Things to do in Topeka
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Topeka
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best months overall. Warm, gardens and patios at their best, festival calendar full and storm risk lower.
Tulip Time brings more than 80,000 tulips to Ted Ensley Gardens, in cooler and changeable weather.
Heat and humidity govern plans. Highs routinely in the 90s Fahrenheit, so sightsee early and use lakes and museums at midday.
Coldest and quietest months, with the cheapest hotels. The Capitol is at its most alive indoors during session.
Peak severe weather season builds through spring. Supercell storms with hail and flash flooding are a real planning factor.
What's on
- Tulip Time April
More than 80,000 tulips at Ted Ensley Gardens with events at Ward-Meade and Old Prairie Town.
- Mulvane Art Fair June
Juried regional art fair on the Washburn University campus around the Mulvane Art Museum.
- Spirit of Kansas Blues Festival Early July
Blues and Fourth of July celebrations at Lake Shawnee. Verify the year's date and lineup before building on it.
- Fiesta Topeka Usually mid July, five days
Five day parish festival with food, music, a parade and a 5K, the city's biggest community celebration.
- Kansas Book Festival Usually a Saturday in late September
Free state book festival with author panels all day at Washburn University.
- Kansas Day 29 January
Statehood celebrations at the Kansas Museum of History and the Capitol.
- First Friday in NOTO First Friday monthly
Evening art walk in the NOTO Arts District, the recurring night locals recommend to visitors.
Best things to do in Topeka
Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park
The former Monroe school at the heart of the 1954 desegregation decision, told powerfully by the National Park Service for free.
Kansas State Capitol
A great capitol with free tours and a 296 step dome climb to an outer balcony over the city and river valley.
Kansas Museum of History
The rebuilt state museum, reopened in 2025 with themed galleries from Indigenous Kansas to Bleeding Kansas and a walk through train.
NOTO Arts & Entertainment District
Topeka's arts district of galleries, studios and murals on North Kansas Avenue, best on a First Friday evening.
Great Overland Station
The grand 1927 Union Pacific station restored as a railroad museum, a short and handsome stop beside NOTO.
Combat Air Museum
Two hangars of military aircraft at Forbes Field, from a C-47 to an F-14, staffed by knowledgeable volunteers.
Topeka Zoo & Conservation Center
A compact, well kept zoo inside Gage Park that a family can finish happily in a morning, at small zoo prices.
Kansas Children's Discovery Center
Hands on science and play for under 10s in Gage Park, and the family answer to a rainy or very hot day.
Where to stay in Topeka
Downtown Kansas Avenue and Capitol district
first trip, couples, evenings on foot
The only walkable base, one block from the Capitol with the best restaurants on Kansas Avenue.
West Topeka Wanamaker corridor
value, families and road trippers
Newer chain rooms, free parking and quick drives to Gage Park, the history museum and Washburn.
Mayetta and Prairie Band
golf and casino weekends
Across from Firekeeper Golf Course, but 30 minutes from every Topeka sight.
Think twice about
- East Topeka and the SE California Ave and SE 29th St motel strips
Concentrated poverty, vacant and blighted housing, boarded strips and a large share of city crime. No visitor lodging there is worth the saving.
- Monroe neighbourhood around Brown v. Board
Visit the National Park Service site in daylight and park in its own lot. There is no lodging nearby and no reason to wander surrounding residential blocks.
- Residential North Topeka and Oakland beyond NOTO
Heavier blight and poverty with almost no lodging. Visit NOTO and the Great Overland Station purposefully, do not base north of the river on price.
- Unvetted motels on SW Topeka Blvd and the I-70 and US-75 interchanges
Quality ranges from fine to places locals would not stay on the same block. Book only a specific property with recent reviews at decent volume.
Best restaurants in Topeka
The White Linen
Topeka's best dinner, seasonal French contemporary tasting menus in a historic downtown brick building.
Chez Yasu French Restaurant
A quiet, classic French bistro serving bourguignon, sole piccata and seafood crepes, dinner only in a small room.
The Weather Room
The Cyrus Hotel restaurant, a steak and seafood room with a serious bar and the easiest good dinner downtown.
