Kansas City
Straddling Missouri and Kansas, the jazz city of Count Basie and Charlie Parker has kept its clubs in the 18th & Vine district, more than a hundred barbecue restaurants and the National World War I Museum, at the foot of a 66-metre tower. People also come for a free art museum with giant shuttlecocks, a 1914 railway station and a streetcar that costs nothing.
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Kansas City · Photo Giancarlo Rojas / Pexels
Things to do in Kansas City in 4 days
Day 1
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The Liberty Memorial of 1926, named America's national World War I museum in 2004, entered over a field of 9,000 poppies, with a reconstructed trench and a 66-metre tower overlooking the city.
💡 The museum is open from 10am to 5pm, every day from Memorial Day to Labor Day, and Wednesday to Monday the rest of the year. Go up the tower before 4.15pm, the last lift, and only in clear weather, as it closes when the wind is strong. Price: $19.50, about €17, for general admission, $11.50, about €10, for ages 6 to 15, tower only $6, about €5.
Michael Barera / CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)Learn moreMore
The 1914 station, nearly 260 metres long, with a Grand Hall under a 29-metre ceiling, restored and reopened in 1999, still served by Amtrak and home to a science museum and planetarium.
💡 The Grand Hall is free to wander, and can be combined with the WWI Museum in the same morning. The KC Streetcar stops in front of the station. Price: free, Science City and exhibitions charged.
Antony-22 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
Day 2
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The story of the all-night jam sessions that launched Count Basie and Charlie Parker, with instruments, listening stations and Parker's plastic saxophone, plus the Blue Room, a working jazz club.
💡 The museum is closed on Mondays from mid-September to the end of May and open every day in summer; on Sundays it opens only at noon. Come back in the evening for a concert at the Blue Room. Price: $15, about €13, $12, about €10, for over-65s.
Jordano53 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)Learn moreMore
In 18th & Vine, the story of the leagues where Black Americans played during segregation, ending on the Field of Legends, a miniature diamond lined with bronze statues of the greatest players.
💡 The museum is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 5pm and on Sundays from noon to 5pm, closed on Mondays. It shares its building with the American Jazz Museum: do both in the same half-day. Price: $15, about €13, $12, about €10, for ages 5 to 12.
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More than a hundred smokehouses descended from Henry Perry's 1908 alley stand, serving pork, beef and burnt ends in sweet molasses sauce, from Arthur Bryant's to Joe's in its working petrol station.
💡 Do a round of two or three places, sharing plates: Arthur Bryant's for the history, Joe's for the Z-Man, a brisket and onion ring sandwich, and a newer restaurant such as Q39. Arrive before noon, as the burnt ends go fast. Price: $15-25, about €13-22, a plate.
Gatorfan252525 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
Day 3
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A free museum spanning 5,000 years of art, with a superb Chinese collection, a Caravaggio and Steven Holl's glowing glass wing, plus the giant shuttlecocks that became the city's emblem.
💡 The museum is open Thursday to Monday and closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays; it stays open until 9pm on Thursdays and Fridays, the quietest evenings. Have lunch under the glass roof of Rozzelle Court. Price: free entry, parking and some exhibitions charged.
Architect unknown. / Public domain (Wikimedia Commons)Learn moreMore
One of America's first shopping districts built for motorists, opened in 1923 in a Seville-inspired style with towers, fountains and mosaics, lit by thousands of bulbs every Thanksgiving since 1925.
💡 Stroll along Brush Creek to the Nelson-Atkins, a 15-minute walk to the north, and come back to the Plaza for dinner. The KC Streetcar terminus, at the UMKC university, is not far away. Price: free.
MARELBU / CC BY 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
Day 4
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In Independence, Harry Truman's presidential library, renovated in 2021, traces the atomic bomb, the Marshall Plan and NATO, with an Oval Office replica, while his Victorian home is visited with a ranger.
💡 The library is open Monday to Saturday from 9am to 5pm, and on Sundays from noon to 5pm from April to December. Free tickets for the Truman home are collected on the day at the historic site's visitor centre, at 223 North Main Street, near the Independence square; tours run Wednesday to Sunday, so come early, as groups are limited to eight people. Price: $12, about €10, free up to age 12.
Michael Barera / CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)"Book" (hotels) and "via GetYourGuide" (activities) are affiliate links (Booking, GetYourGuide). Prices, times and distances are approximate.
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Good to know before you go
🍽️ Must-try food
Burgers and barbecue
brisket and ribs cooked low and slow, done differently in every state.
Clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl
the classic lunch on the San Francisco waterfront.
Mexican food
tacos from a truck in Los Angeles, a Mission burrito in San Francisco.
Pancakes and weekend brunch
a national habit, generous to the point of excess.
Craft beer, and California wine from Napa and Sonoma.
Dishes to look for in the good places: Kansas City.
⚠️ Best avoided
- Tipping is not optional: add 15 to 20% in restaurants and bars.
- Prices on menus and in shops exclude sales tax, which is added at the till.
- Do not plan more than four or five hours of driving a day: the distances are larger than they look on the map.
- Never travel without health insurance. A night in hospital can cost thousands of dollars.
- In summer, do not hike down into the Grand Canyon in the heat of the day: the climb back out is where people get into trouble.
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The little details that make all the difference once you're there.
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