VIP Tours of Memphis from Nashville: Graceland & Sun Studio

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Free cancellationTravelers' pick

1/6

Duration15h

GroupUp to 50

LanguagesEN

Mobile ticketAccepted

Graceland's Elvis planes, Sun Studio recording booth, Beale Street blues in one day

You ride four hours each way on an air-conditioned coach with a professional driver, skip the Graceland entry line with VIP access, tour the mansion and see Elvis's airplanes and car museum at your own pace, eat lunch on your own at Graceland, take a one-hour guided tour of Sun Studio where legends recorded, watch the Peabody ducks walk the red carpet, and have free time on Beale Street before returning to Nashville after dark.

15h

Step-by-step itinerary

Memphis daytrip from Nashville

Travel from Nashville to Memphis
Visit Elvis Presley’s Graceland home
See Elvis burial site and car museum
View Elvis’s tour airplanes
Lunch on your own at Graceland
Take guided tour of Sun Studios
Watch Peabody ducks parade at hotel
Explore Beale Street or visit museum
Return to Nashville hotel after dark

The Experience

"So we're really doing this — driving all the way to Memphis just for Graceland?" That's what you're thinking on the coach pulling out of Nashville around dawn. Four hours on the highway, and yeah, that's the whole point. The driver knows the route cold, and by the time you cross into Tennessee's western edge and the Mississippi comes into view, you've already heard three stories about why this particular stretch of road matters to American music. Graceland sits waiting on the other side, and the VIP pass they hand you at the gate — it comes with a souvenir lanyard, which sounds small until you're walking past the regular line and straight into the mansion.

Inside Graceland, the audio guide does most of the talking, and you move through rooms at your own pace: the gold records, the jumpsuits, the cars in the museum downstairs, and then the two airplanes Elvis actually flew in. It's not rushed, and you get a real lunch break on your own at Graceland before heading to the next stop. Then comes Sun Studio, the actual room where Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Elvis himself first recorded. The one-hour guided tour is tight — the guide walks you through the recording setup, tells you how Sam Phillips' accident with the equipment basically invented rock and roll, and you stand in the exact spot where those voices went down on tape. It's not a museum; it's a working studio, and that changes how it feels.

After Sun Studio, there's time to catch the Peabody ducks making their red-carpet walk from the fountain back to their penthouse at the hotel — it's a real thing that happens every evening, and the staff will tell you how it started. Then you've got roughly an hour loose on Beale Street, the strip where the blues clubs and barbecue joints are shoulder to shoulder. You can eat, walk, listen to live music spilling out of doorways, or skip it and head back to the coach. The drive home takes you back into Nashville after dark, and you're dropped at your hotel.

What’s included

Round-trip transportation on an air-conditioned coach with a professional driver.
VIP access pass to Graceland with souvenir lanyard.
skip-the-line entry to Graceland Mansion.
self-guided audio tour of the mansion with orientation film.
access to the Elvis car museum and two airplanes.
one-hour guided tour of Sun Studio.
free time to watch the Peabody ducks at the Peabody Hotel.
approximately one hour of free time on Beale Street.
hotel drop-off in Nashville after the tour ends.

Good to know

Easy physical levelWheelchair accessibleAccessible transportStroller friendlyPublic transport nearby

Operated by Gray Line Tennessee

Is this one for you?Right for travelers based in Nashville with a full day free and a real interest in Elvis and rock and roll history. The four-hour drive each way is part of the experience — it's what gets you to Memphis and back in one day without arranging your own transport or entry tickets.