Oklahoma City, United States: Self-Guided Walking Tour
Things to Do in Oklahoma City: Museums, History and Downtown Walks
Looking for things to do in Oklahoma City? The state capital combines the history of the 1889 Land Run with museums, historic churches, gardens, live entertainment and places of remembrance. From the Oklahoma City National Memorial to Bricktown and the Oklahoma State Capitol, the city offers plenty to explore on foot.
Oklahoma City is in Oklahoma, in the central United States. Neywo’s free audio guide to Oklahoma City covers 57 narrated places, helping you discover the city as you walk.
What to See in Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City National Memorial and the bombing site
The Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum preserves the story of the bombing of April 19, 1995. A bomb exploded outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, killing 168 people and injuring more than 680 others. The attack destroyed more than a third of the building and damaged or destroyed hundreds of other buildings and vehicles.
The memorial offers a place for remembrance and reflection. Its story is closely connected with one of the largest criminal investigations in American history, known as OKBOMB.
St. Joseph Old Cathedral
St. Joseph Old Cathedral is one of Oklahoma City’s historic Catholic landmarks. Its roots reach back to the Land Run of 1889, when early services were held in a tent before a wooden church was completed.
The present church was built in the Gothic Revival style with Coffeyville brick. Its interior features stained-glass windows and vaulted ceilings, while the exterior is marked by a central tower and two crenellated side towers. It became Oklahoma’s first cathedral in 1905 and was restored in 1976 after years of neglect.
The Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help is another important Catholic landmark in the city and serves as the seat of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City.
Oklahoma State Capitol and Oklahoma History Center
The Oklahoma State Capitol is one of the key places to visit when exploring the city’s political and architectural history. Nearby, the Oklahoma History Center examines the wider story of the state.
The museum stands on an eighteen-acre site across from the Governor’s Mansion. Its indoor galleries contain more than 2,000 artifacts covering around 50 subjects, with displays ranging from Prohibition and space exploration to everyday life in Oklahoma. Outdoor exhibits include full-size and portable oil derricks, as well as presentations about the region’s plants, animals and landforms.
The current museum opened in 2005 and is operated by the Oklahoma Historical Society. The nearby Governor’s Mansion adds another important setting to this area of the city.
Oklahoma City Museum of Art
The Oklahoma City Museum of Art brings together American and European art, graphic arts, photographs and sculpture. It also hosts changing exhibitions and a film program.
One of its most memorable features is in the atrium: the 55-foot Eleanor Blake Kirkpatrick Memorial Tower, made of Chihuly glass. The museum’s collection is considered one of the most comprehensive collections of Chihuly glass in the world. The institution opened in 2002 following a major philanthropic effort and the merger of two local institutions.
Myriad Botanical Gardens
Myriad Botanical Gardens offers a green pause in the middle of the city. Its gardens and seasonal displays provide a change of pace from downtown’s civic buildings, museums and memorials.
The gardens are included on a Neywo walk that connects the Civic Center with Bricktown, making them an easy stop during a broader exploration of central Oklahoma City.
Bricktown and Paycom Center
Bricktown is a former warehouse district that now centers on a canal lined with restaurants, shops and entertainment venues. It is one of the liveliest areas to explore in Oklahoma City.
The American Banjo Museum gives Bricktown a distinctive cultural attraction. Its exhibitions trace the banjo’s history from its arrival in North America through the Atlantic slave trade and into its many modern forms. More than 400 instruments are displayed across 21,000 square feet, alongside memorabilia, printed music, recordings, film and instructional materials. Particularly ornate Jazz Era banjos from the 1920s and 1930s are among the collection’s highlights.
Nearby, Paycom Center is downtown Oklahoma City’s major live-event arena and the home of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Opened in 2002, it has hosted basketball, concerts, conventions, ice shows, family events and civic gatherings. The arena has also welcomed performers including The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Garth Brooks and Justin Timberlake.
First Americans Museum
The First Americans Museum is dedicated to the history and culture of First Americans. It previously operated under the name American Indian Cultural Center and Museum and officially opened as the First Americans Museum on September 18, 2021.
Museum of Osteology
The Museum of Osteology offers a different perspective on animal life through its collection of bones and skeletons. More than 450 animal skeletons from around the world are displayed here, making it the largest privately held collection of osteological specimens in the world.
Science Museum Oklahoma
Science Museum Oklahoma focuses on participation, with interactive galleries, hands-on activities and attractions spread across more than 390,000 square feet. Its exhibits include air and space galleries, science labs, outdoor gardens and the OmniDome theater.
Visitors can explore the Love’s Planetarium, experiment with electricity and motion on the Science Floor, or experience activities such as a simulated tornado and a tightrope walk. CurioCity and KidSpace are designed for younger visitors, while the Tinkering Garage and smART Space encourage experimentation and creative problem-solving.
Oklahoma Railway Museum
The Oklahoma Railway Museum preserves railroad history across restored Missouri, Kansas and Texas tracks. Its collection includes ten diesel and steam locomotives, passenger and freight cars, cabooses and other railway equipment.
The museum also has a restored Kansas City, Mexico and Orient depot from 1905, now used as the ticket office and gift shop. On the first and third Saturdays from April through September, vintage diesel and steam-powered train rides offer a chance to experience the collection in motion.
