DO: Elvis Week, 8-17 August
If your dream revolves around dressing up like Elvis and hanging out with a load of other people also dressed up as Elvis, then, er, Elvis Week might be up your street. For ten days in the Tennessee metropolis, there are candlelit vigils to the King of Rock, tribute concerts, karaoke sessions and musical tours around the city. One to dig your rhinestone-encrusted all-in-one and stick-on sideburns out of the cupboard for.
STAY: The Peabody Hotel. Rooms from around £120pn
Peabody – the official sponsor of Elvis Week – is a giant, neon-signed hotel right in the centre of downtown that does mean rooftop parties every weekend. But it's not just a fun place to lay your head – although it is that too, with cosy, colourful rooms – as twice a day, the Peabody Ducks (that's actual ducks, FYI) march to and from its grand lobby. It's tradition, apparently. peabodymemphis.com
WALK: Beale Street
If you've gone the whole way and dragged your Elvis fancy dress costume to Tennessee, there's no excuse for not visiting Beale Street in downtown Memphis – the spiritual home of blues and rock'n'roll. It's stuffed full of blues clubs, bars and themed restaurants, and no trip to the Deep South is complete without a wander down its neon-lit pavements, stopping in at blues clubs as you go. B.B. King's Blues Club is a good starting place, before snarfing some fried catfish in the Blues City Cafe and dancing on a table at the Coyote Ugly Saloon…
