We just returned from a weekend getaway to Kansas City, Missouri. It has been about thirteen years since we have been there so we were excited to get back and see what the city had to offer. I am always looking for suggestions for what to see, do and eat when we head out-of-town, so I thought this post full of all the things to do in Kansas City would be helpful for others who are heading there.
When we are going on a vacation or visiting a new place, I always ask my Instagram and Facebook audience what we should do while we are there. They are a wealth of knowledge. When I said that we would be heading to Kansas City, I got a lot of messages with so many great suggestions that I wanted to share with you here.
Things To Do In Kansas City:
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Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun. The parks are connected so you can go to both through the day.
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Q39 for sure! Depending on what you do stay in Overland Park area. You can go to Crown Center and Union Station. Science City is fun and that’s at Union Station. The World War 1 Memorial and Museum is also there and it’s stunning! There is a hotel attached to the Crown Center. In Overland Park you can indoor sky dive. The Roasterie Coffee is cool to tour and their coffee is amazing! Power and Light is neat but not a ton to do.
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Visit the West Bottoms for antique shopping galore. We liked the Farmer’s Market in River District. The Power and Light District had music Thursday nights. We took a double-decker bus ride that showed us lots of cool things.
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Crown Center, Union Station/River Market area, and the zoo are all fun. Landen would enjoy going to the College Basketball Experience.
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The Legends and Zona Rosa are outdoor shopping malls. The Plaza is a little more upscale. Nebraska Furniture Mart is out at The Legends. You’d probably enjoy that!
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BBQ- KC Joe’s. Stay in the Plaza area
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There is so much in KC! I’m not sure even where to begin…If you come on a first weekend of a month, you would LOVE the West Bottoms for antique and vintage shopping.
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If you choose to stay downtown there as a street car that runs for free majority of the downtown area. It’s a super easy mode of transportation! Power and Light is fun and they sometimes have outdoor concerts. Union Station is really cool and they have an illusion exhibit. Betty Rae’s ice cream at City Market is delicious! They have homemade waffle cones! One of our tried and true family favorite restaurants is 54th St Bar and Grill. First Watch is excellent for breakfast and brunch. The Donut King in North Kansas City is my favorite 24 hour donuts. Corner Cafe has great home cooking. The Legends is a fun outdoor mall. I’ve lived here my entire life, so I could go on and on!
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It may be less expensive to stay north of downtown if you don’t mind driving around. Downtown is centrally located though.
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There’s a zip line park south of downtown that’s supposed to be awesome.
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Chicken and Pickle in North Kansas City is super fun too! You have to reserve an hour to play, but can walk in and eat. Top Golf is SO fun, although can get pricey. Spin Pizza has a few locations and is delicious! They have great salads and homemade gelato. 😋
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Gabrielle and you would love Kaleidoscope! If you have time you should totally check it out.
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Fritz’s and Crayola Cafe are fun to eat at in the Crown Center. A train brings your food at Fritz’s. 🙂 Harvey’s and Pierpont’s are good inside Union Station. Joe’s is the best for BBQ! Mildred’s and First Watch are both great, especially for breakfast!
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The River Market area has several good options as well, including Beignet. North Kansas City has Chicken N Pickle, which is fun, especially for kids. They have outdoor pickle ball and yard games. Matt and Landen would love the ambiance of Chapell’s in North Kansas City.
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It really is a fun city, although we do not get downtown often enough. Gates Barbecue is one of the oldest barbecue places in Kansas City and has a tangier sauce. Jack Stack is really popular also.
I only added a few of the messages here and I know that some of them are repeats, but I wanted to share the things that were recommended more than once.
We wanted to try each and every one of the suggestions, but we were only in Kansas City from Friday afternoon to Sunday morning so we didn’t have enough time to do them all. We will definitely be planning a trip back to see and do more of the things we couldn’t this time around.
When we got into town on Friday, we had a tee time at Top Golf. We have never been to a Top Golf so I thought it would be fun to try as a family. I am not a golfer, but Matt goes out a couple of times a year and any time we can compete against each other with a game, we are all up for it.
You have to sign up for a membership card that is $5 each to play. You keep this card for life and it can use it at any Top Golf location. Then, you pay for the amount of time you want to play. We chose an hour and a half and that was a good time period for our first time. We were able to eat and play two different games in that time. You get your own “bay” and a server comes and takes your drink and food order. It was so much fun. Matt wasn’t to sure about it when we were headed there, but he said he would definitely do it again. He loved it.
