2026 has been off to a busy start for me, and we have already completed our first trip of the year! This January I got to check off one of my bucket list items, visiting Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee. If you know me personally, you probably already know that I am a huge fan of Elvis Presley. I love his music and his movies; I’ve always wanted to visit Graceland. So when my annual leave came up this year, I decided to finally make a trip to Memphis!
The flights
Sashien and I used Aeroplan points to book our flights to Memphis from Ottawa. It was a long journey, and we ended up taking 3 flights to get there, as we had to connect from Ottawa to Toronto to catch our flight into the United States. We flew into Chicago O’Hare Airport and had close to a 5-hour layover before our final flight to Memphis. Considering our flight from Ottawa to Toronto left at 10 am and we didn’t get to Memphis until 10PM CST, this made for a very long travel day. However, it was very economical, and the whole journey cost us just under $200 plus 10000 Aeroplan points. Pro tip: Sign up for an Aeroplan credit card if your bank offers one; most have a welcome bonus of at least 25000 points!
Since most of our trip was with Air Canada and Sashien and I both have the Air Canada Reserve Amex Card, we had access to the Maple Leaf Lounges in Ottawa and Toronto. However, we did not have lounge access in O’Hare as there was no Amex Lounge there. Personally, I found this airport inconvenient, as there were limited lounges and food outlets; however, we were catching a domestic flight, so it could be just that specific terminal that was lacking. We ended up paying to access the United Club lounge; it cost us $59 each, which was a total of $164 CAD, but with a long layover, it was well worth it to have access to food, drinks, and space to relax.
Accommodation
We stayed at the Aloft by Marriott, located a short distance away from Beale Street, the main tourist hub in Memphis. There is a luxury hotel called the Peabody located right off Beale Street, but this area can get very busy and is subject to a lot of foot traffic, so we felt safer being a little further away from the crowds. The Aloft is a newer property which offers modern rooms and furnishings, a 24 hour fitness center, a golf simulator, and a grab-and-go shop. The hotel also offers complimentary tea and coffee in the mornings.
Graceland
Graceland is located about a 20-minute drive away from the Beale St. area. We took an Uber from our hotel and since we were visiting on a weekday there wasn’t much traffic.
Pro-Tip: Purchase your Graceland tickets online ahead of time!
There are a number of different tours to choose from, but we chose the Archives Ultimate VIP Tour. This tour, along with the Ultimate VIP Tour, includes lunch if you book a timeslot before 1:30pm. The Archives UVIP Tour is long so most days they don’t run the tour past 1PM. We chose an 11:15 timeslot and arrived early to explore the other exhibits.
Tours range in price from $53 to $260 USD. Our tour was $260 per person; however, it was worth it since we got to see all the exhibits, hold personal items worn by Elvis Presley, and go behind the scenes at the archives, which is a restricted area. Our tour was also much smaller, with us and another couple; this allowed us to take as many photos as we liked and get all our questions in. As we booked an 11:15 tour, we stopped for lunch at the end of the tour at Vernon’s Smokehouse, which is a BBQ restaurant. The lunch included a main, a dessert, and a drink, and the portions were generous!
Now let’s get to the goodstuff! We got to explore the Graceland Mansion which is located across the street fron the main entrance to the Graceland complex and ticket office. A shuttle picked us up and drove us over to the mansion. Here we explored the main level of the house, which consists of the living room, dining room, kitchen, and jungle room, along with the basement. The upstairs houses Elvis’ bedroom, which is closed to the public. There are many other buildings located on the property, such as the garage, the office, and the squash court. The tour of the Graceland property itself takes about 90 minutes and includes a look behind the scenes at the archives, housed in a building on the property.
After this, we made our way back across the street to view all of Elvis’ cars at Elvis Presley Motors.
Then we went through a number of different exhibits, including the Icons display, which showcases modern artists who were inspired by Elvis. The guided portion of our tour ended here when we stopped for lunch at Vernon’s.
After lunch, we explored the Elvis the Entertainer exhibit, which chronicles Elvis’ career and includes a display of many of his outfits and famous jumpsuits. We wrapped up our day at Graceland by visiting his planes which are open for public viewing.
We ended up spending most of our day at Graceland and decided to have dinner nearby at Marlowe’s Ribs & Restaurant.
Pro’Tip: if you walk over to the Guesthouse at Graceland hotel, and give Marlowe’s a call, they will pick you up in a pink Cadillac and drive you to and from dinner.
Dining at Marlowe’s is an experience in itself and it’s a great continuation of all the Elvis memorabilia. It’s a very popular BBQ spot but beware portions are generous so pace yourself!
Other Memphis Attractions
Besides visiting Graceland, we spent an additional 2 nights in Memphis where we explored Beale St. We took in some of the blues clubs and visited B.BB. King’s club. We also check out some of the local cocktail bars for happy hour. If you love blues and soul then there are lots of places in Memphis to listen to live music as you take in the sights and sounds. Although our time here was brief we really enjoyed it and we were off to Miami from there!