North Star Steakhouse
A family steakhouse since the late 1930s, known for hand cut steaks, family style fries with gravy and bread pudding.
Blind Tiger Brewery & Restaurant
Topeka's original brewpub, house ales and a big American menu in a room built for groups and families.
Iron Rail Brewing
A railroad themed brewpub a block from the Capitol, with house beers, smoked meats and weekend brunch.
The Pennant
Burgers and shakes with a vintage arcade upstairs and bowling in back, downtown's built in group night out.
Lonnie Q's BBQ
Kansas City style barbecue with huge portions and a line out the door by 11am, weekdays only at last listing.
Outdoor things to do in Topeka
Ted Ensley Gardens
Free lakeside gardens of bridges, roses and water features, famous each April for more than 80,000 tulips.
Lake Shawnee
Topeka's summer lake for boating, fishing, swimming and paddling, ringed by a 7 mile paved trail and parkland.
Skyline Park
A short climb through prairie and woods to the best in town viewpoint, named for Potawatomi chief Abram Burnett.
Iliff Commons
Privately owned, publicly welcomed trails through prairie, creek bottom and timber, wilder than any city park path.
Shunga Trail
About 13 paved miles along Shunga Creek linking parks across the city, the everyday running and cycling backbone.
Firekeeper Golf Course
A top 10 Kansas championship course by Notah Begay III and Jeff Brauer, through meadow, creek and woodland.
Lake Shawnee Golf Course
The best public round in town, a rolling tree lined county course at municipal prices beside the lake.
Topeka Country Club
The historic private club in Westboro, a splurge round only with a member connection, not bookable by visitors.
Best hotels in Topeka
Cyrus Hotel, Topeka, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel
Topeka's boutique hotel one block from the Capitol, design led rooms and The Weather Room restaurant downstairs.
Prairie Band Casino & Resort
A casino resort across from Firekeeper Golf Course, the right base only for a golf or gaming weekend.
Hyatt Place Topeka
The sensible west side pick, modern rooms near the history museum and the Wanamaker corridor.
Hampton Inn Topeka
A reliable west side chain hotel with free parking, an easy base for Gage Park and the zoo.
Hotel Topeka at City Center
The big hotel beside Stormont Vail Events Center, unbeatable for an event night, with mixed recent room reviews.
Ramada by Wyndham Topeka Downtown Hotel & Convention Center
The downtown budget play, an atrium hotel with free hot breakfast a short walk from the Capitol.
Is Topeka expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | $70 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | $130 a person |
| Splurge | $280 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Firekeeper Golf Course: a few days ahead
- The White Linen: a few days ahead
- Chez Yasu French Restaurant: a few days ahead
- The Pennant: a few days ahead
- Cyrus Hotel, Topeka, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel: a few days ahead
- Prairie Band Casino & Resort: a few days ahead
- Book The White Linen and Chez Yasu for weekend dinners, and Cyrus rooms in legislative session and graduation weeks.
- Book Firekeeper tee times and Pennant bowling lanes ahead on weekends.
- Brown v. Board, the Capitol, the museums and the zoo are walk up. Lonnie Q's cannot be booked, the queue is the reservation.
Is Topeka safe?
- Car break ins are the main visitor risk citywide. Leave nothing visible in a parked car, anywhere.
- In spring, know a tornado watch from a warning, keep weather alerts on, and know your hotel shelter area.
- Carry water for summer trails and the Capitol dome climb, and watch for deer at dawn and dusk on rural roads.
Topeka travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- The Evel Knievel Museum left Topeka in 2024 and is now in Las Vegas. Old guides still send people to its former site.
- Downtown is deserted on Sundays and non session evenings outside the Kansas Avenue restaurant blocks.
- The zoo and Discovery Center are half day institutions, not full day ones, whatever padded guides say.
Getting around Topeka: public transport and more
- You need a car. Sights sit in four clusters about 10 minutes apart by road and transit is not a visitor system.
- Parking is mostly free, including underground parking at the Capitol, and driving is easy.
- Kansas City is about 1 hour east, Lawrence 30 to 40 minutes, Mayetta and Firekeeper about 30 minutes north.
Who Topeka suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | OK |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Great |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make Topeka your trip
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