A MUST DO TOUR! We had a great experience and learned a lot of the rich music history. The tour guide & singer did an amazing job and we enjoyed the live music. We are telling our friends that this is a must do tour in Memphis! read more

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Sheena is awesome! Very knowledgeable and fun to hang out with. Michael was the best driver. I felt very safe while riding with him. Highly recommend any tours with this company. I did 2 and I'll do more the next time I visit read more

Backbeat Tours - This is the bus we took for our tour - Tours Near Me - Memphis, Tennessee

What a fun ride! I believe our guide's name was Kate, she was funny, informative, and had a beautiful voice. Definitely a great tourist trip. If you are taking a vacation in Memphis, I highly recommend this for the whole family! read more

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Biggest waste of money in town. Took 90 minutes and the musician/ tour guide was horrible. My wife and I both had a terrible headache. Not funny or entertaining. Just a massive waste of time and money. Would strongly recommend finding a different tour. read more

Tour guide did not elaborate on the full History of the buildings, especially the Orpheum. Spoke more on the restaurant's and hotels. Also recommended the green beetle for dinner after tour. We departed shortly before the end of the tour and when we arrived at green beetle at 10:04pm they were not serving food. I would take that recommendation off immediately for late tours . read more

The entire tour was enjoyable and entertaining. Our guide was great and talented. The tour really put you in touch with some of the great musicians of the past. read more

It was perfect for us. We had a dog with us during our travels and they were the only bus tour that allowed dogs. The tour guide was lovely, entertaining, funny and very knowledgeable. Would highly recommend for those who want the highlights without walking in the heat. Loved all the places and the history that we saw. The only draw back is that we did not get very good pictures. read more

I highly recommend Backbeat tours. While traveling to Memphis we went on a Haunted Memphis tour with our guide Hannah. Hannah was a fantastic guide / story teller and really brought downtown Memphis to life. It was such a memorable part of our trip and I would highly recommend that you treat yourself. You won't regret it. The 2 our walking tour was done at a perfect pace and is great for all ages. read more

A friend of mine who lives here took us on this tour. Im not a tour person at all, but she thought I would like it. You hop on a bus and they drive around telling the history of different buildings while the tour guide sings songs and plays the guitar. It is mostly places that Elvis played, lived etc. Like someone else mentioned, it is super cheesy. They have a stop midway to get out for a bathroom stop and he played a couple songs in the ampatheater that Elvis played in. I guess if you love the touristy kind of thing and history you might like this sort of thing. read more

We opted for the mojo bus tour which was complete with a musician on board. Normally I shy away from bus tours because I find them to be boring or frustrating when you get a guide you can't understand or even worse one who sounds like they are reading from a script. I'm happy to say that was not the case with this tour. It was fun and entertaining and we even got to be part of the musical entertainment, which by the way, was fabulous. The majority of the tour focused on the Million Dollar Quartet which is a great story with some really great tunes!! There's some local history sprinkled throughout the tour as well. We were in Memphis on a 95 degree day so a cool bus was not a bad thing. This tour offers the option of going to Sun Studio as well, and we opted for that package. It was nice to get dropped off and picked up at the door and not have to worry about parking. I would recommend this tour too anyone who wants a good overview of Memphis and especially to those who love good old Rock and Roll music!! read more

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We did the Memphis Discovery tour with Larry and had a blast. He had great information and answered all my questions. I loved the "tasting" at Central BBQ which was plenty of lunch for me. It's about the size of a kids meal with a bbq pork slider, kettle chips, coleslaw and a drink. The Rock & Soul Museum is the best. So many original artifacts and a great self guided audio tour with clips from your favorite songs. We learned so much. It took about 1 1/2 hours if you listen to all the recordings. We arrived at the Peabody hotel in time to get a good spot to see the duck sprint, and passed a huge tour group coming in as we were leaving that missed the ducks. Good bargain and excellent your guide. read more

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One word sums up the tour but they don't let you post one-word reviews. It was boring. The young kid doing the tour was nice enough but he wasn't an engaging story teller. We left early and went to Hard Rock Cafe. Their spicy shrimp was so good ;) read more

he was very thorough and fun with his information giving. would recommend to anyone especially big groups. takes you through the biggest inspirations in memphis read more

Both of our tour guides yesterday and today were fabulous ! We did the walking tour ( history) yesterday and today with Stephanie ( ghost tour ) we highly recommend ! Wear good shoes and bring a water ! Very informative ! Thanks :) read more

Went on the Discover Memphis tour this morning. Our tour guide was wonderful!! We loved her personal stories about the city. We have 2 more tours scheduled and hope those are awesome too! read more

