Elvis Holidays & Tours to Graceland, Memphis

Graceland – Mansion Tour

Elvis Holidays

Elvis bought Graceland in Memphis for $102,000 in 1957 aged just 22 and along with his parents called it home for the remainder of their lifetimes.

With the new digital audio guide featuring the voices of Lisa Marie Presley and Elvis, guests to the 14-acre estate enjoy a specially produced audio tour presentation and even more information on specific exhibits and items of interest.

The Graceland mansion tour consists of the living room (complete with white marble fireplace and Louis XIV furniture), music room, Elvis' parents' bedroom, the dining room, kitchen, TV room, pool room (wall-to -wall and ceiling matching fabric), and the “jungle room” den in the main house. They say Elvis spent 30 minutes picking out the furniture for the Jungle Room which includes wall-to-wall green shag carpeting, Polynesian furniture, animal and totem figures and a stone waterfall. Behind the house, Elvis' racquetball building and his original business office are also included.

The highlight of the Graceland mansion tour is Elvis' trophy building, which houses his enormous collection of gold records and awards, along with an extensive display of career mementos, stage costumes, jewellery, guns, police badges, photographs, and much more. The tour ends with a quiet visit to the Meditation Garden, where Elvis and members of his family have been laid to rest.

Graceland – Automobile Museum

Elvis Holidays

We all know Elvis gave away cars (including over 200 Cadillacs) at the drop of a hat to friends as well as total strangers but he did manage to hang onto quite a few of his favourites. These are on display at Graceland's fantastic Automobile Museum.

Highlights include his famous 1955 pink Cadillac, a 1956 purple Cadillac convertible, a 230 HP 1973 Stutz Blackhawk III (red leather interior with 18-karat gold-plated trim throughout and the last car he ever drove), the red MG Elvis drove in the movie Blue Hawaii, his Harley Davidson motorcycles, three-wheeled SuperCycles and more. Also displayed are personal items such as his leather cycle jackets, gasoline credit cards and driver's license.

His stunning Stutz Blackhawk was the first production model off the assembly line and originally ordered by Frank Sinatra but Elvis used his Southern charm on the salesman and got it instead.

Graceland – Custom Jets

Elvis Holidays

Elvis got through a few planes and even gave one to his manager as a gift but his main jet and one other are now permanently grounded and on display across the street from the Graceland Mansion.

This tour of Elvis' planes begins in a re-creation of an airport terminal with an entertaining video on the history of the planes. Guests step outside to take a quick peek at the small Hound Dog II Lockheed JetStar plane, and then walk aboard the much larger customized Lisa Marie jet, which Elvis named after his daughter and often referred to as his “flying Graceland”.

Elvis paid $250,000 in 1975 for the 96 seat, four engine plane and spent over a half a million dollars more to have it stripped & customized to include a lounge with suede sofas and leather-topped game tables, a conference/dining room with leather recliner chairs, a sitting/guest bedroom, a master bedroom with a queen-size bed, and a fully equipped galley, and two half-baths with 24K gold-flecked sinks. Television, video and stereo systems, sky phones and gold-plated seat belt buckles were among the other appointments and accessories. Elvis employed a full-time crew of four for his plane including pilot Milo High.

It was on this plane in February 1976 that Elvis flew with friends from Memphis to Denver (900 miles) just to pick up a takeaway. From Graceland, he ordered them all a specialty sandwich named Fool's Gold because of its outrageous price -$49.95. Elvis' plane touched down at 1:40 am in Denver and taxied to a private hangar. The owner of the restaurant personally brought Elvis and his party the order of twenty-two loaves on silver trays along with a case of Perrier, a case of champagne and a chest of cracked ice as requested. Elvis, his friends and the crew feasted on board then headed back to Memphis.

Sun Studios

Elvis Holidays

When Sam Phillips opened the Sun Recording Studio in 1950, he probably never guessed at the worldwide impact his business venture would produce. He could not have known that his recording studio would be the birthplace of Rock ‘n' Roll, as cutting edge musicians of the 1950s fused Blues and Country to create a unique and revolutionary new sound. Located in downtown Memphis, Sun Studio, the only recording studio to be named a National Historic Landmark, showcases rare memorabilia and original historic recording cuts.

On display is Elvis Presley's microphone used in 1954 when he recorded his first song, "That's All Right." Now, Sun Studio is displaying studio artefacts never seen before, as well as pieces on loan from the Presley Estate, Graceland.

Beale Street

Elvis Holidays

Elvis spent his teenage years at the blues bars dotting Beale Street, soaking in the unmistakable tunes of the Memphis. Beale Street is where the blues began.

Beale Street is jammed with blues clubs, restaurants (BBQ ribs to Cajun Gumbo) and shops selling everything from Voodoo potions to Elvis memorabilia.

Lansky Brothers Store

Elvis Holidays

Lansky Brothers is the store that permanently changed how America dresses.

They supplied Elvis with his flashy early clothes (the Hi-Boy collar shirts, the peg-legged pants, the Pink/Black combinations) and his famous Gold Lame' jacket. As Elvis spread the word, calls from around the world began pouring in. Everyone wanted to dress like Elvis!

See the great stylish clothes and accessories that Elvis got "all shook up" about at Lansky's "Clothier To The King," located in the lobby of the world famous Peabody Hotel. Just a waddle away from the famous Peabody ducks.

As Bernard Lansky recalls, “Elvis used to wear a lot of long coats with fur collars, the leather coats and things like that. In 1970, it was Superfly time. I made a couple of hats for him.. Elvis was my P.R. man for the whole world. Elvis used to send people to Lanskys. He'd say 'that's where I buy all my clothes.' When he used to come in, I had kids look in the windows and watch him. That's Elvis."

Tupelo

Elvis Holidays

This is where it all began. The birthplace of Elvis Presley in Tupelo, Mississippi (about 100 miles from Memphis) is the only location in the world where you can see, feel and touch where the King of Rock & Roll began his musical journey.

Only in Tupelo can you walk into the room where he breathed his first breath, take a stroll to his favourite location as a boy to relax looking over Tupelo, and see first hand how it all shaped this young boy from Mississippi into the international rock & roll music legend he is today.

The most significant landmark of Tupelo's modern history is a modest, two-room house where the King of Rock & Roll was born on Jan. 8, 1935.

The Elvis Presley Birthplace is part of the Elvis Presley Park and has been restored to the period before the singer's family moved to Memphis. The birthplace has been designated a Mississippi landmark. The Elvis Presley Park includes the Elvis Presley Museum, Memorial Chapel, Gift Shop and a lifesize statue of "Elvis at 13".

Las Vegas Extension

Elvis Holidays

Extend your Elvis & The Southern Sounds touring holiday and spend an extra three nights at the Las Vegas Hilton, the connection to the King.

From 1969 to 1976 Elvis performed over 800 times in the main showroom of the Las Vegas Hilton. He performed two shows a night, seven nights a week for three or four weeks at a time. All shows were sold out and he constantly broke all Las Vegas attendance records.

During his month long engagements he would live in the hotel's 5,000-square-foot, four-bedroom, 30th floor Imperial Suite.

Las Vegas in the 60's and 70's was definitely Elvis' kind of place. He worked there, lived there, played there and even married there.