Kansas holidays

Surrounded by prairie land, Kansas’ largest city has emerged from cattle ranching roots into an exciting metropolis. Soak it all in from the brick-lined streets of Old Town.

From its international dining scene to local heritage museums and art galleries, Garden City balances big-city thrills with the simple charms of a small town.

Take a bite out of Kansas’ ‘Little Apple’. This lively city boasts a growing arts scene, bountiful farmers markets and plenty of outdoor adventures in the Great Plains.

Prairies once covered 70 million hectares of North America. Today, the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve is one of the only places you can experience this fascinating ecosystem. Explore a sprawling landscape of pristine tall grasses (some up to 1.5 metres high) as it stretches into grand vistas. The park is also home to an authentic ranch house and herds of bison.

The Topeka school board’s refusal to enrol a Black student in 1951 resulted in the landmark Supreme Court ruling that legally ended segregation in public schools in the US. Explore this monumental Civil Rights victory within the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site in Topeka. Its rooms have been converted into galleries chronicling the history and legacy of the case.

Reliving the Old West is a top thing to do in Kansas. Check out the log cabin where the lyrics to ‘Home on the Range’ were penned. Live re-enactments demonstrate life in an 1860s army outpost at Fort Larned National Historic Site. And at the Old Cowtown Museum in Wichita, you can wander the streets of a preserved 19th-century pioneer village.

Looking for beaches in landlocked Kansas? Head to the state parks. Kayak past dramatic rock formations in Wilson State Park, set in the Smoky Hills. After hiking limestone bluffs, cool off with a dip in the lake at Cedar Bluff State Park. There’s swimming and boating in the lake at Elk City State Park, which is surrounded by forest and prairie.

Some of the most spectacular natural sites in Kansas rise above its famously flat topography. Wander past 15-metre-high limestone pillars and rocky arches at the Monument Rocks, a collection of ancient formations in Gove County. At Coronado Heights Park in the Smoky Valley, you can watch the sunset over sandstone bluffs from a castle-like shelter built in the 1930s.

Some of the best restaurants in Kansas honour the region’s famously tangy, slow-cooked barbecue. Joe’s Kansas City Bar-B-Que is a local favourite. The state’s other speciality is perfectly crispy fried chicken. Have your fill at Chicken Annie’s and Chicken Mary’s, two restaurants in Pittsburgh that have been competing for the top spot since the 1940s.

Visit the stars in more ways than one at the museums in Kansas. See a Blackbird Spyplane and artefacts from the Sputnik satellite and Apollo missions at the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, a comprehensive space museum. Explore over 2,000 items related to the state’s most famous Hollywood connection, the 1939 classic ‘The Wizard of Oz’, at the Oz Museum in Wamego.

Spring and autumn are some of the best times to visit Kansas, especially for natural spectacle. In spring, expect warm weather and brilliant wildflower blooms. Autumn can be a bit brisker, but you’re rewarded with the changing of the leaves. Hot summers are ideal for lakeside and river holidays. Winter is for the hardy, as blizzards and freezing temperatures are common.

This state has one of the lowest costs of living in the country, making cheap holidays to Kansas very possible. And if you’re willing to travel in the shoulder seasons, you can stretch your budget even further. An inexpensive meal costs about 15 US dollars ($), while a domestic beer comes in at about $5. Need a lift? Short taxi rides start at around $8.