memphis

[linnan]

Does anyone know of any good hotels for a 2 day stay in memphis.Going to vegas august 2006 its my hubbys birthday when we are there.He has always wanted to go to grace land being a big elvis fan,so i thought i would suprise him with a trip while we are in vegas.Would appreciate any suggestions for flights from vegas to memphis, acccomadation,prices,and addmission prices to grace land.

[traceyt]

i've stayed at the memphis radisson and it was great. don't know the price, as it was part of a package.

[ukdiva]

What about the Heartbreak Hotel? It's right across from Graceland and has free in room Elvis movies, and a heart shaped swimming pool! On travelocity.com they have a king suite for $119 per night.

For cheap flights try Jet Blue airlines, or Southwest Airlines. Orbitz.com also has quite cheap flights and deals.

Can't help you will admission prices for Graceland, but i'm pretty sure they have an official website.

When you are in Vegas, if you have time, check out the Elvis-o-rama museum, they have some great memorabilia.

[TiggerTails]

Buy your Graceland tickets before you go.
http://www.elvis.com/graceland/tickets/default.asp

[Pino_Spetzberg]

Originally posted by linnan
Does anyone know of any good hotels for a 2 day stay in memphis.

We have tried various options.

Stay at a Holiday Inn / Best Western / Hampton Inn or similar along Interstate ( I-40 ) paying around $40 + tax.

Stay at Days Inn or Heartbreak Hotel opposite Graceland paying around $99+ tax.

Stay on Beale Street at The Peabody or Hampton Inn paying around $160+ tax.

The advantage of staying on the Interstate is the low cost, it is minutes away from Downtown and Graceland. The disadvantage is finding somewhere to park near Beale Street at night - the lots fill up early.

The advantage of staying opposite Graceland is you can visit as soon as it opens - so the crowds are smaller. The disadvantage is that you are paying twice as much as staying on I-40 for similar standard of accommodation - actually the hotels near Graceland are pretty tired. Once you have visited the house, the museum, the planes and watched the film in their theatre - everything else you want to do will be near Beale Street anyway.

The advantage of staying on Beale Street is that you are right in the middle of everything. BB King's, A. A. Schwab General Store, Gibson Guitar Factory & Museum, and the bars and food places.
Beale Street at night is perfectly safe but if you have to walk a block or more to your hotel or parking you have to venture the rat-run past hookers, pan-handlers and assorted street characters.
This is why staying at Hampton Inn Beale Street is so enjoyable -you walk straight from the main tourist area directly into your hotel - The Peabody is best visited to see the famous Peabody ducks - the Hampton Inn is a better place to stay - and slightly cheaper. A lot of the locals know that there will be a stream of tourists from Beale Street to The Peabody - so to avoid them - enter the hotel's rear entrance rather than walking round to the front.
The disadvantage of staying on Beale Street is the additional cost of car parking - around $28 for 24 hours if self-parking. If you don't have the car then stay at Beale Street !

The area attractions are well known but make sure you visit Sun Studios and the Martin Luther King Museum ( Lorraine Motel ). Have a chat with the lady protesting about the museum - she's been sitting out there for years !
You can't take a camcorder into Graceland - they make you store it in a locker before you board the bus to cross the road and enter the gates - but you will see people that have smuggled in smaller camcorders using them as you take your self-tour - ordinary cameras are no problem but they don't like you to use flash. They sell glossy photograph books in the souvenir shop.
If you don't know - when you enter Graceland Mansion - there is a stairway directly in front of you with a chain across - the door at the top is always locked - nobody is allowed upstairs. We asked a member of staff why this was so - she let me in on a secret - Elvis lives up there and watches his fans visit from the bedroom windows. :erm:
Even for a non-Elvis fan - Graceland is a very enjoyable day.

We really like Memphis - but as with New Orleans - it can be genuinely dangerous to stray from the main tourist areas. We have strayed pretty far to be honest though and everybody we encountered was really friendly - you just need to be sensible.