Memphis

The columned mansion Elvis Presley bought in 1957, preserved as he left it in 1977, from the Jungle Room to the Meditation Garden where he is buried, with his cars and private planes opposite.

💡 Book online, where a $1.50 fee is added to each ticket, more on site. The site is open every day from 9am to 4pm, last house tour at 4pm: come in the morning, as summer afternoons are packed. Price: Elvis Experience package with the house, $85, about €73, $49, about €42, for children; without the house, $53, about €46.

User:Maha / CC BY 2.5 (Wikimedia Commons)

The rebuilt home of the label of Otis Redding and Isaac Hayes, where Black and white musicians played together under segregation, with Hayes's gold-trimmed Cadillac and a dance floor under Soul Train videos.

💡 The museum is closed on Mondays and open from 10am to 5pm, last entry at 4pm. Come by car or ride-hailing, as the area is poorly served by public transport. Price: $20, about €17, $16, about €14, for ages 7 to 12 and over-62s, free up to age 6.

Avalon Frost / CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

Sam Phillips's small 1950 studio where Elvis, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis first recorded, with a lively guided tour ending in the near-intact recording room, where you can hold Elvis's microphone.

💡 Tours leave every hour at half past, without a booking, from 10am to 5.15pm every day; arrive early in summer. The room is small, and the tour lasts about 45 minutes. Price: $20, about €17, $15, about €13, for ages 5 to 11.

dbking from Washington, DC / CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

The Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King was shot in 1968, now a museum tracing the civil rights struggle from slavery onwards, ending in front of his room, left exactly as it was.

💡 Timed tickets are sold online, so buy them in advance, as visitors without tickets get in depending on remaining space. The museum is closed on Tuesdays and open from 9am to 5pm on other days, later in summer; allow at least two hours. Price: $25, about €22, $22, about €19, for ages 5 to 17.

Warren LeMay from Chicago, IL, United States / CC BY-SA 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

Opposite the Civil Rights Museum, the Blues Foundation's museum honours inductees from Muddy Waters to B.B. King with guitars, costumes and listening stations, the best introduction before a night on Beale Street.

💡 Open Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 5pm, closed on Sundays and Mondays. Combine it with the National Civil Rights Museum, across the street. Price: $15, about €13, per adult.

John Phelan / CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)