Backbeat Tours - Tour bus - Tours Near Me - Memphis, Tennessee

Kate was a wonderful tour guide, we are so glad we did this when we were in Memphis! I still have the chills from some of the stories she told us. Definitely recommended :) read more

We took the Memphis City Tour that included a trip to the Rock and Soul Museum. It's a three hour tour that includes a bus ride and some walking, but not much. There's a trip out to the Lorraine Hotel where Dr. King was assassinated and is now home to the Civil Rights Museum,a sample at Central BBQ, the Peabody Duck March and some sightseeing of local sights. Short story - absolutely worth the price and I recommend it to anyone on their first day in Memphis. It certainly opens up to you some highlights of the city and what all you might want to see further. At the time of this review the tour was $40. Long story: the Civil Rights Museum is worth 3-4 hours of your time but if it's not your interest of if you don't have a lot of sightseeing time in Memphis it is great that this tour takes you over here. The historical significance of this site is impactful and to be able to see it brings the moment in time alive. There's a stop at Central BBQ which is kitty cornered from the Lorraine Motel. It's listed as a sample of Memphis BBQ and it certainly qualifies as a lunch depending on the time you picked for your tour. We had the 2:30 tour and 7 p.m. dinner reservations so we ate mindfully (and had the benefit of having lunch at Central BBQ in the past). The "sample" is a fountain drink, a BBQ pork slider, home made chips and a small side of cole slaw. If you're into BBQ and you ask around you'll hear about Rendezvous which is an incredibly popular BBQ restaurant downtown, but that's Texas style dry rub BBQ. This is KC style BBQ sauce with a little honey (1) which IMO is better BBQ and (2) gives you a sample of something else if you absolutely have to try Rendezvous on your Memphis visit. There is a 30-45 minute stop at the Rock and Soul Museum. This is a Smithsonian Institution and 45 minutes is too short or just enough time depending on your interest. It's a self guided tour and most interesting to us was the ability to listen to several rock and soul recordings on your headset by picking its number, i.e. 3 a.m Blues by B.B. King and some you've never heard of and some you have - we could have spent more time there to listen to some more. The museum on its own is $12 but included in the tour. As I said our tour was at 2:30 so we made a 5 o'clock stop at The Peabody for the duck march. Nice stop but overall if this is something you want to see you need to show up at least 1/2 hour beforehand to get a decent viewing spot. In between and before you wrap up are a ride by the River (depending on how much you like to walk it's a great opportunity to get a good look at the Memphis Bridge), homes along what was know decades ago as Millionaires Row and a stop by where Elvis lived in his teenage years. Our tour guide, Larry, is a great tour guide, very knowledgeable about Memphis sites and told Interesting tales. I really liked him, very personable, pleasant and professional. If you're staying downtown in Memphis not all of these sites are walkable, especially depending on your physical activity preference and your sense of direction. We are walkers and on our last trip drove to the Civil Rights Museum. I highly recommend this tour as something to do on your first day in Memphis - get a feel for the city and what else you may want to see or explore. It's not my first visit to the city and we made stops are places I had previously been (and I stay at The Peabody) but the tour was very worth it to me for the spots in between Larry took us to that I don't know if I would have ever known about or seen. read more

Backbeat Tours - Here's the sample of Memphis BBQ - a slider, a side of cole slaw and chips - Tours Near Me - Memphis, Tennessee

I had a special request--I'm working on a writing project that takes place in Memphis in a certain year, and I was looking for a knowledgeable guide to give me a tour and answer lots of random questions. I reached out to Backbeat, and they offered Bill, the owner. I had a great time and learned a ton of interesting stuff about Beale Street, the music scene, and the history of Memphis culture and politics. Bill was easy to chat with, told great stories, and in my case offered up a lot of helpful information based on what I was looking for. He answered any question I threw at him and was very generous with his time, going over the hour I'd paid for to show me a couple extra sights. He also recommended other places to check out and a few books for further research. Being a private tour, my experience was a little different, but based on Bill's knowledge and friendliness, I'd bet the other Backbeat tours are great as well. read more

Larry was informative and very willing to answer questions. The tour covered the highlights of Memphis well. The lunch was delicious! I recommend this company and their services read more

We had a tour with Will, at least I think that's what he said. Super friendly guy, great tour guide, he walks fast though. Haha. Or maybe I just walk slow because I'm pregnant. I wouldn't do the tour again though because when we got back to the hotel I was scared to use the elevator and the bathroom alone. Lol. Definitely recommend! read more

