14 reasons Kansas City should be your next trip

30.05.2024 - 16:53 / lonelyplanet.com

Kansas City has been hitting the headlines in a big way – even before Taylor Swift started showing up in a box at Arrowhead Stadium for the Kansas City Chiefs football games. 

The Chiefs have clinched the Super Bowl trophy three times in the last five years; Ted Lasso, the heartwarmingly wholesome TV show starring KC native Jason Sudeikis, has won dozens of awards; and nearly every travel publication – Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel included – listed Kansas City as one of the top places to visit in 2024.

Despite all this recent attention, Kansas City has long been obsessed with itself in the most Midwestern way: quietly. It’s practically a local ordinance for residents to wear clothing mentioning KC – and perhaps by the end of your trip, you’ll pick up a t-shirt too. While Kansas City is happy to have its turn in the spotlight, at the end of the day, it’s still the welcoming, come-as-you-are cowtown-turned-cool-town that it’s always been.

Ready to see what the Kansas City hype is about? Whether you’re spending a weekend in Kansas City or much longer, here’s a guide to the best things to do in KC.

The Kansas City Chiefs might be the city’s best-known sports team, but another kind of football is also drawing big crowds. In March, CPKC Stadium, the first arena in the world purpose-built for a professional women’s sports team, opened for the KC Current’s sold-out season-starting match. This waterside soccer stadium is also helping revitalize a previously ignored section of the south bank of the Missouri River. A beer garden called Two Birds, One Stone and the Origin Hotel are slated to open in summer 2024. 

Local tip: The free-to-ride KC Streetcar will have its route extended from downtown along the riverfront in time for 2026, when Kansas City will host FIFA World Cup games alongside the likes of Los Angeles, Mexico City, Boston and Vancouver.

Want to see the FIFA World Cup in 2026? Get reading on how to get tickets now

Kansas City was once home to some of the largest stockyards in the country, second only to Chicago, and smoked meat is big business. KC’s status as one of the best places in the USA to eat barbecue is thanks to Henry Perry, a Black pitmaster who opened a restaurant in the early 1900s. Though his barbecue joint no longer exists, Arthur Bryant’s and Gates Bar-B-Q claim direct lineage and remain stalwarts of the scene.

Kansas City’s barbecue culture is anything but stagnant, and a newer generation of pitmasters has added its own takes on tradition. Joe’s KC serves its legendary Z-Man sandwich from a gas station, while Q39 takes the plates in a slightly classier, but no less authentic, direction. Burnt ends – the fatty, charred ends of brisket – are a Kansas City invention and a must-order dish