Day trips from Nashville · Town
Graceland
210 miles from downtown Nashville · about 3 hours
Whitehaven, Memphis, Shelby County, TN, on Elvis Presley Boulevard
Long day or overnight, not an afternoon
Graceland is the house Elvis Presley bought in 1957 and lived in until he died, three hours west of Nashville on I-40, and it has been open to the public since 1982. It is a National Historic Landmark and it draws roughly 600,000 people a year, which means the difference between a good visit and a frustrating one is almost entirely about which ticket you buy and what time you arrive.
- Distance
- 210 miles, about 3 hours straight down I-40
- Time zone
- Central, same as Nashville
- Time on site
- Mansion alone is 1 to 1.5 hours. The full Elvis Experience runs 2.5 to 3.5
- The free window
- Meditation Garden, walk up, 7:30am to 8:30am daily
Permits, fees and access
Open daily 9am to 4pm, with the last mansion tour starting at 4pm and Elvis’ Airplanes not opening until 10am. Closed Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day, and open 9am to 2pm only on Christmas Eve. The ticket ladder as of this check: Elvis Presley’s Memphis plus Planes is $53 adult and $30 youth and does NOT include the house. The Elvis Experience, which is the entry level ticket that does include the mansion, is $85 adult and $49 youth. Elvis Entourage VIP is $148 at any age, Ultimate VIP is $240 before 1:30pm or $215 after, and Inside the Graceland Archives UVIP is $260 before 1:30pm or $235 after. Parking is a separate paid lot and Graceland recommends buying it online ahead. Hours and prices are theirs to change, so confirm before you drive three hours.
Things to do in Graceland
Addresses, hours and prices as published by each operator in August 18, 2026. Hours and prices move, so check before you go.
The mansion
3764 Elvis Presley Boulevard. 17,552 square feet and 23 rooms on 13.8 acres. Elvis bought it March 19, 1957 for $102,500 and it opened to the public June 7, 1982. Listed on the National Register November 7, 1991 and made a National Historic Landmark March 27, 2006.
Meditation Garden
Where Elvis is buried, alongside his parents Vernon and Gladys, his grandmother Minnie Mae, his daughter Lisa Marie and his grandson Benjamin Keough, with a memorial stone for his stillborn twin Jesse Garon. This is the part you can see free of charge if you come early enough.
Elvis Presley’s Memphis
The 200,000 square foot entertainment and exhibit complex across the street from the mansion at 3717 Elvis Presley Boulevard, where the ticket office is. Careers, costumes, the Elvis: Live From Vegas exhibit and restaurants.
Presley Motors Automobile Museum
Inside the Elvis Presley’s Memphis complex. The pink Cadillac, the Stutz Blackhawk and the rest of the collection.
Elvis’ Airplanes
The Lisa Marie, a Convair 880 with a gold-plated bathroom sink, and the smaller Hound Dog II. Note the planes open at 10am, an hour later than everything else, which catches early arrivals out.
Elvis Week
August 7 to 16, 2026, built around the anniversary of his death. The Candlelight Vigil is August 15 and it is the cornerstone event. Reserved line placement is sold as part of ticket packages.
The Guest House at Graceland
The 450-room hotel on the property, which is what makes an overnight version of this trip work if the drive back the same night sounds like too much.
One thing to know first
Two things trip people up. First, the ticket ladder: the $53 ticket does not get you into the house, and people find that out at the gate. If walking through the mansion is the point of the drive, the entry level is the $85 Elvis Experience. Second, and this is the one almost nobody tells you: the Meditation Garden, where the graves are, is open to walk-ups free of charge daily from 7:30am to 8:30am, with everyone in by 8:30 and out before the paid tours start. It does not run on Thanksgiving or Christmas. If you have driven over for the graves rather than the house, set the alarm and it costs you nothing.
Access rules, fees and closures verified August 18, 2026 against the agency that manages this place. They change, sometimes without notice. Check before you drive.
The neighborhoods closest to it
If this is the kind of Saturday you want a short drive from your front door, these are the parts of Middle Tennessee that put you nearest to it.
I keep this list because it is genuinely how people spend weekends here, and because almost every guide to it is out of date. If you are weighing a move to Middle Tennessee and want to know which part of it puts you closest to the things you actually like, ask me. No pitch.