After Top Golf, we checked into the hotel. We stayed in the Downtown Marriott.
They put us in a junior suite with a double queen room that joined it for the kids. The room was spectacular! There was enough space for the entire family to spread out after a long day exploring the city.
It is centrally located to everything we did and very close to the street car which we used a lot to get around. They have a lounge for breakfast in the morning, underground parking, a bar and a restaurant that has amazing food. We grabbed lunch there on Saturday. They have an amazing set up for any kind of workout you want to do and a pool that you can swim laps in. We would recommend this hotel to any family visiting the city.
After we were checked into the hotel, we ventured out to see the Union Station and the World War 1 Monument. By the time we got there, they were both closed, but we were able to walk around inside the Union Station and all around the outside of the WWI memorial. The Union Station is BEAUTIFUL inside!
If we were to go back, I would want to see the Union Station when the businesses are open inside. I didn’t want to leave because it was so pretty.
The WWI memorial was so pretty too. I said that if I lived is Kansas City, it would be a pretty area to run or walk around.
We walked up to the top of the building and saw an amazing sunset. The views from the top were stunning. We really wanted to go inside the museum, but being on top of it was great too. We think we would visit the museum for sure when we go back.
That was all we could fit in on Friday. We didn’t get back to the hotel until 9:30PM. A shower and rest was needed so we could hit the ground running on Saturday.
We started Saturday morning off eating breakfast in the lounge at the hotel and then we got on the street car so we could check out the River Market.
There were vendors set up all over that area. We were overwhelmed with everything that was there. We grabbed at beignet at Beignets, a bubble tea at one of the spots and a couple of macaroons – you know, the essentials if you are traveling with Matt, Landen and Gabrielle. After walking around the market for about an hour, it was time to get back on the street car and head to The Basketball Experience.
I shared this entire getaway on my Instagram and Facebook stories. Make sure you are following along with me there to see all the behind the scenes shenanigans.
The Basketball Experience is great for a family who loves basketball. It is “a world-class entertainment facility connected to Sprint Center by the Grand Lobby, is two floors and 41,500 square feet of basketball exuberance. It houses the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, where visitors can honor college basketball legends and learn about the history of the game.” There are different “stations” for things like free throws, 3 pointers, passing, etc.
There is also a full court and a small court where you can challenge others in basketball. They have a small theater that shows some of the best plays and games from back in the day. We spent a couple of hours here.
Gabrielle is a huge fan of escape rooms. We all think they are fun, but she always wants to find one wherever we visit. Breakout KC let us come in a try out their Patient 57 Room. We were so close to making it out of there in the hour, but we couldn’t figure out the last two “puzzles”. This is a fun activity to do as a family. You work together to figure it out and the hour goes by way too fast. If you have never tried an escape room, I encourage you to give it a try.
What Is An Escape Room?
“An escape room is a 60-minute, real-life adventure game. You and your team will assemble in a themed room and have one hour to complete your mission and “escape” the room. A successful escape will require you to find hidden clues and solve challenging puzzles throughout the room. So take a look underneath the rug or sift through the books on the shelves, and take a closer look at all those paintings on the wall. You may find a string of numbers you need for a combination lock or a good old-fashioned key for a padlock. Everywhere you look is a potential clue to get out of an escape room.” – theescaperoom.com
After the escape room, we headed back to the hotel to take a little break because we were heading to see a Kansas City Chiefs pregame that night. We have never been to an NFL game and since it was just a pregame, the tickets were cheap. Gabrielle and Landen chose to do that for Saturday night and we thought it would be fun to do since we have never been.
The weather was SO hot that day. If you know me, you know I am not a fan of heat and humidity. The best players didn’t play the entire game so we left at the end of the third quarter. The kids were so thankful they got to experience it and I was so thankful to get in a cold shower when we got back to the hotel that night. 🙂
We were blown away by Kansas City.
We had no idea we would love it so much and wish we had more time there to see and do more things. Sunday morning, we ate breakfast in the lounge at the hotel, the kids went swimming and then we hit the road. We already have a long list of the things we want to do when we get back to the city (a lot of them are in the list of suggestions that was sent to me above). Here are a few other ideas:
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Kansas City Zoo (we did this when we were in Kansas City years ago)
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Sea Life Kansas City
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Museum of Art
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Royals Game
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Baseball Museum
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Jazz Museum
Kansas City, you are a lot of fun! It is a great place to take the family because there is something for anyone and everyone to be happy!
If you have been to Kansas City or live there and have other suggestions for families to see and do, please, please leave them in the comments below.
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