“Paris of the Plains,” a barbecue capital, the part-time home of Taylor Swift—all that and more describes Kansas City right now. However you look at it, the city’s in the spotlight. It hasn’t felt this alive since Charlie Parker was playing bebop in its jazz clubs. And with the World Cup on the way, it’s only going to get livelier in 2026—all reasons we named Kansas City as our City of the Year in the 2026 Best of the Midwest Awards.
But getting your bearings in a sprawling metro area that spans two states isn’t always easy for out-of-towners. Take it from all the touring musicians who’ve yelled “Thank you, Kansas!” to crowds in Missouri—a local pet peeve. (Know before you go: Despite the name, most of the actual city is on the Missouri side.) As a transplant, it’s taken me years to feel like I really know my way around. Here’s where I take visitors to get them oriented.
Best Things to Do
The largest and grandest of the many museums in Kansas City is the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, where hours’ worth of art galleries overlook a sculpture park that locals treat like a communal backyard. Amid pieces from all over the world, the museum has the largest public collection of paintings by a local legend: Midwestern regionalist Thomas Hart Benton. (If you’re a Benton fan, add a follow-up stop at the Thomas Hart Benton Home and Studio, a state historic site just 10 minutes away.)
The most unique museum in town may be The Rabbit hOle, a one-of-a-kind celebration of children’s literature that got national attention when it opened in spring 2024. It brings beloved books—think Goodnight Moon, Strega Nona, and Blueberries for Sal—to life through colorful, walk-through displays.
For Kansas City–specific history, head to the 18th & Vine district, where the American Jazz Museum and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum sit side by side, telling two stories that shaped the city’s identity. Up in the Historic Northeast, The Museum of Kansas City presents the city’s story, from its earliest Indigenous settlers to its present-day residents, in a 1910 Beaux Arts mansion.
By the Missouri River, where the city first took shape, the River Market has food stalls, a year-round weekend farmers’ market, and the Arabia Steamboat Museum, which displays the contents of a heavily laden ship that sank on its way up the Missouri in the 1850s, now laid out like a 19th-century Walmart. (The owners recently announced that the museum is closing in November 2026, so go while you can.)
It’s all steps from the Berkeley Riverfront, a green space with trails that lead to the new CPKC Stadium, the first stadium in the U.S. built specifically for a women’s soccer team. Locals love rooting for the Current, but if the team isn’t enough of a draw, the list of food vendors reads like a Kansas City greatest-hits roll, including the iconic Joe’s Kansas City Bar-B-Que, James Beard Award winner Yoli Tortilleria, and Bon Appetit Best New Restaurant Baba’s Pantry.
Best Restaurants
There are more than 100 barbecue joints in Kansas City, and, like everywhere else, locals like to argue about the best. You can’t go wrong with Gates Bar-B-Q, one of the city’s foundational spots—still run by 93-year-old Ollie Gates, who’s been in the business since the 1940s. The Brooklyn Avenue location, the oldest, has the most character…