Things to do in Oklahoma City
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Oklahoma City
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Spring peak beauty and patio season, with prime tornado risk roughly April to early June, peaking in May.
Summer is hot and humid at 95 to 102F, festival full and best for water, with mid July to mid August the worst stretch.
Fall is the best season overall, especially late September and October, when heat breaks and football takes over Saturdays.
Winter is quiet, cheap and underrated for museums and food, with occasional ice storms that can close the city.
What's on
- Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon last weekend of April
Annual marathon closing downtown streets around the 19 April Memorial anniversary.
- Festival of the Arts April
April arts festival adding pressure on downtown hotels.
- Women's College World Series late May to early June
At USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium, a sellout that drives hotel compression.
- deadCenter Film Festival Usually mid June
Downtown film festival; it premiered the Thunder documentary.
- Red Earth FallFest Usually mid October
Fall festival, now held at Scissortail Park for the space.
Best things to do in Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum
The essential OKC stop: 168 chairs, Gates of Time and a restrained museum tracing 19 April 1995.
First Americans Museum
Oklahoma's 39 tribal nations tell their own histories, from origins and removal to sovereignty today.
National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum
America's premier Western museum, with a frontier town, major Western art and the End of the Trail statue.
Scissortail Park
OKC's 70 acre front lawn for concerts, a lake, skate park, farmers market and night markets.
Myriad Botanical Gardens
Downtown gardens centred on the Crystal Bridge tropical conservatory, busiest at tulip time in spring.
Bricktown
The canal and warehouse entertainment quarter for ballgames, concerts, dinner and an evening canal walk.
Bricktown Canal Water Taxi
A narrated boat ride along the mile long canal one level below the Bricktown streets.
Oklahoma City Museum of Art
A proper city art museum built around one of the largest public Chihuly glass collections.
Where to stay in Oklahoma City
Midtown / Automobile Alley
first trip, food focused trips, couples and repeat visitors
Where OKC lives now, with restaurants, bars, coffee and a short streetcar ride downtown.
Downtown / Film Row / West Village
first-timers, events and no-car trips
At the Memorial, Myriad, OKCMOA, Paycom Center and the streetcar without thinking.
Bricktown / Deep Deuce
nightlife, ballgames and groups
Canal, ballpark and bars at your door, with Deep Deuce quieter and smarter for sleeping.
Paseo / Plaza / NW 23rd (Uptown) Corridor
character stays, longer stays and creatives
Small inns and rentals in historic neighbourhoods, walking distance to galleries and great eating.
Northwest / Lake Hefner / Nichols Hills Edge + Edmond
families, golfers and quiet stays
Space, pools and free parking near Lake Hefner, Topgolf and Edmond, 20 to 30 minutes downtown.
Think twice about
- S I-35 Service Rd motel strip, SE 29th to SE 51st
Far south motel strip to avoid basing in unless price is the only criterion and you are purely sleeping and driving.
- E I-40 motel strip around S Douglas and S Eastern
Far east motel strip to avoid basing in unless price is the only criterion and you are purely sleeping and driving.
- Meridian Ave / W Reno airport corridor budget strip
Airport corridor budget strip west of downtown to avoid basing in unless price is the only criterion.
Best restaurants in Oklahoma City
Nonesuch
A hyper seasonal chef's counter tasting menu that the critics named America's Best New Restaurant in 2018.
Grey Sweater
Andrew Black's award-winning tasting room, precise global technique with Oklahoma sourcing.
Sedalia's Oyster & Seafood
A tiny catch driven seafood house in a landlocked city that has no business being this good at oysters.
Cheever's Café
Refined comfort in a 1930s flower shop, famous for chicken fried steak and Sunday brunch.
Ma Der Lao Kitchen
Lao cooking with real heat and funk, anchored by larb, nam khao, sticky rice and Lao sausage.
The Jones Assembly
A vast warehouse restaurant and concert venue for refined regional cooking and serious cocktails.
Frida Southwest
Upscale Southwestern cooking on a beautiful patio, the Paseo date night pick.
Paseo Grill
Curtained booths and American bistro classics, old OKC romance in the Paseo district.
