Memphis and environs thoughts.....musical

Dr. Nick

We're currently planning a trip to the US, middle part of which will hopefully be 4/5 nights in the general Memphis area, possibly a night in Nashville though we're not country music fans.
So we're thinking Stax/Sun/Graceland/Muscle Shoals (yes car required)

Any recommendations? Hotels, eats (Guy's Chicken and Rendezvous BBQ in our thoughts already!)

Tks.

ArnoldJRimmer

Had a great time in both cities, but I have to say, Nashville is much much nicer.

Nashville:I'm not a country fan either, but was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the live music there. And it is literally everywhere from early morning throughout the day. Great bars and lovely food

The museums are numerous and a lot of fun, particularly the Johnny Cash museum and country music hall of fame. The grand olé opry was good, but a long way outside the city and expensive. The biggest downside is the astronomical cost of accommodation, but I stayed in a lovely airbnb about three miles from the center in a really cool neighborhood.

Memphis: pretty much everything centers around Beale St and a few blocks surrounding it. I was there on a stag and we all just stayed in a Marriott close to the center. It was very cheap for us, but off season. On Beale St, again, everywhere has live music from first thing, mostly blues. No one place really stood out aside from BB Kings bar

The big difference is that they really don't seem to be that bothered about tourists. The friendliest person I talked to was one of the many homeless people there. Outside of sun records and Graceland, there are not many touristy things to do. For Graceland, get there as early as you can, the crowds are insane.

All in all, both great cities to go on the beer and listen to music in, but Nashville is much more polished and clued inn

Dr. Nick

ArnoldJRimmer wrote: »

Had a great time in both cities, but I have to say, Nashville is much much nicer.

Nashville:I'm not a country fan either, but was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the live music there. And it is literally everywhere from early morning throughout the day. Great bars and lovely food

The museums are numerous and a lot of fun, particularly the Johnny Cash museum and country music hall of fame. The grand olé opry was good, but a long way outside the city and expensive. The biggest downside is the astronomical cost of accommodation, but I stayed in a lovely airbnb about three miles from the center in a really cool neighborhood.

Memphis: pretty much everything centers around Beale St and a few blocks surrounding it. I was there on a stag and we all just stayed in a Marriott close to the center. It was very cheap for us, but off season. On Beale St, again, everywhere has live music from first thing, mostly blues. No one place really stood out aside from BB Kings bar

The big difference is that they really don't seem to be that bothered about tourists. The friendliest person I talked to was one of the many homeless people there. Outside of sun records and Graceland, there are not many touristy things to do. For Graceland, get there as early as you can, the crowds are insane.

All in all, both great cities to go on the beer and listen to music in, but Nashville is much more polished and clued inn

Thanks, that's really helpful. Might consider a second night in Nashville, what neighbourhood did you stay in? Might stay in Franklin although I haven't checked hotel prices.

ArnoldJRimmer

I stayed in Eastwood in East Nashville. Quiet, but at the same time, plenty of options for eating and drinking within walking distance. It was only around a $5 Uber and 10 mins to get in and out of the center, so it did the job.

castlebarian

Hi

I spent two nights in both city's last summer as part of a road trip. If I had the choice again I would have spent a extra night in Nashville and Skipped Memphis. I'm Not a fan of country music myself but Nashville has lots more to offer than just country music. Memphis was ok but on our route it was a bit out of the way and wasn't really worth it. Went to Graceland and Beale St. As far as overall city's I found Nashville was much cleaner. The people were very friendly in both.We stayed just outside the city centre in a motel it was cheap accomidation and a taxi was about 10 dollars to the city centre also was walkable but taxis were easier for the group of us. As far as our accomidation in Memphis we went for the budget accomidation again and it wasn't the safest feel to the area but it was no length in a taxi to Beale St and we had no issues with anyone and it has to be expected when booking budget accomidation.

castlebarian

Dr. Nick wrote: »

Any recommendations? Hotels, eats (Guy's Chicken and Rendezvous BBQ in our thoughts already!)

Tks.

Nashville : hattie bs fried chicken.
Memphis: gus fried chicken

Both 10/10

Dr. Nick

castlebarian wrote: »

Nashville : hattie bs fried chicken.
Memphis: gus fried chicken

Both 10/10

Thanks, I had Guy's above but meant Gus's!

McSween

As a country fan Nashville has become more rock music in Music Row (Broadway) in the 4 years between my visits. The 'Murder on Music Row' song is very apt. It is, however, much nicer than Memphis. We went both last August and we should have done 2 nights in Nashville rather than Memphis. Graceland was excellent I thought. A good idea to book tip via hotel, Crowne Plaza is close and has free downtown shuttle. The motel where Martin Luther King was killed is worth visiting. We nearly forgot to in fact but luckily we remembered before we drove to Nashville.

Dr. Nick

Great info lads, thanks.

ProudDUB

Nashville is a much more clean cut city than Memphis. It's the state capital and lots of healthcare, insurance and publishing companies have their HQ's there. So there are a lot of white collar, middle class people living and working there, amid all the music biz people. Memphis is a much rougher, gritter, poorer city and if you are a tourist, you'll really notice the difference between the two. There isn't a lot to do or see in Memphis other than the Elvis/Sun stuff and the BBQ & blues joints on Beale St. I think they are quite touristy in a plastic paddy kind of a way. I used to live there, so maybe I'm just biased, as I know what the real thing can be like, if you go off the beaten track a bit.

If your budget will stretch to it, consider staying in the Opryland Resort in Nashville. It's about a 15 minute drive from down town, but you can take the General Jackson paddle boat steamer, down the Cumberland River, from the hotel to the downtown area. Opryland is one of these mad Vegas style hotel, with indoor rain forests, water falls, indoor atriums etc etc where the hotel itself in an attraction. It's a bit plastic paddy and over the top too, but it doesn't have the seedy feel to it that a lot of Memphis can have.

I wouldn't stay in Franklin. It's farm land, where the country music stars go to buy their ranches and they pop into the small town of Franklin to pick up a latte and antiques for their mansions. There isn't a lot for the tourist to see and do, compared to staying in, or near downtown Nashville.

Overall, Nashville is a nice, harmless city, but if you aren't a big country music fan, I'd give it a miss and go to New Orleans instead. I think its much more interesting & has more to offer over all. Nashville is 200 miles from Memphis, (New Orleans is about 400,) so it's not just a hop skip and a jump, just because they are in the same state.