Walking Tours
Like most American cities, Memphis is not really geared towards pedestrians and it is only the Downtown area visitors can successfully explore on foot. Memphis Explorations (tel: (901) 761 1838; website: memphisexplorations.com) offers customised tours, including a 'Downtown Elvis-style' walking tour every Saturday, from April to October, for groups over two, by reservation. The Elvis tour lasts three hours and includes more than 20 Elvis sites, including his teenage home at Lauderdale Courts. Tours depart from the Elvis statue on Beale Street, at 1000. Contact the Memphis CVB (tel: (901) 543 5300; www.memphistravel.com) for other self-guided walking tours.

Bus Tours
Blues City Tours (tel: (901) 522 9229; website: www.bluescitytours.com) operates a variety of daily bus tours of Memphis. The three-hour 'Memphis City Tour' takes in all the major sights, including Downtown, Beale Street, the Lorraine Hotel, Graceland, The Peabody Duck March and the Pyramid Arena. Free hotel pick-up is arranged. Coach USA (tel: (901) 382 6366; website: www.coachusa.us) offers a variety of tours, including a 'Memphis City Tour' and an 'Elvis Platinum Tour'. Pick-up is available from all Memphis hotels. Both tours last three hours. All Points USA (tel: (901) 432 9042 or 1 877 892 3883) and Crown Coach Charters & Tours (tel: (901) 384 9988 or 1 800 617 8224) offer a variety of bus tours around Memphis and the surrounding region, for both groups and individuals.

Other Tours
A trip on the Mississippi is one of the most relaxing tours available. Memphis Queen Line (tel: 1 800 221 6197 or (901) 527 5694; website: www.memphisqueen.com) operates sightseeing cruises in traditional paddle-wheel boats. Tours operate from 1 March to 9 November, departing from 45 South Riverside Drive on the river.

American Dream Safari (tel: (901) 527 8870; website: www.americandreamsafari.com) runs novelty tours of Memphis in a pink 1955 Cadillac, reminiscent of Elvis' original '55 pink Caddy. Tours explore the myth and legend of southern culture, whether it's a three-hour city tour, a 'Drive-By Shooting Tour', capturing the sights and sounds of the other side of Memphis life or the eight-hour 'Delta Day Trip', cruising past cotton fields and cypress swamps. Tad Pierson will customise any tour to suits a person's interest and is passionate about sharing the different cultures of the South.

Memphis Explorations (tel: (901) 481 3877; website: http://memphisexplorations.com) offers driving tours of the city and a full-day trip to Tupelo to see Elvis' birthplace. Hotel pick-up is arranged.

Driving tours are also available from several other companies: Destination King (website: www.destinationking.com); Heritage Tours (tel: (901) 527 3427; website: www.hertitagetoursmemphis.com); See Memphis Inc. (tel: (901) 525 4617 or 1 800 235 7311) and Sweet Magnolia Tours (tel: (901) 369 9838 or 866 320 5295; website: www.sweetmagnoliatours.com).

Downtown horse-drawn carriage tours parade the streets nightly, only minutes from every Downtown hotspot and about an hour from Midtown Memphis attractions such as the Memphis Zoo, Brooks Museum and Overton Square. Carriage tours also run on a shortened daytime schedule (tel: (901) 527 7542 or 1 888 267 9100; website: www.carriagetoursofmemphis.com).