Skip to Main Content

The Best Kansas City Travel Tips From Our Readers


Kansas City sounds like a lot of fun, and now I’m hungry and I really want a drink from the TikiCat tiki bar. I was expecting some good responses to this week’s Hack Your City, but not 80 comments, many of them listing dozens of good places to go, and what to order there. After you look at the highlights below, read the full comments on the original post, where the people below have way more suggestions.

See and do

  • “There’s a really cool little museum, the National Museum of Toys and Miniatures, that I can’t recommend enough if you’re into tiny things/dollhouses/old toys.”—vivlock

  • “At Crown Center there’s Kaleidoscope. It’s an unguided art studio space for kids to craft in. There are stations with different things to do based on the season. It is sponsored by Hallmark and is completely free. Probably good up to age 10 depending on how crafty your kids are.”—2Kids

  • “Kansas City has the only WWI museum in the U.S., and they have a reenactment of trench warfare in one area.”—Nylter

  • “Definitely hit up the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. Even if you’re not a baseball fan, the history and depth of that museum is astounding. As a bonus, it shares a building with the American Jazz Museum and is a just a couple of blocks from Arthur Bryant’s Barbecue.”—blanchedeverno

  • “Completely agree about the NLBM, and if Bob Kendrick is doing a guided tour that day, make sure you take it.”—TS2130

  • “Be aware that if you go to a show at the Midland (Arvest Bank) Theatre, they will let Arvest Bank members in before anyone else. My friends and I who queued for 12 hours to get front rail at the Thom Yorke show found this out the hard way.”—NOLANope

  • “Most Overrated Family Event: Legoland. Overpriced, kinda not good.”—Matthew

  • Nelson-Atkins Museum (classical/contemporary art, all mostly historic) / Kemper Art Museum (contemporary art).”—ZacCo

  • “Downtown KC is finally starting to come alive after being a ghost town for years, and is next to two of my favorite areas, the River Market (home to a great Saturday market and lots of new restaurants) and the Crossroads Arts District (which must be visited on First Friday if possible, it’s the one time you see lots of people roaming the streets!).”—785Local

  • “In the River Market is the Arabia Steamboat Museum.”—Qmatilda

  • The Harry S. Truman Presidential Library is surprisingly enjoyable if you like history. Unlike some other presidential libraries they don’t really sugarcoat his presidency so you come away with a fairly nuanced understanding of arguably the most controversial president.”—Rhesus Pieces

  • “You should check out the Overland Park Arboretum and the Museum at Prairiefire.”—Kansas City 1991

  • “Yearly in September the Midwest Tea Festival brings hundreds (over 1000 in 2018) tea lovers and tea curious to Kansas City for the region’s first festival dedicated solely to tea and the cultures that produce and enjoy it.”—Nicole

Eat and drink

  • “One of the absolute best places to eat is Nara [sushi] in the Crossroads District.”—pravan1066

  • “I love a trip to Messenger Coffee, a three-story shop combined with Ibis Bakery.”—Lauren M.

  • “If you’re a coffee fan, check out the tours at The Roasterie. For $5, you get a 45 minute tour of their facility, which includes history of their factory and a lot of information about how your coffee goes from tree to cup. Plus samples at the end!”—PharmD

  • “A lot of good food that isn’t BBQ: Voltaire, Black Dirt, Novel for upscale; a thriving Hispanic community in KCK provides real-ass tacos/tortas/etc.; Vietnamese all over the Columbus Park area; El Salvadorean if you venture into the ‘burbs...”—Chris

  • “Noteworthy food: Q39 BBQ, Cafe de Amis, Lulu’s Thai noodles, Mission Taco Joint.”—soundman1024

  • “A lot of small bbq places closed in the last recession. If you are a BBQ fan, just google KC bbq cuz they are all good.”—pF5a

  • “Get the carrot cake at Jack Stack!”—WySS

  • “Check out In-A-Tub in the Northland. They have deep-fried tacos topped with powdered cheese.”—LockeCJ

  • “Go to Stroud’s Oak Ridge Manor location. Get there an hour early. Be glad that you did.”—John Small Berries

  • Bay Boy is a sandwich place that does dutch crunch sandwiches and is the only place in the country I’ve seen that bread outside of the SF Bay Area.”—whodoyoulove

  • The Peanut is your typical dive, nothing special, but those hot wings...”—lllcoco; “Don’t sleep on the BLT at the Peanut either.”—Reppin’ LC’s

  • “The KC craft brewery scene is slowly taking off. There are quite a few in walking distance of each other and you should start at Casual Animal Brewery.”—DJ_RCJH

  • “There is a really cool tiki bar in Westport called TikiCat. Get reservations AT LEAST a week in advance.”—Howellass

  • Betty Rae’s Ice Cream, either in the River Market or Waldo neighborhoods. People line up in 35 degree weather for this ice cream.”—Tim Vandehey

Get around

  • “KC is a driving town in my opinion, but on the plus side renting a car is CHEAP there. I’m booked over the holidays and the going rate was $16-$20 per day.”—Slacklinejoe

  • “Take the street car (which is FREE) from the River Market down through the coolest parts of downtown proper, with stops in the Power & Light district (lots of restaurants and bars, Sprint Center, Midland Theater and other smaller live performance venues); the Crossroads Arts District (less “corporate” commercialism than Power & Light) home of the Kauffman Arts Center, and finishing up at Union Station/Crown Center (super-touristy, but definitely the spot you want to go if you’re traveling with kids.)”—Reppin’ LC’s

  • “West Bottoms: This is a historic area of the city, also known as the Stockyards, because of all the cows. Now the cows are gone but the buildings remain, many of which have been turned into antique shops. It’s an underrated place to visit if you want to shop but want to avoid the more touristy plaza area. Stockyards Brewery is solid, and the Ship is a great dive bar. It’s really just a ship with beer and usually live music.”—Jeff Kent’s Mustache

  • “The mountain biking in and around Kansas City is very good. Somewhere around 200 miles of trails (not greenways, but legit mountain biking trails) scattered around the area. Each park has its own flavor and there are plenty of fairly technical trails. Swope Park, Blue River Parkway, Landahl, etc.”—Doulos

  • “If you’ve ever spent any time in New York - this place will mess with you. ‘Downtown’ is north of ‘uptown,’ the numbered streets ascend to the south. The trolley only takes you about halfway before turning around. Seriously. Downtown is decidedly better than uptown for things to do after work. Uptown, well most of the country club plaza area anyway, is literally an outdoor mall.”—robotmonkeyzombiekiller

  • “If someone tells you to stay on one side of State Line Road or the other, don’t listen to them. Nearly every neighborhood and town has something to offer.”—Bye Bye Balboni

  • “Visitors should focus on the area from downtown to the Plaza. We’ve got other good stuff but that will keep you busy for the weekend. Everyone is super nice, so don’t hesitate to strike up a conversation with your neighbor at the bar. [Kansas City is] a pretty diverse city both racially and politically despite the stigma of the ‘flyover states.’ Politically, Kansas City is pretty evenly split and people are used to the fact that not everyone thinks the way they do.”—PJHames

  • “If you are touring the Midwest by car, then it’s also worth a trip to Abilene, Kansas for the Eisenhower Presidential Library. That covers both his military career (worth a museum by itself) and his presidential career.”—pF5a

Hack Your City is taking a break next week. Go read more Kansas City tips in the original thread, leave your own below, and come back on the 31st when we head way way south.