empty side streets at night, covers the rest.

Do the day trips need any extra planning beyond a rental car?

Mostly just fuel and lodging timing. None of Tunica, Clarksdale, Oxford, or Shiloh has a realistic transit option, so the rental car booked for the city core should just carry through the whole trip. If Clarksdale becomes an overnight, book the Shack Up Inn ahead, its rooms are limited and go first around the Juke Joint Festival (April 11, 2026).

Read more: see our Memphis day trips guide for the drive times these tips assume, or the main Memphis, Tennessee guide for the full city-core cost picture.