2-Night Trip to Memphis by Bus
This program explores Memphis’s powerful legacy in music and civil rights through engaging tours, iconic landmarks, and immersive cultural experiences.
Program Summary
Tour Number: 0225-195457
You’ll discover Memphis’s musical roots with visits to the Stax Museum, Sun Studios, Memphis Music Hall of Fame, and the Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum, along with an in-depth Graceland tour including Elvis’s airplanes. The program also includes meaningful moments at the National Civil Rights Museum and the Cotton Museum, offering a deeper understanding of the city’s historical significance. Fun and local flavor are woven in with the famous Duck March at the Peabody Hotel and free time to explore the sights and sounds of Beale Street.
Program Highlights & Inclusions
- Private Bus transportation throughout your tour
- Professional tour manager with your group throughout the tour
- Two nights Accommodations in Memphis
- Tour of Sun Studios
- Duck March at the Peabody Hotel
- Admission to the Memphis Music Hall of FameAdmission to the Memphis Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum
- Visit to Graceland with Elvis Experience Tour and Airplanes
- Free Time on Beale Street
- Admission to the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel
- Admission to the Cotton Museum
- Admission to Stax Museum
Daily Itinerary
You’ll depart on the bus for your trip. When you arrive in Memphis, you will meet your tour manager.
You’ll visit the Stax Museum. The Stax Museum of American Soul Music, located at the original site of Stax Records, pays tribute to all of the artists who recorded there with a rare and amazing collection of more than 2,000 interactive exhibits, films, artifacts, items of memorabilia, and galleries designed to keep Stax alive forever.
You’ll take a tour of Sun Studios. Reputedly the first rock-and-roll single, Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats’ “Rocket 88” was recorded there in 1951 with song composer Ike Turner on keyboards, leading the studio to claim status as the birthplace of rock & roll.
You’ll head over to the Peabody Hotel where you’ll view the famous Duck March. How did the tradition of the ducks in The Peabody fountain begin? Back in the 1930s Frank Schutt, General Manager of The Peabody, and a friend, Chip Barwick, returned from a weekend hunting trip to Arkansas. The men thought it would be funny to place some of their live duck decoys in the beautiful Peabody fountain. Three small English call ducks were selected as “guinea pigs,” and the reaction was nothing short of enthusiastic. Thus began a Peabody tradition which was to become internationally famous. In 1940, Bellman Edward Pembroke, a former circus animal trainer, offered to help with delivering the ducks to the fountain each day and taught them the now-famous Peabody Duck March. Nearly 90 years after the inaugural march, ducks still visit the lobby fountain at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. each day.
After dinner, you will check into your Memphis area hotel.
After breakfast, you’ll board your bus and depart the hotel for the day.
Take an unforgettable journey through the most famous rock ‘n’ roll residence in the world, Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley. You’ll experience the Graceland Mansion Audio-Guided Tour, see Elvis’ two custom airplanes and car museum, and visit Elvis: The Entertainer Career Showcase Museum and Discovery Exhibits.
After lunch, you’ll visit the Memphis Music Hall of Fame museum and exhibition which introduces guests to some of the greatest musicians of all time – each responsible for shaping modern music and changing the world forever right here in Memphis!
You’ll visit the Memphis Rock & Soul Museum. The Memphis Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum’s exhibition about the birth of rock and soul music, created by the Smithsonian Institution, tells the story of musical pioneers who, for the love of music, overcame racial and socio-economic barriers to create the music that shook the entire world.
You’ll have free time to explore the exciting downtown Memphis area, Beale Street.
After dinner, you’ll return to the hotel.
After breakfast, you’ll check out of your hotel room and depart the hotel for the day.
You’ll visit The National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel, a very special experience that will take you through centuries of history. You’ll begin your visit within the original Lorraine Motel structure. The Lorraine Motel is forever etched in America’s collective memory with the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968, but even before that fateful day, the property at 450 Mulberry Street had a fascinating history in its own right. Before it was the Lorraine, it was the Marquette Hotel that catered to black clientele in segregated Memphis. You’ll continue through the Legacy exhibits within the Young & Morrow and Boarding House buildings across Mulberry Street. The museum offers 260 artifacts, more than 40 new films, oral histories, interactive media and external listening posts that guide visitors through five centuries of history — from the beginning of the resistance during slavery, through the Civil War and Reconstruction, the rise of Jim Crow, and the seminal events of the late 20th century that inspired people around the world to stand up for equality.
After lunch, you’ll visit the Cotton Museum. This spectacular room is open to the public, and is devoted to sharing the story of cotton-the crop that created empires and the people that transformed American culture and changed the history of a nation and the world.
You’ll board your bus and begin the return trip home.