We did the Memphis Discovery Tour and Larry was our tour guide. He was great. He was very knowledgeable about everything and had a great sense of humor. We learned a lot about Memphis which gave us even a better understanding of it's history. The BBQ lunch was included and was really good. We purchased the Rock N Soul museum tickets that you can add to the Discovery tour. It was very well worth adding that too. It was a self guided tour and really gave you a lot of information about the music that came from Memphis. Request Larry if you do book this tour. You won't be sorry! read more

We were on a long road trip across the States and made a pitstop in Memphis. We took this tour because of the reviews we had read and were looking forward to having a musical twist to the experience in a city that boasts such a rich musical history. We we're traveling with small children and a dog. They welcome doggies (call first)! The kids stayed adequately engaged with being able to shake little egg shaped maracas. We had reserved the best of Memphis tour with the studio tour but actually didn't do the second part (kids' attention span too short). Overall a fun and educational experience. And their customer service is SUPERB (shout out to Meghan who answered questions and assisted with so many things). read more

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My daughter and I recently visited Memphis and booked a walking tour. Best idea ever! Our guide was awesome. She knew so much about so many things and took us places we would not have found on our own. She gave us insights which made our trip so much more meaningful. I will highly recommend this tour to any of our friends heading to Memphis. read more

I'm going to be completely honest with you: We didn't finish the ghost tour. I admit it; this review is based on half a ghost tour. Although, I feel confident that I can extrapolate what the entire ghost tour would've been like from the first half of said ghost tour. Unless there was a drastic shift in programming, the 2nd half is probably also composed of mildly creepy stories of supposedly supernatural occurrences told by Holly, who was wonderful by the way. Unfortunately, these stories were told to us outside downtown buildings (we thought we would spend at least a bit of time inside said ghostly structures) while we were being EATEN ALIVE by mosquitoes. Combined with the serious heat and humidity, it was utterly unbearable and we were forced to take shelter in a nearby bar with air conditioning, liquor, and no bloodthirsty insects. If you're into ghost tours (which I'm assuming you are, because you're thinking about signing up for a ghost tour), go for it. But wear some bug spray. read more

We loved this tour! We were in Memphis on a Monday, which a lot of places are closed. This particular Monday came on the heels of a tropical storm so needless to say it was pouring! We were trying to figure out what to do and booked this tour at the last minute. The tour we did was the mojo tour and runs about 1.5 hours. Our tour guide, Eric was phenomenal! He sang, he joked and he was a wealth of historical information. We learned loads of interesting facts about the musical history of Memphis and visited many important sites. We laughed, we sang... it was really great. If you're in Memphis and looking for a fun way to learn about the town this is a must!!! read more

Backbeat Tours - Tours Near Me - Memphis, Tennessee

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We had the great fortune of spending three days in Memphis as first time visitors and truly enjoyed our time in this city so rich in music history. We did all the usual things, Graceland, Beale Street, BBQ, and more; however, the one great thing we did was to take the Memphis Mojo Bus Tour through Backbeat Tours. This 90 minute tour was exceptional. We met a group of about 20 people outside of BB Kings to board a small tour bus. Our tour guide was Kathryn (with a y, as she describes herself). Kathryn rode backwards facing us and provide us with a wonderfully deep history of Memphis from a music perspective, sharing her knowledge and passion of Memphis music and the history it has with Gospel, Blues, Country, and Rock and Roll. She offered up the little known tidbits that made you leave the tour feeling like an insider. If you only do one thing in Memphis, do the Mojo Bus Tour - preferably with Kathryn. You will be very happy you did. read more

Backbeat Tours - Our Tour Guide Kathryn was great. - Tours Near Me - Memphis, Tennessee

I am a tour guide by trade so I am extremely critical of guides in general. Our guide, Brandon, was just wonderful. He was enthusiastic and his singing and guitar playing added such a fun element. He seemed to genuinely care about local music and history. He made what is actually a pretty boring driving tour into a really fun experience. I'd say this tour is better for families with kids or real music fans. If you're a real history buff this probably isn't the best tour as its more of a sing along with interspersed stories about Elvis and the like. Only 2 critiques: The woman who took our tickets and introduced our guide was extremely socially awkward. It makes the guide's job harder if he has to 'get the crowd back' from an awkward introduction. She should have a scripted intro since she's clearly not good off the cuff. Also, the bus was quite warm. It wasn't unbearable but it definately could have been more comfortable for sure. read more

Backbeat Tours - Brandon our blue suede shoed guide. - Tours Near Me - Memphis, Tennessee

