Things to do in Oklahoma City

Landmark · Downtown, on the site of the Murrah Building

The memorial to the 168 people killed in the 1995 bombing — the Gates of Time framing 9:01 and 9:03, a reflecting pool between them, and 168 empty bronze chairs on the footprint of the building.

Local tip: Go at dusk when the chairs are lit from below, and go into the museum rather than only walking the outdoor memorial. The Survivor Tree on the rise above it is the piece locals bring visitors to. Treat it as a place of mourning, because for this city it still is.

Culture · South-east of downtown, by the Oklahoma River

A major museum opened in 2021 telling the collective histories of the 39 distinct First American nations in Oklahoma today, in a building organised around a vast earthen mound and aligned to the solstices.

Local tip: Give it half a day and eat at the restaurant, which does genuinely Indigenous cooking rather than a museum-cafe version of it. It is the most important cultural institution built in this state in a generation.

Neighborhood · North-west of downtown

Two small, walkable arts districts — the Paseo's 1920s Spanish Revival buildings full of galleries, and the Plaza District's single reborn block of independent restaurants, shops and a theatre.

Local tip: First Friday in the Paseo and the LIVE on the Plaza night each month are when both districts are at their best. This is where Oklahoma City feels least like a grid of arterials and most like a city.

Nature · Immediately south of downtown

A 70-acre MAPS 3 park running from the convention centre down to the Oklahoma River, crossed by a pedestrian bridge under a 60-metre sculpture of the state bird.

Local tip: Walk the upper park at sunset and take the bridge over I-40 to the lower park and the river. It is the clearest single illustration of what the MAPS tax has actually bought.

Nature · Oklahoma River, east of downtown

A stretch of the Oklahoma River turned into an official US Olympic and Paralympic training site for rowing and canoe/kayak, with a whitewater course, ziplines and a climbing tower on the bank.

Local tip: The learn-to-row and paddle sessions are open to the public and absurdly cheap for what they are. That a landlocked prairie city trains national rowing teams is the single most Oklahoma City fact there is.

Food · South-west of downtown

A working cattle market that has run since 1910, one of the largest of its kind anywhere, with the auction still going on Mondays and Tuesdays and a district of boot makers, saddlers and steakhouses around it.

Local tip: Go on a Monday morning, watch the auction from the catwalk for free, then eat at Cattlemen's, which has been there since 1910. Order the steak; the lamb fries are for people with something to prove.