Where to Stay: Memphis and Clarksdale
Memphis’s best base-family lodging strategy is simple: stay downtown or Midtown for the city core, then treat Clarksdale as an overnight rather than a rushed round trip if the Delta blues pilgrimage is on your list.
Downtown and Beale Street
Staying downtown puts Beale Street, the National Civil Rights Museum, and the Mississippi riverfront within walking distance. The Peabody Memphis (149 Union Ave), the hotel behind the famous duck march, is the city’s most iconic downtown stay; rates shift, so check current pricing directly before booking. Downtown also has a range of chain hotels within a few blocks of Beale, useful if you want to walk back from live music rather than drive or rideshare late at night.
Midtown: Overton Square and Cooper-Young
Midtown trades a few minutes’ drive from downtown for a quieter, more residential base near Overton Park, Overton Square’s bars and restaurants, and the Cooper-Young neighborhood’s shops and murals. It’s a reasonable middle ground if you want some distance from Beale Street’s weekend noise while still staying close to the core.
Whitehaven: at Graceland itself
The Guest House at Graceland, the on-site hotel at Elvis Presley’s estate, runs a shuttle to downtown, Beale Street, and the airport, useful if Graceland is a priority and you’d rather not drive in and out of Whitehaven repeatedly. Book Graceland’s timed entry tickets well ahead regardless of where you stay, especially around Elvis Week (Aug 8-16, 2026).
Booking windows to watch
May, with RiverBeat Music Festival and the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, and Elvis Week in August, are the two windows when Memphis hotel prices and availability tighten the most. Book well ahead if your dates land in either one.
The Clarksdale overnight
If Clarksdale, Mississippi (75-95 minutes south) is part of your trip, consider staying the night rather than driving back the same evening. The Shack Up Inn, a former sharecropper-shack lodging on an old cotton plantation, is a small, distinctive property, book ahead, and turns a rushed afternoon into a proper Delta blues experience with a second morning to explore.
A practical note
Memphis’s combined sales tax runs about 9.75%, which applies to hotel rooms as well as restaurant food, worth factoring into any rate you’re quoted at checkout.
Read more: see our itineraries for how these bases fit into a full trip, or start with Memphis, Tennessee: A First-Timer’s Base .