Things to do in Kansas, Kansas: The Best Museums

The Evel Knievel Museum showcases an incredible collection of authentic artifacts that belonged to the most legendary, death-defying daredevil of all time! Experience Knievel’s life and journey to record-setting, super-stardom! The 2-story 13,000 sq ft Evel Knievel Museum features: • Evel’s motorcycles – the bikes that launched a legend • Knievel’s genuine leathers and helmets • “Big Red,” Knievel’s fully-restored Mack Truck • Evel’s personal and never-before-seen memorabilia INTERACTIVE EXHIBITS: • Virtual Reality 4-D Jump Experience • Broken Bones Interactive, including Evel’s actual X-rays • “Plan Your Jump” Interactive Challenge • Engine & Suspension Interactive • Snake River Experience Room featuring Knievel’s actual X-2 Sky Cycle

The exciting and unique story of early Dodge City is told daily along Front Street at Boot Hill Museum. The museum chronicles the establishment of a rough and rowdy cattle town known as Dodge City. The museum is located on the original site of Boot Hill Cemetery and highlights the glory days as Queen of the Cowtowns with creative, lively, interactive displays and activities the entire family will enjoy. Boot Hill Museum is open all year long where you can belly up to the bar for a cold sarsaparilla, enjoy some of grandma’s homemade fudge in the General Store or take home a lasting memento of your old west experience from the Boot Hill gift shop. During the summer months, children’s activities, gunfight reenactments, country-style dinners and the Long Branch Variety Show provides entertainment like none other! Cool off in the Beatty and Kelley Ice Cream Parlor before you become a character of the past in an Old West Photo.

Delve into hundreds of interactive exhibits that stimulate the mind and teach about science, and that's only inside the main building. Outside there's a park where visitors can observe Kansas wildlife in a wetlands habitat and dig for archeological treasures inside a giant sandbox.

Be transported back in time at this unique, 23 acre open-air history museum that recreates Wichita and Sedgwick County, Kansas from 1865 to 1880. Museum staff dress in period costume and demonstrate everyday activities including, gardening, tending livestock and cooking. Historic Wichita Cowtown Inc. works with the City of Wichita to further the Museum and its mission. Established in 1950, Cowtown's unique programming chronicles Wichita's transformation from a frontier settlement to a cattle town to an agricultural and manufacturing area. The Museum has the distinction of being accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, the highest national recognition achievable by a museum. Accreditation recognizes high standards in individual museums and ensures they continue to uphold public trust. Only 3 percent of the nation's estimated 34,144 museums are accredited.

Discover the treasures . . . around the world and through the ages. Where can you explore the crusty bones of long-lost creatures, marvel at Egyptian mummies, uncover the secrets of ancient civilizations, travel to the land of Conquistadors. and enter the battlefields of World Wars? The Museum of World Treasures, with more than 3,000 artifacts on three floors. Discover your inner explorer!

Part of the Fort Hays State University, the museum is dedicated to collecting and preserving plant and animal specimens pertaining to the Great Plains.

Our mission: The Wichita Art Museum brings people, ideas, and American art together to enrich lives and build community.

The striking "White Buffalo" sculpture outside offers an inkling of the interesting exhibits inside this museum, including a steam locomotive, a Southern Cheyenne teepee, one of the largest collections of prairie memorabilia in the U.S. and a hands-on children's area. Admission is $10 for adults, and $5 for children aged 2-17. Admission includes admittance to the discovery place.