Memphis has four music attractions that matter, and their prices span a range most visitors do
not expect: from $15 to $260. The spread is not really about how much music history each one holds.
It is about how Graceland tiers its tickets — and the cheapest Graceland ticket does not
include the house.
The three museums
| Attraction | Adult admission | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sun Studio | $15 | The working studio where Presley, Cash, Perkins and Lewis recorded. Guided tour |
| Memphis Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum | $16 adult · $12 youth 5–17 · under-4s free | Smithsonian-developed exhibit on Memphis music. A $21 combo adds the Memphis Music Hall of Fame |
| Stax Museum of American Soul Music | From about $20 | On the site of the Stax studio, in Soulsville |
site before you go — combo and package pricing changes.
Graceland, tier by tier
This is the part worth reading carefully, because the headline number and the useful number are
different.
| Ticket | Adult price | Mansion included? | What else |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elvis Presley’s Memphis | $53 · youth $30 | No | Entertainment complex and the jets only |
| Elvis Experience | $85 · youth $49 | Yes — self-guided | Complex and jets |
| Entourage VIP | $148, all ages | Yes — self-guided | Front-of-line access, private VIP exhibit, badge |
| Ultimate VIP | $240 before 1:30pm · $215 after | Yes — with an expert guide | Artifact demonstrations, VIP exhibit, photo, badge; meal voucher on morning tours |
| Archives UVIP | $260 before 1:30pm · $235 after | Yes — with an expert guide | Everything above plus the Archives tour |
2026. Graceland prices by time of day on the two top tiers and revises pricing seasonally —
check the official page for your date.
Three things this table tells you
The cheapest ticket is not a cheap way to see Graceland. At $53, Elvis Presley’s
Memphis gets you the entertainment complex across the street and the aircraft. It does not get you
into the mansion, which is the thing almost everybody is there for. The entry price for the house is
$85.
The ladder is steep, and it is not steep because of the house. Every tier from
$85 upward includes the same mansion. What the extra $63, $155 or $175 buys is a guide, front-of-line
access, a private exhibit and the archives — not more of Graceland. Whether that is worth it
depends entirely on how much of an Elvis visit you are making; it is not a better view of the same
rooms.
Booking after 1:30pm saves $25 on the top two tiers. Graceland prices Ultimate
VIP at $240 in the morning and $215 in the afternoon, and Archives UVIP at $260 and $235. The
morning tickets include a meal voucher; the afternoon ones do not. That is the trade, stated
plainly.
The comparison nobody puts side by side
Sun Studio at $15, Rock ‘n’ Soul at $16 and Stax at about $20 come to roughly $51
for all three.
That is less than the cheapest Graceland ticket — the one that does not include the house
— and about 60 per cent of the price of the one that does.
This is not an argument against Graceland. It is the context missing from most Memphis
itineraries: the three independent museums together cost less than one attraction, and between them
they cover the studio where rock and roll was recorded, the label that made Memphis soul, and a
Smithsonian-developed overview of both. If your budget is tight and your interest is the music
rather than Elvis specifically, the $51 route is the denser day.
How to fit them together
Sun Studio and Rock ‘n’ Soul are both downtown and close together. Stax is in Soulsville, a short
drive south. Graceland is further south again, and is the one that will take most of a day if you
buy a tier above the entry level. Guided Memphis music tours bundling Sun Studio, Stax and Rock ‘n’
Soul with transport are widely sold from around $45, which is worth pricing against $51 in
admissions plus your own transport rather than assuming either is cheaper.
Prices compiled in 2026 from
Graceland’s own ticket information page,
the Memphis Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum’s visit page,
Sun Studio’s tickets page and
the Stax Museum site.
Admission prices change, Graceland’s tier contents and time-of-day pricing are revised, and combo
and tour pricing moves constantly. Check the official page for your date before budgeting.
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Related reading
Living in Memphis, Memphis, Practically, What Is the Shelby County Courthouse in Memphis?, What Is Elmwood Cemetery, and Who Is Buried There?, What Is the Orpheum Theatre in Memphis, Explained.
Featured image: Photo by Warren LeMay from Chicago, IL, United States, source, CC BY-SA 2.0
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