Our tour was led by Larry who had a delightful sense of humor as well knowledgeable fun facts covering Elvis, Memphis history and insightful commentary on Dr. King. We had lunch at one the well-known Memphis BBQ stops. Highly recommend this tour and this tour guide! read more

Was surprised with the ghost tour of downtown Memphis for my birthday. Went on a Saturday night. First, please remember that you are in the south, and it gets hot during the summer and mosquitos are commonplace here, so you should expect that when you are taking a nighttime walking tour and your guide should not be penalized for your lack of preparation (bug spray and loose clothing). I do wish the tour guide was standing outside by the backbeat tour sign on Beale street at least 15 minutes before the tour start time, just to provide some direction and assurance that we were in the right spot. The ghost tour was informative, maybe a little long-winded at times. I have been on ghost tours before, and this was a more immersive ghost tour. We were welcome to go inside some of the locations and take pictures. Our tour guide was friendly and funny. I don't think I would do a nighttime tour unless it is with a large group, because some of the areas we were walking through in Memphis are known to be not as safe as other areas, so take that into consideration. Also remember that downtown Memphis at night is for adults, so taking kids on the nighttime ghost tour may not be a good idea, especially since there are several adults in the area that have maybe had a few too many drinks. Overall it was a nice experience. read more

Went on the mojo bus tour. It was about an hour and half and entertaining. I'm sure it would have been better if the bus crowd was a little more lively. We had drunk 20 year old girls who were annoying and passing out and some kids who were annoying. I feel like the bus flew by some of the stuff I wanted to see, like the Lorraine motel and Sun studios, but stopped at stuff I didn't care much about like the Peabody hotel. But, that's what you get when you pay for a bus tour that you have not control over. Our tour guide was good, tried to keep the momentum up, played songs and we all sang along. It's a decent tour. Get drunk and I'm sure it would be better. You can bring alcohol on the bus. read more

We went on the walking ghost tour and it was insane!! Chelsea was our tour guide and she was amazing. She really captivated everyone with her story telling. You could tell she really enjoyed what she talked about and was so super knowledgeable about all the stories. I loved how everything was we saw was right along the road we walked, no weird turns or going out of the way. The end was well worth it. It totally scared me-in a good way!! Loved this tour so much, definitely recommend to anyone who loves history and ghost stories. read more

I took my family, including my elderly parents, on vacation and was looking for a bus tour in Memphis. I yelped it for suggestions and decided on this. It was an excellent decision. It was a 1.5 hour bus tour and an excellent break from walking. Cat was our tour guide and she was AMAZING! She was full of great information and she had a beautiful signing voice! We all exited the bus with a bit more knowledge of the blues and the history of Memphis. I highly recommend the Mojo Bus Tour. You won't regret it. And if you can, go when Cat is guiding - she is awesome! read more

went on the Ghost tour on saturday 25th@8pm. Chelsea was the guide and she was awesome! she was very bubbly and you could tell that she liked her job and loved to tell ghost stories, and tell the history of Memphis. She was informative about the darkside of Memphis and about the history of memphis! the tour was worth the mile or 2 mile trek around downtown and the weather was perfect; not too hot, not to cold. I have been on 1 other tour that was good and this was equally as good!! If you go on this tour make sure to ask for Chelsea! I enjoyed every murder/ghost story and every historical story! i'd give chelsea a 10, but 5 is all that they are letting me give her! Had we been able to go inside of the Gayoso apartment the rating would have been even higher! I won't write any about any of the stories, but will encourage you to go on the tour to hear them! read more

I thought this was a great way to tour Memphis, in the heat of the summer. We were delayed by 15 minutes waiting for a large group of people who were stuck in traffic. They should have extended the tour 15 minutes to be able to enjoy the full 1 1/2 hours of fun. Kathryn was our entertainer. What a wealth of knowledge that she has of this area. She is a great, enthusiastic storyteller. I loved hearing the history of the famus Elvis, Cash and BB King, all living in very humble abodes, near each other. I enjoyed seeing the Lorraine Hotel that was made famous by Martin Luther King. It took you through some "not so great" parts of Memphis, making me realize that restoration was lacking. I rated this a 3 star, due to the price. I thought the price was high. We toured Graceland, Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum and Opry House in Nashville, each for less than this tour. read more