Outdoor things to do in Oklahoma City
RIVERSPORT OKC
An Olympic standard pumped whitewater course downtown for rafting, kayaking and the Sky Trail.
Oklahoma River Trails
Flat paved trails on both banks past RIVERSORT and Wheeler Park, best for bikes and sunsets.
Lake Hefner
Where OKC sails, fishes and runs, with a loop trail, a lighthouse and lakefront sunset dinners.
Oak Tree National
A Pete Dye torture test ranked in America's 100 Greatest, private and member guest only.
Oklahoma City Golf & Country Club
A private Perry Maxwell classic in Nichols Hills, guest only, listed for trip planning honesty.
Gaillardia Country Club
A private Arthur Hills and Tom Kite course, guest only, among Oklahoma's top ranked clubs.
Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club
The best public access serious golf near OKC, a Perry Maxwell championship test at public prices.
Lincoln Park Golf Course
Two municipal 18s locals name first for value, with the West as the championship layout.
Best hotels in Oklahoma City
Colcord Hotel, Curio Collection by Hilton
The city's grand boutique in its first skyscraper, across from Myriad Gardens with FLINT in-house.
Ambassador Hotel Oklahoma City, Autograph Collection
A former bank tower turned boutique with the O Bar rooftop, the Midtown base in hotel form.
Hampton Inn & Suites Oklahoma City-Bricktown
A sensible group and family Bricktown base with indoor pool and breakfast included.
Home2 Suites by Hilton Oklahoma City Bricktown
Part of the sensible Bricktown hotel cluster, good for price shopping groups and families.
Hyatt Place Oklahoma City Bricktown
Part of the predictable Bricktown hotel cluster with pools and breakfast for groups and families.
Bradford House
The character stay for the Paseo and Plaza corridor, in a historic neighbourhood setting.
Omni Oklahoma City Hotel
Resort scale hotel beside Scissortail Park with a rooftop pool, spa and arena perfect location.
The Skirvin Hilton
The city historic grand hotel from 1911, with period rooms, a piano bar and praised service.
Is Oklahoma City expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | $95 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | $190 a person |
| Splurge | $400 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum: a few days ahead
- Factory Obscura: a few days ahead
- Paycom Center: weeks ahead
- RIVERSPORT OKC: a few days ahead
- Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club: a few days ahead
- Lincoln Park Golf Course: a few days ahead
- Topgolf Oklahoma City: a few days ahead
- OKANA Resort & Indoor Waterpark: weeks ahead
- Book Nonesuch and Grey Sweater 2 to 4 weeks out for weekends, and reserve Sedalia's, Cheever's brunch and Ma Der at peak.
- Book timed tickets for Factory Obscura and the Memorial Museum on weekends, and RIVERSORT raft times in summer.
- Thunder playoff runs, Women's College World Series and Memorial Marathon weekends need hotels 2 to 3 months out.
Is Oklahoma City safe?
- Keep nothing visible in the car, especially at trailheads, the Zoo and RIVERSORT lots.
- In tornado season keep phone alerts on, know your hotel shelter and treat a Tornado Warning as shelter now.
- In summer do outdoors before 11am, use museums at midday and never leave anyone or any dog in a parked car.
Oklahoma City travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Bricktown canal chain restaurants charge the highest prices for the most generic food in the centre.
- Pops 66 is a fun 30 minute stop, not a half day destination.
- Do not let Pioneer Woman Mercantile queues eat the Tallgrass Prairie time in Pawhuska.
- Skip the Wheeler Ferris Wheel at midday in summer and time it for sunset instead.
Getting around Oklahoma City: public transport and more
- You need a car for the full city but not for the core, where the OKC Streetcar loops Downtown, Bricktown, Midtown and Automobile Alley.
- Beyond the streetcar loop, drive or rideshare to the Cowboy Museum, Zoo, First Americans Museum, Stockyards, Lake Hefner and all day trips.
- Parking is easy and cheap downtown, most district parking is free, and Will Rogers International Airport is about 15 minutes southwest.
Who Oklahoma City suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Good |
| Families | Great |
| Bachelorette parties | Good |
Make Oklahoma City your trip
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