Have you been through Oklahoma?
Farmland. Mountains. Lakes. Green lush forests. Sandy deserts. Waterfalls. Bison. There are even salt plains that make you think you’re on another planet! From tiny tiny abandoned towns, to huge bustling cities. Oklahoma is pretty darn cool. While OKC tends to get a lot of attention, Tulsa seems to be a little more overlooked when you search for online guides. Here are a few things to do and stops you have to make in Tulsa Oklahoma.

I live in Texas. There’s this strange “Texas Oklahoma rivalry” thing that these two states have going on that I just can’t explain.
For some reason, if you mention Oklahoma, most Texans will make some sort of very odd comment about how terrible the state is or how bad it sucks. I understand that they were a little far behind on the alcohol ABV thing, but, really? The state of Oklahoma has so many great things! I’m only a quick hop (less than an hour) over the border, so I make frequent trips, and always find so much to do.

To Start off…

I’m one of those people who really fits as many stops as I can comfortable (and uncomfortably) can into a trip. I tend to travel like that everywhere. Even my relaxing weekends away end up cram packed with as much as I can fit!
This was both easy and hard… We spent almost an entire weekend here, buuuuut I was silly enough to try this on a holiday weekend when a ton of stuff was closed. Oops.

Our options were a little limited, and there were times that we ended up driving from place to place trying to find lunch, only to have every place we show up be closed. Yes, I did look online first. No, most places don’t update their holiday hours. Thankfully, even on a holiday weekend, there are still so many things to do in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

As for accommodations, I snagged a cute little Airbnb in the Cherry Street district. Close enough that we could walk to quite a bit of popular places! Between restaurants, coffee shops, and more brewery hopping than the average person would ever find necessary… we definitely stayed busy all weekend stuffing our faces with goodies.

To work off all that food and beer, I made it my mission to find the coolest outdoor areas around and hike it off.
This city is NOT short on outdoor space. There are so many parks!

While I found quite a bit of places that I’d go back and recommend, let’s narrow it down! These are the 3 stops you have to make in Tulsa Oklahoma.

Stop 1: Turkey Mountain

In the southwest part of the city, running right along the Arkansas River is the Turkey Mountain Urban Wilderness Area. You would never believe that this is in the middle of a city with a population of over 400,000 people! It’s a little slice of relaxing woods you can hike or bike through to explore.

300 acres of forest and dirt hiking trails. Spending the morning there, we hiked a loop that was somewhere between 4-5 miles. You couldn’t hear any traffic for most of the trail. At a few points, it opens up over the river with some very nice views.

Just, um, yeah… ignore the sewage treatment plant you might smell for a few minutes on one of those bends. There is a short portion of this hike that passes within sight of one, and if the wind is right, yes you can smell it. Just walk a little bit faster for that little stretch LOL.

I would have assumed this park would have been packed with people, but we barely passed another person! Maybe this is one of those secret places in Tulsa? Who knows!

Stop 2: Gathering Place

On the eastern side of the river might be the COOLEST park I’ve ever seen.
The Gathering place. 100 acres of land. 5 acres of playground.

Do I have children? No.
Do I enjoy children? Not really. (just being honest here, as unpopular of an opinion as that may be lol)
Did I love this park? YES!
This park might be made for kids, but I’d file it under the “things to do in tulsa for adults” tag, for sure! It’s a blast to wander around. My only wish was that it would have been a little bit cooler, because we did not bring sunscreen or anything and couldn’t spend nearly as much time here as I would have liked to.

Wandering around the pathways.
Seeing people doing yoga in the grassy areas.
A neat little museum of what I’d say are oddities.
Vendors to grab a snack. Lounge areas.
A small run through water park section.
Paddle boats. A skate park.
Flower gardens and trees.
Basketball and volleyball courts.

You do not have to be a child to enjoy this place! The only thing that might make it better is if they would have adult only nights where we could swing and play on the equipment without worrying about knocking a kid over. (don’t worry, I didn’t knock any kids over. I stayed on the walking path and off the playground. Don’t roll your eyes at me!)

So much thought went into how to build this park.

Stop 3: The Blue Whale

Route 66!
Does Route 66 go through Tulsa OK?
Yes… ehhhh f you want to get technical, I guess this quirky roadside stop isn’t actually IN Tulsa. A short drive out of town and you can stop at one of the more popular Route 66 attractions. The Blue Whale of Catoosa.

You’ll know you’re in the right spot if you have to compete with Harley riders for a parking spot. Grab a picnic lunch and hang out on a picnic table or in the lawn. Made as an anniversary gift to his wife, Hugh Davis built this for the neighborhood children to have something to slide and jump off into the lake.

You can go inside that big ol whale! There is a path that leads you right through his mouth. From there you can either keep walking straight and climb up onto his tail… or take the ladder in his head to climb up to the portholes for a view out.

Most of the reviews say “um, it’s just a whale”. Uh, YEAH. How often will you have a chance to say you climbed through a famous route 66 icon, though?! I probably had way too much fun here, which was clear when my adventure buddy started rolling his eyes and looking at his watch as I kept snapping pictures and going back in.

There is a small trail besides the pond as well you can take to get off the beaten path by a few hundred feet.

Are you wondering about all those places I said I stopped for food and beer at the beginning of this article? Probably not.

You probably forgot all about that. I mean, now you’re just excited about a huge smiling whale and planning your next trip. I’ll give you a few bonus Tulsa stops.

Other stops you have to make in Tulsa Oklahoma

Roosevelt’s. In the Cherry Street district sits a fancy lil Gastropub. If you think the cheese board they sell won’t be enough for two people and that you ALSO need the pretzel and beer cheese… you are wrong. The cheeseboard is plenty. Also, order the pretzel. It’s worth it.
The reason we made this a stop our first night in town? The beer. They have almost EIGHTY beers on tap and offer flights. This wins the award for my favorite place in Tulsa so far!

Breweries:

If you want to go straight to the source, American Solera is a popular brewery. It’s worth a stop.

My top brewery choice though was one I had never heard of. I came across was Nothing’s Left. An old gas station turned into a brewery where you can even color on the wall. They had a sour beer there that could rival any of Prairies (Oklahoma popular brewery for sours) that tasted like Cotton Candy! We went home from Nothing’s Left with teeshirts, and a few 6packs of their Galaxy pale ale.

What else is there to do in Oklahoma? There’s a list!
One of my favorite things is hiking in the Wichita Mountains.
If you’re heading here but more into the shopping and beer, I’d recommend this other post I wrote that might be a good read for things to do in Tulsa for young adults!