My room mate and I took our tour at 8 pm the same day we bought our tickets. You have an hour tour for $13 and a two hour tour for $20. Our tour guide was awesome. Very friendly, very knowledgable, and really made the tour. We walked about a mile to a mile and a half around Memphis before taking the bus back to Beale Street. Your bus ticket is included in the price :) People on the tour took pictures and some people got orbs or mist. Really cool! The last place we went was Earnestine's and Hazels! Because our group was cut in half we had to wait for the other group to get there. There is a piano, pool table, bar, and tons of pictures of famous people who had acted/been there. I would suggest taking this tour if you are interested in the history of Memphis, it was more than just a "scary" tour. Yes, there were ghost stories but also a good talk of history and how Memphis came around. It was also really cool that our tour guide had a degree in history and was working on her masters! We actually bought our tickets from the guy who owns Backbeat Tours (William Patton I do believe) and I bought his book. He signed it for me and everything. I am very happy with this business! In a nutshell, whether you are looking for a ghost story or history lesson you will get both. Start at Beale Street and end there. Its a good walk, and they stop at a gas station for food and bathroom breaks half way in. Shows you a different side of Memphis and is worth the money! read more

Backbeat Tours - Tours Near Me - Memphis, Tennessee

We took the Haunted Walking Tour and it was great! Daniel is an amazing guide! We will definitely be back!

Apparently, iPhones are much better at catching spiritual orbs than other phones. Yet another reason to trade my Droid for an iPhone. I captured a lot of ectoplasm, but no orbs. Those people with the iPhones kept showing off their orbs and I was so jealous. The 2 hour walking tour really is totally cheesy, but it is a great way to learn about buildings and parts of downtown Memphis that you might not otherwise see. The Orpheum theater is listed as a featured stop, but I was disappointed that it was closed. The brothel is so creepy and cool. The brother has been preserved and is now a bar. The bedrooms and bathrooms are still dark and it totally feels like a dilapidated brothel. Several drunk people at the bar told us that they had seen ghost in the building (imagine that) and one of them said "I ain't afraid of no ghost." Our tour guide and her assistant were great. The group could have been a bit smaller, since it was often hard to hear her. read more

This tour is the most interactive, fun & music-filled way to get a solid primer on the history of Memphis. Leaving from the corner of Beale & South 2nd St, you are given the opportunity to have a tambourine, a set of bongo drums, or shakers. You'll need these to accompany the professional musician who will be your guitar-strumming & singing tour guide. Getting to see Elvis' humble government-housing apartment in Lauderdale Courts was an unexpected bonus. The tour guide was upbeat, funny and talented. Beats any kind of museum tour doe the 1st-timer. I've been to Memphis 4 times prior and I am so glad I took this tour. You can sing along in the air-conditioned bus and learn so much about Memphis by actually visiting the sites instead of merely reading about them or viewing photos on a museum wall. This is your best bang-for-the-buck highlight tour of Memphis. Plus they have other tours that will appeal to those who like Ghost Tours or Elvis-centric tours that include Graceland & Sun Records. We loved it and sang along to all the Elvis, Carl Perkins, & Johnny Cash songs, just to name a few of the selections played & sung by the tour-guide. The only downside and this very minor is that the bus is a fully restored comfortable vintage bus but sometimes on hot days, the air conditioning is just a wee bit challenged. But I am still calling this a must-see Memphis experience to all my friends & family. read more

Took the haunted tour. The hardest thing about this tour is rating our tour guide. She was very sweet & willing to answer questions but every other word out of her mouth was "UM" which was very distracting & made it seem like she didn't know her stuff. She did warm up though. We did have a "ghastly" experience at Earnestine & Hazel but someone I was with saw/felt quite a few things (esp. the basement of the Gayoso Hotel, Barbarro's house & Earnestine & Hazel). The tour path needs some work too.... We started on Beale street but walked away from it, then all around it and eventually down the path from it. Never actually did anything on Beale. I do understand that it's a good hub for tourists but we didn't even get a discount/free drink token from BB Kings (unlike most other tours). Also, we walked down one place (near Pontotoc Hotel) where there were GAPING holes in the road. I slammed my ankle pretty hard in one & we almost lost another of our group to a different hole. Would have been nice for the tour guide to alert us to look down (instead of looking around at all the buildings). All in all, I would recommend esp if you like haunted tours. The history was interesting, we did have an experience & once our tour guide got comfortable it was much, much better. PS - The guide does have a microphone so you can stray a bit. It is a walking tour so bring comfortable shoes. There is a bathroom pit stop about halfway through at the Green Beetle... If memory serves it was about a 90min walking tour (could be wrong here...we got a few drinks at the Green Beetle..). read more

Such a fun tour!! Brad was awesome! :) make sure you take this your when in Memphis! read more

Backbeat Tours - Had a wonderful time!! - Tours Near Me - Memphis, Tennessee