21 Best Sights in Kansas City, Missouri

Two blocks east of the Plaza is the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, known for its outstanding Asian-art collection and the Henry Moore Sculpture Garden on the south grounds. The new Bloch Building expansion, the brainchild of architect Steven Holl, spans the equivalent of a 67-story building lying on its side. It houses the museum's collections of contemporary and African art, as well as a research library and galleries for rotating photography exhibits.

Across Pershing Road from the Liberty Memorial is the jewel in Kansas City's attractions, Science City, a 55,000-square-foot science museum in the restored train station, was once the second largest train station in the country. The museum contains 50 hands-on learning environments, including a planetarium, "extreme" movie screen, and media lab. Built in 1914, the train station itself houses a vintage rail exhibit and a variety of restaurants, shops, and theaters.

The American Jazz Museum honors Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Charlie Parker, and other jazz greats. You can listen to hundreds of jazz CDs in the interactive studio and sound library. Numerous shops and restaurants line the streets of this historic area.

Arrowhead Stadium, where the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs play

A Kansas City original, the Boulevard Brewing Company gives tours that end with free tastes of their nine different brews.

The Hallmark Visitors Center takes you through the greeting card giant's humble history, as well as the cardmaking process. Exhibits include a video archive of Hallmark's most famous television commercials and a printing press operator that produces real Hallmark cards.

Truman's life and career are the focus at the Harry S Truman Museum & Library. You'll also frequently find traveling exhibits and speakers.

The Kansas City Zoo includes a 5,000-acre African-plains exhibit.

The Kansas Speedway hosts NASCAR's elite Nextel Cup Series, Busch and Craftsman Truck Series, and the IndyCar Series. The Legends, a shopping and entertainment district, has grown up around the track.

Kauffman Stadium, home of Major League Baseball's Royals

The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art has an ever-growing permanent collection of 700 works in a broad range of media.

Liberty Memorial, a tower built in 1921 to commemorate the war. Extensive structural renovation, completed in 2002, has stabilized the tower's 217-foot observation deck and improved the original underground museum.

Also in Fleming Park is Missouri Town 1855, a reproduction 1800s town created from more than 30 transplanted period houses, barns, stores, and outbuildings. The staff and volunteers wear period clothing. It's closed on weekdays in fall and winter, and Monday in spring and summer.

On the crest of a hill at the northern edge of Penn Valley Park, north of Westport, is the National World War One Museum at Liberty Memorial. Visitors enter the nation's only official World War I museum via a glass walkway suspended over a poignant field of 9,000 faux poppies, each representing 1/1000 of the 9 million soldiers killed during the war. The facility houses a research center and interactive exhibits that examine the stages of the conflict—and the world—before, during, and after America became involved. Special features include audio alcoves, a reproduction of trench warfare, two films, and interactive tables where visitors can use laser pointers and a computerized surface to create take-home souvenirs. The museum is attached to the

In the Museums at 18th & Vine complex, the cornerstone of the historic 18th and Vine district, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum documents the history of African-Americans in baseball through films and a multimedia gallery.

Just blocks from the almost-completed Sprint Center arena, the Power & Light District is a nine-block area featuring restaurants, shopping, theaters and Kansas City Live, an outdoor concert pavilion.

North of downtown, the River Market has some of the city's most distinctive ethnic restaurants and markets. In the summer months, a Saturday- and Sunday-morning farmers' market draws thousands.

Swope Park is also home to the Starlight Theatre, an outdoor theater hosting Broadway plays and other family-friendly entertainment.

Year-round, tourists and locals enjoy the Steamboat Arabia Museum, which houses goods—from French perfume to buttons to coffeepots—salvaged from the Arabia's muddy grave 132 years after it sank in the Missouri River in 1856.

While in Independence, you can visit the nearby Truman Home, Truman's Summer White House.

Worlds of Fun/Oceans of Fun are two adjoining theme parks with roller coasters, shows, water shenanigans, and attractions for people of all ages.