Oklahoma State Firefighters Museum
The Oklahoma State Firefighters Museum presents firefighting history through restored apparatus, antique tools, uniforms and personal equipment. Founded in 1967, it includes objects dating back to the mid-eighteenth century.
Among its notable exhibits is the first fire station built in Oklahoma Territory, constructed in 1864 and displayed with its original hand pump wagon. The museum also holds more than 7,000 firefighter patches from around the world.
The American Pigeon Museum & Library
The American Pigeon Museum & Library explores the long relationship between pigeons and people in the United States. Founded in 1973 as the American Homing Pigeon Institute, it first focused on pigeon racing before expanding to document pigeon domestication and the wider history of pigeons in the country. The current museum opened in 1993.
Overholser Dam
Overholser Dam is a quieter landmark set on Ramsey Lake in Oklahoma County. The water-control structure is surrounded by broad, mostly flat terrain and offers a contrast to the museums and entertainment districts of central Oklahoma City.
Explore Oklahoma City with a Self-Guided Audio Tour
A self-guided walking tour is an easy way to connect Oklahoma City’s landmarks without joining a group or following a fixed timetable. Neywo has four walking tours and one bike route in the city, with narration available in 11 languages.
The walks are:
- Land Run Skyline: Downtown Oklahoma City — 2.41 km, 76 minutes and 10 narrated stops.
- Glass, Gardens and Banjos: From Civic Center to Bricktown — 4.4 km, 112 minutes and 10 narrated stops.
- Capitol Hill: Oil Wells, Governors and Oklahoma History — 1.19 km, 34 minutes and 4 narrated stops.
- Heritage Hills and Paseo: Mansions, Churches and the Spanish Village — 3.79 km, 78 minutes and 5 narrated stops.
The bike route is:
- Bricktown Cycle Trail: Paycom Center to the Land Run Monument — 1 km, 5 minutes and 2 narrated stops.
Neywo tells the story of each place as you reach it, at your own pace, with no group and no schedule. Download the free Oklahoma City audio guide and explore the capital city through its history, museums, churches, gardens and neighborhoods. When planning more of your trip, you can also discover Tulsa and other destinations across the United States.
Places with an audio guide in Oklahoma City
8 places in Oklahoma City with a Neywo audio guide. Each one starts telling its story as you reach it.
Self-guided tours in Oklahoma City
5 tours in Oklahoma City, free in the Neywo app. Each stop tells its story as you reach it.
- Bike ride
Bricktown Cycle Trail: Paycom Center to the Land Run Monument
Ride the cycle trail from the Paycom Center, home of the Thunder, along the edge of downtown and Bricktown to the Centennial Land Run Monument.
Paycom Center · Centennial Land Run Monument
Open this tour: Bricktown Cycle Trail: Paycom Center to the Land Run Monument - Walk
Land Run Skyline: Downtown Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City went from a tent camp to a skyline in a single lifetime. Start at the castle-like Central High School and St. Paul's Cathedral, then walk to the Gothic Revival Old Cathedral, whose first Masses were held in a tent after the 1889 Land Run. Pass the Beaux Arts federal courthouse, the city's oldest hotel and the Art Deco towers of the oil boom, to Devon Tower, the tallest building in the state.
Central High School · St. Paul's Cathedral · St. Joseph Old Cathedral · United States Post Office, Courthouse, and Federal Office Building · Oklahoma Publishing Company Building · Skirvin Hilton Hotel …
Open this tour: Land Run Skyline: Downtown Oklahoma City - Walk
Glass, Gardens and Banjos: From Civic Center to Bricktown
A downtown culture walk from the monument to the 1889 Land Run through Bricktown, an old warehouse district with a canal, a piano bar and a banjo museum, to the church where Martin Luther King Jr. spoke. Follow the arena crowds to the Myriad Gardens, an Art Deco courthouse inspired by Mayan temples, the 55-foot Chihuly glass tower at the art museum and the Civic Center Music Hall.
Centennial Land Run Monument · Bricktown · Calvary Baptist Church · Miller-Jackson Building · American Banjo Museum · Paycom Center …
Open this tour: Glass, Gardens and Banjos: From Civic Center to Bricktown - Walk
Capitol Hill: Oil Wells, Governors and Oklahoma History
Oklahoma's seat of government sits among working oil wells, the only state capitol in the US with that distinction. Visit the Capitol and its 2002 dome, the Judicial Center, the History Center with its outdoor oil derricks, and the Governor's Mansion with its pool shaped like the state.
Oklahoma Judicial Center · Oklahoma State Capitol · Oklahoma History Center · Oklahoma Governor's Mansion
Open this tour: Capitol Hill: Oil Wells, Governors and Oklahoma History - Walk
Heritage Hills and Paseo: Mansions, Churches and the Spanish Village
North of downtown, Oklahoma City's early oil fortunes built churches and mansions. Visit the Neo-Classical First Christian Church, the Oklahoma Heritage Center and the Overholser Mansion of 1903, then finish in the Paseo Arts District, a 1929 Spanish Village of galleries.
First Christian Church · Oklahoma Heritage Center · Pilgrim Congregational Church · Overholser Mansion · Paseo Arts District
Open this tour: Heritage Hills and Paseo: Mansions, Churches and the Spanish Village
Walk Oklahoma City with Neywo
Neywo turns Oklahoma City into a self-guided audio tour. Stories arrive as you reach the place they belong to, and the route reshapes when you wander off it.
